3D Printing News

Tuckerfan · Jan 18, 2018

I can see no way in which this could be a bad idea.

3D Printing with Explosives

Researchers devise a way to 3D print with energetic materials such as explosives, propellants, and pyrotechnics. This could get interesting.

Researchers at Purdue have developed a method that deposits tiny amounts of energetic materials (explosives, propellants, and pyrotechnics) using the same technology as an inkjet printer. This research combines the university’s expertise in both energetic materials and 3D printing

Many micromechanical systems incorporate energetic materials in their operation. For example, an automotive airbag deploys using a small amount of solid propellant. But as devices get smaller, the need for micro-level energetics becomes more critical.

“Our solution was to combine two components as we print them,” says Jeff Rhoads, professor of mechanical engineering, and principal investigator on the project. “We can have a fuel—aluminum—and an oxidizer—copper oxide—in two separate suspensions, which are largely inert. Then, with our custom inkjet printer, we can deposit the two in a specific overlapping pattern, combining them on a substrate to form nanothermite.”

The mount of explosives is only in the picoliters, so it was a challenge to achieve the right droplet volume and pattern. The other challenge was designing a printer that could deposit droplets accurately. The researchers’ solution was to use a tube surrounded by material that flexes when a voltage is applied. The flexing action squeezes the tube, creating picoliter droplets. Varying the voltage varies the size of the droplets and users can increase or decrease the size of the droplet in 0.1-micron increments.

The Purdue machine holds the tube and nozzle stationary and moves a stage below it to form whatever shape is required. The stage can move with 0.1 micron precision.

The resulting nanothermite reacts just as quickly and powerfully as thermites applied in traditional ways. It burns at 2,500 Kelvin (over 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit), generates a lot of thrust and heat, and makes a nice loud shockwave.
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Tuckerfan · Dec 8, 2018

When you don't have time to wait.

MIT team develops 3D printer that's 10x faster than comparable 3D printers

Desktop 3D printers are fantastic at creating high-quality and complex parts on demand, but their greatest weakness has always been speed. They can only print one object at a time, one thin layer at a time. And there are several speed-limiting factors to FDM/FFF 3D printers, with the main four being: the amount of force that can be applied to the filament as it’s pushed through the nozzle, how quickly heat can be transferred to the filament to melt it, how fast the printhead can move around the build area, and the rate that the material solidifies after it’s extruded because it needs to support the next layer.

The solidifying problem they solved like most other developers, by blasting air at it. The remaining hurdles required more creativity. When filament is pushed, it’s typically done by running it between a drive gear and an idler; tension is put on the drive gear, which has little teeth that bite into the filament and push it down as the drive gear turns. If there’s too much tension on the filament, the drive gear eats into the filament and builds up with plastic before eventually losing grip. Too little tension results in slippage and gaps in extrusion.

Go and Hart decided to thread the filament and run it through a threaded nut; when the nut is turned by a motor (via belt), the filament goes down. Anti-twist rollers prevent the filament from twisting as the nut turns. This method of extrusion is not only faster but also much more precise than the typical drive gear setup.

The next holdup of heating the filament fast enough to melt it completely was addressed with lasers. A quartz chamber is lined with gold reflectors, and as the filament goes through the chamber a laser is bounced around inside and pre-heats the filament before it goes through a traditional heating block. All technologies are improved with lasers.

Finally, Go and Hart designed a servo-driven parallel gantry system that rapidly and accurately moves the printhead around with little backlash, the shake or ripple movement that most desktop 3D printers exhibit when printing too fast. Here, the speed is mostly enabled by using a heavy-duty frame and powerful motors rather than a novel solution.

The new printer smoked the competition in speed tests, including a $100,000 commercial 3D printer. The 3D printer built by the research team cost $15,000 so this isn't likely to hit the market any time soon. This extrusion method is seven to 10 times faster, producing up to 127 cubic centimeters per hour. The quality of the prints could be better, likely improved by tuning the retraction and pathing settings, but the quality is still very good considering the speed at which they were 3D printed.

Hart also worked with Sebastian Pattinson, a lecturer at the University of Cambridge, to demonstrate a technique of 3D printing with cellulose. Cellulose is cheap, renewable, and has desirable mechanical properties, but 3D printing with cellulose has proven difficult due to its tendency to decompose when heated. By treating cellulose with acetate, they could dissolve it in acetone and successfully extrude it with a 3D printer. The acetone evaporates (and is captured), leaving just the cellulose acetate. A final bath in sodium hydroxide removes the acetate and a cellulose part is the result. The duo 3D printed a set of medical tweezers and even infused 3D prints with an antimicrobial dye that proved to be 95% more resistant to bacteria.
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Tuckerfan · Dec 20, 2018

3D printing bones.

Indian researchers 3D bioprint load-bearing bones

The race to 3D print bone is on, with entrants from around the world. A team of Indian researchers from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and IIT Kanpur recently pulled ahead with a breakthrough involving 3D printed cartilage that then becomes bone with the addition of thyroid hormones. The discovery will surely accelerate the development of bioprinting technologies and techniques.

