(506) 2240-6804
Shapes that can only be 3d printed
Objects That Couldn't Be Made Before 3D Printers Existed
By
Bryan Lufkin
Comments (15)We may earn a commission from links on this page.
3D printing isn’t just for making unique stuffed animals or weird fake meat. It allows us to fabricate objects we never could with traditional manufacturing. Here are some of the incredible things we can print now, which were nearly impossible to make before.
Personalized Car Parts
3D printing can make car parts that are custom-built for the driver’s body and comfort: an ergonomic steering wheel, for example. Last month, Fortune reported Ford’s partnership with California-based 3D printing company Carbon3D. The automakers themselves can benefit from 3D printed parts, too. Instead of the ol’ Ford assembly line, engineers can make manufacturing and design more iterative with 3D printed materials, since prototyping suddenly becomes faster and cheaper and testing becomes more frequent and thorough.
You see, many products—from drinking cups to video game consoles to car parts—are created in a process called “injection molding.” That’s when a material, like glass or metal or plastic, is poured into a mold that forms the product. But with 3D printing, you can design a crazy object on your computer, and it can be turned into reality.
“3D printing bridges the gap between the digital and the physical world,” says Jonathan Jaglom, CEO of 3D printer manufacturer MakerBot, “and lets you design pretty much anything in digital form and then instantly turn it into a physical object.”
This 3D-printed airbox for a Formula-style racecar improves performance: it increases horsepower by 10% and torque by nearly 12%. Credit: YouTube
Lighter AirplanesThere have been lots of materials used to make planes lighter, and thus more fuel efficient and greener. But 3D-printed materials can cut weight by up to 55%, according to Airbus, which announced its involvement with 3D printing last year.
In February, Australian researchers unveiled the first 3D-printed jet engine in the world.
3D-printed structural brackets for planes, like this one for the Airbus A350 XWB jet, make aircraft significantly lighter and more fuel-efficient.
3D-printed polymers often have “high strength to weight ratios,” says Kristine Relja, marketing manager at Carbon3D, the same company that’s working with Ford on the 3D-printed car parts. 3D-printed plane parts use that strength-to-weight ratio to their advantage. It gives them an edge over traditional materials, like the aluminum often found in seat frames.
“If the arm rest of each seat of a plane were replaced with a high strength to weight ratio part, the overall weight of the plane would drop, increasing fuel efficiency and lowering the overall cost of the plane,” Relja says.
A 3D-printed sculpture by Belgian artist Nick Ervinck. 3D printers excel at churning out extremely unusual, complicated shapes.
Credit: AP
Possibly the arena 3D printing handedly dominates is personal health. Our bodies are unbelievably individualized, idiosyncratic flesh bags filled with biological items uniquely shaped to each person. Since customization is so critical, especially in surgical implants, 3D printing can really shine here.
Let’s start with dental trays: Those molds of your chompers that’re made with gross cement stuff that you have to leave in your mouth for minutes on end. They’re useful because they can help dentists and orthodontists create appliances like retainers or braces, and can give them a three dimensional, kinesthetic mold of your mouth.
A 3D-printed dental tray. Image credit: Stratasys
Over at Stratasys, the 3D printing company that owns MakerBot, 3D-printed dental trays are going from CAD file to model, blazing trails in orthodontics. It gives orthodontists and dentists a cheap, accurate glimpse into a patient’s maw.
It’s way easier than those nasty physical impressions with the cement, and way less gag-inducing.
Stents are those little tubes surgeons stick in the hollow parts of your body—a blood vessel or artery, say—to hold it open and allow it to function properly. Usually, they’re mesh, but stents that are 3D-printed can have an edge, since they’re able to be customized more and are made with cheaper, flexible polymers that can dissolve safely into the bloodstream in a couple years.
At the Children’s Hospital of Michigan in the Detroit Medical Center, a 17-year-old girl was suffering from an aortic aneurysm, a potentially fatal heart condition that was discovered with a precautionary EKG. That’s when Dr. Daisuke Kobayashi and his team turned to 3D printing. A 3D printed model of her heart allowed the doctors to know exactly where to put stents in an otherwise delicate operation for a young patient.
In other cases, the surgical stents themselves are 3D printed: University of Michigan doctors have also implanted 3D-printed stents just above infant boys’ lungs to open their airways help them breathe normally on their own.
The advantage of using 3D printing here is that doctors were able to create custom stents that could fit the kids’ individual anatomies, quickly and cheaply.
