3D Printing  

3D printing technology is developing at a fast pace and is an essential part of the product development process now. To ensure that printers are as efficient as possible, engineering managers have a number of processes and techniques that they can employ.

Three-dimensional printing, or additive manufacturing has gone from the territory of engineers to use in medicine, art, gaming and for commercial purposes. As the printers have developed, they have gotten smaller, faster and more effective at what they do. When engineering managers want to further boost the efficiency of these high-tech units, these four tips may help.

Using Computer-assisted Design Software

Engineering managers could make use of computer-assisted design (CAD) software to boost the efficiency of their three-dimensional printing needs. Essential for the process, CAD software packages now feature tools for devising the most efficient way of constructing an object in three dimensions. The engineering managers can set up the software to maximize efficiency of time and materials in order to achieve the best mix of both features.

Creating New Innovations

Engineering managers might want to try some new methods in the world of 3D printing. Because most of them have earned a master of engineering in management, they would know how to go about this appropriately. Coming up with new innovations for three-dimensional printing processes and equipment is what engineering is all about. Engineering managers might be able to devise a robotics part that moves about the object, rather than having the object move. Lasers are also useful and can be created or updated for use in three-dimensional printing.

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• 4 Ways Engineering Technology Has Been Revolutionized in the Last 10 Years 
• GrabCAD's Hardi Meybaum Looks At The Art of Product Design 
• Engineers Are The Real Superheroes 

Reusing Scrap Material

Another method that engineering managers could use for boosting the efficiency of three-dimensional printing is to reuse scrap material. In many cases, the printing process results in a significant amount of wasted material. Rather than throwing it away, consider how it could be reused in the next project. Prototypes that do not work out could be scanned and saved digitally. Those materials could then be reused for the next printed prototype.

For metal 3D printers, the materials can even be ground up and re-used or recycled in some cases.

Running Large Projects Overnight

When time is at a premium, the efficiency of a 3D printer could be optimized by running large projects overnight. When nobody is around to switch out projects, running the big ones at night allows managers to make the most of the printer. Smaller projects could be run during the day when staff is available to switch out the products and update the printer with new instructions.

The technology behind three-dimensional printing is changing at a fast pace. To ensure that the printers are as efficient as possible, engineering managers can test a variety of software programs and printing techniques. Materials can also be tinkered with to see if they have an effect on the speed of the process. Careful scheduling of the printing of projects will also help to make the printing process optimized for efficiency.

By  Rachelle Wilber	Embed

 3D Printing  

The Dremel 3D Idea Builder was announced today at MakerCon in New York City, the first 3D printer to be released by a major tool manufacturer. With initial sales being handled by traditional tool-sales outlets Home Depot, Amazon, and Canadian Tire, it promises to help expose 3D printing to a new range of users.

We may be at the beginning of an explosion of sales for consumer 3D printers. Incredible price drops within the industry are helping to make 3D printing affordable, not only for businesses, but for hobbyists and general use as well.

Now a subsidiary of Bosch, a $43 billion global company, has entered the 3D printing market in a big way. Dremel, makers of the popular hobby hand tools has now released a 3D printer called the Dremel 3D Idea Builder along with the foundations for a new 3D user community.

"Makers have been using Dremel tools to make three-dimensional creations with cutting tools for generations. Today, makers are using Dremel tools to fine-tune and fix their 3D printed creations and have been asking us to introduce a 3D printer."

Dremel was founded over 80 years ago in Racine, Wisconsin.

“Dremel 3D will enable people to take 3D printing to new levels, from imaginative projects for the home, to inventive projects that may impact the world,” said John Kavanagh, president of Dremel in a press release. “Makers have been using Dremel tools to make three-dimensional creations with cutting tools for generations. Today, makers are using Dremel tools to fine-tune and fix their 3D printed creations and have been asking us to introduce a 3D printer.”

The machine is actually a rebranded and revamped version of the Flashforge Dreamer, a printer manufactured by Chinese technology company Zhejiang Flashforge 3D Technology Co., Ltd.

