If you need a cheap DIY jig for mortise and tenon making for your woodworking projects here is a simple 3d printable version that uses a Dremel tool for cutting out the wood. It was developed by Crafted3D since he needed a cheaper alternative for a 1000USD standard router.
There are a few non-printable parts like a metal clamp, but this is a great low-cost shop tool. You could also design different templates for the shape of your tenon/mortise parts.
Jaimie Mantzel is living on an island in Panama and he is building his own little paradise with his family. He has a lot of interesting projects from solar boat making to dome house building. He documents most of his life on YouTube, his channel is well worth following.
He uses DIY solar powered boats and he makes self-made 3d printed propellers for them.
You like making the 3DBenchy? Now you will like it even more with this project! Kim developed a larger version that can float and has an RC control for a small electric motor. It is 3d printed from several modules and held together with ABS-juice which also makes it watertight.
Donald Papp developed a simple but loud alarm, "Mister Screamer", that is hanging from your filament and if the filament runs out it triggers a loud alarm.
Key features:
If filament is present, nothing happens.
If filament runs out, scream your fool head off to alert a nearby operator.
Enclosure can be 3D printed
Self-contained (no external power or signals)
Requires no modifications to the 3D printer to be monitored
Electrically simple, and using a minimum of easy to source parts
A research team from ETH Zurich used 3D-printed moulds to make the skeletal framework for this all-concrete boat, which won first prize for design innovation at the Concrete Canoe Regatta.
The boat race takes place every other year on the Rhine river in Cologne, Germany. It challenges participants to create the lightest and fastest vessel, and race it 200 metres without sinking. The competition allows no other material than concrete to be used. For their SkelETHon canoe, the team from ETH Zurich relied on research that allowed them to fabricate large-scale concrete building components, casting concrete in any shape using 3D-printed moulds.
"With 3D printing we have an almost unlimited geometrical freedom for making formworks, which was not available to concrete so far," said the team's Andrei Jipa. "Undercuts, microstructures, high-resolution details are now possible." The moulds are made from recyclable plastic, and allowed the team to cast slender "bones" – some of which measured just 15 millimetres in diameter – from steel fibre-reinforced concrete.
ZeroBot is a cool little 3d printable robot that is cheap and easy to make. Great for educational robotic projects. You can control it via the smartphone interface and all the software is available as SD card image. I'm making this!!!
Project description:
ZeroBot is a Raspberry Pi Zero W based robot. It can be controlled using any computer or smartphone via a web browser. The integrated camera module makes for a low latency video stream. In addition, the Raspberry Pi acts as a Wifi access point, so no router is required. The parts for the hull as well as the wheels can easily be printed on any regular 3D printer.
Some of the key features are:
Compact CAD design with 3D printed components
Analog control via a joystick (and multitouch)
Simple battery solution using only a standard power bank
Low latency streaming (~0.3s)
Easy and cheap to build using widely available components
Researchers from Romania 3d printed a small working two-stroke engine on a professional metal 3d printer.
Project description:
Romanian Valentin Stamate, a researcher at the Transilvania University in Brasov, presented a 3D printed two-stroke airplane engine prototype. It cost some EUR 20,000 to manufacture and the expense was undertaken by the Brasov University.
The engine is a 10 cubic centimeters one, with 10,000 rotations per minute. Most of the engine parts were produced by SLM and SLS-type 3D printers out of steel, aluminum, and steel and bronze powders. The only parts that were not 3D printed were the propeller, which is made of wood, the cone and its fastening system, the supporting bearings, the screws, the nuts and the spark. The engine is fueled by a mix of methanol and oil.
Now, I know what you are thinking: interesting project but 20 thousand euro is a lot of money for a small engine. Any you are right. The first thing that came to my mind was my lawn mover broke a few days ago, and since I live in Croatia the replacement part was hard to find and too expensive for my taste. There are MANY small engines in the world and with right investment and economics of scale, this is a very large market. Just the replacement part market is huge with thousands of different engine models with hundreds of parts each.
THIS WORLD NEEDS CHEAPER and OPEN SOURCED 3D PRINTABLE SMALL ENGINES!!! Now go and make it happen.
I had some time to play around with ViaCAD and it looks really interesting. I've downloaded the 14-day trial version and used a few simple daily tasks to see how it performs.
First steps in the program interface are very easy and you are greeted with a simple video tutorial on how to create a 3D goblet from 2D drawing in 60 seconds:
From the beginning, I wanted to focus on 3D printing tools which are a part of this CADs features.
The toolbar with 3D Printing tools can be activated in the "Window" menu.
The interface is fast and fluid.