Doctors 3D-printed a patient’s airway along with the stent (outlined in red), to get a tangible idea of how the device fit into his anatomy. Credit: New England Journal of Medicine
Buckyballs
No, not the tiny magnetic choking hazards. We’re talking about models of Buckminsterfullerene, the molecule. It’s every chemistry teacher’s dream. 3D printers can produce tangible, big models of molecules. And they’re accurate, too. This type of complex geometry is really hard to pull off with injection molding. The closest thing we had before was basically popsicle sticks and Elmer’s.
3D printing not only helps us learn more about what molecules look like by making lifesized models of them—it also helps us make actual molecules. Earlier this year, Dr.
Martin Burke at the University of Illinois led the construction of a “molecule-making machine”: It’s a machine that synthesizes small, organic molecules by welding over 200 pre-made “building blocks” and then 3D printing billions of organic compound combinations. This could “revolutionize organic chemistry,” the paper in the journal Science reported, significantly speeding up the process to test new drugs.
What’s cool about 3D printing is that it makes ambitiously designed objects way more feasible. Specifically, 3D printing can make those “complex geometries” that injection molding can’t: That is, stuff that’s in obscure shapes, like long twisty mobius strips or zillion-sided polygons.
3D printers, like this liquid one from Carbon3D, can copy the complex shapes found in molecules.
Replacement Parts for Your Organs
3D printing can be used to make surgically-implanted hardware that protects or supports damaged organs. This could lead the way to custom repairs for damaged tracheas or windpipes, for instance.
Sometimes part of a windpipe needs to be removed, but the two remaining ends need to be joined together—if they can’t be joined together, the patient may die.
3D bioprinting to the rescue! It can replicate the mechanical properties of the trachea. That’s right: a living, biological tracheal replacement can be made from a mix of 3D printing and tissue engineering. That’s what the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research did. They modified a 3D printer to use a syringe filled with living cells that produce collagen and cartilage. Within hours, bioengineered tracheas can be created on-the-spot quickly and cheaply. And that’s a key strength for 3D printing: fast prototypes.
Here’s a 3D-printed tracheal replacement that was created with living materials. Credit: Feinstein Institute
Organs and BonesThe most futuristic use of for these magical printers? They could, one day, create internal organs. That’s a literal lifesaver for folks who need an organ transplant.
Also possibly available: eyes, blood vessels, noses, ears, skin, and bones. Even hearts.
The FDA has approved skull caps that could repair cranial damage—one patient had 75% of his skull repaired using these 3D-printed materials.
And this isn’t just science fiction. In 2013, medical company Organovo started selling 3D-printed liver tissue. It’ll be a while before a fully functioning liver can be printed, but it’s a big step in the right direction, even if it just means prototypes and experimental liver-like structures.
As if that wasn’t incredible enough, we can also create replicas of people’s existing internal organs. With the help of CT scan data, docs can whip up three dimensional, touchable copies of individuals’ guts, in all their nuanced, unique glory. This can help medical professionals better find tumors or other irregularities. (Not to mention it could possibly take the gross awesomeness out of biology class dissections.)
And already, companies are creating cheap, 3D-printed prosthetic limbs for kids.
A whole generation is growing up with 3D printing — not just as a toy, but a vital part of their bodies.
This 7-year-old girl adjusts her new 3D-printed limb. 3D printing is beneficial for prosthetics, especially children’s, since they quickly outgrow expensive traditional ones. But 3D printing presents a fast, cheap alternative. Credit: AP
Top image credit: Shutterstock
Open kinja-labs.comComplex geometries are possible with 3D printing
Industrial 3D printing means that the manufacturing process no longer determines the complexity of a component, but rather the product’s desired functionality and design. Complex geometries, such as three-dimensional structures with undercuts or cavities, are typically impossible to manufacture with conventional technologies like milling, turning or casting, or are only possible at disproportionately high costs.
Now, any shape that can be constructed in a 3D CAD program can be produced with additive manufacturing technology. There are almost no restrictions – even when manufacturing hollow structures. This works because the material is only added where it needs to go. Additive manufacturing gives developers maximum geometric design freedom, and complexity only plays a minor role in the production costs. The costs can often even be significantly reduced due to lower material consumption.
EOS technology was a logical choice for us because we manufacture small series productions with complex shapes. We acquired the high-temperature system EOS P 800 at an early stage and were able to rapidly make progress in the development cycle of OsteoFab™ technology. EOS accompanied us throughout the entire process.
Scott DeFelice | President and CEO | OPM
Multiple structures in the same part
Thanks to 3D printing, the hip cup implant was significantly optimized.