Here are some of the basic specifications of the Dremel 3D Idea Builder:

• -Build Envelope: 9” x 5.9” x 5.5” / 230 mm x 150 mm x 140 mmdrem2
• -Printer Weight: 19 pounds 8 oz (8.845 kg)
• -Printer Size: 15.7 inches(400 mm) x 19.1 inches(485 mm) x 13.2 inches(335 mm)
• -Extruder: Single extrusion
• -Extruder temperature: Up to 230°C /397°F
• -User Interface: 3.5” full color IPS touch screen
• -Layer Thickness: 0.004 inches 100 microns
• -SD Card: Up to 32GB in size /3D20 will not work with SD cards larger than 32GB
• -Internal Storage: 4GB (Allows for storing models and printing them without a computer connection)

The 3D desktop printing space is getting crowded, however, Dremel, with its name recognition, marketing power and budget, could very well enter the market with a bang. The company seems to be concentrating on making 3D printing easy for everyone, by incorporating an entire ecosystem which includes free models, tutorials, and design tools to make the process as care-free, and simple as possible.

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According to the company, they have entered a strategic partnership with CAD software giant Autodesk, allowing them to provide free print-ready models to their users.

“This is just the beginning for us,” said Kavanagh. “The Dremel 3D model portfolio will continue to grow with the help of Autodesk® 123D® apps and the models we will curate from our community. Additionally, we’ll be offering an increased number of customizers on our site that will further empower people to develop and personalize projects of their own. Long-term, the partnership with Autodesk will allow us to bring together hardware and software to better address the needs of our community. We’re excited to be an early partner with Autodesk in using Spark, the open platform to better connect digital content and the hardware.”

Dremel will also be offering their world-class product support and mentorship via the Dremel Experts, a service which is sure to be an asset to those just starting out within the 3D printing space. Pre-orders for the machine will start September 18, exclusively on Amazon.com and homedepot.com, and the machine will be available in the US and Canada for an MSRP of $999.




SOURCE  3DPrint.com

By 33rd Square

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 Books  

The Art of Product Design by Hardi Meybaum explains the rise of Open Engineering, a way of breaking down barriers and taking advantage of web-based communities, knowledge, and tools to accelerate the design and manufacturing processes.

Product development is a team sport, but most companies don't practice it that way. Organizations should be drawing on the creativity of engaged customers and outsiders, but instead they rely on the same small group of internal "experts" for new ideas.

Designers and engineers should be connecting with marketing, sales, customer support, suppliers, and most importantly, customers. The Art of Product Design: Changing How Things Get Madeexplains the rise of "Open Engineering," a way of breaking down barriers and taking advantage of web-based communities, knowledge, and tools to accelerate the design and manufacturing processes.

The book helps explain how to establish open flows of information inside and outside an organization, increasing the quality and frequency of input from different groups and stakeholders.

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Author Hardi Meybaum is the founder and CEO of GrabCad, the largest community of mechanical engineers and designers in the world.

Open Engineering is crowdsourcing, it's collaborating, it's sharing and connecting. And it's helping a growing number of companies create better products faster than they ever imagined. The Art of Product Design shows you how to harness its power for your company.

"I never planned to be an author, but about a year ago a group of us at GrabCAD were talking about why we were excited about GrabCAD," writes Meybaum on the GrabCAD Blog. "It emerged that the reason many of us are here was because we were excited that the ways things get made is changing. For context, you should know that almost all of our leadership team are mechanical engineers by training (even our sales and marketing VP) so we’re all excited about making stuff. And we were frustrated by how slowly the design process was changing. To be honest, we were a bit jealous of our software engineer friends, who have seen amazing changes over the last decade in how they build software. We want to see that same revolution happen in mechanical engineering. It’s already begun and the book has amazing examples of companies building new types of products in a new way."

"Many of us are here was because we were excited that the ways things get made is changing."

Dean Kamen, founder of DEKA Research and Development and inventor of the Segway praises the book. "Hardi tells two facinating stories with this book, one about how he founded and grew GrabCAD and the other about how he sees the world of product design changing. Both stories are relevant to anyone seeking to take advantage of new online communities and connections to grow their business."

