Tutorial on how to hide secrets inside .stl files by Angus

Angus from Maker's Muse shows how to hide a printable geometry or entire objects inside a .stl file.

When you need an extra pair of hands ...

Source:

https://www.youbionic.com/

Complex 3D Printed 5 Axis Rack System

Source: Henry Segerman

NASA 3D Printed Mars Habitat Competition Projects

NASA announced the projects to enter the third phase of their 3D printed Mars habitat competition. Here you can see some amazing technological concepts. Hopefully I'll see some of them being used on Mars sometime in the future.

Team Zopherus

AI SpaceFactory MARSHA

Kahn-Yates Construction

SEArch+/Apis Cor

Northwestern University

NASA page with more details:

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/centennial_challenges/3DPHab/five-teams-win-a-share-of-100000-in-virtual-modeling-stage

Dexter High Precision DIY Robot

Dexter is a high precision 3d printable robot that can be trained by the human operator.

Hackaday summary video:




Detailed videos showcasing the robot's features:




Hackaday project homepage:

https://hackaday.io/project/158779-dexter


Project description:

Dexter is an open source, 5+ axis robotic arm. It is built from 3D printed parts and held together with carbon fiber strakes for reinforcement. Dexter uses five NEMA-17 stepper motors with three harmonic drives in conjunction with optical encoders to get extreme precision, with a 2.5 micron stepping distance and 50 micron repeatablity. 

Dexter is also trainable, meaning that you can manually control it and have playback of the exact path it took. This makes it easily programmable for applications.

Dexter can also be controlled with our software, Dexter Development Environment (DDE). DDE utilizes a modified version of JavaScript that allows for a more traditional approach to programming while still being friendly to those who are newer to code. It also contains a simulator that will show playback of Dexter's movements using a pane in the development environment.

Dexter even has a Unity library that one of the members of the Dexter community put together, complete with haptic feedback. This could potentially be used for video games or even real world applications where a Dexter must be remotely controlled

Ivan takes his 3D printed tank for a ride

It's not a full sized tank, but still a great project :-)





Ivan has a great YT channel and documents his project build process in detailed way:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF3cDM_hQMtIEJvEW1BZugg

Cytosurge Improve their FluidFM µ3Dprinter with Pinpoint Accuracy Tech

I wrote about Cytosurge technology before. They developed a 3D printer that can print metal on the micro-scale. A true technological wonder. Just imagine small robots floating in your bloodstream to repair your body or extremely complex and fine electronic parts like micro-antenna arrays. Star Trek stuff. This is a technology that makes a large step towards that future. 
The company has now improved their machine with ability to print directly and precisely on complex surfaces like existing electronic component boards or microchips. 

Tech description:

The new pinpoint metal additive manufacturing process is made possible by two high resolution state-of-the-art cameras integrated into the FluidFM µ3Dprinter. The cameras enable automated loading of the print tips (FluidFM iontips), printer setup, calibration and computer-assisted alignment to print on already existing structures as well as the visualization of the finished structures. The bottom view camera is mainly used for internal system processes, like controlling the automated gripping of the FluidFM iontip. The top view camera images the object or surface to print on. With the high-resolution live video, the exact position of the object or surface to be printed on can be manually chosen and set as starting point for the printing process.

This procedure allows the user to print metallic objects on contact pads that are pre-defined on the surface of an integrated circuit, on micro-electromechanical-systems (MEMS) or on other components.

This unique capability of the FluidFM μ3Dprinter to add 3D printed structures directly onto existing objects or surfaces with pinpoint accuracy opens the door to a new world of additive manufacturing of complex metal objects.

You can learn more about this amazing tech at: http://cytosurge.com/

LBRY 3D Printing and Design Contest - Win some Cryptocurrency!

I wrote about LBRY before as a great possibility to decentralize your DIY projects and keep them out of corporate controlled platforms. Here is one example of archery project uploaded by Juleah.

LBRY just announced a small 3D printing and 3D design contest with cryptocurrency rewards. Here is the summary:

Design a chess set that sparks our imagination & win $100 in cryptocurrency. Upload your chess set design (use a zip folder for multiple files) in either STL or OBJ format to the LBRY (library) network. Once finished, email the lbry:// address (automatically receive 10 Library Credits for your first upload) to james@lbry.io by July 4th.

You can win 100 USD for the first place and 50 USD for the second place paid in LBC cryptocurrency. 

Here is the link to the full post with detailed contest rules: https://lbry.io/3d-contest

Good luck!

LulzBot Cluster 3D Printer Manufacturing Farm

Lulzbot presents their Lulzbot Cluster for manufacturing of 3d printed parts. It's an interesting video that shows the technology and how it evolved and scaled up.

New versions of GCodePrintr and GCodeSimulator Just Released!

3dprintapps.de just released a new version of their 3D printing apps GCodePrintr and GCodeSimulator.

Version v3.0 comes with many improvements and several new features, which will help to maximize the capabilities of your 3D printer.
GCodeSimulator App is the free sibling of the paid GCodePrintr App. Both together have been downloaded from Google Play more than 50000 times and are actively used by more than 6000 users.

The new version is available on Google Play now (staged rollout just started).
GCodePrintr on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.dietzm.gcodesimulatorprinter
GCodeSimulator on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.dietzm.gcodesimulator

Most important changes:

v3.0 comes with dual extruder support!

• Dropdown list to quickly select an extruder
• Show temperature for each extruder
• 3D view colored by extruder
• Calculate extrusion by extruder
• and more

GCodePrintr v3.0 comes with several improvements to the UI interface:

• Customizable button to quickly access your favorite macro.
• Dialog to enter customer step size for manual movements
• Dialog to control Fan speed (long press on Fan button)
•  New status dislog to see status of printer connection, web interface, network receiver...

The web interfaces design has been refreshed and is now using a responsive web design. Additional functions added:

• upload gcode through the web interface and start a print remotely.
• use the build-in camera to show a picture of the print
• manual axis movement and homing  
• and more   

Extend the list of supported 3D printers and printer electronics:

• New printers added to supported list (e.g. Tevo Tornado)
• Better print time estimation by taking M201 acceleration into account
• Add fallback for unsupported USB devices (e.g. unknown VendorID)
• Send line numbers and checksum to the printer  
• Gbrl improvements

Many usability improvements (e.g. new help dialogs) to simplify the 1st time use of the App.

See http://3dprintapps.de/version30.html for a full list of changes.

Water Cooled E3D Titan Aqua Hot End

E3D just presented their water-cooled hot end: the Titan Aqua. The primary usage scenario for the water-cooled hot end is in 3D printers that have heated chamber or passively heated enclosures.


Presentation video:




More about this water cooled extruder can be found at:

https://e3d-online.com/blog/2017/12/20/water-is-cool/

3D Printed DIY Arrowheads by Juleah

Making your own archery equipment is one of the essential skills any archer should master. Here is a cool and useful DIY project made by Juleah, where she used a 3d printer to make printable arrowheads or field points.


Here you can see two videos detailing the entire target testing and improvement process:





The final version of horizontally printed points is strong enough to go through soft hay targets.








You can find out more about Juleah and her work at:

http://bestjuleah.pen.io

STLs for the field points can be downloaded via the LBRY.io application:

lbry://@BestJuleah#66bdae2ef9d62e812731b9dfca33e966771592b4/3d-print-arrowhead-stl

(LBRY is for the users who prefer open-source decentralized content distribution)

Or, if you prefer corporate controlled site, on Thingiverse:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2663794