The 3D Printing of Everything

[BMJ]

I thought I would start this thread because it is simply amazing as to what can be 3D printed these days, anything from a car to a heart or a house.

With this in mind it seems 3D printing will revolutionize many industries into our future.

To start this thread here are some examples.

Researchers develop first printed 3D heart in major scientific breakthrough



Researchers develop first printed 3D heart in major scientific breakthrough originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

For the first time in history, scientists have created a three-dimensional, fully vascularized human heart. The biomedically engineered heart was created using a 3D printer by researchers at the University of Tel Aviv in Israel.

Modeled on a human patient, the 3D heart “[matches] the immunological, cellular, biochemical, and anatomical properties of the patient,” Dr. Tal Dvir, study researcher and professor of molecular cell biology at Tel Aviv University, said in a press release.

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He added that the heart is made from human cells, and “patient-specific biological materials.”

“Our results demonstrate the potential of our approach for engineering personalized tissue and organ replacement in the future,” said Dr. Dvir.

Though it is still in the early stages of development, this invention represents a breakthrough for transplant medicine, as it may impact the lives of thousands of patients who await heart transplants for end-stage heart failure each year. A number of these patients will die while on the waiting list.

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The engineered heart is about the size of a rabbit’s heart. As it continues to be redesigned to better reflect human anatomy, scientists are intrigued by the potential for 3D heart printing to become a widespread, life-saving technique in medical centers around the world.

This latest invention represents a major turning point for patients with congestive heart failure (CHF), as heart transplantation is the only definitive treatment for patients in the end-stages of the disease. CHF symptoms range from extreme shortness of breath to leg swelling and unintentional weight gain. These patients are at higher risk from sudden death relating to dangerous heart rhythms.

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As such, CHF patients are frequently in-and-out of the hospital, require life-saving procedures to prevent dangerous heart rhythm, and suffer from a poor quality of life. Heart transplantation is oftentimes the only way to improve their quality of life and extend survival. Given the number of patients suffering from CHF each year, and its high healthcare costs, the study’s researchers were determined to “develop new approaches to regenerate the infarcted heart.”

The 3D heart was created from human cells obtained through biopsies. These tissue samples were experimentally reprogrammed to become “pluripotent” or de-identified stem cells. The stem cells were then exposed to chemicals or “bioinks” that helped to retrain them to become either heart or blood vessel cells.

“The biocompatibility of engineered materials [was] crucial to eliminate the risks of implant rejection, which jeopardizes the success of such treatments,” said Dr. Dvir.

Transplant rejection, which occurs when the recipient’s immune system targets transplanted tissue, is a common problem in heart transplant patients. It typically occurs within one year of heart transplantation, and accounts for a number heart transplant-related deaths.

Although the 3D human heart represents a promising step towards transplant engineering, further research is needed. The model needs to be studied in vivo, meaning in live organisms – through future animal studies – to understand its true biologic impact on the body, particularly in people with cardiovascular disease.

Navjot Kaur Sobti is an internal medicine resident physician at Dartmouth-Hitchcock-Medical Center/Dartmouth School of Medicine and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.

Link: https://news.yahoo.com/researchers-d...224100547.html

[BMJ]

The Vulcan 3D Printing system is paving the way to potentially bring affordable housing to all corners of the globe.

This Tiny House Was 3D-Printed in Less Than 48 Hours

When you hear "3D-printed home," you may envision a far-fetched, futuristic concept. Thanks to Icon, a construction company that uses 3D printing, and non-profit New Story, though, the concept is quickly becoming a reality—and may be a major advancement in creating affordable homes for underserved communities.

According to Icon, the first permitted, 3D-printed home is just 350 square feet, and located in Austin, Texas. The tiny home serves as "proof-of-concept for sustainable homebuilding that will allow for safer, more affordable homes for more families, faster than ever," per a press release.

The printer used for the home, the Vulcan, is designed with common constraints in mind for places such as Haiti and rural El Salvador—unpredictable power, little technical assistance, and potable water not guaranteed. Brett Hagler, CEO of New Story, said, "We feel it's our responsibility to challenge traditional methods and work toward ending homelessness. By working with Icon and leveraging their 3D printing innovations, we're able to reach more families with the best possible shelter solutions, exponentially faster."

3D printing for homes offers advantages that may not be available in conventional construction methods. Jason Ballard, co-founder of Icon, says that they offer nearly zero waste, but that's not all. "...You also have speed, a much broader design palette, next-level resiliency, and the possibility of a quantum leap in affordability. This isn't 10 percent better, [it's] 10 times better."

