Manufacturing Services Provider Uses Essentium Platform to 3D Print Asset Tracking Solution8/30/2022
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Manufacturing Services Provider Uses Essentium Platform to 3D Print Asset Tracking Solution https://ift.tt/k4zvx2L Essentium, Inc., a Texas-based original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of additive manufacturing (AM) platforms, announced a recent successful use-case example for the company’s technology by Additive at Scale (AAS), a manufacturing services provider. The latter, also based in Texas, used Essentium’s High Speed Extrusion (HSE) 180 ST printer, along with Essentium’s PCTG-Z filament, to produce 100 asset-tracking pilot units for a chemical manufacturing multinational. AAS partnered with Blues Wireless, an internet of things (IoT) telecom startup, to print 100 tracking devices for 18-wheeler chassis that transport chemicals. Aside from the low cost and impact strength, AAS selected Essentium’s PCTG-Z material for its electrostatic-discharge (ESD)-safe properties. Materials that are used for cases and housing — like the tracking device housing produced by AAS — are among the consumer goods’ inputs subject to the most stringent ESD-safe requirements. Using the HSE 180 ST platform, as well as Essentium’s support staff, AAS successfully completed the project in just 60 days. Resultantly, AAS has received official vendor status from the chemical manufacturer involved, and, notably, is already starting scale-up of the enclosures’ production. Last month, 3DPrint.com’s Joris Peels argued convincingly that the success of 3D printed housings should be receiving more attention. This is especially true, given the slow but steady push to make mass-produced, 3D printed microchips a reality, which currently seems to be going on in the 3D printing sector. In order to accelerate that process, continuing to increase the quantity of 3D printed housings in advance would seem to be a prerequisite. The main problem that 3D printed chips would be addressing first is the seemingly constant lag of supply in the electronics sector, which affects more or less every other major consumer category. This doesn’t solely have to do with lower semiconductor supplies, however, but also with a scarcer supply of feedstocks for plastics. 3D printing chips, alone, then, wouldn’t solve this problem, since there would still be a lag in the supply of housings for electronics. Thus, making the case for 3D printed chips will be much easier, if 3D printed housings are already ramped up ahead of time. Whether the two things are in fact already related is irrelevant, since it seems like the number of 3D printed housings will continue increasing, regardless. Assuming that happens, it will mean that much of the infrastructure for 3D printing all electronic components aside from chips will already be in place, once the infrastructure for 3D printing the latter exists. Images courtesy of Essentium The post Manufacturing Services Provider Uses Essentium Platform to 3D Print Asset Tracking Solution appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://ift.tt/w3MJsgH August 30, 2022 at 09:04AM
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3D Printing News Unpeeled, With Carbon, Oracle, Mink and Össur https://ift.tt/O4yTzlS Today we talk Carbon 3D printing components for Oracle, Chinese researchers advocate for distributed 3D printers to be used for a dam, Össur Acquires Naked Prosthetics and a Make up printer.
The post 3D Printing News Unpeeled, With Carbon, Oracle, Mink and Össur appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://ift.tt/w3MJsgH August 30, 2022 at 09:04AM
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4D Printed Wood Could Enable Shape-shifting Furniture https://ift.tt/AJEhMCR We have seen shape memory properties in metals and plastics, but this may be a first for wood. Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have created a 3D printing technique that can fabricate wooden structures in one orientation that then dry into another! 3D Printing Wood InkDoran Kam, a Ph.D. student at the university, led the group who developed this new methodology as they took sawdust, old wooden scrapings, and other wooden waste and turned that pulp into a printable ink. This ink was then deposited from a syringe extruder mounted to a Hyrel3D 30 M 3D printer. Inspired by previous research, the scientists determined that, by controlling the speed of the print and the direction in which they printed, they could control how the wood deformed as it dried. 