You can define your printer settings from a list of the pre-defined machine or set it manually:
To see how other functions work, I imported the Voronoi "Broken benchy" by T-E-C from Thingiverse. It is a more complicated and harder version of the standard Benchy.
You can check the printability of your model with "3D Print Check" tool. Here is the output screen with some of the errors found, with several being my mistakes of not properly aligning the object or setting the parameters correctly (like print volume). Very useful!
"Surface normals" tool shows, you guessed it, surface normals :-)
There are tools to show overhangs and wall thickness.
"Slices" tools will show animated slices base on several parameters, they can be saved into several formats. This is not a slicer which generates g-code for printing.
"Support structures" tool enables you to create support pieces and attach them with a mouse click.
With the "Position" tool you can place the object anywhere in selected print volume coordinate manually or with the automatic positions like "Center".
These basic tools were easy to use at this level, time will show how they perform in everyday work during a longer period. For now, I'm satisfied with this CAD software and will continue to us it.
You can get ViaCAD here and test it yourself and download a trial version from PunchCAD homepage:
Printrbot just teased their Printrbelt 3D printer with the heated conveyor belt print surface or "Infinite Z" as they described it. The belt is a steel belt covered in Kapton with adjustable bed height and tension. It is a direct competitor to BlackBelt 3D printer (which has a bigger print surface) and knowing Printrbot, it should be low cost and open source.
Brook responded in a Tweet:
Yes, Printrbelt will be open source & affordable. I'll do larger sizes. Already have bits designed for 12"x12" window, but this first.
So we can expect larger models in the future.
Short teaser:
More detailed presentation by Brook:
Brook writes:
The Printrbot Printrbelt allows for very long prints, multiple copies of one print, or a whole project of files to be printed in one shot. It is a beta, but too fun to keep to ourselves.
We are working with Polar3D, who has already hacked a printer like this onto an existing printer frame. They are working on the firmware magic in a cloud service to make this mind-bending twist on 3d printing easy for anyone. This will be a neat partnership that takes an important step forward in desktop manufacturing. Stay tuned for more on this wild 3d printer that brings a new superpower to your desktop at an affordable price.
SPRING Technologies, developer of software for the optimal and flexible use of CNC machines, including simulation and optimizing CAM programs, will demonstrate its flagship NCSIMUL SOLUTIONS package at WESTEC 2017, Booth 2538. The manufacturing event will be held September 12 – 14 in Los Angeles. The latest 2017 version of NCSIMUL Solutions sets a new benchmark for comprehensive control of the machining process, providing ease of use, flexibility and automation for manufacturers to move towards Industry 4.0. The two main modules, NCSIMUL MACHINE and NCSIMUL 4CAM will be highlighted at the show.
"For manufacturers requiring 5-axis simulation software for machining centers or complex mill-turn multi-axis simulation, we are hopeful they will put us on their "must see" list at WESTC," Silvère Proisy, North American Operations Director for SPRING Technologies.
Among the new features of NCSIMUL SOLUTIONS 2017 and the NCSIMUL 4CAM module are: New probing strategies; support for turning after milling, for one-click NC machine turnaround; cutting tool management with 3D definitions; one-click project update; project export/import; automatic performance analysis; automatic graphic detection of machining risk zones and less than optimal cutting conditions, and more.
NCSIMUL MACHINE is an innovative CNC software solution providing realistic CNC simulation of the machining process. Users can simulate, verify, optimize and review machine programs based on the actual characteristics of the machine tools. Three-dimensional graphics help to avoid machining crashes while powerful algorithms and embedded process-based knowledge enable cutting conditions to be optimized. NCSIMUL MACHINE provides machining verification in three steps: investigates and corrects coding errors, simulates to locate collisions and correct motion errors, and validates the program. The benefits are many, including reducing the time spent on debugging programs; preventing the costly risk of spindle collision, tool breakage and scrap; and improving cycle times and process optimization efficiencies.
Further, SPRING has focused its R&D over the last year on optimizing the performance of NCSIMUL 4CAM, the award-winning CAM add-on module that can be integrated with the software package. Based on SPRING's expertise in the field, NCSIMUL 4CAM 2017 effectively brings users more efficient processes and supports their best practices with existing CAM software products. With the new version of NCSIMUL 4CAM, manufacturers now have a decision-making tool that is reliable, flexible, secured and automated for selecting the production resources they want to deploy.
ABOUT SPRING TECHNOLOGIES
SPRING Technologies develops software solutions designed to optimize manufacturing companies' CNC machines to reduce costs and maximize productivity. Its product NCSIMUL SOLUTIONS® provides a complete and integrated mastery of the production process from Methods departments to Workshop including NC programming, machining simulation, cutting tool management, CNC program management and real time machine status monitoring. This unique approach simplifies the digital chain and provides needed tools and flexibility for the implementation of automated factories.
