Category Archives: News
World’s First 3D Printed Skateboard from Design Competition Winner
Sam Abbott Wins 3D Printing Design Competition, Then 3D Prints Skateboard
Earlier this year, CGTrader and 3DPRINTUK hosted a 3D printing design competition. Sam Abbott won the competition with a portfolio of 3D printed designs, and in turn won an Ultimaker 3D printer.
Soon after, Sam took a more ambitious project, designing and producing the world’s first 3D printed twin tip skateboard.
“There were published more than 250 3D models prepared for 3D printing from the May through June 2013,” CGTrader said in an interview with On 3D Printing. “Sam’s models are various and easy printable. From phone covers, jewelery to statues and other objects. Sam was the winner of 3D Printable Portfolio – that means he had to upload more models than others and the quality very important. He met these two requirements and won his Ultimaker.”
3D Printing a Skateboard
Sam’s next project was a 3D printed skateboard. Here’s a video of his 3D printing and assembly process.
We also caught up with the designer himself, Sam Abbott, in an exclusive interview.
On 3D Printing: How did you come up with the idea for a 3D printed skateboard?
Sam Abbott: I created the Skateboard design out of curiosity after designing many small items for 3d printing things like phone covers, jewelery, light shades etc. I was interested in print costs, print time functionality of the materials for a large design in 3d printing. Also I always loved to skate and so it was just an obvious choice to me to do a skateboard file. The form and aesthetics of the design were inspired from my memories of graffiti and street art from a recent visit to Gent, Belgium. Its 3D Geometry constructed in a way to add grip for grabs and less surface contact for grinds/slides.
On 3D Printing: Tell us about your experience of entering, and winning, the CGTrader competition?
Sam Abbott: Entering any competition is exciting as its a great way to see what others are doing and producing! It has the excitement of a lottery especially when the prizes are as awesome as what was awarded in this one. It has been an unbelievable experience to win the competition held by CGTrader. The competition the members of staff the platform to sell my files from has just been awesome and extremely helpful!
On 3D Printing: What do you plan to do with your Ultimaker 3D printer?
Sam Abbott: I am trained in SLS printing that is my expertise and so there is lots of learning, experiments and fine tuning to be done with the Ultimaker, as it build’s a 3d file in a different method requiring a different design approach. However I have successfully printed many of my rings, a phone cover, some vases, some technical parts for the printer itself and a mini version of my skateboard the size of a usb stick. I am currently working on a design to say thank you to everyone at CGTrader!
We can’t wait to see the next design from Sam.
Radiant Fabrication Wants to Be the iTunes of 3D Printing
Radiant Fabrication Announces Lionhead, an All-In-One 3D Scanner and 3D Printer, Coming to Market in October
What Apple’s iTunes did for music, Wisconsin-based Radiant Fabrication is hoping to do for 3D printing. In 2001, Apple debuted it’s “Rip. Mix. Burn.” ad campaign which featured a young man asking famous musicians from a broad array of genres if they could perform for his mixed CD. With it’s new CD-RW hardware and iTunes software, Apple made it easy for anyone to rip a library of CDs, then select a variety of tracks and burn a new mix. Below is Apple’s 2001 ad.
Fast forward to 2013, when copy-and-paste of real-world objects is slowly becoming a reality thanks to technology like the MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner and Fuel3D Handheld 3D Scanner. But there is still a problem: getting a design from 3D scanner to 3D printer.
Introducing Lionhead All-In-One 3D Scanner and 3D Printer
Today, Radiant Fabrication announced Lionhead™, the first consumer-level 3D printer to incorporate printing and 3D scanning into a single device packaged with Radiant Li™, an intuitive and powerful 3D modeling software.
“We created the Lionhead and Li to streamline the 3D printing experience, allowing consumers to model, edit, print, and scan from one piece of software and hardware,” said Nathan Patterson, Radiant’s co-founder and president. “Together, it means that consumers spend less time and money learning complex software packages and maintaining their printer, and more time using and refining their ideas.”
The Lionhead is designed to be reliable, easy to use, and faster by automating common tasks and printing with multiple printheads simultaneously. The included Radiant Li editor uses controls similar to popular video games, like Minecraft, to make creating and modifying models simple and intuitive. For the first time, an integrated scanner and Li software simplifies recreating and modifying real world objects. Users can press the Scan button, place an object on the Lionhead printing platform, and close the doors. In a few minutes, a copy of the object will be ready in Li for any improvements to be made and one click of the Print button starts the printing process.