3D Printing FurnitureSo far, the scientists have been able to print a variety of shapes, including domes, cones, bowls, and saddles. Sizes of the prints vary, but the current limit is about one meter in size. In the future, the group hopes to build a printer that will have triple the build volume and can be used to print functional furniture. In parallel to that effort, Kam’s group is also exploring methods to create more complex shapes and methods to 3D print reversible shape-changing objects, as well. Both are exciting avenues for research, and if it allows us to compost our own wood waste and turn it into something new, we are excited to see what comes of it. While 3D printing wood isn’t novel, being able to have wooden prints exhibit shape changing capabilities is. This could offer a more environmentally stable solution for 3D printing and may offer a way to reduce our dependence on oil and gas as our world shifts to renewable energy inputs and materials. More research will have to be done before this product is economically viable, but it could be here sooner than we think; especially if the group’s past progress is any indicator. They have been hard at work since they first published their method on their wood 3D printer back in 2019, and now offer a way to 3D print shape changing woods. If this momentum continues, they could potentially reach their goal of creating 3D printed wooden furniture in the near-term. Who knows, it may become the next “mattress-in-a-box” trend. We only hope their furniture is as comfy as the beds we sleep in, too. The post 4D Printed Wood Could Enable Shape-shifting Furniture appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://ift.tt/w3MJsgH August 30, 2022 at 09:04AM
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NASA Taps Additive Monitoring Systems for In-Situ Metal 3D Printing QA https://ift.tt/jy8Be0S NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center has selected Additive Monitoring Systems to develop and integrate in-situ monitoring technology for additive manufacturing (AM) into its on-site production powder bed fusion 3D printers. The Chicago-headquartered company is known for its flagship, patent-pending optical in-process monitoring system, which can instantly detect several major part defects. Bringing In-situ Monitoring to NASA RocketsThrough the new collaboration, the company will offer in-situ monitoring to support flight-ready production of high-performance copper components for NASA’s liquid propulsion technologies, which have historically supported many prior NASA programs, including the Saturn rocket family, space shuttle, and technology development engines such as Fastrac. They are also continuing to support the development of the Space Launch System (SLS) propulsion systems design. As part of the new collaborative project, Additive Monitoring Systems will deploy its real-time process monitoring technology, dubbed Project Fringe, on-site at Marshall in Huntsville, Alabama. Among the objectives, the collaborators expect to reduce the per-part cost, schedule delays, and energy waste of additive production through real-time part health monitoring. Marshall already draws on decades of experience with almost every propulsion system developed and has been applying innovative approaches, such as additive manufacturing, to shorten development cycles, improve propulsion systems integration with vehicles, and validate new technologies before production. Engineers prepare a 3D printed engine for a test at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Image courtesy of NASA/MSFC/Emmett Given. The History of Additive Monitoring SystemsThis one-year collaboration between NASA and Additive Monitoring Systems follows a two-year contract for full-scale in-situ AM production monitoring with the U.S. Air Force; another two-year contract to de-risk monitoring vision technology in AM from the Department of Energy (DoE)’s Advanced Manufacturing Office, several awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF); and integration into a key 3D printer original equipment manufacturer (OEM).
O’Dowd’s monitoring techniques for metal AM come from previous research at the DoE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), where he was a graduate fellow for almost four years. Then, in April 2021, O’Dowd was accepted into the fifth cohort of the Chain Reaction Innovations program, a two-year entrepreneurship initiative at Argonne National Laboratory designed to de-risk high-technology startups. During the program, O’Dowd used the Advanced Photon Source (a storage-ring-based high-energy X-ray light source facility) and other Argonne Lab facilities to advance his additive manufacturing startup: Additive Monitoring Systems. Advantages of In-Situ MonitoringOfficially inaugurated in 2020, Additive Monitoring Systems’ in-process monitoring system can retrofit any industrial 3D printer to provide valid part quality data. Designed to provide value to builders through dimensional measurements of several in-situ part features, the system reduces lost schedule time and wasted energy by allowing earlier part scrap. According to the company, the increasing geometrical and material complexities in AM require sustainable solutions to reduce waste, and that is where Additive Monitoring Systems come in. Not only does the company’s technology provide a sustainable method to reduce the material waste associated with AM, but it generates data, which can then be employed in new material development research. Some critical markets for this technology include AM part service bureaus, in-house AM production facilities at aerospace and medical device companies, and AM research institutions. The latest NASA collaboration means to O’Dowd that there is a growing interest in the company’s products from sponsors and the rapid prototyping community. Aside from this collaboration, the expert also looks forward to accelerating AM to fully flight-qualified production of complex space flight components. The post NASA Taps Additive Monitoring Systems for In-Situ Metal 3D Printing QA appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://ift.tt/w3MJsgH August 30, 2022 at 09:04AM