The artificial hip cup consists of solid sections that provide stability and porous elements on the surface. The differently sized pores help to anchor the implant firmly: Large pores are helpful for pressure transmission - smaller pores support the initial fixation. In this way, the complex surface structure simplifies osseointegration, or the growth between the living bone tissue and the surface of the implant.
Flexible structural adjustment possible
The full implant is manufactured in a single production step by the 3D printer and would be extremely difficult to make with conventional manufacturing methods. At the same time, the high flexibility of additive manufacturing enables the structure, surface roughness and pore size to be determined individually for each patient. Together with the Additive Minds Team at EOS and the established 3D metal printing system EOS M 290, Permedica succeeded in realizing a completely new product.
Evolutionary processes have created biological structures in great abundance and diversity: today, we know of more than 1 million species of animals and around 500,000 species of plants.
These systems often have shapes and structures that are optimally adapted to their environment and are created with minimal use of materials and energy. The interdisciplinary research field of bionics aims to exploit this massive potential by adapting natural blueprints to technical applications.
This is where conventional manufacturing processes encounter their limits. By contrast, additive manufacturing achieves maximum design freedom. With our technology, you have the opportunity to build, discard, re-engineer and continuously optimize your prototypes during development. The tool-free production saves time and money - while offering enormous opportunities. As a result, there have been disruptive innovations in medicine, ergonomics and aviation, for example, especially in connection with aerodynamics.
Success Story Festo
Bionic Gripper
The additively manufactured Festo gripper DHDG is a bionic gripping device that can grip objects gently and flexibly but powerfully, and set them down safely.
Its shape and function were inspired by nature. With the FORMIGA P 100 by EOS, the automation specialists Festo were able to produce the parts they needed quickly and cost-efficiently in small series production.
The results are impressive.
Thanks to the superior design freedom, the production can be flexibly guided by the design. By integration functionality into the part during production, Festo succeeded in significantly reducing the number of individual parts and the assembly cost. The resulting gripper is lightweight and durable. And even the price is right: Festo saved time and money with tool-free production.
Thinking in new ways is worth it: you can’t drill around corners, but you can easily print holes. The geometric freedom of design granted by industrial 3D printing opens new possibilities for designers. This requires know-how and a new approach to design.
We're here to help you take full advantage of additive manufacturing.
There are many upsides to 3D printing.
EOS technology allows highly complex parts featuring functional integration and maximum product customization to be developed and manufactured quickly.
-- loading ... --
Be inspired. Stay up to date.
Join our Monthly Newsletter Now!
9 amazing examples that can be printed on a 3D printer.
How does 3D printing work? How is 4D printing different? Amazing examples of 3D and 4D printing in action.
1. Bones and muscles. 2. Ovaries. 3. Baking. 4. Food. 5. Buildings. 6. Kayak. 7. Art for the blind. 8. Materials with shape memory. 9. Anything your mind can imagine.
When a person first learns about the existence of a 3D printer and 3D printing, most often he asks why I should buy a 3D printer and what I can do with it.
We answered the first question in our article 10 reasons to buy a 3D printer for home use, and we will try to answer the second in this post.
We are faced with a rather difficult task, because the possibilities of printers and 3D printing are so limitless that it is basically impossible to fit all the answers in one post.
We won't bore you with a list of endless models that can be printed on a home 3D printer, but we will try to show several areas where the potential of 3D printing has manifested itself to the maximum.
Given the growth of 3D printing over the past 10 years, it seems that 3D printing will have a very wide application for the foreseeable future, and could become especially powerful when combined with trends such as mass personalization.
Both beginners in this field and experts in this innovative technology can read this article. So before we get to the amazing uses of 3D printers around the world, it's worth saying a few words about 3D printing technology itself.
How does 3D printing work?
3D printing (also known as "additive manufacturing") involves creating a 3D object from a digital file.
After the file is transferred, the 3D printer applies successive layers of material until the object is ready.
Each layer is a thin (typically 0.1-0.2 mm) cross section of the actual object.
Most materials used in 3D printing are thermoplastics, a type of plastic that becomes liquid when heated, but solidifies when cooled and does not lose strength.
However, as technology advances, researchers are finding more and more new materials that can be used in 3D printing.
In addition to plastic, metal, concrete, biomaterials, foodstuffs and even moon dust can be used.
The main advantage of the additive approach is that even the most complex shapes can be created in a simpler way and with fewer materials than traditional production methods (which is good for the environment and profit).
In addition, the need for transportation is reduced, since you can buy a 3D model (digital file) on the other side of the world and print it in your hometown.
3D printing is also a game-changer for rapid prototyping, custom manufacturing, and the creation of personalized products.
This is the most adaptable and economical technology for designing and creating one-off, unique, new or exclusive products.