“While the market for 3D printing is estimated to triple by 2018, 3D printing adoption has been limited to engineers, designers, and hobbyists due to a steep learning curve,” a company spokesperson said. “Users have needed strong technical knowledge and skills to model objects using complex software such as Maya or SolidWorks and then print and maintain their 3D printers. Today, Radiant Fabrication is making 3D fabrication accessible by providing a complete and seamless 3D printing, scanning, and modeling workflow.”
If successful, the Lionhead’s simplified approach could broaden adoption of 3D technology, giving a large base of non-technical consumers a way to access the world of 3D printing, much in the way that Apple created an onramp for non-technical users to build digital libraries of music.
Here’s a photo gallery of the Lionhead Bunny, with front doors both open and closed.
Going to the Bank of Kickstarter
Like other companies before it, Radiant Fabrication is going to the bank of Kickstarter, i.e., crowdfunding, to raise money for bringing its initial systems to market.
The company will launch its Kickstarter campaign this month to introduce its printer/scanner to the SMB and consumer markets, gather user feedback, and raise funds to expedite delivery of enhanced full production systems. Upon reaching its Kickstarter goal, Radiant Fabrication will start shipping Lionhead Bunny (beta) systems in October 2013.
Follow @On3DPrinting on Twitter or Like Us on Facebook for the latest news on Radiant Fabrication’s Kickstarter campaign when it launches.
Radiant Fabrication will offer their four printhead Lionhead Bunny (beta) printer/scanners for $1,649.
3D Scanning and 3D Design
In the video below, company president Nathan Patterson demonstrates how 3D design works in their voxel-based software Radiant Li, available for Mac and Windows.
And in this next video, Patterson shows off the 3D scanner baked into Lionhead.
The product uses silhouette scanning, which takes photos at different angles and compares to a calibration photo to build the 3D model. Voxels are created at 0.5mm resolution. The scan literally takes less than 1 minute as shown in the video.
Learn more at www.radiantfabrication.com.
Top 3D Printing News Last Week: Medical List, Fuel3D Kickstarter, More
3D Printing News
A roundup of the top 3D printing news from August 26 to September 1:
Tuesday, August 27
Wednesday, August 28
Friday, August 30
Sunday, September 1
3D Printing Color Launches Website for Rapid Prototyping in Montana
Rapid Prototyping Firm Expands Reach
3D Printing Color is a rapid prototyping center based in Montana. Founded by Montana resident, Marc Milisavljevich, the company has built a cost-effective, accurate, high-quality way to create 3D replicas, and now has the ability to 3D print for any customers in the United States as well as internationally.
3D Printing Color focuses on offering custom product creation, rapid production, fast shipping, and competitive pricing, and has launched a website showcasing their services: www.3dprintingcolor.com.
3D Printing Color provides a variety of 3D printing services. However, the focus remains on transforming the rapid prototyping market as they attempt to shrink the product to market time-span. The product development lifecycle historically reaches a slower pace during the prototyping phase. Now, 3D Printing Color uses their rapid prototyping services to get products to market in a timely manner, without compromising any design elements. Merging additive manufacturing with 3D printing technology, Montana residents have quickly learned the benefits of rapid prototyping to move ideas from concept to prototype quickly.
Accuracy, consistency, and quality have paved the way for ground-breaking products that hit the market quickly – all of this begins with a rapid prototype. From something as simple as a tennis shoe or iPhone case to something as complex as an artificial prosthetic, rapid prototyping allows for virtually any creation. 3D Printing Color takes a computer-aided design (CAD) and uses 3D printing technologies to transform any image into a 3D prototype.
As entrepreneurs, designers, engineers, inventors, and the like continue to discover the power of product development using rapid prototyping the industry is expected to skyrocket. Over the next decade, 3D printing will truly transform the manner in which companies get their products to market. From large jobs to small jobs, 3D Printing Color helps companies with no minimum order.