Bone is formed in two ways. For non-load-bearing bones like the skull, mesenchymal stem cells differentiate directly into bone cells. For load-bearing bones such as femurs, the stem cells first differentiate into a cartilage template that then over time undergoes more differentiation into bone cells. Thus far, attempts to create load-bearing bones using scaffolds have differentiated stem cells directly into bone cells, skipping the cartilage phase that occurs naturally in our bodies. “The efficacy of such bone constructs is yet to be demonstrated in bearing loads. There is very poor correlation between bone constructs developed in vitro and in vivo. Also, gene expression pattern of these tissue-engineered bones largely differ from human adult bone,” commented Professor Sourabh Ghosh from the Department of Textile Technology at IIT Delhi.

The team decided to mimic the cartilage step by 3D bioprinting a cartilage scaffold that was then treated with a thyroid hormone (Triiodothyronine or T3) that triggers the differentiation of cartilage into bone-like cells. Their 3D printed bone exhibits gene and protein expressions similar to those found in naturally occurring bone, and necessary cellular signaling pathways for osteogenic differentiation are also upregulated. “When we followed a different strategy to develop bone there is more similarity to limb skeleton development in vivo,” said Professor Ghosh.

The cartilage scaffold provided a suitable substrate for what would become the extracellular matrix of the bone. Professor Amitabha Bandyopadhyay from the Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering at IIT Kanpur explains, “The load-bearing capacity of a bone depends primarily on the quality of extracellular matrix. In loading-bearing bones, the extracellular matrix comprises 95% while bone cells are just 5%. So if you are trying to fabricate a load-bearing bone construct it is better to have more extracellular matrix. Compared to bone formed directly from stem cells, the extracellular matrix of the bone construct developed through the intermediate cartilage process was 10s of times higher.”

The mesenchymal stem cell-to-cartilage phase takes about three weeks and the cartilage-to-bone step takes another two weeks. While the study doesn’t investigate the mechanical properties of the 3D printed bone, Professor Ghosh said their preliminary tests show it to be stronger than bones differentiated directly from stem cells. Thanks to advances like this, it’s possible that 3D printed bone graphs and patches for repairing extensive breaks will be in use in as little as five years. That’s great news for professional athletes and clumsy people alike.
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Tuckerfan · Aug 25, 2019

Faster printing of human tissue.

Bioprinting complex living tissue in just a few seconds

Tissue engineers create artificial organs and tissues that can be used to develop and test new drugs, repair damaged tissue and even replace entire organs in the human body. However, current fabrication methods limit their ability to produce free-form shapes and achieve high cell viability.

Researchers at the Laboratory of Applied Photonics Devices (LAPD), in EPFL's School of Engineering, working with colleagues from Utrecht University, have come up with an optical technique that takes just a few seconds to sculpt complex tissue shapes in a biocompatible hydrogel containing stem cells. The resulting tissue can then be vascularized by adding endothelial cells.

The team describes this high-resolution printing method in an article appearing in Advanced Materials. The technique will change the way cellular engineering specialists work, allowing them to create a new breed of personalized, functional bioprinted organs.

Printing a femur or a meniscus

The technique is called volumetric bioprinting. To create tissue, the researchers project a laser down a spinning tube filled with a stem-cell-laden hydrogel. They shape the tissue by focusing the energy from the light at specific locations, which then solidify. After just a few seconds, a complex 3-D shape appears, suspended in the gel. The stem cells in the hydrogel are largely unaffected by this process. The researchers then introduce endothelial cells to vascularize the tissue.

The researchers have shown that it's possible to create a tissue construct measuring several centimeters, which is a clinically useful size. Examples of their work include a valve similar to a heart valve, a meniscus and a complex-shaped part of the femur. They were also able to build interlocking structures.

"Unlike conventional bioprinting—a slow, layer-by-layer process—our technique is fast and offers greater design freedom without jeopardizing the cells' viability," says Damien Loterie, an LAPD researcher and one of the study's coauthors.

Replicating the human body

The researchers' work is a real game changer. "The characteristics of human tissue depend to a large extent on a highly sophisticated extracellular structure, and the ability to replicate this complexity could lead to a number of real clinical applications," says Paul Delrot, another coauthor. Using this technique, labs could mass-produce artificial tissues or organs at unprecedented speed. This sort of replicability is essential when it comes to testing new drugs in vitro, and it could help obviate the need for animal testing—a clear ethical advantage as well as a way of reducing costs.

"This is just the beginning. We believe that our method is inherently scalable towards mass fabrication and could be used to produce a wide range of cellular tissue models, not to mention medical devices and personalized implants," says Christophe Moser, the head of the LAPD.

The researchers plan to market their groundbreaking technique through a spin-off.
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Video of the process at the link.

Tuckerfan · Sep 2, 2019

3D printed telescope for hobbyists.

A 3-D printed telescope: The analog sky drifter

A unique 3-D printed telescope named the Analog Sky Drifter may spark a revolution in amateur telescope making.

