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Just last week, we reported that ‘New Matter‘ would be launching a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for their new MOD-t 3D printer. We later reported on further mechanical details just two days ago. The MOD-t 3D printer will feature an extruder that moves only in the Z direction, while the build plate will move in the X and Y directions. This is different than most 3D printers on the market today, and because of the different mechanical aspects, New Matter is able to keep the price of this new device down. Just last week, a 3D printer called the...

"I only had a couple of seconds to take a picture of it with my cell phone."A new bill being circulated for co-sponsors in Delaware would make any person in possession of a firearm that is undetectable by a metal detector a felon. The bill, which has not been posted online, was leaked by State Rep. Jeffery Spiegelman (R) via a phone picture. Posted from thetruthaboutguns.com, Spiegelman writes, “First, let me apologize for the poor quality. This bill (137) was circulated today for cosponsors and I only had a couple of seconds to take a picture of it with my...

Stratasys has partnered with British company Brightwake to make the production of a blood collector machine 96% cheaper.If you’re an avid reader of ours, you’ll know there are few things we love as much as 3D printing. From 3D-printed cars to 3D-printed shoes and art, we believe this technology will change the world. Now one of the world leaders in the realm of 3D printing, American-Israeli company Stratasys, has partnered with British company Brightwake (Advancis Medical) to make the production of a life-saving and religiously ethical blood collector significantly cheaper. Hemosep is a one-of-a-kind machine that recovers blood lost or...

TOKYO: A Japanese man suspected of possessing guns made with a 3-D printer has been arrested, reports said Thursday, in what was said to be the country's first such detention. Officers who raided the home of Yoshitomo Imura, a 27-year-old college employee, confiscated five weapons, two of which had the potential to fire lethal bullets, broadcaster NHK said. They also recovered a 3-D printer from the home in Kawasaki, near Tokyo, but did not find any ammunition for the guns, Jiji Press reported. It is the first time Japan's firearm control law has been applied to the possession of guns...

Additive manufacturing startup MarkForged aims to make it happen and is already marketing systems. Additive manufacturing (AM) is one of the hottest areas in parts fabrication. Interest is high, research dollars are being spent and company stocks are attracting investor attention. Why? First, because AM has moved beyond its initial role as a prototyping tool to a process that can build finished parts. AM technologies — stereolithography, fused deposition modeling (FDM), laser sintering (LS), material extrusion, direct metal deposition and more (see "The rise of rapid manufacturing," under “Editor's Picks,” at top right) — were able from their beginnings to...

In a nondescript hotel ballroom last month at the South by Southwest Interactive festival, Andras Forgacs offered a rare glimpse at the sci-fi future of food. Before an audience of tech-industry types, Forgacs produced a plate of small pink wafers -- "steak chips," he called them -- and invited people up for a taste. But these were no ordinary snacks: Instead of being harvested from a steer, they had been grown in a laboratory from tiny samples of animal tissue. One taster's verdict on this Frankenmeat? Not bad, actually. "It was delicious. It tasted like a thin piece of beef...

Scientists claim to have developed a revolutionary new giant 3D concrete printer that can build a 2,500-square-foot house in just 24 hours. The 3D printer, developed by Professor Behrokh Khoshnevis from the University of Southern California, could be used to build a whole house, layer by layer, in a single day. The giant robot replaces construction workers with a nozzle on a gantry, which squirts out concrete and can quickly build a home based on a computer pattern, MSN News reported. It is "basically scaling up 3D printing to the scale of building," said Khoshnevis. 'Contour Crafting' is a...

As 3D-printing technology advances, researchers are finding new ways to apply it to health care. One of the latest advances includes a cast that uses ultrasound to stimulate bone healing. The future, it seems, will be filled with 3D printing. It's already been used to produce everything from food to organs, and there’s certainly more to come. In July last year, some of the first prototypes for 3D-printed casts were revealed. But now, researchers have taken the prototype a step forward, adding on a form of ultrasound known to hasten the healing process. Current casts, which are made of plaster,...

The 3D printer has been revolutionizing everything from art to medicine to accessories, and its latest foray has been into the field of architecture. Peter Ebner, architect and UCLA professor, tasked his architecture students with a homework assignment for the ages: develop a 3D-printed apartment that’s easy to transport and manage. The class rose to the challenge and then some, constructing mini mobile homes that measure 50 square feet and are equipped with thermal insulation, electricity, water, heating, and sewage systems (which are also 3D printed). The living area comes with a collapsible counter, a foldaway toilet, a pullout bed,...

From Oreos to body parts, 3D printers have been cranking out some pretty unbelievable stuff lately. But in Shanghai, WinSun Decoration Design Engineering Co. has been using a monstrous printing device to build homes at a breakneck pace — 10 homes in 24 hours. Measuring out at roughly 105 feet long, 33 feet wide, and 21 feet tall, this clearly isn’t your average retail printer. Unlike most 3D printers, this printing giant is fed with cement rather than plastic, making it especially well-suited for home construction. The best part is the houses are super cheap to make and they’re made...