The Art of Product Design is intended for people looking to:

• -Understanding how the internet is changing product design and manufacturing

• -Fostering creativity and communication in their company, regardless of industry

• -Helping their organization adapt a more open approach to innovation 

• -Breaking down barriers between "guilds" and help groups communicate

• -Engaging customers and partners in the creative process

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 Bioprinting  

A new bioprinting method creates intricately patterned 3D tissue constructs with multiple types of cells and tiny blood vessels. The work represents a major step toward a longstanding goal of tissue engineers: creating human tissue constructs realistic enough to test drug safety and effectiveness.

A new bioprinting method developed at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) creates intricately patterned 3D tissue constructs with multiple types of cells and tiny blood vessels. The work represents a major step toward a longstanding goal of tissue engineers: creating human tissue constructs realistic enough to test drug safety and effectiveness and has the possibility to aid the pursuit of regenerative medicine.

The method also represents an early but important step toward building fully functional replacements for injured or diseased tissue that can be designed from CAT scan data using computer-aided design (CAD), printed in 3D at the push of a button, and used by surgeons to repair or replace damaged tissue.

"This is the foundational step toward creating 3D living tissue," said Jennifer Lewis, Ph.D., senior author of the study, who is a Core Faculty Member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, and the Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard SEAS. Along with lead author David Kolesky, a graduate student in SEAS and the Wyss Institute, her team reported the results February 18 in the journal Advanced Materials.

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Tissue engineers have tried for years to produce lab-grown vascularized human tissues robust enough to serve as replacements for damaged human tissue. Others have printed human tissue before, but they have been limited to thin slices of tissue about a third as thick as a dime. When scientists try to print thicker layers of tissue, cells on the interior starve for oxygen and nutrients, and have no good way of removing carbon dioxide and other waste. So they suffocate and die.

Nature gets around this problem by permeating tissue with a network of tiny, thin-walled blood vessels that nourish the tissue and remove waste, so Kolesky and Lewis set out to mimic this key function.

3D printing excels at creating intricately detailed 3D structures, typically from inert materials like plastic or metal. In the past, Lewis and her team have pioneered a broad range of novel inks that solidify into materials with useful electrical and mechanical properties. These inks enable 3D printing to go beyond form to embed functionality.

To print 3D tissue constructs with a predefined pattern, the researchers needed functional inks with useful biological properties, so they developed several "bio-inks" — tissue-friendly inks containing key ingredients of living tissues. One ink contained extracellular matrix, the biological material that knits cells into tissues. A second ink contained both extracellular matrix and living cells.

To create blood vessels, they developed a third ink with an unusual property: it melts as it is cools, rather than as it warms. This allowed the scientists to first print an interconnected network of filaments, then melt them by chilling the material and suction the liquid out to create a network of hollow tubes, or vessels.

The Harvard team then road-tested the method to assess its power and versatility. They printed 3D tissue constructs with a variety of architectures, culminating in an intricately patterned construct containing blood vessels and three different types of cells — a structure approaching the complexity of solid tissues.

"Tissue engineers have been waiting for a method like this," said Don Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., Wyss Institute Founding Director. "The ability to form functional vascular networks in 3D tissues before they are implanted not only enables thicker tissues to be formed, it also raises the possibility of surgically connecting these networks to the natural vasculature to promote immediate perfusion of the implanted tissue, which should greatly increase their engraftment and survival".


SOURCE  Wyss Institute

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 3D Printing  

As 3D printing becomes more widely available, software makers are rushing to bring tools that will allow users to create and edit objects for printing. Now, Adobe has announced that it is including 3D printing support to Photoshop.

Adobe, makers of the much-used Adobe Creative Suite/Cloud is adding new tools to Photoshop that allow users create and edit designs for 3D printing.

Before 3D printers can make anything, CAD files must be created or download from the Internet. For the most part, the creation and editing end of 3D file creation is one of the factors holding back 3D printing from wider-scale adoption.