In past years, the price of serious backyard telescopes has dropped considerably. Back until the 1960s, a six-inch aperture Newtonian was a 'big scope," and the only option to gain access to something larger was to build it yourself. But the advent of two innovations that came on the scene in the 1970s—the Dobsonian mount and the Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector—put serious optics in the hands of backyard observers.

Now 3-D printing technology may just bring things around full circle. So why build a telescope today? Often, constructing your own telescope can give you those one of a kind features that aren't available on mass-produced telescopes.

In the case of Robert Asumendi, his quest began with looking for a telescope that addressed his severe astigmatism. The result: The Analog Sky Drifter, a unique binocular telescope constructed almost entirely of 3-D-printed parts.

Guiding people to the eyepiece in the dark is always a continual challenge at star parties. We've found that after more than a half-century of observing, reduced night vision, "floaters," and an overall aging of our "Mk-1 eyeballs' have also taken their toll. Binoculars do add a more comfortable way to enjoy the sky, but they bring their own challenges, including diopter spacing (the distance between the pupils of the eyes is slightly different for everyone) individual focusing for each eye, and more.
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It's a long article so I'm not C&P the whole thing, but besides it being cheaper than a commercial scope, it has a lot of features that a commercial scope doesn't have.

Here's a pic of what it looks like:

Tuckerfan · Jan 16, 2020

Because while they're not all that good at shooting folks, they haven't figured out how to duck.

Utah man builds bulletproof stormtrooper suit with 3-D printer

A man in Saratoga Springs made a stormtrooper, suit from scratch that’s nearly ready for battle in a galaxy far, far away.

The latest Star Wars film has been a box office blockbuster and a must-see movie for many in Utah. It’s even inspired some unusual creativity.

“I’m just a Star Wars fan,” said Nils Rasmusson, a computer software engineer with a lot of hobbies. “I love the outfits, and the characters on the dark side guys in particular.”

Rasmusson has always been a Star Wars fan, and decided to make a Stormtrooper suit with a friend.

“(It’s) just a nerdy, fun idea we came up with and decided to give it a try,” he said.

He’s always loved making things, but really expanded his hobby when he bought his first 3-D printer five years ago.

“This is outside of my usual stuff,” he said, pointing at the suit. “I have a 3-D printing channel and a DIY channel.”

He’s become pretty proficient with the printer and shares do-it-yourself ideas on YouTube.

“I kind of incorporated all of the things that I’ve learned in 3-D printing and DIY into this project,” said Rasmusson.

Over the course of nine months, he printed the suit and put it together.

“I had to figure out – how do you put all of these pieces together? There’s no tutorial or instructions on this,” he said.

The helmet alone is made up of 19 different pieces fabricated on the printer.

Rasmusson said he used five printers, humming for about 400 to 600 hours, to fabricate the suit out of plastic filament.

It’s even bulletproof. His friend works for a company that bulletproofs cars.

“Stormtroopers don’t do well in the movies. One shot and they’re dead,” he said. “So, could we give them a little protection?“

The helmet, one shin guard, and the back plate are bulletproof. It would have been too expensive to bulletproof the whole suit.

When tested, the bulletproof helmet did its job, but it took a real beating on the firing range. So, Rasmusson cut a slice out of the face with a water jet in order to see how it had performed on the inside.

For the most part, it did a great job with the exception of the eye guard, which was not bulletproof to start off with.

“It actually did its job, really well, of stopping all the bullets,” he said.

The bullets trapped in the suit by the bulletproofing did cause bulges in the fabric.

“I would be a little bit afraid to wear this and get shot at,” said Rasmusson. “That would be pretty scary, but it did its job. I was pretty impressed.”

He’s pretty sure this is the first time someone has made a bulletproof suit with a 3-D printer. He knows there are applications for this kind of suit In the military.

It is, however, tricky to wear.

“It is rigid. These are very hard plastic pieces, so it’s not a comfortable suit to wear,” he said.

Next time, he said, he may try a softer fabric.

“It’s an adventure just to try to put this together and have a decent looking thing come out at the end,” Rasmusson said.
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Pics and video at the link.

Tuckerfan · Jan 21, 2020

Tuckerfan · Feb 27, 2020

Would you like fries with your 3D printed project?

McDonald’s Deep Fat Fryer Oil Could be Used as a Biodegradable SLA Resin at a Cost of $227 a Tonne

Professor Andre Simpson at the University of Toronto is the director of the school’s Environmental NMR Center, dedicated to environmental research. This research uses an analytical tool that is called NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) spectrometer, which is similar to how an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) works for medical diagnostics.

Simpson and his team use the NMR spectrometers to look inside tiny living organisms, which helps them understand their biochemical response when there’s a change in the environment.

But a big challenge was heading towards the team when Simpson bought a 3D printer back in 2017 for the lab. His idea was to use the 3D printer to build custom parts that would help keep organisms and samples alive inside the NMR spectrometer. The problem was that the resin needed for SLA 3D printing was expensive (around $300 a liter) and the university’s financial support for the research didn’t cover the cost.

However, Simpson spotted a connection when analyzing the resin. The plastic resin’s molecules were similar to fats that can be found in cooking oil. That’s when Simpson realized the possibility of turning cooking oil into resin for 3D printing. But, yet again, a new challenge was presented for Simpson and his team: finding old cooking oil form a restaurant’s deep fryers to test in the lab.