The Austin home was printed in less than 48 hours, according to New Story's website, but the company says it aims to get faster "as the technology progresses." Check out this video to see the first tiny home being printed:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=SvM7jFZGAec

Eventually, the company's goal is to print homes in less than 24 hours. The Austin home cost around $10,000 to create (the printed portion only), but Icon and New Story hope to create similar homes for as low as $4,000.

New Story and Icon plan to break ground on the first 3D-printed community in history this summer. We can't wait to see!

Link: https://www.housebeautiful.com/desig...zen.yandex.com

[BMJ]

A.I. and 3D Printing could save lives and aircraft with the average age of aircraft in the US Air Force being 28 years old, we are looking at such aircraft for example as the B-1, B-52, C-5 and C-130.

A.I. performing predictive maintenance could indicate when fatigued or worn parts will need to be replaced and 3D printing could create and replace those parts well before the possible failure.

With a little foresight it would not be hard to imagine this technology be translated to civil service for use in for example airlines.

Can Big Data Save Old Warplanes?

Quote:
"Roper’s (Will Roper, the USAF’s assistant secretary for acquisition, technology, and logistics) job is to bring new tools to the Air Force, and in this age that means data mining. “We've brought in a lot of artificial intelligence experts to advise us on how to use A.I. to predict when planes are going to fail, and I believe we're the first service to have A.I. operational on its flying fleet,” he says.

Late in 2018, the Air Force (with help from Delta) retrofitted its aging C-5 and B-1 fleets to perform predictive maintenance. “It's already doing amazing work, telling us things that we need to look at before they become critical,” Roper says. “The data is there but it's not in a discoverable format that you can layer in machine learning on top of it. A lot of what we had to do was reverse engineering, so that that data can be exposed in an algorithm friendly way.” "

Link: https://www.popularmechanics.com/mil...zen.yandex.com

F-22 Stealth Fighter Receives First New 3D-Printed Part

Quote:
"The age of 3D-printed plane parts is upon us. The U.S. Air Force has printed and installed a new titanium replacement piece for the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter....

As aircraft grow older, their parts inevitably wear out at a faster rate, meaning the planes spend more time undergoing maintenance. Spare parts become harder to get for planes no longer in production (the F-22 Raptor production line was shuttered in 2012).

It can take months after ordering a replacement part for the thing to actually arrive.

But 3D printing allows the Air Force to quickly manufacture whatever parts it needs"

Link: https://www.popularmechanics.com/mil...-printed-part/

[BMJ]

Canberra (Australia) family turning bottle caps into plastic hands and arms for children

Key points:
- Victorian charity Envision uses 3D printing software to turn plastic bottle lids into mobility aids
- Father Tim Miller launches Lids 4 Kids to help collect bottle caps
- He hopes to collect 250,000 bottle caps in the ACT alone



When Tim Miller and his family began recycling bottles and cans in Canberra, they soon ran into a problem. What should they do with the non-recyclable lids?

Mr Miller is unable to work as he has bowel disease, osteoporosis and liver disease. At 43, he has been told he has just nine years to live, and he is determined to use that time to help the community.

Which is where the humble bottle top comes in.

After beginning to collect recyclables at the Aranda street library for fundraising purposes, he and his family realised that the caps on the bottles could not be recycled in the ACT.

"We were collecting hundreds of lids and we weren't sure what to do with them," he said.

The answer, it turned out, involved a charity in Victoria and brightly coloured plastic limbs for child amputees.

"I got my kids to help me set up a Facebook page, and we had a look on the interweb, and we discovered through Dr Google there was a group called Envision," he said.

One of its latest projects is Envision Hands, where plastic bottle lids are processed and turned into mobility aids for children.

"Once I found out that, I thought that's fantastic," Mr Miller said.

"Within that first 48 hours, we had eight cafes volunteer to not only collect the lids from all the milk cartons they go through each day, but also to be a collection point for their suburb," he said.

"We have already got a trailer and a whole bunch of plastic tubs organised, and a volunteer to drive them down to Melbourne for us later in the year."

Recipients 'over the moon'
Once the lids are transported to Envision Hands' warehouse in Melbourne, they are cleaned and organised into colours.

Next, they are shredded and then fed through an extruder, which produces an ink-like filament.

That filament is then used in conjunction with 3D software to print the mobility aids.

Joint Director of Envision Sean Teer said the first limb went overseas to a hospitalised boy in India.

Link: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-...hands/11249628

[BMJ]

Posted by BMJ (here)
A.I. and 3D Printing could save lives and aircraft with the average age of aircraft in the US Air Force being 28 years old, we are looking at such aircraft for example as the B-1, B-52, C-5 and C-130.

A.I. performing predictive maintenance could indicate when fatigued or worn parts will need to be replaced and 3D printing could create and replace those parts well before the possible failure.