Now, users with Photoshop can design, edit and customize their 3D files in a familiar setting.

"3D printing has been around for a few decades, but most of the money spent on parts is in manufacturing and dental verticals," Andy Lauta, Product Manager at Photoshop, said during a press call.

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"As more consumers start to participate in 3D printing capabilities and those buying 3D printers install them in their homes, the 3D market [will grow]. The problem today — prior to the announcement — is that there is a gap between the models out there and what printers need to do to produce high-quality results."

Photoshop users can add color, adjust the shape of imported models. Artists can also design 3D models from scratch."We aren't envisioning Photoshop to compete with other models, but — similar role to what the platform does in the creative workplace — it will be a finishing tool to create and edit," Lauta said.

When a user is ready to print a 3D object, the software will take you through fixing minor flaws in the model (such as patching small holes in the mesh) and preparing it for production. You can also specify the type of material you want to use for printing.

"It takes the hard part out out of 3D printing," Lauta added. "What you see on the screen will be what's printed in 3D. Photoshop now supports a range of 3D printers too, including ones from MakerBot."

The update, available now, requires Photoshop version 14.1 to be installed on computers. It's a free update for Adobe Creative Cloud members ($49.99 a month), as well as Creative Cloud app members ($19.99 each month) and CS3 customers ($9.99). The 3D printing tools can also be accessed for a free 30-day trial period.

You may even want to print your designs in chocolate.

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 Interfaces  

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has published an Apple patent for a method of generating and manipulating a 3D object on a computing device, with the process controlled by special gestures made above a touchscreen's surface. Combined with a hologram display, the system could work much like Tony Stark's does in the Iron Man movies.

Apple's U.S. Patent No. 8,514,221, titled "Working with 3D objects," describes a graphical interface that allows a user to "generate and manipulate 3D objects using 3D gesture inputs," Apple Insider reports.   More specifically, the interface can be a computer assisted design (CAD) application running on a computer with a touch-sensitive surface, such as an iPad.

The patent refers to a device that can detect the location of fingers with a combination of capacitive touch sensors and proximity sensors embedded in the display. These two components can be separate, or the capacitive sensors themselves can act as proximity sensors by measuring the capacitance of a nearby finger.

Does this mean that proximity sensing will be a new feature on the next iPad release?

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The patent describes how 3D objects can be extruded from 2D images with the proposed system. Generating the 3D renderings, and manipulating 2D objects with conventional touchscreen gestures, such as pinching. Instead of continuing with established iOS gestures, the invention deviates by introducing a third axis of control.

Further, modifications can be performed with "pinch and pull" or "pinch and push" gestures, which extrude or push in a portion of a 3D object, respectively. In another embodiment, objects can be rotated around the z-axis with a twisting motion.

One interesting application described in the document is dubbed "sculpting" mode. This embodiment treats the 3D object as if it were made of clay, like the interface used in ZBrush software. Depending on finger movement, a user can make indentations, stretch, or squeeze the shape so that one area is made smaller and another larger. A "pinch-twist-and-pull" gesture can also be used to break off a piece of the digital clay.

In another use scenario, textures, colors and other surface attributes can be selected and tuned by hovering over a screen's surface. These gestures are largely made perpendicular to the device's display, with selected attributes corresponding to height away from the screen. For example, an object can be made brighter when a finger hovering over a "Brightness" UI region is moved farther away from the display. Slide bars, buttons, and other assets may act as alternative controls.

Finally, the patent makes mention of using 3D or stereoscopic glasses to make the experience even more engaging. Also noted are further UI implementations such as iconography, graphical assets and general usability considerations.

Proximity sensors similar to that described in Apple's patent is just now making its way to the mass market in the Leap Motion Controller and Kinect sensor.

Robbie Tilton has put together a demonstration video showing a Leap Motion controlling a Three.js rendered 3D hologram that gives a preliminary example of the possibilities of 3D interfaces. In the demo, a globe is projected on a 4-sided prism, and while it’s not quite as good as what Tony Stark has in Iron Man, it’s still very interesting.




SOURCE  Apple Insider

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