“We reached out to all of the fast-food restaurants around us. They all said no,” said Simpson.

Despite having no luck when the team contacted several major national fast food chains, the only one that responded was McDonald’s. The restaurant agreed to give Simpson and his team 10 liters of waste oil from a McDonald’s. Back in the lab, the oil was filtered as to take out any food particles. Rajshree Ghosh Biswas, a second year PhD student, joined the team to synthesize small batches of oil, as to convert it into a high-quality resin. To test the resin, butterflies were 3D printed on an Autodesk Ember.

On September, 2019, the team finally printed a high-quality and detailed butterfly as tiny as 100 micrometers.

“We did analysis on the butterfly. It felt rubbery to touch, with a waxy surface that repelled water,” explained Simpson.

The butterfly was “structurally stable” and it didn’t break apart. But what also excited Simpson was that the created butterfly was potentially biodegradable and compostable. He buried a sample butterfly in soil and, two weeks later, 20% of it disappeared.

“If you bury it in soil, microbes will start to break it down because essentially it’s just fat. It’s something that microbes actually like to eat and they do a good job at breaking it down,” said Simpson.

“This is also a great way to reuse and recycle waste cooking oil,” said Ghosh Biswas.

“I was impressed by the research initiative and happy to contribute to something that could possibly be helpful to future generations,” said Terri Toms, the McDonald’s franchisee who gave the oil to Simpson and his team.

Although they are no longer receiving oil from McDonald’s, they still hope their research, published on December 2019 in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, gets noticed by the industry.

In their research, the team wrote: “Every year, it costs millions of dollars for fast food restaurants to process waste, including waste cooking oil. Most recycled waste cooking oil is currently used in the production of soap and biodiesel. It may be transformative for recycling programs if high-value commodities can be manufactured directly from it.”

The team estimates that their resin would cost around $227 per tonne which would be an incredible reduction in resin cost from the $150 to $300 per liter that one would typically pay today. The resin used would need more testing, of course, to determine what the parts could be used for and how they would perform outside the realm of microfluidics and in the real world. If this could be used for one limited application such as lost wax casting for jewelry, for example, it could really make SLA much more viable for that particular application. Perhaps this wouldn’t work and furthermore parts would only have a limited life span, but then they could serve as draft parts used in some cases for example. If this product works more widely it could completely revolutionize some SLA applications making them much more viable, inexpensive and safer.
Click to expand...

ed629 · Feb 27, 2020

The Night Funky said: ↑

Would you like fries with your 3D printed project?

McDonald’s Deep Fat Fryer Oil Could be Used as a Biodegradable SLA Resin at a Cost of $227 a Tonne

Professor Andre Simpson at the University of Toronto is the director of the school’s Environmental NMR Center, dedicated to environmental research. This research uses an analytical tool that is called NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) spectrometer, which is similar to how an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) works for medical diagnostics.

Simpson and his team use the NMR spectrometers to look inside tiny living organisms, which helps them understand their biochemical response when there’s a change in the environment.

But a big challenge was heading towards the team when Simpson bought a 3D printer back in 2017 for the lab. His idea was to use the 3D printer to build custom parts that would help keep organisms and samples alive inside the NMR spectrometer. The problem was that the resin needed for SLA 3D printing was expensive (around $300 a liter) and the university’s financial support for the research didn’t cover the cost.

However, Simpson spotted a connection when analyzing the resin. The plastic resin’s molecules were similar to fats that can be found in cooking oil. That’s when Simpson realized the possibility of turning cooking oil into resin for 3D printing. But, yet again, a new challenge was presented for Simpson and his team: finding old cooking oil form a restaurant’s deep fryers to test in the lab.

“We reached out to all of the fast-food restaurants around us. They all said no,” said Simpson.

Despite having no luck when the team contacted several major national fast food chains, the only one that responded was McDonald’s. The restaurant agreed to give Simpson and his team 10 liters of waste oil from a McDonald’s. Back in the lab, the oil was filtered as to take out any food particles. Rajshree Ghosh Biswas, a second year PhD student, joined the team to synthesize small batches of oil, as to convert it into a high-quality resin. To test the resin, butterflies were 3D printed on an Autodesk Ember.

On September, 2019, the team finally printed a high-quality and detailed butterfly as tiny as 100 micrometers.

“We did analysis on the butterfly. It felt rubbery to touch, with a waxy surface that repelled water,” explained Simpson.

The butterfly was “structurally stable” and it didn’t break apart. But what also excited Simpson was that the created butterfly was potentially biodegradable and compostable. He buried a sample butterfly in soil and, two weeks later, 20% of it disappeared.

“If you bury it in soil, microbes will start to break it down because essentially it’s just fat. It’s something that microbes actually like to eat and they do a good job at breaking it down,” said Simpson.

“This is also a great way to reuse and recycle waste cooking oil,” said Ghosh Biswas.