With a little foresight it would not be hard to imagine this technology be translated to civil service for use in for example airlines.

Can Big Data Save Old Warplanes?

Quote:
"Roper’s (Will Roper, the USAF’s assistant secretary for acquisition, technology, and logistics) job is to bring new tools to the Air Force, and in this age that means data mining. “We've brought in a lot of artificial intelligence experts to advise us on how to use A.I. to predict when planes are going to fail, and I believe we're the first service to have A.I. operational on its flying fleet,” he says.

Late in 2018, the Air Force (with help from Delta) retrofitted its aging C-5 and B-1 fleets to perform predictive maintenance. “It's already doing amazing work, telling us things that we need to look at before they become critical,” Roper says. “The data is there but it's not in a discoverable format that you can layer in machine learning on top of it. A lot of what we had to do was reverse engineering, so that that data can be exposed in an algorithm friendly way.” "

Link: https://www.popularmechanics.com/mil...zen.yandex.com

F-22 Stealth Fighter Receives First New 3D-Printed Part

Quote:
"The age of 3D-printed plane parts is upon us. The U.S. Air Force has printed and installed a new titanium replacement piece for the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter....

As aircraft grow older, their parts inevitably wear out at a faster rate, meaning the planes spend more time undergoing maintenance. Spare parts become harder to get for planes no longer in production (the F-22 Raptor production line was shuttered in 2012).

It can take months after ordering a replacement part for the thing to actually arrive.

But 3D printing allows the Air Force to quickly manufacture whatever parts it needs"

Link: https://www.popularmechanics.com/mil...-printed-part/

Boeing Made a ‘Digital Twin’ of the B-52 Stratofortress

Boeing Is Making 3D-Printed B-52 Replacement Parts
Digital modeling is already paying off, and could reduce the effort needed to keep the old warbirds flying.

Engineers at the lab’s Advanced Visualization and Immersive Development & Reverse Engineering and Prototyping (AVID) group began by scanning the fuel cell area, which enabled the placement of 3D-printed stiffeners inside the tank. That allowed for the installation and fit checks of the 3D-printed Line Replaceable Units mounted outside the tanks.

“3D printing has become a go-to solution within Boeing because everyone sees the value and speed that rapid iteration can bring to the design table,” explained Sarah Congdon, AVID lead systems engineer. “Proof-out designs and installation methods on the test bed using 3D-printed parts, 3D-scan the mod jets prior to installation, and you’ll know the lay of the battlefield before you’ve even started the march.”

Boeing said that the purpose of these recent 3D-printing exercises wasn’t to finalize the parts. Instead, it could serve to validate whether the new parts line up with the original design models in the B-52s. The aerospace giant added that if the measurements don’t match, they can be updated and adjusted before modifications are done fleetwide, thus saving time and effort.

“The results speak for themselves,” said Jagbir Singh, Boeing B-52 CERP director. “Prior PCIs at the High Bay have already produced an estimated savings of over $1.3 million through reduced part and labor costs and by preventing rework. Beyond dollars, we’re building repeatable processes and data that will help now and in the future for these modifications.”

This could help ensure that the B-52 remains in operation for the coming decades and serves as the workhorse of the US Air Force’s bomber fleet, supporting the upcoming Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider as the Cold War-era Rockwell B-1B Lancer and Northrop B-2 Spirit are retired from service.

Link: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/bu...ress-ps-042126

[Ratszinger]

My neighbor to the west was just arrested for a 3D printed pistol he had and bullets to match all printed by a robot. The police are suspecting the local votech center and a student paid under the table for making it because it is one of two such machines capable of doing that work in the entire area! This was the first I'd heard of this being available here and I was told recently by my Honda rider mower repairman that Honda has stopped making many of the parts for my 1992 Rider and that I could have them 3D printed at the VoTech to replace them so he advised me not to throw out any old parts from my 2002 Jeep to that Honda because the printers could reproduce them. What a world we live in huh?

[Johnnycomelately]

BMJ, good thread, and some good first examples! This tech already does some wild things, and it’s only going to get more capable, in many fields.


Ratzinger, your example of printed firearms brings up a couple quite pertinent points, the availability* of the tech, and efforts to control* that availability.

* availability: fairly cheap machines, and software available over da webs, together with kits of the barrel and metal slide parts and such.

* control: no surprise, regulators have begun trying to limit the transmission of related files.


This 3-D printing thing reminds me of a question from decades ago, when I heard of ETs having to take a pause (in their plan to help us Earthlings) to develop some new capabilities. I wondered how they fabricated whatever that new thing was/is. That kind of interest has been kindled again in recent years, seeing the megalithics posts by Brien Foerster and others.