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MMX 2022: The US Air Force Deploys 3D Printing https://ift.tt/mTtjBQN America Makes is the United States’ leading public-private partnership for additive manufacturing (AM) technology and education, working to not only accelerate adoption of the technology in the country, but also to increase our manufacturing competitiveness through training, standards publication, projects, and more. The organization, which was the first of the Manufacturing USA Advanced Manufacturing Institutes, opened its doors in Youngstown, Ohio in 2012, and 3DPrint.com was on hand to celebrate its fifth birthday in 2017. So, of course, I made the nearly four-hour drive from my home in Dayton to help celebrate its 10th anniversary at MMX 2022, the Members Meeting and Exchange event for the more than 230 members of America Makes. In the last article relaying my attendance of MMX 2022, I discussed a presentation by Dr. Susan Helper, the Senior Economist on the White House Council of Economic Advisors, followed by a panel on scaling AM for global supply chains. The day continued with a presentation by Colonel Charles D. Ormsby, the acting director of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, who lectured on the use of AM by the U.S. Air Force in a talk titled “Additive Manufacturing in the U.S. Air Force – Perspectives and Opportunities.” Speeding up Air Force Production with 3D PrintingIn order to accelerate the use of AM for the Air Force and Space Force so they have the necessary capabilities when and where they’re needed, he said the AFRL was given a challenge: come up with 200 new 3D printed part families per year in 3-5 years, “which will be a huge leap in capability.” Col. Ormsby explained that AFRL typically takes seven years from the time a part need is identified until there is “proliferated capability to manufacture and deploy that qualified part,” which won’t cut it for meeting this goal. He said that changing how qualification and certification are done will be a big help in getting where they need to be. But, it still won’t be enough.
He explained that there are three important things that make AM different, and why the Air Force wants to use it, and the first is its ability to democratize additive manufacturing; with this, qualification and certification will be problems we all need to help solve, from the military to small- and medium-sized manufacturers. Democratizing Manufacturing with 3D PrintingThe goal is organic DAF manufacturing, so bringing the end user—in this case the warfighter—who knows what they need, when they need it, into the production process is important. Col. Ormsby also explained that digital natives are the kids currently in school using 3D printing, who will naturally think more in terms of digital design, and that we need to figure out how to use this mindset to “change the state of the possible.” Col. Ormsby says that democratizing manufacturing is especially taking off in the space community right now, and mentioned the AXIOM project, which stands for Additive for eXtreme Improvement in Optical Mounts. AFRL and America Makes are pushing for more democratized manufacturing on this project, and Raytheon, which received the Project Call funding for this project, is partnering with small businesses to print these optical mounts at 1/3 the cost and 1/5 the lead time. Another example is the Pacer Edge program with GE Aviation, first taking AFRL’s requirements to GE and letting them figure out the best way to print parts without long lead times.
Improving AM for the Air ForceCurrently, qualification and certification of 3D printed parts is inefficient, and negates many of the key benefits of additive. So what does the future look like?
The new $12 million additive manufacturing qualification program will take a part that’s been certified as a drop-in replacement, with one powder, process, and machine, and explore how to complete DELTA qualifications for the part. In bringing production to the warfighter, Col. Ormsby explained that AFRL received the authority to run the SBIR Strategic Finance Increase Program about three years ago, which allows them to invest more money in SBIR programs and “unlock cost-sharing from government and private partners.” Within the directorate, AFRL partnered with the Rapid Sustainment Office in the Life Cycle Management Center to invest $14 million to stand up a program aimed at putting additive capability at the point of need. Its investment unlocked another $14 million in funding from AFWERX, while partner Essentium brought in its own cost share, and the program resulted in 3D printers being deployed to the National Guard and others.