The emerging process of 3-D printing, which uses computer-created digital models to create real-world objects, has produced everything from toys to jewelry to food. Soon, however, 3-D printers may be spitting out something far more complex, and controversial: human organs. For years now, medical researchers have been reproducing human cells in laboratories by hand to create blood vessels, urine tubes, skin tissue and other living body parts. But engineering full organs, with their complicated cell structures, is much more difficult. Enter 3-D printers, which because of their precise process can reproduce the vascular systems required to make organs viable. Scientists...

Currently rising layer by layer in Amsterdam is the world's first house to be built by 3D printing technology. Dutch architectural firm Dus Architects commissioned the 20-foot tall 3D printer given the name, "Kamermaker," or room builder. The project to build the 3D house is simply called the "3D Print Canal House." Dus had Kamermaker built when it decided upsize the scale-model rooms it was already 3D-printing and turn them into the real thing. What Kamermaker does is to build a series of rooms that can be snapped together to form an entire house, Lego-brick style. So far, the printer...

If you think life changed after the Internet emerged, wait until you see what’s coming next. Tech people say three-dimensional printing will create the next wave of joys and frustrations, job creation and job loss. In five to 10 years, 3-D printers will be all around us, they predict. The printers will make food, including customized wedding cakes. They will make shoes, clothes, aircraft parts, dresses, steaks, replacement bones and eventually even replacement kidneys. If you find that bit about the kidney hard to believe, Google a company called Organovo. The printers might make outsourcing jobs to China, India and...

Not only is manufacturing goods using a 3D printer far cheaper than purchasing items, new research appearing in a recent edition of the Journal of Cleaner Production reveals that it can actually help preserve the environment. The 3D printing process was very expensive when Charles W. Hull of 3D Systems Corp created the first working model in 1984, and while the costs have dropped dramatically over the past 30 years, the cost of purchasing plastic filament still needs to be factored in. The new study, however, shows how old milk jugs can reduce those expenses. In their study, Michigan Technological...

Imagine going online and, with a single click, printing out any physical object. With a miniature production plant in every home, there would be no need for retail stores, factories, shipping or the pollution associated with those activities. Large-scale automation of a huge segment of the workforce, combined with free worldwide-Internet, 3D printing and renewable off-grid energy will free humanity to achieve anything without worrying about basic material needs. FREE WIFI FOR ALL In the next few years, everyone on the planet with a wireless device will likely have access to high speed, uncensored Internet. A futuristic project spearheaded by...

Using a 3D printer, scientists have made an elastic membrane that closely mimics the outer layer of the heart's wall. The new membrane, which was described Tuesday (Feb. 25) in the journal Nature Communications, contains tiny sensors that can track the heart's temperature, pH and level of strain. The device could one day be used to treat patients with rhythm disorders in the lower chambers of the heart, as well as the rhythm disorder atrial fibrillation, the researchers said. Heart rhythm irregularities are a common problem, with one of the most well-known forms, atrial fibrillation, affecting 3 million to 5...

The 3D printers are coming. And fast. The only debate is over how fast. Velocity matters for stock pickers following the small world of pure-play public 3D printing companies. It is also relevant for business analysts and, perhaps surprisingly, for energy forecasters. 3D printers will — as many have observed sometimes a tad too breathlessly — disrupt a lot of businesses. They will enable and make more profitable many others, while also creating entirely new classes of businesses. The 3D printing ecosystem will as well accelerate the new trend of rising foreign direct investment into the United States. And 3D...

Back when 3D printing was just kicking off, there was much talk of a future where people could download new furniture designs, print them, and furnish their living rooms with new pieces whenever they pleased. But despite the fact that 3D printing your own furniture is totally possible now, it hasn’t really caught on for one simple reason – nobody wants to fill their house with a bunch of snap-together plastic furniture. But the dream of printing your own furnishings isn’t dead yet. A fledgling company by the name of 4 AXYZ has developed a process that allows you...

Harvard scientists have developed a new bioprinting method that can create intricately patterned 3-D tissue constructs with multiple types of cells and tiny blood vessels. The work is a major step toward creating human tissue constructs realistic enough to test drug safety and effectiveness, researchers said. The method will also help bring closer the building of 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. "This is the foundational step toward creating 3D living tissue," said Jennifer Lewis, senior author...

Technology to bring 3D printing closer to the mass market is accelerating, though most 3D printed items tend to be rather small in size. To help demonstrate the effectiveness of printing larger items, BigRep, a company founded in 2014, opens the door to printing items such as furniture. The device is launching worldwide at large trade shows, and begins shipping in two months, with a $39,000 MSRP.The BigRep One can print full-scale objects in sizes up to 45x39x47 inches, and has the ability to print plastics, nylons, Laywood (wood fibers mixed with polymers), and Laybrick (something similar to sandstone-type of...