“I was impressed by the research initiative and happy to contribute to something that could possibly be helpful to future generations,” said Terri Toms, the McDonald’s franchisee who gave the oil to Simpson and his team.

Although they are no longer receiving oil from McDonald’s, they still hope their research, published on December 2019 in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, gets noticed by the industry.

In their research, the team wrote: “Every year, it costs millions of dollars for fast food restaurants to process waste, including waste cooking oil. Most recycled waste cooking oil is currently used in the production of soap and biodiesel. It may be transformative for recycling programs if high-value commodities can be manufactured directly from it.”

The team estimates that their resin would cost around $227 per tonne which would be an incredible reduction in resin cost from the $150 to $300 per liter that one would typically pay today. The resin used would need more testing, of course, to determine what the parts could be used for and how they would perform outside the realm of microfluidics and in the real world. If this could be used for one limited application such as lost wax casting for jewelry, for example, it could really make SLA much more viable for that particular application. Perhaps this wouldn’t work and furthermore parts would only have a limited life span, but then they could serve as draft parts used in some cases for example. If this product works more widely it could completely revolutionize some SLA applications making them much more viable, inexpensive and safer.
Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Why didn't just buy the cooking oil directly? The ingredients for McDonald's frying oil are high oleic low linoleic canola oil and/or canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, citric acid, dimethylpolysiloxane. They were asking various chains, so just buy a 5 gallon jug for about $40 or so. It would most likely still work.

Tuckerfan · Jul 4, 2020

3D printed vegan steaks are coming.

World’s First 3D-Printed Juicy Vegan Steak to Hit Restaurants This Year

With the speed 3D printing technologies are advancing, it looks like the question that will baffle couples and lead to indecisive fights will be "What shall we print for dinner?" in a few years. Redefine Meat, an Israeli company that was founded in 2018, has unveiled an "Alt-Steak" which looks and tastes like the real thing and it is to hit Israeli restaurants this year.

Redefine Meat is quite literally out to define meat, and the company states that it can create sustainable, high-protein, no-cholesterol steaks thanks to advanced 3D printing technologies.

Eshchar Ben-Shitrit, who founded the company, first known as Jet Eat, back in 2018, stated that this announcement "marks the start of a new are in alternative meat. “We are actually printing steaks," he said. "We have a product. It is something we are doing already in large amounts."

The beef will be tested at selected high-end restaurants in Israel later in 2020. The product will be offered as part of a chef's dish and the production of the 3D meat printers and alt-meat formulations will be ramped up after getting feedback from high-level chefs and butchers.

The next step will be market distribution in 2021.

Its charm is at its technology
The company developed the patented tech that does 3D prints meat substitutes using plant-based formulations. It quite literally uses "ink" to "print" the steaks, and the steaks are made out of soy and pea proteins, coconut fat and sunflower oil, natural colors, and flavors.

During a phone interview with the Times of Israel, Ben-Shitrit said, "It is very unique to us; we are the only ones doing this. We come very close to how the composition of meat is in nature, and our 3D printer essentially is like a very complicated robot that knows how to take each one of these ingredients and in a very accurate manner… builds a food product."

Master food engineering
The plant-based products are combined with water and put into three ink cartridges. These cartridges are loaded into their 3D printer which is the size of a big fridge.

After the materials go through food engineering in the printer, the machine ejects the product, printing a mix of fat, blood, and meat to give the structure of muscle that is similar to a cow's.

Ben-Shitrit stated that the machine prints "one dot over the other, and the product is built from almost one million dots." The software can dictate the type of steak the printer prints.

"By using separate formulations for muscle, fat, and blood, we can focus on each individual aspect of creating the perfect alt-steak product. This is unique to our 3D printing technology and lets us achieve unprecedented control," he said.

As of now, each machine can produce six kilograms (13.3 pounds) an hour and it will eventually reach 200 kilograms of meat a day.

Not only creating a vegan dish but also offering an option to everyone else
The company's main goal is not to create a vegan dish, but also to disrupt the food supply chain globally since meat production is known to have a negative impact on the environment.

The 3D printing revolution might remove the need to source meat from the cattle and provide a new, more sustainable way to enjoy meat in the future.
Click to expand...

ed629 · Jul 4, 2020

This...

Looks like something that would have come out of this.

We Are Borg · Jul 4, 2020

The Night Funky said: ↑

3D printed vegan steaks are coming.

World’s First 3D-Printed Juicy Vegan Steak to Hit Restaurants This Year

With the speed 3D printing technologies are advancing, it looks like the question that will baffle couples and lead to indecisive fights will be "What shall we print for dinner?" in a few years. Redefine Meat, an Israeli company that was founded in 2018, has unveiled an "Alt-Steak" which looks and tastes like the real thing and it is to hit Israeli restaurants this year.

Redefine Meat is quite literally out to define meat, and the company states that it can create sustainable, high-protein, no-cholesterol steaks thanks to advanced 3D printing technologies.

Eshchar Ben-Shitrit, who founded the company, first known as Jet Eat, back in 2018, stated that this announcement "marks the start of a new are in alternative meat. “We are actually printing steaks," he said. "We have a product. It is something we are doing already in large amounts."