Col. Ormsby said that there’s a lack of integration between design and manufacturing, and that true closed-loop systems are still mainly research at this point. The final point that makes AM a different and necessary technology for AFRL, and the entire Air Force, is trying to change the state of the possible by making obsolescence obsolete. Col. Ormsby explained that convergent manufacturing is what we need to aim for now, the “idea of designing for what we need, using multiple materials, controlling print processes to print functionality into the systems we’re manufacturing, and designing the functionality and a single manufacturing process around it.” AFRL is working towards hiring a senior scientist to bring together a portfolio of work that can address the long-term needs of the aerospace industry, and advanced manufacturing in general, and Col. Ormsby predicts that America Makes will be very involved at this level. In order to achieve the goal of 200 new 3D printed part families per year in 3-5 years, the AFRL needs to truly understand the AM processes it will be using, and has adopted a Concept Laser M2 system for this purpose. The next panel, which I will discuss in an upcoming article, gave audience members an opportunity to get into the nitty gritty about America Makes, its strategy, and 3D printing overall. Stay tuned! The post MMX 2022: The US Air Force Deploys 3D Printing appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://ift.tt/w3MJsgH August 30, 2022 at 09:04AM
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Boost your ecommerce conversions with product AI recommendations https://ift.tt/Fpa32iH Are you struggling with maintaining a continuous flow of sales for your online store? Do you feel like you’ve tried everything that’s in your budget but none of the quick fixes seemed to bring in the results you hoped for? Have you already considered giving GetResponse a try but couldn’t help but felt like some crucial functionality was missing? We got you! And from now on, we also got AI product recommendations – a perfect automated solution for improved user experience and more conversions for both your website and your email communications! Available for all GetResponse MAX users. But before we jump into the specifics, let’s cover some other essential practices for boosting your ecommerce conversions. Read also: Ecommerce discount strategy: A nearly fool-proof guide 5 proven tips for growing your ecommerce revenue [and how to use product recommendations each time]Lately, it’s been a real digital jungle out there for online vendors. Customer expectations are high and competition is fierce. Every year there’s a new technological, marketing, or product update you must implement to stay afloat, not to mention get an edge. Fortunately, there are some practices that stay relevant and help you drive more sales regardless of the high-tech innovations. That’s why today we want to save you the talk about the multiverse and AR fitting rooms – they are definitely the trends of the future, yet you still need to grow conversions right now, and things are a bit less CyberPunk just yet. Instead, here are 5 verified strategies you could implement immediately and still boost your ecommerce sales: 1. Never underestimate the power of personalizationPersonalization is the primary element the rest of the tips shared in common. In ecommerce, customers expect personalization every step of the way. So it’s up to you to make sure they get optimized product pages, curated communications, and unique deals based on their online behavior. Marketing automation platforms, such as GetResponse, can make this process of enhanced personalization easier for you. Yet, at the end of the day, it all comes down to knowing your customer. And no one can do that but you. How to use product recommendations: the recommendation engine will study your audience’s behavior on your website and use automation to deduct which products they may be interested in the next time they visit your store. 2. Work towards your omnichannel presenceOmnichannel marketing has lately been a popular buzzword within the industry, but our advice here would be: don’t take it too close to your hearts. Sure, Disneyland and Sephora all serve as great examples of how far your business can go. Yet, realistically, not all of us can – or need to – afford to run a physical store, let alone an amusement park. Not every business needs to promote itself in TV commercials. Not every store has to invest in lavish co-ops with niche celebrities and influencers. Not every ecommerce merchant wants their handmade products to be readily available for purchase at Target. And it’s perfectly OK! Just make sure you do appear wherever your audience is likely to be. That’s how you achieve omnichannel-like multi-channel presence. How to use product recommendations: make sure you gather data across your customers’ channels. Did they click on your Instagram ad? Suggest the product from the ad as they complete their next purchase! 3. Don’t forget about optimizationWhile we’re on the subject of omnichannel presence, there’s one important practice we need to mention here. Make sure every channel you use is optimized to the “T”. Your store needs to run and look equally well on desktop and mobile devices. Your visuals need to be optimized for accessibility and load speed. Your website copy needs to be optimized for SEO. Your messaging needs to be different for each social media platform. And so long, and so forth. How to use product recommendations: you can optimize your product recommendations, too! People are more likely to spontaneously buy low-investment purchases. So you might want to upsell or offer bulk-purchase discounts for cheaper items while cross-selling more expensive products. 