How is 4D printing different?
4D printing is like 3D printing, but with a twist. Thanks to this new dimension, 3D printed objects have the ability to change their shape on their own under the influence of external factors such as light, heat, electricity, magnetic field, etc.
transform over time in response to certain stimuli and does not require human intervention to facilitate the process.
In simple terms, the created object can be programmed to change its shape when certain triggers appear, such as water or heat.
For example, a storage box may collapse, or a structure may recover from weather damage.
But fundamentally, 4D printing is a pioneer in additive manufacturing, which means it's still in its experimental stages.
Amazing examples of 3D and 4D printing in action.
As you can probably imagine, 3D and 4D printing technologies have the potential to revolutionize the industrial world and change the trivial production process. But these technologies have a much wider application than conventional industrial processes, and many of the applications of 3D printing can really surprise you.
Here are 9 surprising and unexpected uses for additive manufacturing.
1. Bones and muscles.
At the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, researchers have been able to print bones, muscles, and ears—a process known as bioprinting—and successfully implant them in animals. What is really interesting is that the printed tissue survived after being implanted and became a functional tissue.
Wake Forest's research was largely funded by the Armed Forces Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a military organization working to develop regenerative treatments for critically wounded soldiers.
The development of 3D-printed graft tissues can certainly benefit both the military and civilians.
Hundreds of thousands of people are currently on the waiting list for organ transplants.
Bio 3D printing could do away with waiting lists altogether with custom-made organs specifically designed for individual patients based on MRI and CT scans.
One of the most basic challenges in bioprinting is to make printed tissue survive long enough to form blood vessels and nerves and fully integrate with the body it is implanted in, so this research and experiment is incredibly promising.
2. Ovaries.
Overcoming infertility is often a long, painful and costly process. But one groundbreaking experiment offers hope that we may see a new, innovative treatment approach in the future. At Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, mice have been implanted with synthetic printed ovaries.
The ovary was created using a porous gelatin scaffold.
Gelatin is a form of collagen, the most abundant protein in mammals. Compared to natural collagen, gelatin is more broken down, so it can be turned into ink that can be used in a 3D printer.
A female mouse with 3D printed synthetic ovaries conceives and gives birth to healthy offspring. The researchers said the study could lead to fertility treatments for women with cancer.
3. Baking.
Ukrainian architect turned pastry chef Dinara Kasko made a name for herself on Instagram by posting photos of her striking geometric pastries. Dinara uses a 3D printer to create incredible molds that she then casts and sells around the world.
Drawing inspiration from mathematical models, as well as from the objects around her, Dinara Kasko creates unsurpassed masterpieces of confectionery art. They are so good that sometimes they are even a little sorry to eat.
In our blog, we wrote about Dinara and her cakes back in 2017, when she was just starting to experiment with shapes and enter the global market.
For her startup, she used a regular home 3D printer and PLA plastic for 3D printing.
Her success story is definitely noteworthy and a great example of turning a hobby into a start-up.
4. Food.
Natural Machines Foodini 3D Printer is designed to create personalized printed meals. It can print pizza, bean burgers, and a range of healthier dishes from edible ingredients.
If in the previous paragraph we described the indirect use of a 3D printer to create baking dishes, now we go directly to printing food on a 3D printer.
The 3D food printer not only allows you to create the most unpredictable shapes on your plate or on your toast, but also transforms the culture of food consumption.
The picture below shows the same breakfast. This is traditional oatmeal. But you must admit that 3D printed oatmeal looks much more appetizing.
Foodini is part of a consortium called #EITOncofood, which focuses on new, innovative food solutions for cancer patients.
The project takes into account nutritional needs and sensory changes, promoting the enjoyment of food and preventing malnutrition.
As a result of their research, they found that printing products in abstract, unusual forms is highly desirable. When receiving such an unusual presentation, patients get the feeling that someone is preparing a meal especially for them.
5. Buildings.
Talking about the possibilities of 3D printing, one cannot fail to mention the architectural sphere. 3D printers and 3D printing have made life much easier for architects and engineers. It's not a secret for anyone that before bringing an architectural structure to life, architects create its scale model.
An architectural model is a physical representation of a structure created to study aspects of an architectural design or to communicate design ideas.
Sketch models are created to explore the interaction of volumes, different points of view or concepts in the design process.
They can also be useful when explaining a complex or unusual project to builders or as a discussion point between designers and consultants such as architects, engineers and urban planners.
Presentation models can be used to showcase, visualize or sell the final project. The model is also used as display pieces, such as as part of a building, or as part of a museum exhibition, such as scale replicas of historic buildings.
