Instead of desktop 3D printers, such as Raise3D E2, today we will talk about a metal 3D printer. Chinese company Farsoon offers the FS273M additive manufacturing system that works with laser powders. It’s a modernized version of the FS271M LPBF (Laser Powder Bed Fusion) 3D printer that is offered with one or two lasers.
Belgian FGF (Fused Granulate Fabrication) 3D printers manufacturer Colossus and Dutch material supplier colorFabb signed a partnership agreement regarding pushing high-efficient large-format 3D printing with the usage of foam granular polymers (We’ve written about large-format 3D printing before. As an example, read our review of the Modix Big-60 3D printer).
Andreas Muller, 3D printing enthusiast, developed an open-source project that makes color printing with regular FDM 3D printers possible with the custom system of replaceable printheads and permanent color marker pens.
VIAM (All-Russian Institute of Aviation Materials) held the 7th international conference “Additive Technologies: Present and Future” on 7-8th October 2021.
A heart needs to function properly. pumping blood and getting rid of CO2 in that blood. Modern technology provides solutions for the doctors, sometimes with the help of 3D printing. Cardiac phantoms would be one example, since they can be used for mimicking anatomical imaging tasks.
The use of 3D printing for making cardiac phantoms was recently described in the study called ‘Optimisation of CT protocols for cardiac imaging using three-dimensional printing technology,’ by Kamarul Amin Abdullah of the University of Sydney.
It covers making a cardiac insert phantom, placing it inside the “Lungman” multi-functional chest phantom and performing a CT scan. The last step covers the use of algorithms for dose optimization.
Phantoms are the solution to optimize and refine imagery, especially for CT scans. and evaluate the needed dose of radiation. The latter is more important than it sounds, since various studies show that radiation doses from CT scans have been steadily on the rise during recent years in both Australia and the US.
Since the CT scan technology is more widely available today than ever before, the level of radiation exposure continues to be a cause for concern. There are various solutions to reduce cancer risk during exposure, including tube current reduction, low tube voltage, other protocols, ECG-gating and Bismuth shielding, as well as others, including iterative reconstruction (IR) algorithms.
The usage of phantom-based dose optimization methodology proves to be advantageous, especially for imaging of coronary issues, since basing studies only on real patients has its own limits.
The All-Russian Institute of Aviation Materials (VIAM) showed its own developments in the field of additive technologies, including a series of small-sized gas-turbine engines MGTD-10, MGTD-20 and MGTD-150.
Reverse engineering of such parts can be done using 3D scanners. You can see some examples and sample deviations here.
Shayaan is a Bahraini boy who was born without both arms in 2006. His rare disorder is called dysmelia. And now his mother is reaching for modern technologies to help her son perform simple tasks that people without limb differences take for granted.
His mother, Fadia, said in the interview: “On 11th December 2006 I had my second child. My son Shayaan, was born that day bringing with him shock, disbelief and unimaginable pain. He was born with no arms. We were all mourning instead of celebrating the new addition in the family. While the whole family cried, my older son Sheheryar (6 at the time) accepted his younger brother with open arms and an open heart!”
She added: “Sheheryar showed me all the body parts that Shayaan had, rather than focusing on the ones he did not. I then looked at my baby for hours concentrating on his tiny eyelids and ears that showed the most intricate network of capillaries and wondered how the creator could miss making his arms? How could he forget and how could he make a mistake?”
Chinese company Weistek offers low-price desktop MSLA 3D printers with 2K monochrome screens.
Nine days of festivals of ideas and technologies of the Kruzhok (the Kruzhoks are the student communities in Russia) movement of the National Technology Initiative took place in Russian regions in late 2021. They celebrated the Russian year of Science. as well as the 100-th anniversary of the Kruzhok movement in Russia. The places that hosted the events were chosen in September 2021. During the same period, Top 3D Shop held several workshops on the use of the Einscan HX 3D scanner, the full program is available here.
3D printing startups often struggle. Despite growing demands and optimistic predictions, the pandemic negatively affected the industry: the material shortage, logistical problems, lockdowns and factory shutdowns form the conditions that are far from perfect. But new interesting ideas still emerge and it seems that the pandemic is far from being the main problem for startups.
Technically, each of those businesses goes through similar stages: from searching for ideas and like-minded people to attracting investors and scaling up. But this article will not cover the product release but will rather be focused about the things that a startup would face out of its ‘garage’.
Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Unit 2 in Alabama deploys a fuel assembly with 3D printed fastening elements that were made by the experts of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).
Engineers from the St. Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics (ITMO University) used 3D printed parts in the design of a six-axis robot featuring increased affordability.
In August 2011, Andrey Isupov and Maxim Anisimov founded a company under the unusual name Kiparis (‘Cypress’). In the same year, the manufacturer released its first 3D printer called GenX and already started the development of the renowned Designer X.
PJSC Power Machines has started to create a model 16-stage compressor and a prototype combustion chamber of the GTE-65.1 gas turbine. The combustion chamber will be manufactured using 3D printing technologies. Inspection can be completed with the use of laser 3D scanning (see examples here).
If you think this is another eco-activists’ project, you are right. In pursuit of the zero emission concept, the Austrian studio EOOS has created the ZUV (Zero-emissions Utility Vehicle) electric tricycle with a 3D printed body made from recycled plastic waste.
As part of the Year of Science and Technology, team engineering competitions for students in grades 8 to 11 will be held in the 2021–22 academic year.
JSC Science and Innovations (a scientific division of the Rosatom state corporation) presented a stand-model of a 3D printer that demonstrates the capabilities of a software and hardware platform for managing and controlling additive processes.
The Chinese company SoonSer has released a line of industrial laser stereolithographic 3D printers under the name Mars Pro with build volumes of up to 1600 x 800 x 600 mm, which is comparable even to such giants as the Modix Big-Meter.
The park is located next to the Shenzhen World Exhibition and Convention Center and is lined with sculptures, flowerpots, walls, and borders made with 3D printers based on multi-axis robotic arms such as JAKA cobots.
The use of 3D printing in medicine has long ceased to be limited to materials such as PEEK (more on PEEK 3D printing here). The Pozvonoq startup of the North-West Technology Transfer Center and the Russian manufacturing company Ortoinvest has begun laboratory tests of ten lines of intervertebral cages designed to stabilize the spinal column. The successful conduct of technical expertise and the receipt of a single registration certificate will allow the serial production of medical devices as early as 2022.
