Small Robotic Production Line by Armas Ringerii

Making Press Break Tools for Metal Bending with your DIY 3D Printer

Above you can see it being used in small scale manufacturing with thick sheet metal on industrial press, below you can see it in home use with a simple vise.

3D Printing Factory in Container Box by Nokia

BotFactory Desktop PCB Printer

Company homepage: https://www.botfactory.co/

Printrbot Printrbelt Working

Printrbot Printrbelt is making some nice progress. It is a continuous conveyer belt 3d printer that can print some long objects. New videos and features are released and here is a short overview.


Here is a 6 foot long sword:





Here is Wiliam Steele from Polar3D showing how the software control is implemented on Printrbelt:





Printrbelt producing many smaller objects (gliders) in a series:

Desktop Metal 3D Printing with Microwave Enhanced Sintering

Here is another revolutionary step forward in 3D printing: the desktop metal 3d printer. It deposits metal "paste" made from metal powder with a polymer binder in a similar way as any common FDM machine and the parts are then sintered in a microwave enhanced furnace chamber.
The price is comparable to higher-end professional FDM machine from a few years ago. They also sell production cell that has much higher capacity for more demanding production facilities.


Tech specs:

•  Build volume: 12 in x 8 in x 8 in (305 mm x 205 mm x 205 mm)
•  Materials:  Steel, Titanium, Aluminum, Copper and other undisclosed materials
•  Layer height: 50 μm (minimum)
•  Dimensions: 60 in x 49 in x 30 in (1500 mm x 1250 mm x 750 mm)
•  Technology: Microwave Enhanced Sintering
•  Price: $120,000 for the desktop version, $250,000+ for manufacturing cell production system

Desktop Metal presentation video:




Here is a much more in-depth video by GoEngineer with many details about the machines, materials, and the process:




Company homepage:

https://www.desktopmetal.com/

Formlabs Fuse 1 Desktop SLS 3D Printer

Formlabs just released their Fuse 1 3D printer which is a desktop selective laser sintering machine priced at 9,999 USD. It has a 165 x 165 x 320 mm build volume and uses nylon powder.

This is a small revolution on the market and a big step forward in 3D printing availability and affordability!!! Laser sintering machines used to cost in hundreds of thousands and were very large. This will push the competition to respond and lower the prices even more in the future.


Fuse 1 introduction video:




Here is a different promotional "The Human Touch" video:




Fuse 1 homepage:

https://formlabs.com/3d-printers/fuse-1/


Here you can see the Fuse 1 size on a table next to a Form 2 SLA machine:

I wonder what will the price of the powder material be? Will it be recyclable and reusable? Will it come in proprietary cartridges with chip control unit?

Source:

https://formlabs.com/blog/digital-factory-announcing-fuse-1-and-form-cell/

Update:

Here is a much more detailed review by Tested. It shows how the Fuse 1 works and accompanying equipment like recovery station and material mixer. The material is recyclable and the mix of new and used material is determined by the user to get different print qualities.
The material is gray to absorb more energy from 10 watts fiber laser.

DIY rotational casting machine made from wood and 3d printed parts

If you want to expand your home manufacturing arsenal, here is a very useful machine that will enable you to make hollow objects from various types of resin.
This machine is easy and cheap to make from 3d printed parts and 15mm MDF sheets cut on a CNC machine. It was published on Instructables by Jorge Dorantes.
It is hand cranked, but it could probably be easy modified to run with a simple electrical motor.

All the files and instructions can be found at:

https://www.instructables.com/id/Rotomoldeadora/?ALLSTEPS


If you are not sure how this machine works, here is a demonstration video of a different rotational casting machine by TGS Props where they use two piece silicone mold and Smoothcast 65D resin to make, well ... raptor / alien  eggs!

Make your own DIY vacuum thermoformer

DajoM from Instructables published all the files and instructions needed to make a low cost DIY vacuumformer / thermoformer that fits on your desktop. You can use it to make plastic molds or patterns for production of larger series of objects.
It is made from laser cut plywood and uses ceramic plate for heating. Several parts are 3d printed.

Video demonstration:






All the files and instructions can be found at:

https://www.instructables.com/id/THERMOFORMER-VACUUM-FORMER-PATTERNMAKEKER/

BCN3D Moveo Open Source 3D Printed Robotic Arm

BCN3D presents Moveo, a fully 3d printable open source robotic arm. Another step toward fully robotic world where we puny humans will be free of any work :-)




From project description:

BCN3D Technologies keeps taking important steps in order to achieve his goal of bringing the digital manufacturing technology to everyone. In this occasion we are presenting the BCN3D Moveo, a robotic arm design from scratch and developed by our engineers in collaboration with the Departament d’Ensenyament from the Generalitat de Catalunya.