Top 9 Medical Applications for 3D Printing – Epic List
How 3D Printing is Changing the Face of the Medical Industry
The list of medical applications for 3D printing was originally compiled by the team at 3D model marketplace CGTrader and has been edited for publication here.
Recently 3D printing has been a hot mainstream trend, but there are thousands of people who are still not aware of this mind-blowing technology. Obviously, 3D printing is being carefully watched by scientists, designers, futurists, and hobbyists. No doubt, it will change our lives; 3D printing is already reshaping them. In the long run, 3D printing may have the most impact in the medical field, where extrusion of living cells instead of plastic material in a 3D printer has led to bioprinting.
Here is a completely mind-blowing list of the top 9 ways 3D printing has already changed all the branches of the medicine and what to expect in the future. Moreover, this article touches upon a controversial topic of artificial organs. Keep reading!
1. 3D Printed Hearing Aids
Thousands of people do not realize that they have already become a part of 3D printing revolution by simply wearing hearing aids.
98% of hearing aids (more than 10 million) are 3D printed today. Hearing aid manufacturing began to adopt 3D printing technology in 1998 and it has been a significant improvement to manufacturing. The process has been shortened to 3 steps: scanning, modeling, and printing. One machine is able to produce 30 hearing aids in one hour and a half.
More coverage:
- 3D printed batteries could marry form and function for hearing aids
- TED talk by Klaus Stadlmann: The world’s smallest 3D printer
- 3D Printed Hearing Aids: A Revolution You May Have Not Heard About
2. Digital Dentistry Brings 3D Printing Into the Dental Office
3D printing’s contribution to the dental industry has been game-changing. Scientist Andrew Daewood, who works in London’s Wimpole Street, notices that before the 3D printing has become the mainstream, “dentists have been using it for 10 years, to make things that really can’t be made in any other way.”
3D printing helps to improve quality and speeds up the production. Technology enables the customer to get a transparent 3D printed teeth aligner for day-to-day use, on one’s way to the dentist 3D printer is already printing out a new dental implant as well as dental crowns, bridges, stone models and a variety of orthodontic appliances.
More coverage:
- 3D Printing Advances Dentistry in London at Daewood & Tanner Practice
- Dental Labs Redefine Personal Care with Onsite 3D Printing
- What The Hell Is Digital Dentistry?
3. 3D Printing Body Parts and Bone
Earlier this year, an American patient received a radical surgery in which 75% of his skull was replaced with a 3D printed implant. This material was not only biocompatible but also a bone-like. Scott DeFelice, President and CEO of Oxford Performance Materials, announced that his company has serious plans that between 300 to 500 patients in the U.S. alone could have skull replacement surgeries each month.
Last year an 83-year old woman has received the very first titanium jaw implant manufactured with 3D printer.
In another story, a 3D printed biopolymer of windpipe was surgically sewn as a splint to open a baby’s airways. After 2 to 3 years it will be fully absorbed in the body.
More coverage:
- Innovative and Strange 3D Printing: Chocolate, Stone, Candy, Organs
- 3D Printed Parts Inside A Human Body: A Fact or Fairy Tale?
4. The Miracles of Prosthetics: 3D Printed Face and Children Hands
Injuries and disease can cause debilitating health conditions for people, to the point where a prosthetic limb or other body part is necessary to maintain quality of life.Thanks to 3D printing, prosthetics have become easier to customize and produce. Here are three particularly inspiring cases.
Eric Moger was the first person to start a life once again with 3D printed face.
A famous Robohand project has proved that anything is possible. The idea was a goal to reach by Richard Van As from South Africa and he finally come up with the concept how to produce necessary hand prosthesis quickly, quite cheaply, and make it accessible to the wide society.
Meet Buttercup, the first and only bird that has 3D printed leg prosthesis.
Thanks to 3D printing and devoted designers, Buttercup has experienced the freedom of walking for the first time. Moreover, this duck is the worldwide superstar, that got an award for honours. Just creepy amazing.
Get Rid of Itchy and Stinky Plaster Casts!
Were you jealous of kids who broke an arm but then got all their friends to sign their cast? With 3D printing technology, the traditional plaster cast is being replaced by a light, breathable, washable and recyclable design. And, of course, stylish.
