Tag Archives: RepRap

Video: Maker Faire Bay Area Interviews About 3D Printing

Maker Faire Bay Area video

Steve Tung brought his camera to the Maker Faire Bay Area this year and has produced a video focused on 3D printing.

Interviews include:

  • Lis Sampson, founder of 3D-Bots
  • Carine Carmy, Director of Marketing at Shapeways
  • Ronald Rael, Professor of Architecture at UC Berkeley

A variety of materials were discussed, from plastic to ceramics to cement to wood to salt.

And Steve shows RepRap printers that can even print their own parts.

Watch the full video below.

Fab Lab of the Week: Fablab Amsterdam in the Netherlands

Fablab Amsterdam 3D Printing

This week’s featured Fab Lab is called Fablab Amsterdam in the Netherlands. They are offering classes on how to build your own 3D printer.

Fablab Amsterdam offers you the opportunity to build your personal 3D printer and learn all there is to know about 3D printing. After an introduction of the Fablab and the basics of 3D printing, you will learn how to set up a model for printing (day 1). In the next three days you will build your own printer, this is a model based on Orca (RepRap Mendel). On the last day (day 5) you will be printing your model(s) and get a hands-on troubleshooting on operating your 3D printer.

The summer school is available for maximum of 16 participants. You are to bring your own laptop and a 3D model, that you would like to print. Summer school only continues when it has at least 8 participants!

When? From 6 to 10 August 2012, 10.00 AM till 18.00 PM

Where? Fablab Amsterdam, Nieuwmarkt 4, 1012 CR Amsterdam

Learn more about Fablab Amsterdam from Fablab.nl or this article.

Fab Lab photo by TonZ used under Creative Commons license.

Scientists Create Blood Vessels Using Sugar and 3D Printing

3D Printing Blood Vessels

University researchers have discovered a way to 3D print blood vessels, using sugar as the “ink” and a RepRap 3D printer. UPenn and MIT researchers collaborated on the study.

The research was conducted by a team led by postdoctoral fellow Jordan S. Miller and Christopher S. Chen, the Skirkanich Professor of Innovation in the Department of Bioengineering at Penn, along with Sangeeta N. Bhatia, Wilson Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and postdoctoral fellow Kelly R. Stevens in Bhatia’s laboratory.

The researchers published their findings in Nature and summarized their results in a UPenn statement.

Rather than trying to print a large volume of tissue and leave hollow channels for vasculature in a layer-by-layer approach, Chen and colleagues focused on the vasculature first and designed free-standing 3D filament networks in the shape of a vascular system that sat inside a mold. As in lost-wax casting, a technique that has been used to make sculptures for thousands of years, the team’s approach allowed for the mold and vascular template to be removed once the cells were added and formed a solid tissue enveloping the filaments.

The formula they settled on — a combination of sucrose and glucose along with dextran for structural reinforcement — is printed with a RepRap, an open-source 3D printer with a custom-designed extruder and controlling software. An important step in stabilizing the sugar after printing, templates are coated in a thin layer of a degradable polymer derived from corn. This coating allows the sugar template to be dissolved and to flow out of the gel through the channels they create without inhibiting the solidification of the gel or damaging the growing cells nearby. Once the sugar is removed, the researchers start flowing fluid through the vascular architecture and cells begin to receive nutrients and oxygen similar to the exchange that naturally happens in the body.

Below is a video showing their amazing discovery.

 

Read more from the UPenn summary.

Blood vessel photo by shoebappa used under Creative Commons license.

Fab Lab of the Week: 3D Printing Providence Interest Group

3D Printing Providence

This week’s featured Fab Lab is 3DPPVD, or 3D Printing Providence. Although 3DPPVD is more of a meetup than a Fab Lab, it is spreading the interest and adoption of 3D printing.

We are pleased to announce the first meeting of 3DPPVD, a monthly meetup for MakerBot, RepRap, other 3D printer operators and anyone who’s interested in digital fabrication. Even if you are not an owner of a 3D printer this will be a great opportunity to learn about the emerging field of desktop rapid prototyping. If you do have a printer feel free to bring it down and show off your mods and prints.

Our first meeting will be on Wednesday July 11th at AS220 Labs (AS220 Mercantile Block, 131 Washington St (Entrance on Lucie Way), Providence, Ri) from 7pm until they kick us out. Since this is the inaugural event, there won’t be a theme so we have time to get to know each other and find out what kind of topics we would like to discuss at future events. This event is free and open to the public so please bring your friends and family.

 

Via MAKE.

3D printer photo by makerbot used under Creative Commons license.

Fab Lab of the Week: Milwaukee Makerspace Adopts 3D Printing

Milwaukee Makerspace Grand Opening

Milwaukee Makerspace is part social club, part hackerspace. They held their grand opening party in April 2011 and have been growing ever since.

At its heart, [Milwaukee Makerspace] is a social club for people who like to build, invent, tinker and/or collect new skills and expand their minds. We have a wide range of skill sets in our membership and you’re likely to find someone who can talk about most any technical concept with you in a meaningful way. We are also a physical space where you can come, 24/7 as a full member, and have access to wide array of equipment you are not very likely to have at home. Plus, there are folks around the space that can give you tips and pointers on operating that equipment effectively. (About page)

The space is home to a variety of equipment and tools, from woodworking to electronics to robotics to metal working to photography. Unfortunately, their only 3D printing equipment, a MakerBot CupCake is not currently in the shop. But it looks like this is about to change.

In May, some members came together to showcase 3 different 3D printers: a MakerGear Prusa Mendel, a MakerGear Mosaic, and a Printrbot.

Milwaukee Makerspace 3D Printing

In June, they are expecting a visit from MakerBot to “show off their Replicator and talk about 3D printing.”

And in July, the Makerspace is hosting a 3D printing meetup:

3D Printing is getting more and more popular, and we’ve got a bunch of members who have built printers, or are building printers, or just know a heck of a lot about 3D Printing, so we figured we should meet up and discuss the topic.

So if you’ve ever wondered what in the world a MakerBot was, or heard of RepRap or Printrbot, or just wanted to see an actual 3D Printer laying down molten plastic to make a real-world object, well… we’ve got just the ticket.

We’re excited to see the Milwaukee Makerspace adopt 3D printing!

Want to learn more? Watch the video below to hear from the founding members of Milwaukee Makerspace.