4. Use the full potential of social commerceThere are plenty of online stores that run solely on Instagram. Other ecommerce businesses prefer to use social media as an additional distribution/promotion channel. In any case, you should use your social platform for more than just beautiful product pictures and product updates. It even goes beyond creating shoppable posts and videos (that’s right, you can do that too, now!). Social media is your business card, customer support hub, and press center. It is where you get to showcase your UGC victories and where you can own up to your mistakes. Where you build and nurture relationships with the most important resource you have – your audience. So put it to good use! How to use product recommendations: it is super easy to use highly visual platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest for immediate product recommendations. Group items on your shoppable posts together so that they instantly cross-sell; create curated looks and collections; share how your customers mix and match your products – be creative! 5. Make sure anonymous visitors get a personalized experience, tooOne of the main reasons for abandoned carts is the inability to checkout without signing in to an account. An intuitive fix for that struggle is to allow guest checkout. Seems pretty straightforward, doesn’t it? Well, yes and no. You see, on the one hand, your visitor will be more likely to purchase from you this one time. At the same time, you won’t have many personal data on them to go off from. Sure, you can use zero and first-party cookies to use in case they return to your store. But what if they never do? How to use product recommendations: Embedding an automated code on your website can help you track your visitors’ on-site behavior in real-time. This way, you’ll be able to provide personalized product recommendations even to people who visit your store for the first time. And, yes, your personalization will only get better if they choose to return. 10 proven ways to boost your ecommerce conversionsGrow your revenue, retain your customers, and drive more traffic to your online store with these proven marketing strategies. Try and see for yourself! Keep reading for the specifics. The undeniable benefits of using AI recommendations for your ecommerce storeWe often say that there aren’t any one-size-fits-all marketing solutions for ecommerce. And that’s true. Yet, you aren’t getting a fixed framework with AI product recommendations. Instead, you get a powerful tool powered by Artificial intelligence that learns and adapts to your website and your audience over time. But that’s not the only benefit product recommendations bring to your table:
And there’s much more! That’s why we couldn’t wait any longer and wanted to share this great add-on with you ASAP. How product recommendations workIf you decide to implement product recommendations in your store, there are only so many options for you to choose from. You can always build the entire recommendation engine from scratch. Of course, you’ll need a dedicated team of designers, developers, AI experts, and product specialists for that. The communications between the engine and your store are done by API in this model. It requires a lot of time, maintenance, manpower, and a high budget to implement and support. That’s why only large corporations tend to go this way. A slightly more common solution would be to rely on external recommendation engines while taking care of the rest yourself. As such, you would need to spend a lot of time collecting and analyzing data, building reliable scripts, designing frames, and maintaining both the front- and backend of the solution. It’s easy-er, but definitely not that easy. And finally, you could invest in an out-of-the-box solution, where the provider will take care of all the nitty-gritty for you, and all you’ll have to do is focus on conversion optimization. If you choose the right tool, you may even have a dedicated team of designers preparing mockups for you or have an option to embed product recommendations into your email communications. That’s exactly what we do with GetResponse MAX! Simple implementationAll it takes to add automated AI-driven product recommendations to your store is adding a short code snippet to your website’s header – no API, no hustle, no stress. And it’s simple as it is effective – as all it takes to set up product recommendations on your page is to paste a code, your website’s performance won’t be affected in any way! Maintenance’s on usThat’s right! You don’t have to worry about data processing, analyzing, or anything like that. Our team of experts will ensure everything is up-to-date and functions as needed. On-brand messagingOur design team will prepare mock-ups for your product recommendations UI to make sure it follows your store’s style and aesthetic – no need to get your own designers involved. Straightforward analyticsAll your visitors’ data can be integrated with your Google Analytics account so that you can gain even more insights for future strategic decisions. Only available products are displayedOur smart algorithms only recommend products that are left in stock. So you don’t have to worry about missed clicks and wasted promotion potential Recommendations beyond your websiteTake your email marketing campaigns to the next level by directly adding automated personalized AI recommendations to your communications. Invaluable for lead nurturing and returning customers! Ready-made scenarios and additional flexibilityWe wanted to make things as easy as possible, so our AI recommendations come with some out-of-the-box scenarios just waiting for you to try (and customize!):