The beef will be tested at selected high-end restaurants in Israel later in 2020. The product will be offered as part of a chef's dish and the production of the 3D meat printers and alt-meat formulations will be ramped up after getting feedback from high-level chefs and butchers.

The next step will be market distribution in 2021.

Its charm is at its technology
The company developed the patented tech that does 3D prints meat substitutes using plant-based formulations. It quite literally uses "ink" to "print" the steaks, and the steaks are made out of soy and pea proteins, coconut fat and sunflower oil, natural colors, and flavors.

During a phone interview with the Times of Israel, Ben-Shitrit said, "It is very unique to us; we are the only ones doing this. We come very close to how the composition of meat is in nature, and our 3D printer essentially is like a very complicated robot that knows how to take each one of these ingredients and in a very accurate manner… builds a food product."

Master food engineering
The plant-based products are combined with water and put into three ink cartridges. These cartridges are loaded into their 3D printer which is the size of a big fridge.

After the materials go through food engineering in the printer, the machine ejects the product, printing a mix of fat, blood, and meat to give the structure of muscle that is similar to a cow's.

Ben-Shitrit stated that the machine prints "one dot over the other, and the product is built from almost one million dots." The software can dictate the type of steak the printer prints.

"By using separate formulations for muscle, fat, and blood, we can focus on each individual aspect of creating the perfect alt-steak product. This is unique to our 3D printing technology and lets us achieve unprecedented control," he said.

As of now, each machine can produce six kilograms (13.3 pounds) an hour and it will eventually reach 200 kilograms of meat a day.

Not only creating a vegan dish but also offering an option to everyone else
The company's main goal is not to create a vegan dish, but also to disrupt the food supply chain globally since meat production is known to have a negative impact on the environment.

The 3D printing revolution might remove the need to source meat from the cattle and provide a new, more sustainable way to enjoy meat in the future.
Click to expand...

Click to expand...

So the Amazon series Upload was bang on the money.

Wow.

Tuckerfan · Jul 4, 2020

We Are Borg said: ↑

The Night Funky said: ↑

3D printed vegan steaks are coming.

World’s First 3D-Printed Juicy Vegan Steak to Hit Restaurants This Year

With the speed 3D printing technologies are advancing, it looks like the question that will baffle couples and lead to indecisive fights will be "What shall we print for dinner?" in a few years. Redefine Meat, an Israeli company that was founded in 2018, has unveiled an "Alt-Steak" which looks and tastes like the real thing and it is to hit Israeli restaurants this year.

Redefine Meat is quite literally out to define meat, and the company states that it can create sustainable, high-protein, no-cholesterol steaks thanks to advanced 3D printing technologies.

Eshchar Ben-Shitrit, who founded the company, first known as Jet Eat, back in 2018, stated that this announcement "marks the start of a new are in alternative meat. “We are actually printing steaks," he said. "We have a product. It is something we are doing already in large amounts."

The beef will be tested at selected high-end restaurants in Israel later in 2020. The product will be offered as part of a chef's dish and the production of the 3D meat printers and alt-meat formulations will be ramped up after getting feedback from high-level chefs and butchers.

The next step will be market distribution in 2021.

Its charm is at its technology
The company developed the patented tech that does 3D prints meat substitutes using plant-based formulations. It quite literally uses "ink" to "print" the steaks, and the steaks are made out of soy and pea proteins, coconut fat and sunflower oil, natural colors, and flavors.

During a phone interview with the Times of Israel, Ben-Shitrit said, "It is very unique to us; we are the only ones doing this. We come very close to how the composition of meat is in nature, and our 3D printer essentially is like a very complicated robot that knows how to take each one of these ingredients and in a very accurate manner… builds a food product."

Master food engineering
The plant-based products are combined with water and put into three ink cartridges. These cartridges are loaded into their 3D printer which is the size of a big fridge.

After the materials go through food engineering in the printer, the machine ejects the product, printing a mix of fat, blood, and meat to give the structure of muscle that is similar to a cow's.

Ben-Shitrit stated that the machine prints "one dot over the other, and the product is built from almost one million dots." The software can dictate the type of steak the printer prints.

"By using separate formulations for muscle, fat, and blood, we can focus on each individual aspect of creating the perfect alt-steak product. This is unique to our 3D printing technology and lets us achieve unprecedented control," he said.

As of now, each machine can produce six kilograms (13.3 pounds) an hour and it will eventually reach 200 kilograms of meat a day.

Not only creating a vegan dish but also offering an option to everyone else
The company's main goal is not to create a vegan dish, but also to disrupt the food supply chain globally since meat production is known to have a negative impact on the environment.

The 3D printing revolution might remove the need to source meat from the cattle and provide a new, more sustainable way to enjoy meat in the future.
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So the Amazon series Upload was bang on the money.

Wow.
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Well, people have been talking about doing something like this for some time now (back in the early days of this thread, even), these folks just seem to be the first ones to actually do it with fake meat. I'll be interested to see how it tastes, since I found the Beyond Burgers to be rather disappointing in their flavor, to say the least.