World renowned company Killa Design used 3D printing technology to design and develop the Museum of the Future, Office of the Future and SRG Tower, a 111-story residential skyscraper in Dubai.
Quoting Sean Killa, partner at Killa Design, one sentence explains the importance of 3D printing in construction.
Killa said, “3D printing helps us present and explain ideas during creative brainstorming sessions and greatly speeds up the design process.”
In addition to models that can be printed on simple, low-cost 3D printers, printing of full-fledged residential buildings, bridges and other structures is already being introduced around the world.
In addition to the buildings of the future, we also mentioned in our blog about the "world's first 3D printed settlement" for Latin America, as well as a 3D printed footbridge in Shanghai.
6. Kayak.
Jim Smith of Grass Roots Engineering, who proved that an industrial kit is not needed to create impressive 3D printed objects, created a full-size kayak on a home printer in 42 days. It took about $500 to make a colorful kayak that is fully waterproof and works.
John Smith first took to the water on his printed kayak back in 2014, when most in Ukraine viewed a 3D printer as an expensive toy capable of reproducing only useless souvenirs for the New Year or Easter.
7. Art for the blind.
The Unseen Art project, run by Helsinki-based designer Mark Dillon, uses 3D printing to give blind people the chance to experience classic art that many sighted people take for granted.
“Imagine not knowing what Mona Lisa's smile looks like or Van Gogh's sunflowers.Imagine that you heard people talk about them and knew they existed, but could never imagine them. For millions of blind people, this is a reality,” explains Mark Dillon.
Unseen Art uses 3D imaging and sand-based 3D printing to recreate these works of art at a scale and quality that can be displayed in museums.
Although their approach is unique, the Unseen Art project is not the first to come up with this concept. 3D printing has been used to turn photographs into "tangible memories" and even to help a blind mother "see" her unborn baby's ultrasound.
8. Shape memory materials.
4D printing is certainly less common than 3D printing, but one example shows how it could be used in the future. Researchers at the Livermore National Laboratory Lawrence printed a silicone material that is flexible and can change when exposed to heat.
This effect can be used, for example, to create a truly individual, form-fitting shoe that adapts to the wearer's foot.
MIT has an entire Self-Assembly Lab that specializes in the study of programmable materials for 4D printing.
Below is an example of the transformation of such a material when exposed to water.
9. Anything your mind can imagine.
And in the final bonus point, we want to summarize all of the above.
The incredible thing about 3D printing is that it can create just about anything your mind can think of.
It just requires a digital file and the right material.
While experts are still figuring out how to bring 3D printing processes to all areas, enthusiasts are finding all sorts of smart hacks to print on their 3D printers every day, including trash cans, cup holders, organizers, cases, phone cases, jewelry, souvenirs and much more.
What products can be printed on a 3D printer?
When buying a 3D printer DISCOUNT on plastics and polymers up to 10%
What products can be printed on a 3D printer?
12/15/2020 powernic
What products can be printed on a 3D printer?
3D printing has opened up truly unlimited possibilities for using technology in industry, professional areas, and in everyday life.
Almost everything can be printed on a 3D printer, from dishes, souvenirs, toys to prostheses and functional models. And what original products can be printed on a 3D printer?
Bijouterie
Various types of jewelry have been used by people since ancient times. Even Neanderthals tried to decorate themselves with bone products, pebbles and plants. 3D printing has expanded the possibilities in this area. Now each person can create a unique decoration and print it. Costume jewelry leaves the category of mass production and acquires individuality, exclusivity and originality.
Cool household items
Original soap dish with a hollow honeycomb system for water drainage, lace coasters, lids and handles with inscriptions, a bottle opener, a phone stand - all these are little things that can become unique, peculiar only to your life, your interior. It is these little things that make up our individual style, which can be worked out with the help of 3D printing.
The interior can be decorated with an original vase or basket. In any case, it will be created and conceived by you, and the 3D printer will implement this idea as accurately as possible.
Functional items
Using 3D printing, you can create not only decorations, but also functional items. For example, an automatic drinker for flowers. This original little thing will not let your plants dry out, and will also prevent rotting, as it will provide uniform and high-quality watering. Such industrial products are expensive and do not look very presentable. 3D printing will help you create it yourself.
You can also print original luminaires that will work on LED lamps. All you need is a light bulb, socket, cord and switch. The rest of the details in the most original design you can print on a 3D printer.
Toys
In this area, 3D printing of products does not imply absolutely no restrictions. It can be not only figurines, but snowball molds, designer parts, puzzles, children's dishes, masks, weapons and much more.