And you can always email communications for the most common ecommerce needs as well:
Get full control over how you use product recommendations. Place recommendations on any section of your website – from product page to blog and email communications. Free trial periodWe want you to fully experience the potential of this new GetResponse MAX add-on, so we let all of our MAX customers try AI recommendations for free for a whole month! See for yourself how easy it can be! Printing via GetResponse Blog https://ift.tt/9fmyHWB August 30, 2022 at 07:44AM
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New US Federal Rule Treats 3D Printed Guns Like Any Other Firearm https://ift.tt/D1COFk4 In April 2022, President Biden expressed his determination to crack down on ghost guns, promising that “if you commit a crime with a ghost gun, expect federal prosecution.” Now, a new federal “Frame or Receiver” rule goes into effect to ban ghost guns took effect on August 24, 2022. Under the new policy put in place by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), all firearms, including 3D printed guns, must be serialized to help reduce the number of unmarked and hard-to-trace ghost guns. In addition, the new rule reclassifies gun frames and receivers as firearms under the law. It requires federally licensed firearms dealers and gunsmiths to have serial numbers added to any unserialized guns and to run background checks before selling kits that contain parts needed to assemble homemade firearms. According to the official document, the Department of Justice highlighted Congress’s concern about untraceable firearms based on intelligence reports from Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the National Counterterrorism Center, which state that untraceable firearms pose a challenge to law enforcement’s ability to investigate crimes and that “wide availability of ghost guns and the emergence of functional 3D printed guns are a homeland security threat.” It also remarks that numerous criminal investigations and studies have demonstrated these concerns, while several states and municipalities have banned or severely restricted unserialized or 3D printed firearms. For example, in 2013, Philadelphia became the first U.S. city to ban making or owning 3D printed guns. In addition, gun 3D printing has been illegal in Massachusetts since 2018. Finally, this year, Maryland banned ghost guns and expressly prohibited making a ghost gun with a 3D printer when a minor is present. Furthermore, the new rule explains that as technology progresses, privately made guns “are likely to make their way to the licensed community because firearms licensees are likely to market them for sale, accept them into a pawn, or repair them through gunsmithing services.” Days before the new policy was in place, Homeland Security Today reported that extremists were urging followers to learn 3D printing to “clandestinely produce weapons that are useful to us” and “disregard the law.” CBS News also noted that many websites that sell ghost gun parts posted countdowns to the date the rule takes effect and have published “information for enthusiasts who want to continue building firearms at home.” 3D Printed Gun Use and CrimeSerial number or not, many argue that law enforcement should be worried about persons misusing guns instead of curtailing homemade weapons, which have been entirely legal for centuries. The argument is that anyone who chooses to use a gun to commit a crime will do so, no matter what the new rule states. According to our research 3D printed gun arrests tripled in less than two years. Simultaneously, an investigation into 3D printed firearms during the International Conference on 3D Printed Firearms held at the Hague last May revealed that Dutch police have seen a significant increase in 3D printed weapons in the Netherlands and abroad. However, even though they see an upsurge in 3D printed gun confiscations, their study results still show that the supply of ready-to-use 3D printed firearms is currently small compared to the supply of conventional guns. Historically, 3D printed weapons have played a limited role in actual criminal violence. Still, potential criminals and extremist groups have shown plenty of interest in them, and violent gang members have been arrested after attempting to print guns and parts or sell them. In fact, the increasing response to homemade 3D printed firearms by law enforcement and governments is a sign that they portray the threat as real and that violence with these weapons could escalate. After all, 3D printed guns are becoming more sophisticated and can now fire dozens of rounds without yielding under the pressure of a shot, as some of the first versions did. Regardless, making a fully functional, 3D printed gun is not entirely straightforward and something many people will not attempt to do at home. 3D printing a weapon requires the user to have a 3D printer at home, and experts estimate that only one or two million homes own 3D printers. Moreover, only a minority of owners would use it for 3D printing guns, so the number of people creating these weapons is extremely low at the moment. 