Its structure is fully printed using additive manufacturing technologies and its electronics are controlled by the software Arduino. The BCN3D Moveo has 5 axis.
Moveo, fully functional nowadays, has been born, as all the BCN3D Technologies products, with an open and educational wish.

As we have done with all our developed pordutcs, the BCN3D Moveo files will be available for everyone. Thanks to the platform Github, a website where users around the world share their designs, anyone will be able to obtain all the necessary information in order to assemble his own BCN3D Moveo at home.

Nevertheless, BCN3D will fee all the Moveo know how on our Github account, as we have been doing with all the BCN3D Technologies products. Thus, the users will be able to find the bill of material (BOM), where all the needed components for the assembling of the arm come detailed, as the CAD designs, so anyone will be able to modify the BCN3D Moveo design as they wish.

Furthermore, the Github users will find the STL files for the structure printing and the assembling, fine tuning and firmware upload manuals, which will be available both in English and Spanish.

Download the BCN3D Moveo CAD files, the STL files, the assembly and user manual and the Bill of Materials on our Github: https://github.com/BCN3D

Project homepage: https://www.bcn3dtechnologies.com/en/bcn3d-moveo-the-future-of-learning/

Tend.ai Robotic Servant for your 3D Printer Farm

Tend.ai developed cloud robotics solution that enables a robotic arm to operate your 3d printer farm. You do not need to know how to program the robot since it uses a webcam and machine learning to figure out triggers and actions it needs to do. You basically show it what to do.
Since it can work non-stop, you can have a small manufacturing robotic cell in your workshop or home. it goes without saying it can operate other machines as well, such as CNCs or laser cutters.




One thing comes to mind: since you can get orders from the web, use a robot to operate your 3d printer, and package the objects, you will just probably need to send them via delivery service. That can probably also be automated... You see where I'm going ...

Source:

https://techcrunch.com/2016/06/22/tend-ai-trains-your-robot-to-operate-dozens-of-3d-printers-and-laser-cutters-at-a-time/

3D Systems SLAbot-1 Stereolitographic Robotic Manufacturing Cell

SLAbot-1 is a robotic arm which is used as a stereolitography apparatus in a small self-contained manufacturing cell. It enables very fast 3d printing based on resin and projection device and further manipulation of produced object. It is a concept demonstration but it could be used in some future manufacturing setting providing customized 3d printed parts.


3D Systems describe it as:

The SLAbot-1 uses an industrial robotic arm, producing parts in sequence. This modular, assembly-line-ready additive manufacturing can be configured in large arrays and enables distributed, automated, high-speed, customized manufacturing.

Here is SLAbot-1 in action:





Here is a more detailed presentation of the system which is based on a patent that is 30 years old:




SLAbot is clearly based on DENSO Robotics arm.

Factory In A Closet

Spiritplumber developed a small DIY digital fabrication manufacturing cell in his closet. He has made and installed a 3D printer, hybrid tool (extruder / laser cutter / liquid printer) and organometallic filament maker.




Very cool setup Spiritplumber! :-)


Do you see a smoke detector surrounded by burn marks? :-) Lesson to be learned there ...

Makerarm Robotic Multitool

Makerarm is another step towards full desktop manufacturing system. It is a robotic arm with many tool attachments for 3d printing, milling, drawing foam cutting, PCB manufacturing and other.
It still looks like hobby or entry-level system but we are slowly moving towards prosumer home production robots.
It supports both FDM and SLA 3d printing.


Makerarm promotional video:




Makerarm homepage:

http://makerarm.com/

It is also on Kickstarter where you can get it:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1849283018/makerarm-the-first-robotic-arm-that-makes-anything

3d printing Makerarm attachment. It also supports SLA 3d printing.  

Tormach PCNC 440 Home Manufacturing High End CNC Mill

Did you ever wanted to have a small factory for metal parts in your garage? Now you can ...

Tormach is major player in high end CNC machines and they just announced their professional PCNC 440 model which is aimed at home and small workshop manufacturing. It is priced at $4,950 which is relatively low cost for this type of machine.

Home and distributed manufacturing is rapidly developing and this is just another sign of it.


Video introduction of PCNC 440 with tech specs:







Tormach 440 mill homepage:

http://www.tormach.com/440mill

Make review:

http://makezine.com/2015/09/22/the-tormach-pcnc-440-welcome-to-the-era-of-desktop-cnc-mill/


Here is the unboxing and video review:





... it can also cut 4140 steel:




Full Tormach 440 workstation without tool changer:

Eva 3D Printed Robotic Arm by Automata

Eva robotic arm by Automata has 80% 3d printed parts and it is planned to be low cost robotic platform for any purpose. Soon you will have a robotic helper in your workshop ...

