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A low, mechanical thrum creates an ever-present soundtrack at Type A Machines, a 3D-printing company on the third floor of San Francisco's TechShop, in SOMA. Big and drafty and sunlit with exposed pipes on the ceiling, it's a modern iteration of an old textile mill. On the ground floor, flannel-shirted workers sit hunched over welding equipment, sweat bubbling over their plastic goggles. Upstairs, their colleagues peck at laptops, designing blueprints for new objects with all the exacting detail of a draftsman using pen and paper. In a far corner, Type A's line of Series 1 2013 printers sits arranged in...

Case Western Reserve University, in alliance with the Lincoln Electric Co. and a group of business partners, has been selected to lead a project to convert the laser hot-wire welding process developed by Lincoln Electric into a high-output, three-dimensional additive manufacturing process. The $700,000 project is among 15 recently announced by America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute in Youngstown, which is spearheading next-generation manufacturing technologies based on 3-D printing. The projects are winners of America Makes' second round of funding. Researchers and business partners developing the new 3-D process aim for a quick conversion. "The goal is to...

Everyone seems to have a different idea about what will spark the next industrial revolution: 3D printing, more sophisticated robots and even renewable energy have all been put forward as potential progenitors. The German vision of the future of manufacturing, as laid out at a talk this week at the Royal Academy of Engineering, is somewhat more complicated and extensive. Proposed by a government-backed working group of Germany’s top industrial companies, “Industry 4.0” envisages a world of self-organising smart factories where manufacturing machines talk to each other, to their products and to other links in the supply chain to make...

When, if ever, will we eat lab-grown meat? It's still early enough in 2014 for predictions of the year to come, and late 2013 saw the unveiling of the world's first hamburger made of laboratory-cultured animal protein, leading to a frenzy of journalistic coverage and even one short article that collected past predictions for when "cultured meat" might reach supermarket shelves. ("Cultured meat" is the term of preference among the substance's promoters, over "schmeat," "lab meat," and of course "frankenmeat.") Those skeptical about the viability of meat grown in laboratories can look back with satisfaction at a long history of...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)I have seen the future — your future if you’re rich enough or brave enough to embrace it — and I have to tell you, it’s weird. Imagine this: it’s 2025 and you’re getting on, feeling your knees a bit. You’re bending over one day to pick up junk mail when you feel a terrible pain in your chest. You call 999 and within the hour (in this ideal world) you’re in hospital under the knife. But this isn’t heart surgery you’re having, it’s bottom surgery: the doctor’s taking a chunk of fat from your bum. Have they made a...

Because of rapid advances in 3D printing, the world is plunging towards ethical and political controversy fuelled by the use of the technology to generate living human tissue and organs. Bioprinting will progress far faster than general understanding of the ramifications of the technology, according to analyst firm Gartner. Last year researchers at Cornell University demonstrated an ear printer, and San Diego firm Organovo unveiled work on printing human livers, with scientists at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland developing a way to print blobs of human embryonic stem cells. Gartner research director Pete Basiliere said bioprinting initiatives are well-intentioned but raise...

Gregory Mark co-owns Aeromotions, which builds computer-controlled racecar wings. To make those wings both strong and lightweight, they use carbon fiber. No surprise there—it's the material of choice for many advanced motorsports parts. The problem is that making custom racecar parts out of carbon fiber is daunting. The only real method available is CNC machining, an expensive and difficult process that requires laying pieces by hand. To improve the process, Mark looked to 3D printing. But nothing on the market could print the material, and no available materials could print pieces strong enough for his purposes. So Mark devised his...

The list of winners of Product of the Year 2014 has revealed that the most popular futuristic product for consumers are 3D printers, with half wanting to try out the technology. Findings showed that 47% of people are interested in using a 3D printer, while 37% believe it is the next big product of the future. Two-thirds of people said they would be willing to pay more for the added convenience of 3D printers and personalised features. The Product of the Year also threw up another unexpected future invention people are hoping to see over the coming years. A fifth...

Cody Wilson holds the Liberator, a fully-functional firearm that can be created using a 3D-printer. After setting the Internet abuzz with a blueprint for a functional 3D-printable firearm, Cody Wilson recently signed a book deal to chronicle his journey, and in his spare time the “dark web” aficionado is placing the finishing touches on a Bitcoin anonymizer project. Wilson, 25, has been busy to say the least. Last spring he uploaded the blueprint for his 3D-printable gun dubbed the Liberator, and within two days the file was downloaded over 100,000 times. He pitched his story as a non-fiction book and...

Building a 2,500-square-foot house in less than 20 hours? It sounds like a tall tale, but a professor at the University of Southern California says it is absolutely possible. He would toss out traditional building practices and replace them with a single 3D printer. It's called contour crafting, creator Behrokh Khoshnevis, the director of the manufacturing engineering graduate program USC, tells CBS News. "Construction the way its done today is very wasteful," he explained in a presentation at TEDxOjai. "Our solution benefits from advanced technology...it is essentially a way of streamlining the process of construction by benefiting from the experience...

