Slashdot Mirror

That wood flooring was 3D printed?!

It could have been, since 3D printing wood is a thing. Or it might not be wood at all.

How did they 3D extrude the wiring and meet code?

Maybe like this? I don't know what "code" Russia has, but a machine could be much more precise than a human.

Concrete is a good insulator for russian winters, right? Amazing! How good was the R-value? How was the rebar extruded?

Maybe they 3D printed some foam insulation? And why would they use rebar in a one storey construction that small?

Actually the rings are probably casted in silver and are not only coated by the metal. Usually the process for this kind of jewelery is like this: 3D Model --> casting wax --> make negative of wax model in plaster --> cast precious metal in to negative model --> finish product (polish/highlight/...) So the material worth of the jewelery can easily be quite high if you cast e.g. rose silver... The process is pretty well described at i.materialise: https://i.materialise.com/3d-p...

Actually, you can 3d-print with titanium

Why is it that this day in age we're still needing to point out that Not All 3D Printing Is Makerbots? If you wanted a professional looking poster printed out would you try to do it on a cheapo home inkjet? You're declaring the term "3d printing" as only applying to "crappy plastic extruders". The "industrial ones that can print in metal", as you put it, are *also* 3d printers. And home users *can* get prints from them, there's lots of online print services. My personal favorite is iMaterialize, as I like their materials and finish selection.

Some 3d printing services can print ceramics ;)

I don't know what 3d printing you've done, but I've ordered parts that I designed in Blender from iMaterialize and the results were excellent, and I would gladly do so again. My only real complaint about my first attempt was that they had trouble with my rather complicated model (they ultimately had to print it as two pieces and solder them together - but you couldn't really tell) and that their production process is rather backlogged. But I liked them because of how extreme of a variety of printing materials you can choose from. Even each entry there is usually actually several entries - for example, here's the options for silver.

As for 3D scanning, it's called taking two pictures. If that's "THE" enabling technology, you've got problems.

No, the enabling technology is the software stack (and/or whatever accelerating hardware is included). If they're designing a 3d image recognition capability into the tablet, and it works well enough (the caveat I mentioned earlier) and is linked to an appropriate set of tools and services, that's a game changer.

You're so naive.

I'm sorry, I'm having trouble hearing you, your horse is too high.

You're assuming it's just a visible part that's easy to print that's broken,

I'm not making any assumptions about the task at hand, hence the wording "say, a broken part". You know what an example is, right? People want "things" all the time for all kinds of reasons. Some things they want are mass produced and readily available. Some of the things they want were once mass produced but are no longer readily available. Some were never mass produced. Such is life.

and that people will have the skill, patience, time and tools to do something with it.

No, I'm talking about a software stack that does the work for you, not something that pops open Blender on your tablet and says "Have at it!"

Different 3d printing technologies and materials have different resolution capabilities, strengths, etc, but there's nothing at all unreasonable about being given a 3d model of a part and applying some simple filters to clean it up and print it out. Many 3d printing techs can handle details down to the level of fractions of a millimeter, so even fine screw threads are not a problem. And yes, I *have* printed out detail that fine (I made 1" a Orion medallion for my fiance with a detailed leaf trim around the edge, his name embossed in it in small letters maybe 5 millimeters long, hollow tubes allowing light to pass through the medallion it as stars, a neckband clasp, and with the inside hollow so I could fill it with sand from a location important to him, and - concealed within - more writing for him to discover should he ever damage it and see what's inside). Yeah, 3d printers can do some pretty amazing detail work now.

What if it's your pedestal fan in summer and it just stops working for no visible cause?

Wow, I am such an idiot for suggesting that 3d printing could fix every broken device ever invented!

Wait a minute, could you remind me again where I said that, rather than just giving a broken part as an example of something a person may want to print? I can't seem to locate it anymore. But SURELY I must have said it, because otherwise you'd just be attacking a giant straw man, and surely you wouldn't do that.

I don't know what 3d printing you've done, but I've ordered parts that I designed in Blender from iMaterialize and the results were excellent, and I would gladly do so again. My only real complaint about my first attempt was that they had trouble with my rather complicated model (they ultimately had to print it as two pieces and solder them together - but you couldn't really tell) and that their production process is rather backlogged. But I liked them because of how extreme of a variety of printing materials you can choose from. Even each entry there is usually actually several entries - for example, here's the options for silver.

As for 3D scanning, it's called taking two pictures. If that's "THE" enabling technology, you've got problems.