Tuckerfan · Aug 8, 2020

Tuckerfan · Nov 23, 2020

Another way to get around the limitations of having a small printer.

Crowdfunding Smash: A 3D Printer That Can Print Pieces of Infinite Length

Creality has developed what they call an "Infinite-Z 3D Printer." By tilting their nozzle at a 45-degree angle that prints onto a conveyor belt, rather than a fixed bed, their 3D Print Mill can theoretically print to any length.

Of course, in reality you'll be limited by outfeed, but the development team has successfully printed in lengths up to six meters (about 20 feet). "All in one piece," they write, "produced by a machine only 66cm (about two feet) long."

The Kickstarter funding is bonkers; they were seeking just $13,000 to get production going, but at press time they had $947,760, with 24 days left to pledge.
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Tuckerfan · Nov 29, 2020

matthunter · Dec 2, 2020

I'm 3D printing a wine rack.

Despite a problem with the nozzle, my Flashforge Finder is still going strong! Just have to offset the Z-axis by 0.7mm.

Tuckerfan · Feb 26, 2021

These guys are going to be 3D printing rocket engines.

Orbex commissions 3D printer capable of producing 35+ rocket engines a year

On the heels of raising $24 million in December, Orbex announced Feb. 24 that it has commissioned AMCM to build a large-volume 3D printer for manufacturing its rocket engines.

The Scottish microlauncher startup is currently developing Prime, a two-stage launch vehicle powered by six first-stage and one second-stage biopropane engines. The maiden flight of the vehicle is slated for 2022 from a proposed launch facility in Sutherland, Scotland.

Orbex said the 3D printer will be the largest in Europe, enabling the company to produce more than 35 rocket engines a year. Initially, however, the printer will be used to perfect its first- and second-stage engine designs.

“Although our rocket engines and other critical systems are already quite mature after years of testing, a large-scale in-house 3D printing system like this gives us far greater speed and agility as we ramp up production,” said Orbex CEO Chris Larmour. “It means we can continue to iterate and drive up performance even further.”

The 3D printer being created for Orbex is based on the four-laser AMCM M 4K-4 metal printing platform, which the German technology company began mass producing last June. A similar AMCM 3D printer has been utilized by U.S.-based microlaunch startup Launcher to produce test prototypes of its E-2 rocket engine.

In addition to the 3D printer itself, the multimillion dollar deal includes post-processing machinery and an automated imaging-based inspection system to validate the quality of prints.

To accommodate the 3D printer and its associated equipment, Orbex says it will expand the factory floor space of its development facility in Forres, Scotland by 1,000 square meters.

The Orbex Forres facility was opened in 2019. The 2,000-square-meter facility includes a rocket design and integration facility, an operations centre and executive offices. Work on the expansion of the facility has already begun.

Orbex has secured customers for six Prime launches to date. The maiden launch of the vehicle is slated to carry an experimental payload for smallsat manufacturer Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. Larmour said the company expected to announce additional customers in the next several months.
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These guys plan on 3D printing whole rockets.

Relativity Space Just Debuted a Fully-Reusable, 3D-Printed Rocket

Relativity Space — a 3D-printed rocket aerospace company — just announced its next rocket after Terran 1, a small launch-capable vehicle slated to lift off later this year, according to an initial report from CNBC.

The new rocket is called Terran R and will be much larger than its predecessor. An orbital rocket with roughly 20 times the cargo capacity of Terran 1, Terran R will also be entirely reusable — encompassing both the first- and second-stage rockets, one-upping SpaceX's workhorse, the Falcon 9.

Relativity Space debuts a fully-reusable, 3D-printed rocket
This comes on the heels of major funding rounds with the likes of Y Combinator, along with endorsements from the White House and The World Economic Forum, and even NASA officials.

"When I founded Relativity five years ago, it always was [inspiring to see] SpaceX launching and landing rockets, [and] docking with the International Space Station," said CEO and founder Relativity Space Tim Ellis in a Tech Crunch report. "[T]his idea that going to Mars was critically important for humanity's future, and really expanding the possibilities for human experience, on Earth and beyond."

Relativity Space is already one of the most valuable space firms on Earth
The reusable Terran R rocket is "really an obvious evolution" from the aerospace firm's earlier Terran 1 rocket, said Ellis in the CNBC report.

"It's the same architecture, the same propellant, the same factory, the same 3D printers, the same avionics and the same team," added Ellis in the report.

Ellis also said he's always been a "huge fan of reusability." Despite the reduced cost of rocket construction via 3D printing and automating launch vehicles, "making it reusable has got to be part of that future."

Relativity raised more than $680 million since its founding, five years ago. In the manner of Terran 1, 90% of Terran R will consist of parts gathered via additive manufacturing, using the biggest 3D printers on Earth in what Ellis called "the factory of the future," according to the CNBC report.

As of writing, Relativity is valued at $2.3 billion — making it one of the most valuable private space firms on the planet, with investors like Fidelity, Baillie Gifford, Tiger Global Management, Mark Cuban, and many more.

