Mechanical engineer Ian Davis was involved in a work accident last year that caused him to lose four of his fingers on his left hand, and to top things off, his insurance didn’t cover a prosthetic. Insurance stated that for him to be eligible for a prosthetic, his palm would have also required amputation, as the fingers are “not medically necessary”. So, he got into 3D printing to build his own partial prosthetic. Read more for two videos and additional information.
Israel-based startup Redefine Meat aims to launch 3D printers that will let food distributors make plant-based steaks mimicking real beef next year. Called “Alt-Steak,” this meatless alternative will first make rounds at high-end restaurants this year before shipping its industrial-scale 3D printers to meat distributors in 2021. Read more for a video and additional information.
Photo credit: Mantis Robot
LEGO Technic sets are great for creating interactive sets, but there isn’t one yet that lets you build a life-sized go-kart. So, Matt Denton decided to take things into his own hands. With the help of 3D-printers, he managed to piece together an XXL LEGO go-kart with pieces that are scaled up 8.43 times the size of their real-life counterparts. Read more for a test drive video and additional information.
Photo credit: Michal Trpak | Stavebni Sporitelna Ceske Sporitelny
Prvok will soon become the first 3D-printed home in the Czech Republic, floating on its own pontoon, though it can be set up on land as well. Unlike other 3D-printed homes that take days to complete, this structure can be printed in just 48 hours, all the while saving up to 50% of the building costs of traditional structural costs. Read more for a video, additional pictures and information.
Photo credit: Maximilian Schneider
Automotive designer Maximilian Schneider envisions a hypercar unlike any other, and it’s called the Rimac Scalatan vision 2080. Not only is it powered by lithium-oxygen batteries, but it features a 3D-carboprinted chassis made of a titanium-graphite alloy encapsulated by an aerodynamic and ultra-rugged graphene outer shell. Read more for a video, additional pictures and information.
Photo credit: Hassell Studio
Ever wonder what an above-ground Mars habitat could look like if it were built by a group of autonomous robots? If so, Hassell Studio shows us their proposal, which was also entered into NASA’s international 3D Printed Habitat Challenge. The team partnered with structural engineers at Eckersley O’Callaghan (EOC) and it consists of an external shell made from local Martian regolith. Read more for a video, additional pictures and information.
Engineers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) have built a mini Mars rover using 3D printers and commercially available components. To be more specific, it’s based on the Resource Prospector 15 (RP15) prototype from 2015 that uses 12 different motors to drive its four wheels. This miniature version can crawl or paddle out of obstacles. Read more for a video and additional information.
Inventor Ivan Miranda specializes in 3D-printed projects, and his latest is a massive tank that you can actually ride inside of. Yes, all of the parts have been printed, and took weeks to do so. There are electronics inside that make it move, including a battery bank and motors. Plus, when Miranda is actually inside, the tank can be remote controlled. Read more for a video and additional information.
UC San Diego NanoEngineering researchers have developed a highly expandable foaming resin for use with SLA 3D printers. This material expands with heat after UV-curing, which enables you to make parts significantly larger than the build volume of the printer used to fabricate them. It could eventually be used for architecture, manufacturing, aerospace, energy, biomedicine, and even to build flotation devices. Read more for a video and additional information.
Photo credit: Oddity Central
Lalastein is a professional 3D scanning expert and camera man who has worked on several Japanese films. However, he wanted to be known for his side projects, which is creating ultra-realistic face masks using 3D printers. To accomplish this, he used a Super Scan Studio Face Rig 3D scanner and a Stratasys J750 3D printer. Read more for additional pictures and information.