No, the enabling technology is the software stack (and/or whatever accelerating hardware is included). If they're designing a 3d image recognition capability into the tablet, and it works well enough (the caveat I mentioned earlier) and is linked to an appropriate set of tools and services, that's a game changer.

You're so naive.

I'm sorry, I'm having trouble hearing you, your horse is too high.

You're assuming it's just a visible part that's easy to print that's broken,

I'm not making any assumptions about the task at hand, hence the wording "say, a broken part". You know what an example is, right? People want "things" all the time for all kinds of reasons. Some things they want are mass produced and readily available. Some of the things they want were once mass produced but are no longer readily available. Some were never mass produced. Such is life.

and that people will have the skill, patience, time and tools to do something with it.

No, I'm talking about a software stack that does the work for you, not something that pops open Blender on your tablet and says "Have at it!"

Different 3d printing technologies and materials have different resolution capabilities, strengths, etc, but there's nothing at all unreasonable about being given a 3d model of a part and applying some simple filters to clean it up and print it out. Many 3d printing techs can handle details down to the level of fractions of a millimeter, so even fine screw threads are not a problem. And yes, I *have* printed out detail that fine (I made 1" a Orion medallion for my fiance with a detailed leaf trim around the edge, his name embossed in it in small letters maybe 5 millimeters long, hollow tubes allowing light to pass through the medallion it as stars, a neckband clasp, and with the inside hollow so I could fill it with sand from a location important to him, and - concealed within - more writing for him to discover should he ever damage it and see what's inside). Yeah, 3d printers can do some pretty amazing detail work now.

What if it's your pedestal fan in summer and it just stops working for no visible cause?

Wow, I am such an idiot for suggesting that 3d printing could fix every broken device ever invented!

Wait a minute, could you remind me again where I said that, rather than just giving a broken part as an example of something a person may want to print? I can't seem to locate it anymore. But SURELY I must have said it, because otherwise you'd just be attacking a giant straw man, and surely you wouldn't do that.

monopoly? huh... how?
They are dozens of 3D printers models out-there, both by big brand (like Materialize) or very small maker groups (RepRap), based on several different technologies (glued powder, extruted melted material, laser polymerisation, etc.).

There's a clear open standard to transfer data (STL).
This format is documented (and is brain dead simple).
Anything that can spit this format can be used for 3D printing.
Any printer that can eat this format will print.

The only ploy for Autodesk is that they are a dominant actor in the market of software used to make the models (the "STL spitting" mentionned above).
The more the 3D Printing market expands, the more demand for models, and thus the more creator may buy Autodesk professionnal ).

But no monopoly is going to take over the STL ecosystem,
just like the post-script ecosystem didn't got taken over by HP.

I create 3D content with my Perl program. I am a consumer who tried the 3D printer service at the UPS Store in February, 2014. The documentation for the consumer to read does not exist. They could not print my Venus Globe as a turn-key job, so communications stopped from their end (New York City). Here are pictures of my consumer application simulation: http://venusglobe.cabanova.com... Conclusion: for the 3D printer retailer to get consumers to spend money, they need to tell us several facts. Facts: use one file for the 3D product. The retailer uses a certain CAD software that is disclosed to the consumer so she can duplicate a problem. The retailer runs a sanity check on the product and gives the results to the consumer, like this: http://i.materialise.com/

That is the thing. How hard is it to just make a mould to mass produce regular plastic stuff.

Ummm... good question. Would you like to try making a mold for this?
What? You say it's art but doesn't have a practical use? mmmm?!

For definitions of 'very strong' equal to 'weaker* and more crack prone then conventionally cast parts, much weaker then parts machined out of forged billets, much, much weaker then forged, rough machined, heat treated, final machined''.

Nope; better than cast, equivalent to wrought static properties (final machining is required to get nice surface finishes and tight tolerances, as it would be with casting). "Sintering" is a misnomer; "selective laser melting" would be more accurate. The parts are fully dense.

Unless I was already 80 they aren't getting any implants into my joints made out of anything short of Titanium.

Want Titanium for that hip, old man? Try i.materialise 3d-print service...

http://i.materialise.com/

Hey there.
You're wrong (but this is not a bad thing - you're about to learn something cool!) - 3D printing extends to metals (powders that are laser fused) - from alumide to titanium - or combinding 3D printing in wax with the Lost Wax molding techniques, brass, bronze, gold and silver.