3D models for weapons, however, are a different story as hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people have already downloaded tutorials for 3D printed guns already. Files for 3D printing a gun aren’t hidden on the dark web but can be downloaded from file-sharing websites. For example, in 2013, it took only two days for more than 100,000 users to download the files for the Liberator, the first 3D-printable single-shot handgun design. Although this could alarm many people, former ATF Special Agent David Chipman said during a Twitter Q&A with concerned citizens that, although several files had already been downloaded, he is more concerned about future files for 3D printable firearms that will be more lethal and intricate. The Perceived Threat of 3D Printed GunsAside from the Liberator, other highly publicized 3D printed guns have been used. Also, online communities often share videos of 3D printed guns and gun parts that operate much like the real thing. For example, back in 2013, Solid Concepts, a custom manufacturing company in California now owned by Stratasys, built the first entirely 3D printed replica of a .45 caliber M1911 semi-automatic that served as the U.S. military’s standard-issue sidearm for more than 70 years. Capable of striking a target bull’s-eye over 50 times, the metal gun was built using industrial-grade metal powder bed fusion 3D printers. This, however, is a whole new level of printer. So expensive (in the mid-hundred thousand range) that most individuals cannot afford one. Instead, 3D printed guns are usually made of plastic with smaller 3D printers. This poses an entirely different risk to governments, basically that their undetectable nature. Not all metal detectors can pick up on plastic, but Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners proved theirs could when in 2018, they spotted a plastic 3D gun in a carry-on bag. Since August 2016, the TSA has detected a few 3D printed guns and gun components. To fill this gap and make sure all 3D weapons don’t slip through security checks, security technology newcomer Liberty Defense is ready to beta test a new non-metal weapons detection system in airports and other commercial checkpoints that could make 3D printed weapons equally discernible as any other gun. Even with the new ghost gun rule in place, people will not stop building their firearms at home. Instead, they will have to follow the existing new federal rule that says manufacturers of 3D printed guns will have to include serial numbers. The post New US Federal Rule Treats 3D Printed Guns Like Any Other Firearm appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://ift.tt/w3MJsgH August 30, 2022 at 07:07AM
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3D Printing News Unpeeled, With BASF AM Forward, Creality, Flashforge, Koenigsegg https://ift.tt/1lCEVDO Today we talk about Creality 3D tackling the Professional FDM market together with AM Forward, Flashforge releasing new Pro printers as well, spatter reduction in Powder Bed Fusion, better tool paths for stronger FDM parts, alloy design using 3D printing, and Koenigsegg mixing its own resin.
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World’s Largest Brick Maker Uses Masonry Robot to Build Brick House https://ift.tt/HyMPhgO Wienerberger AG, the Austrian-based construction materials corporation, announced that the first house has been completed using the Hadrian X masonry robot, which was developed by the Australian robotics firm, Fastbrick Robotics (FBR). The house was built in Wellard, Australia, with Porotherm bricks produced by Wienerberger, which is the largest brick manufacturer in the world. Hadrian X utilizes FBR’s Dynamic Stabilization Technology (DST) to account in real time for disturbances, like ground vibrations and wind. In turn, this allows the Hadrian X to perform optimally outdoors, laying bricks according to CAD models at a rate the company claims allows it to complete a home build in as little 1 to 3 days. Wienerberger and FBR originally signed a partnership agreement in 2018 for precisely the purpose achieved by the Australian residence: Wienerberger’s development of bricklaying solutions using the Hadrian X, which could ultimately be deployed for residential projects. While not an additive construction (AC) application, there is clear crossover potential with AC, and firms that are involved in the AC sector also seem to be broadly interested in all digitized building technologies. Wienerberger, itself, seems to be a longtime user of 3D printing for prototyping purposes. It’s not clear if the company plans to explicitly enter the AC sector, but FBR’s DST system could presumably be just as useful to cement-extruding robots, as it is to something like the Hadrian X. Or, what might be an even more practical solution: bricks could be printed at a central location to be assembled into homes, on-sight, by bricklaying robots. Finally, it will be interesting to see if political developments concerning the AC sector will reverberate on general digitized construction. It would seem like the recent broad granting of approval by Montana’s state government for walls produced with AC would also pave the way for an increasing presence of machines like the Hadrian X. If this turns out to be the case, we could start seeing, sooner rather than later, the emergence of crossover applications that lead to a more general, automated construction sector, incorporating a broad range of advanced technologies. Images courtesy of Fastbrick Robotics The post World’s Largest Brick Maker Uses Masonry Robot to Build Brick House appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://ift.tt/ofEtVW0 August 29, 2022 at 09:00AM