Based in France, Germany, PR China and the USA, the company was founded in 1983 and collaborates with manufacturers in aerospace and defense, transportation, energy, industrial equipment and medical devices, using CAM software's such as CATIA, NX, CREO, TOPSOLIDCAM, MASTERCAM,... Through its global network of resellers, SPRING supports its customers all over the world.
NCEXPERIENCE, NCSIMUL, Optitool and NCdoc are registered trademarks of SPRING Technologies.
Knowing how the edges of acrylic light up when illuminated I've always had in mind putting a strip of colored LED lights behind my acrylic figure sculpture and generating some images:
Maslow CNC is a novel approach to the cutting of large material sheets. It is a hanging or suspended CNC router. It is open sourced and it comes at $350 price point.
Tech specs:
Work Space: 4' X 8'
Encoder Resolution: 8148 steps/rev
Repeatability: +- 1/64th inch (.4 mm) or better
Max feed rate 48 inches/minute
AC Voltage: 110-250 volts
DC Voltage: 12 volts
Connection: USB
OS for Software: Mac, Windows, Linux
Size: H: 6' 8" W: 10' D: 1' 7"
Here is the design overview:
Video showing Maslow cutting out an OpenDesk chair:
Here is another revolutionary step forward in 3D printing: the desktop metal 3d printer. It deposits metal "paste" made from metal powder with a polymer binder in a similar way as any common FDM machine and the parts are then sintered in a microwave enhanced furnace chamber. The price is comparable to higher-end professional FDM machine from a few years ago. They also sell production cell that has much higher capacity for more demanding production facilities.
Tech specs:
Build volume: 12 in x 8 in x 8 in (305 mm x 205 mm x 205 mm)
Materials: Steel, Titanium, Aluminum, Copper and other undisclosed materials
Layer height: 50 μm (minimum)
Dimensions: 60 in x 49 in x 30 in (1500 mm x 1250 mm x 750 mm)
Technology: Microwave Enhanced Sintering
Price: $120,000 for the desktop version, $250,000+ for manufacturing cell production system
Desktop Metal presentation video:
Here is a much more in-depth video by GoEngineer with many details about the machines, materials, and the process:
Here is a new DIY CO2 laser cutter project from Instructables. It was developed by Michiel Deschout and uses relatively available materials and parts like 3030 aluminum T-slot profiles, Arduino and some 3d printed parts. The total cost was some 1900 Euro.
The presented setup uses 40W laser, but the power could probably be increased.
Very detailed step-by-step build guide with all the files can be found at:
If you are into 3d printing then this is THE style of jacket you should wear!
Detailed project description:
This jacket has 40 neopixels sewn to the back to display the status of the 40 3D Printers in Duke’s Innovation Co-Lab Studio. Each light corresponds to one printer and is either blue (in use), green (available), or red (offline) to show the real-time status of the printer. The printer status is retrieved via Duke’s Innovation Co-Lab’s 3D printer status API, documented here: http://apidocs.colab.duke.edu/.
Christoph Laimer published another very useful project. He developed a fully 3D printable and working parametric slew bearings. Since they are developed to be sturdy they can be used in many different project where a simpler 3D printed ball bearing would fail.
Since the design is parametric, you can adapt it to fit your needs. One version even has conical bearings.
Project description:
Ball-bearings are very popular for 3d-printing. However they often fail for real applications. Using Fusion 360 I've created a parametric design of a "Crossed Roller Slew Bearing". The result is a pretty accurate and robust bearing. The bearing including the rollers is 3d-printed in separate parts. There are a few screws needed to clamp the two halves of the inner race together.
THERO is a privacy project developed by Román Torre and Ángeles Angulo, that uses a Raspberry Pi with TOR routing. By moving the front panel you change your connection to the external Internet and your privacy. It uses 3d printing to make the full enclosure and mold for the concrete encased version.
Here are two videos showing how the project was developed:
Prusa released a new software aimed at beginners: the PrusaControl, which is a simplified interface for Slic3r Prusa Edition.
Here is the description from the news release:
PrusaControl is an alternative user interface for Slic3r Prusa Edition. Slic3r Prusa Edition was the first step with a great success and we are extremely proud when people mention they switched back from S3D. But Slic3r has one problem, it is rather complex and intimidating for new users. We cannot do much about this, it is its nature. And that is why PrusaControl was born. It is parallel to Slic3r PE for newcomers to 3D printing, we distil the settings down for the user and put our knowledge to the backend to get the same results. The main goal is to open an object and hit print. PrusaControl is simple, novice friendly and smart.