Relativity Space hiring amid COVID-19 crisis
Unlike SpaceX's Falcon lineup, Relativity aims to keep its first rocket — Terran 1 — in service over the long term. "t's a great product," said Ellis in the report. "We're not pulling a 'Falcon 1 to Falcon 9' change," he added.

Professional engineers looking to make an auspicious entry into the private space industry may be interested to know that Relativity is hiring amid the COVID-19 crisis, with open positions for an Additive Manufacturing NDT Engineer, Automation and Mechanical Engineers, and many more.

While SpaceX holds the prize as the go-to private launch system for NASA and several global governments, there is much room for additional entities to make an entry into the rapidly diversifying business of space launch solutions. From SpaceX to Blue Origin and Axiom, Relativity stands poised to join a highly-competitive (and lucrative) party in space.
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Tuckerfan · Mar 13, 2021

This is an interesting idea.

A Lightweight, 3D-Printed Alternative to Reinforced Concrete Beams

Reinforced concrete beams are incredibly strong--and heavy. Transporting them is difficult and requires considerable amounts of energy, and the reinforcing forms inside them use a lot of metal.

A team of researchers at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) in Spain reckon they can solve both problems with 3D printing. For three years they've been developing a 3D-printed alternative to reinforced concrete beams made from recycled plastic.

The components are snapped together, Lego-like, onsite, then concreted into place. No metal is required. "This prevents corrosion, decreases the weight and simplifies the work time required," says Xavier Mas, from the Institute for Heritage Restoration (IRP) of the Polytechnic University of Valencia. And the finished beams weigh up to 80% less than standard reinforced concrete beams.
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More at the link. A couple of commentators pointed out some issues with the design. One is that there's no mention of fireproofing of the materials. A few years back a tanker truck exploded under an overpass and the heat from the flames really fucked it up and they had to tear it down and rebuild it. I can't see a plastic-based one being able to withstand the fire for even a fraction of the time that the concrete overpass handled it. Another is that it might be possible to accomplish the same thing simply by extruding the plastic.

Tuckerfan · Apr 14, 2021

Tuckerfan · Apr 17, 2021

NAHTMMM · Apr 17, 2021

> designed to do last-mile movement within urban dense environments

So it parallel-parks for you?

Tuckerfan · May 1, 2021

Tuckerfan · Jun 29, 2021

ed629 · Jun 29, 2021

Bagasse (plant fiber), corn and cane sugar.... how will you insects from eating it?

Tuckerfan · Jun 29, 2021

ed629 said: ↑

Bagasse (plant fiber), corn and cane sugar.... how will you insects from eating it?
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I would assume that the resin they blend it with solves the problem. It’s a Brazilian company, so they understand insects, unlike folks in Iceland.

Tuckerfan · Jul 17, 2021

3D printed steel bridge goes up.

World's First 3D-Printed Steel Bridge Unveiled in Amsterdam

If you walk along the Oudezijds Achterburgwal canal in Amsterdam, you will notice an elegant and aesthetically pleasing steel bridge for pedestrians. If not for the media attention it got, you would even consider it a regular feature of the city's architecture. But this bridge loaded with sensors, is actually the world's first 3D-printed steel bridge, according to an Imperial College London press release.

Printed by four robots in a matter of just six months, the bridge heralds a new beginning in additive manufacturing. Most 3D printing projects, whether they are designed for outer space or rapid infrastructure, use proprietary inks or starting material. This bridge, however, uses steel, a tried and tested construction material, and is actually an experiment to test whether it can find applications in 3D printing.

"A 3D-printed metal structure large and strong enough to handle pedestrian traffic has never been constructed before," said Imperial co-contributor Prof. Leroy Gardner of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, in a press release. "We have tested and simulated the structure and its components throughout the printing process and upon its completion, and it’s fantastic to see it finally open to the public."

The project, initiated in 2015, used multi-axis robots to heat the steel to 2,732°F (1,500°C) and constructed the bridge layer by layer. The almost 40-foot (12-meter)-long bridge is made up of close to 10,000 pounds (4,500 kg) of stainless steel. Considering the way the bridge was constructed, it was only befitting that a robot was actually used to inaugurate it. Dutch Queen Maxima pressed a green button to set a robotic arm equipped with a pair of scissors into motion to cut the ribbon and opened the bridge to pedestrians and cyclists.

The bridge is also equipped with multiple sensors that will collect data about strain and vibration as people use it under various weather conditions. This data will then be fed into a 'digital' replica of the bridge that will help researchers better understand how 3D-printed steel behaves over a period of time. It will also help them identify areas that might require maintenance or modifications and utilize this information for larger construction projects.

The project was completed by the collaborative efforts of MX3D, a Dutch startup focusing on 3D metal printing, researchers at Imperial College London, and The Alan Turing Institute.

"3D printing is poised to become a major technology in engineering and we need to develop appropriate approaches for testing and monitoring to realize its full potential," said Professor Mark Gilorami, from the Turing Institute, who led the project.

The 3D-printed bridge is scheduled to stay there for a period of two years, while the original bridge is being renovated.
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Tuckerfan · Nov 3, 2021

Tuckerfan · Mar 12, 2022

Tuckerfan · Jun 19, 2022

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