In the U.S., a bone fracture occurs every 5 seconds. Enter the Cortex Exoskeleton cast designed by Jake Evill, a graduate from the Architecture and Design School in New Zealand. With a 3D scan, the cast can be 3D printed onsite at the emergency room.
More coverage:
- 3D Printed Legs: Giving Amputees the Power of Personal Expression
- If Lizards Can Grow Tails, Humans Should Print Limbs
5. 3D Printing and Growing a Bionic Ear
When researchers from Princeton and John Hopkins get together, expect something big. In this case, a team of researchers developed a bionic, artificial ear. With the help of 3D printing, the team created a skeletal structure which is seeded with cartilage cells, and 10 weeks later, you have a fully formed ear!
More coverage:
- The World Turns Bionic: 3D Printed Bionic Ear
- Cornell Professor Develops Technique for 3D Printing a Human Ear
6. 3D Printing Stem Cells Paves the Way to Artificial Organs
3D printing enabled a group of Heriot Watt University scientists to produce clusters of embryonic stem cells. The scientists used the method of valve-based printing in order to keep these cells in high level of viability, to stay accurate to produce spheroids of uniform size and to maintain their pluripotency that addresses to differentiation into any other cell type.
In the picture above you can see aggregated embryonic stem cells after 24 hours (left) and after 48 hours (right). Artificial organs are still in the near future, but this achievement is extremely significant for drug testing purposes while using artificial human tissue or even printing cells directly inside the body.
More coverage:
- Invest in Bioprinting to Get a 3D Printed Ear or New Hip
- A 3-D Printer for Human Embryonic Stem Cells
7. 3D Printing Endless Blood Vessels Threads
Scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany developed a technique to 3D print artificial biological molecules to form the shape of blood vessels. This technology is still quite imprecise for the fine structures of capillary vessels, so the scientists use the laser to zap the molecules and to form the material.
In other findings, UPenn and MIT researchers found sugar as the best agent to 3D print blood vessels without any seams.
More coverage:
- Scientists Create Blood Vessels Using Sugar and 3D Printing
- Tissue Printer to Fabricate Artificial Blood Cells
8. New Skin, Courtesy of 3D Printing
Skin graft transplantation is nothing new in the medicine, but now 3D printing technology is enabling scientists to produce artificial skin. Researchers at the University of Toronto have developed a method of loading skin cells and various polymers into 3D printer to create thick layers of skin.
In other research, scientists from the Institute of Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina aim to print skin directly onto burn wounds. Professor James Yoo and his team were highly inspired to develop a portable bioprinting system to help address injuries in the battlefield, where around 30% of injuries involve skin damage.
More coverage:
9. 3D Printed Organs: A Fiction or The Great Achievement of The Next Decade?
18 people die everyday in the U.S. waiting for an organ transplant. Some researchers have embarked on a bold goal of 3D printing artificial organs.
In one example, surgeon Anthony Atala demonstrated an early-stage experiment at a 2011 TED Talk, where he printed a prototype human kidney.
In other research, Wake Forest Institute For Regeneration works on more than 30 different replacement tissues and organs, including bladder, cartilage, trachea and heart healing therapies. Using similar technology to Atala, a young patient received an engineered bladder transplant, the first lab-grown organ to be implanted into a human.
The world’s first artificial liver is already on its way. A team at Heriot Watt University led by Dr. Will Shu are running experiments with this goal in mind, again using 3D printing in the manufacturing process.
Finally, San Diego-based Organovo team has already managed to create micro-livers that are half a millimeter deep and and 4 millimeters wide. The researchers used a gel to build three types of liver cells and arranged them into the same kind of 3D cell architecture found in a human liver. The company’s ultimate goal is to create human-sized structures suitable for transplant, but they might need more capital.
More coverage:
- Biofabrication: Scientists 3D Print Stem Cells to Create Human Organs
- Video: Growing New Organs with 3D Printing (TED Talk)
- Video: The Best 7 TED Talks On 3D Printing
- Organovo 3D Printing: Bold Mission But Needs Cash, May Offer Secondary
- 3D printing human organs – but where’s the money for it?
Conclusion
That’s it! 9 amazing ways that 3D printing is revolutionizing modern medical research.
Please share, RT and add your comments!
Thanks again to CGTrader for compiling this amazing list. Read their original post here.
Cover photo: The Body Shop Kevin Hand