Check it out! http://i.materialise.com/materials

http://i.materialise.com/

More information in the original article: http://www.materialise.com/cases/the-areion-by-formula-group-t-the-world-s-first-3d-printed-race-car

It's not really for home use yet, but you can have your stuff printed relatively cheaply (not yet printer ink "cheaply", but yeah) at some places. For example, see i.Materialise for an online printing service.
Disclaimer: I work for a sister company ;-), I've seen a lot of 3D printing stuff. This flute thing doesn't impress me that much - this folding chair is much cooler.

There is really nothing new about this kind of service... Materialise is offering this service for already 10 years... http://www.materialise.com/materialise/view/en/91955-Online+service.html

I have a mandibular excess, causing TMJ "pain" and massive nightly grinding.

Have you ever heard of Orthognathic surgery? It's getting pretty sophisticated now, using CT scans to develop 3D models and Computer-aided surgical planning to assist doctors with surgery. It costs a fortune, but some health funds cover it. The company, Materialise, can use colour stereolithography to make a prominent nerve that runs along the lower mandible visible within a transparent model. This helps Orthognathic surgeons, because handling that nerve is one of the tricky parts of the procedure.

I have a mandibular excess, causing TMJ "pain" and massive nightly grinding.

Have you ever heard of Orthognathic surgery? It's getting pretty sophisticated now, using CT scans to develop 3D models and Computer-aided surgical planning to assist doctors with surgery. It costs a fortune, but some health funds cover it. The company, Materialise, can use colour stereolithography to make a prominent nerve that runs along the lower mandible visible within a transparent model. This helps Orthognathic surgeons, because handling that nerve is one of the tricky parts of the procedure.

What about those 3d-object printers. Sure, they're used in labs somewhere, but when will these things become commercially viable and available?

I have a jaw problems, so I went and got a CT scan of my head. The results were given to me on a CD-ROM in a standard format called DICOM. I had the data converted into an STL file format mesh of my skull using software called Mimics (google cache, site seems to be down at the moment). I then had it output on a Z-printer, which is one of those 3D printers your talking about, I presume. So basically, I now have an anatomically correct life-size model of my skull. The data conversion and the printing cost me around $500 US each. At first I thought it was so cool to be able to do this with technology now and that it was a work of art, but then I started to get the creeps after it sunk in that I was holding an actual copy of my skull.

I haven't heard of anyone doing this so I'm sure it is more complicated than a bunch of file conversion routines but nonetheless it is interesting.

They are doing it, just not with bone yet. Check out the the case studies. The models are either being used for surgical planning, or for implant design. I actually first saw this sort of thing years ago, on a documentary, showing how they used stereolithography to create a piece of skull to exactly fit a hole some guy had in his skull, and they implanted it.

The file conversion procedure involves converting a massive amount of raster data (DICOM) to vector data (STL). This requires some manual intervention to do things like segmentation (isolating the proper body part) and patching up flaws that the conversion process couldn't handle. Some bone layers were too thin to automatically be recognised, so there were a few holes, and metal artifacts like braces cause after-images in CT scans that have to manually be edited out for the STL mesh.

You'd be surprised at where the technology is now. I have a jaw problem, so I went and got a CT scan done where I got the results on a CD rather than film. The viewer on the CD was for Windows, so I was unable to view it on my PowerBook. I came across a fantastic free (GPL) program called OsiriX which runs on OS X 10.3 (Panther). With this, I was able to view 3D images of my skull and jaw on my laptop. The site even lets you download example DICOM data to try out with the program. For DICOM viewers on other platforms, you can check out IDoImaging.com

And I'm actually in the process of having DICOM data converted to STL by Simpleware.co.uk and will have a model made with a Z Corp 3D printer. I just sent them the CT Scan DICOM data by FTP, and they are in the process of converting it to STL, which I will retrieve by FTP. Then I'll FTP it over to the local RP service with a 3D Printer, and they'll post the model over to me in a parcel.

I haven't heard of anyone doing this so I'm sure it is more complicated than a bunch of file conversion routines but nonetheless it is interesting.

They are doing it, just not with bone yet. Check out the the case studies. The models are either being used for surgical planning, or for implant design. I actually first saw this sort of thing years ago, on a documentary, showing how they used stereolithography to create a piece of skull to exactly fit a hole some guy had in his skull, and they implanted it.