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Chef Tim Anderson: How LA’s Sugar Lab Unites Culture and Cuisine with Food 3D Printing https://ift.tt/qWM9e4a Great food often has an element of surprise. Sometimes, that surprise may come as an unexpected flavor—say, a hint of star anise in an otherwise ordinary French onion soup. But, sometimes, the surprise may come from the “wow factor” it delivers as soon as it is presented. Lately, few things have surprised and wowed me more than the incredible food products made possible by 3D printing – especially the exquisitely detailed miniature works of art made by Sugar Lab. 3D Printed Sugary TreatsSugar Lab is one of the biggest names in 3D printed food, a ‘digital bakery’ in Los Angeles that makes some of the most unique confections in the world. Sugar Lab’s technology is proprietary, and unlike any other food printing system. They put it to astonishing use, realizing exciting creative concepts that couldn’t be produced using any other means. These include “strawberry-covered chocolates,” a clever inversion in which rich chocolate ganache is encased in a strawberry sugar shell; kimchi bouillon formed into tiny octopi, fried chicken legs, and Napa cabbages; lime wedges that dissolve into glitter bombs when dropped into your favorite tequila-based cocktail; and, most recently, a collection of edible RPG dice to tie in with the latest season of Stranger Things. Each one of these remarkable items has the coarse texture of a sugar cube, but they appear as if they have been assembled grain-by-grain, giving them a minutely detailed, pointillistic appearance. Their craft beer bonbon collection look like perfect little Sylvanian Families-sized cans of hazy IPA and stout. I spoke to William Hu, Creative Director at Sugar Lab, about how the company came to be, and what its motivation was for making such singular sweets. Though Sugar Lab’s initial commercial offering focused on things like cake toppers and wedding favors, the company quickly became more ambitious artistically once the team came to fully appreciate the potential of the technology and caught the attention of high-end chefs and mixologists. In the early days, William recalls, “it was like market testing and figuring out what people like. We were developing recipes in house, and we were our own clients and creating our own recipes, which was really awesome.” William says that one of the most exciting aspects of the technology is that it allows for shapes and colors to be produced in ways that simply can’t be made any other way. “What got us excited about it was that we could make shapes that were impossible to replicate by hand – like hollow shapes, geometrically perfect forms – and 3D printing with full color. The patterns would come out so intricately. It was just fascinating to us.” Indeed, there is a certain “how did they do that?” quality to Sugar Lab’s products. I get the impression that working there never gets old because the capacity for creativity is so great. Marrying Culture and CuisineSugar Lab’s ability to marry clear, precise graphic design with flavor means their food can carry many layers of impact and meaning. Their Koreatown collection, for example, contains candies in the shape of little Yakult bottles, the Korean characters for “cheers,” and traditional Korean sweets. “It touches on visual culture and a visual language that we really found compelling,” William says. “We wanted to do a taste of LA.” This sense of place or meaning behind food is often lost when the food is removed from its cultural context; Sugar Lab’s technology allows context (or subtext) to be communicated explicitly through the form and color of the candy itself. The visual cues prompt the eater to consider the cultural connotations of the food, rather than just appreciating its flavor. Of course, flavor shouldn’t be an afterthought, either. Sugar Lab would not be the success it is if its products didn’t deliver deliciousness, which it definitely does. The hazy IPA bonbons are filled with a velvety smooth milk chocolate that carries the distinct fruity bitterness of New World hops. The kimchi bouillon tastes, astonishingly but perhaps not surprisingly, just like kimchi: strongly flavored, but not so sweet, salty, or spicy that it would ruin a broth that has already been seasoned. And the texture of the 3D printed sugar shells is interesting on a sensory level, too. It’s rough and sandy, but also tender and yielding. Its unusual graininess prompts you to pay attention to what you’re eating, which has the effect of making you perceive more of the sweets’ complex flavor notes. Sometimes, when 3D printing technology is applied to food, it can feel like a pointless gimmick, but when it is used purposefully and thoughtfully as it is at Sugar Lab, its artistic merit is self-evident. The sweets they produce are not only visually beautiful and imbued with a sense of playfulness, they’re also filled with meaning, as deep and complex as a single-origin dark chocolate ganache – which they are also sometimes filled with. The post Chef Tim Anderson: How LA’s Sugar Lab Unites Culture and Cuisine with Food 3D Printing appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://ift.tt/ofEtVW0 August 29, 2022 at 08:07AM |
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