In early 2013, Objet partnered with fashion designer Iris Van Herpen to create the first 3D printed dress. It was certainly a perfect fit for the world of high fashion where functionality means nothing and art is everything. For those who want 3D printed clothing that’s not an art statement, your day may come in 2014. Fast Company reports that entrepreneur Aaron Rowley has a new startup called Electroloom. The new company is working on a 3D printer that creates functional, wearable clothing. So far, they’ve been able to print sheets out of polymer fabric. By the end of the...

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA and NEW YORK, NEW YORK--(Marketwired - Jan. 20, 2014) - LOMIKO METALS INC. (TSX VENTURE:LMR)(PINKSHEETS:LMRMF)(FRANKFURT:DH8B) (Europe: ISIN: CA54163Q1028, WKN: A0Q9W7) (the "Company") announces Graphene 3D Lab has reached a significant milestone by filing a provisional patent application for the use of graphene-enhanced material, along with other materials, in 3D Printing (Additive Manufacturing). "This patent application is the result of a diligent effort on behalf of our team. It opens up a clear path toward the commercialization of graphene," stated Daniel Stolyarov, Graphene 3D Labs' CEO. "It is important that our proprietary technology is accepted by consumers in...

Until recently, office technology largely concerned the latest advances in printing technology and other shortcuts in the average workplace environment. However, new shifts in the market have turned in an entirely new direction, with the newest equipment possibly printing much more than just papers. According to CNN, 3D printers are becoming ever-closer to mainstream adoption with rapidly declining costs dovetailing with new and more efficient functions. While recent years have seen the technology suffer occasionally from issues such as limited features and frequent printing failures, new steps taken by development companies are quickly pushing it closer to the open market....

The adoption of 3D printing by Adobe is “huge,” because now a massive influx of people will have access to 3D-modeling tools. However, Adobe Photoshop isn't known for its 3D-modeling capabilities beyond some basic functions, so users can upload a 3D model created in other programs and output it in the stereolithography format known as .stl. 3D printing has reached a milestone of sorts. On Thursday, Adobe, whose software created desktop publishing, announced that its venerable Photoshop program will now support 3D printing. Photoshop CC, part of the company’s Creative Cloud, has received an update that allows users to build,...

One day a 3D printer, using a mix of materials, will be able to create body armor for U.S. soldiers that is more lightweight and stronger than anything could be made with traditional manufacturing and materials today. That's the word from researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, who are working to revolutionize 3D printing, as well as the way that companies build products ranging from jet engines and satellites to football helmets. Scientists at the laboratory, a federally funded center in Livermore, Calif., that focuses on national security research, are working on architecting new materials to be used in...

This is adapted from an FR hostile source. RepRap wikipages Mostly RepRap oriented. Start at the the Buyer's Guide for a list of vendors. Pirate Bay’s Physibles Facebook page For the naughty bits (like eeeeeeeeevil guns) banned on other sites. Their Facebook page is the PG rated version. Defcad Cody Wilson's site, mostly MakerBot oriented, good search interface 75K+ downloadable designs. Shapeways Make+Sell section to build your designs (various materials). Good tutorials, including material design rules, print compatibility, finishing techniques. Fabbaloo Reviews of materials, printer and designs, links to croudsourcing, hobby printers, print services and articles on 3-D printing, Thingiverse...

Although you might have been disappointed to see that things like milk are destined to be more expensive this year, there's still good financial news on the horizon! Analysts predict certain products will see significant price cuts in the coming months. From 4K TVs to used cars, we've rounded up a list of items you can expect to spend less on this year. 1. 3D Printers 2014 will be the year 3D printing goes mainstream. Key patents on the technology are set to expire in February, which will open the market to competition. As a result, these once-prohibitively expensive machines...

California state Senator Kevin de Leon proposed a bill on Monday that would require anyone who plans to assemble a gun made from a 3D printer to undergo a background check, the Associated Press reported. The bill also extends to anyone buying parts of a gun to assemble at home. The 3-D printer allows anyone to download gun designs and build it without any type of safeguard, the AP reported. A similar California law already in place states gun owners and buyers need to undergo a background check before buying and register their weapon after its bought, according to the...

The University of Southern California is testing a giant 3D printer that could be used to build a whole house in under 24 hours. Professor Behrokh Khoshnevis has designed the giant robot that replaces construction workers with a nozzle on a gantry, this squirts out concrete and can quickly build a home according to a computer pattern. It is “basically scaling up 3D printing to the scale of building,” says Khoshnevis. The technology, known as Contour Crafting, could revolutionise the construction industry. The affordable home? Contour Crafting could slash the cost of home-owning, making it possible for millions of displaced...

3D printing has been a huge deal for businesses for some time now, but consumers are just beginning to get a taste of this amazing new technology thanks to a new wave of more affordable devices. MakerBot announced a very cool new consumer-grade 3D printer during this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show, but it still costs $1,375, which means it’s probably only a good buy for people with a real need for 3D model printing. But those looking to simply dabble with the exciting emerging tech will soon have a nearby option in the form of WobbleWorks’ 3Doodler. WobbleWorks on...