The file conversion procedure involves converting a massive amount of raster data (DICOM) to vector data (STL). This requires some manual intervention to do things like segmentation (isolating the proper body part) and patching up flaws that the conversion process couldn't handle. Some bone layers were too thin to automatically be recognised, so there were a few holes, and metal artifacts like braces cause after-images in CT scans that have to manually be edited out for the STL mesh.

You'd be surprised at where the technology is now. I have a jaw problem, so I went and got a CT scan done where I got the results on a CD rather than film. The viewer on the CD was for Windows, so I was unable to view it on my PowerBook. I came across a fantastic free (GPL) program called OsiriX which runs on OS X 10.3 (Panther). With this, I was able to view 3D images of my skull and jaw on my laptop. The site even lets you download example DICOM data to try out with the program. For DICOM viewers on other platforms, you can check out IDoImaging.com

And I'm actually in the process of having DICOM data converted to STL by Simpleware.co.uk and will have a model made with a Z Corp 3D printer. I just sent them the CT Scan DICOM data by FTP, and they are in the process of converting it to STL, which I will retrieve by FTP. Then I'll FTP it over to the local RP service with a 3D Printer, and they'll post the model over to me in a parcel.

While it is cool that they can do this, I hope it leads to more complicated things like joints being grown to the right shape

You can create joints grown to the right shape. You can create Rapid Prototyping Models of bones from CT scans. You can have CT scans of bones exported to a format called DICOM which you can then have converted to a file format called STL, used in Rapid Prototyping. In your case, you could probably get a CT Scan of your other wrist in DICOM format, and have the STL mesh flipped to be a mirror image.

There are some services that can provide conversion software, or do the file conversions, as well as provide the RP models, although the models are made through stereolythography from what I gather. There are newer methods of creating rapid prototyping models that use the same STL file format, that are probably more precise.

You can obtain some software packages that let you do the conversion yourself, and although there is probably a bit of a learning curve, the biggest problem would be the price. It would be best to just let the services handle the conversion and you choose which Rapid Prototyping method to use.

From this point, you can use the model to construct a titanium mold, which could then be used to produce actual bone. And as for cartilege for the joint, the Carticel cartilege growth and transplant procedure could probably be applied. The FDA has approved Carticel for the knees and hips, but it would be up to a doctor's discretion to apply it in other ways.

While it is cool that they can do this, I hope it leads to more complicated things like joints being grown to the right shape

You can create joints grown to the right shape. You can create Rapid Prototyping Models of bones from CT scans. You can have CT scans of bones exported to a format called DICOM which you can then have converted to a file format called STL, used in Rapid Prototyping. In your case, you could probably get a CT Scan of your other wrist in DICOM format, and have the STL mesh flipped to be a mirror image.

There are some services that can provide conversion software, or do the file conversions, as well as provide the RP models, although the models are made through stereolythography from what I gather. There are newer methods of creating rapid prototyping models that use the same STL file format, that are probably more precise.

You can obtain some software packages that let you do the conversion yourself, and although there is probably a bit of a learning curve, the biggest problem would be the price. It would be best to just let the services handle the conversion and you choose which Rapid Prototyping method to use.

From this point, you can use the model to construct a titanium mold, which could then be used to produce actual bone. And as for cartilege for the joint, the Carticel cartilege growth and transplant procedure could probably be applied. The FDA has approved Carticel for the knees and hips, but it would be up to a doctor's discretion to apply it in other ways.

While it is cool that they can do this, I hope it leads to more complicated things like joints being grown to the right shape

You can create joints grown to the right shape. You can create Rapid Prototyping Models of bones from CT scans. You can have CT scans of bones exported to a format called DICOM which you can then have converted to a file format called STL, used in Rapid Prototyping. In your case, you could probably get a CT Scan of your other wrist in DICOM format, and have the STL mesh flipped to be a mirror image.

There are some services that can provide conversion software, or do the file conversions, as well as provide the RP models, although the models are made through stereolythography from what I gather. There are newer methods of creating rapid prototyping models that use the same STL file format, that are probably more precise.

You can obtain some software packages that let you do the conversion yourself, and although there is probably a bit of a learning curve, the biggest problem would be the price. It would be best to just let the services handle the conversion and you choose which Rapid Prototyping method to use.

From this point, you can use the model to construct a titanium mold, which could then be used to produce actual bone. And as for cartilege for the joint, the Carticel cartilege growth and transplant procedure could probably be applied. The FDA has approved Carticel for the knees and hips, but it would be up to a doctor's discretion to apply it in other ways.