Eva moving:







Eva technical specifications:

• Degrees Of Freedom / Axis: 6
• Weight: less then 2,5 kg
• Range: 600mm Full Span Radius, 360°. Extendable with Gantry (coming soon).
• Payload: 0.75kg (max)
• Repeatability: 1 mm (subject to testing)
• Max Speed: 100°/sec (1000mm/sec at full outstretch)
• Mounting: Table/Wall/Ceiling/Inclined
• Connectivity: USB 2.0, Wireless (TBC)
• Power Requirement: DC 12V 10A
• Auxiliary Ports: TBC

Automata Technologies homepage:

http://www.getautomata.com/welcome#home

... the company claims that it will not open source it. Hey guys, sharing is caring!

If you are looking for more DIY and open soulutions for your own robotic arm here is a perfect project for you:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2015/03/powerful-3d-printable-robot-arm-for.html

Update:

Eva is learning how to help build replicas of herself. The robotic arm is starting to operate a 3d printer:

How to make a DIY injection molding machine from a drill press

If you want to make mass produced parts you will reach a limits of your 3d printed very quickly both technical and economical ones. For any serious mass production of plastic parts you must use injection molding which can be expensive in the beginning since the initial mold is costly but the parts are cheap afterwards.

Is there a middle ground? A device you can build yourself?
There is a possibility to make a DIY home workshop injection molding machine from a hacked press drill with Gingery attachment and a CNC milled metal mold.
You can use various types of thermoplastics like: PETE, HDPE, PVC, LDPE, PP, PS and ABS.

Scorch from Scorchworks documented his experience with it.

Here is a construction video of Gingery injection molding tool for a simple drill press:




Here is a demonstration of injection molding plastic parts into CNC milled molds:



For more info on his project see:

http://www.scorchworks.com/Injection_molding/injection_molding.html


For a simple DIY drill press injection molding apparatus you can check out this PDF guide:

http://rick.sparber.org/Articles/gpi.pdf


The setup:

Injection molded objects and the mold:

5axismaker is next generation of desktop manufacturing machines

WOW! I really dig this concept of five axis multi-tool! It gives you 5 axis CNC machine that includes milling and 3d printing heads, touch probe, hot wire-cutter and a special mount for custom tools. This is probably a dawn of low cost multi-axis and multi-tool digital fabrication devices.

The company that is developing it also created open source Grasshopper script that allows programming of this 5-axis machine.

It was sold on pre-order from Kickstarter campaign for £4,499 (about $7000). The pack included:

5AXISMAKER KICKSTARTER SPECIAL:

Base 5axismaker: 5axis machine + 1 milling tool head + Set of Tools (Touch-probe, 3d printer, Wire-cutter, Adapter for other tools). 5axismaker cutting/making volume 400x400x400 mm.

I'm really looking foreward for developments in this field! Only 3 axes is sooo yesterday!

Here you can see a close-up video of conformal 3d printing in 5 axis:




Company homepage: http://5axismaker.com/

Technical specifications: http://5axismaker.com/5x/tech-specs/

KS campaign page:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2003668803/5axismaker-first-ever-affordable-5axis-multi-fabri

DIY soldering robot for home manufacturing

Brian Dorey developed this low cost home manufacturing robotic solder cell. Total cost to build this machine is around 860 £ and he made all the files need to make it publicly available.

We are witnessing a strong growth in DIY production machines like 3d printers, CNC mills, robots, pick and place machines and other digital manufacturing tools.
There will be a DIY micro factory in your neighborhood soon ...

Soldering robot working:



Project homepage:

http://briandorey.com/category/Soldering-Robot-Project.aspx

All the files to build it and software to run it can be found at:

https://github.com/briandorey/Soldering-Robot-Project

How to make a DIY Stewart Platform with 3d printed parts

Stewart platform is a multi-purpuse robotic platform that is movable in six axis. This machine could be used in all sorts of project where you need multiaxial kinematics. I could see it even being used as part of a 3d printer.

Nicholas Pajerski made a tutorial on Instructables describing how to build a desktop Stewart platform with lasercut and 3d printed parts. It is controlled by Arduino and uses linear actuators enabling it to carry heavier loads.

Detailed build guide and all the parts files can be found at:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Six-Axis-Stewart-Platform/

I have a feeling that a field of home manufacturing robotics is entering a very rapid development phase. 3d printers were just the initial phase. 

Here is a much larger MOOG platform controlled by IPad used for flight simulations:

And here is a smaller version doing some balancing: