Posts Tagged ‘printing’
13-Year-Old Riley Lewis and His Crew Embrace 3-D Printing at Public School
Deelip has a great blog showing Riley and his "Herd's" progress with the 3-D printer, figuring out how to use and adjust the device in order to print all kinds of items out of plastic, from cups and forks to sculptures, and in the latest installment, arrows. The kit itself is pretty small and inexpensive, costing a mere $700 or so to set up at Discovery Charter School, a public middle school that might otherwise not be able to afford a 3-D fabricator. It's really inspiring stuff, and makes us a bit jealous--none of us here had 3-D printers at our schools!
Check out the first installment of this amazing "what I did this summer" account . Maybe someday we'll be writing about Riley's achievements in features like .
Six Dream Projects of the 3-D Printing Pioneers
They can print houses on the moon and change the course of science education forever--and they might be closer to fruition than you'd think
Right now, 3-D printing is relatively primitive, especially when using the cheaper, simpler printers designed to get more hobbyists experimenting with the new technology. Current 3-D printing projects include Marcelo Coelho's Digital Chocolatier, which extrudes layers of chocolate, caramel, nuts, and other candy components to create a custom-designed candy bar. But from these simple roots, these designers all see incredible projects springing forth in the future.
The next step for 3-D printing seems to be figuring out a way to print multiple substrates at once. To print entire working machines, for example, you've got to print mechanical objects, batteries, and silicon chips, all at the same time. (To see how that works, check out .) But none of the 3-D printing experts I spoke to showed the slightest uncertainty that that hurdle would be overcome. It was never "if we can figure out a way," but always "when we figure out a way."
I did find a division in the way these scientists, engineers, and designers see 3-D printing. Some, like Hod Lipson of Cornell University's Fab@Home group, compare 3-D printers to computers, saying their functionality and design will evolve in ways we can't predict, but which will end up vital to our daily lives, regardless of their eventual form. Others, like Enrico Dini, are dreamers, seeing 3-D printers as less a personal fabrication device and more a new medium for a restless muse to exploit. But they are all entranced with the possibilities presented by 3-D printers, and though their dream projects are varied, they're all pretty amazing.
Oh, and if you're curious about how a 3-D printer actually works, don't forget to check out --it's both simpler and more complicated than you'd think.
World Wildlife Federation Creates Unprintable .WWF File Format to Save Trees
Though PDFs are impressively flexible and useful paper-replacement files, many people and businesses are simply more comfortable printing physical copies. In some cases, with larger businesses, universities, and other organizations, that can mean ridiculous amounts of paper used and discarded for little reason. The environmental impact of paper is a contentious topic, one I'm sure will be discussed passionately in the comments (i.e. theoretical sustainability vs. illegal logging and optional governmental "guidelines"), but anyone that's worked in an office knows how much unnecessary printing happens on a regular basis.
The WWF format is essentially a plugin (Mac-only for now, but coming to Windows soon) that allows the user to save any document as a WWF. Those files can be opened and viewed in most programs used to open PDFs, except they can't be printed (and they add a little note about saving paper to the bottom of documents).
Will the WWF format actually do any good, besides increasing awareness? It can't stop a document from being printed, of course--users can always print screenshots. But in certain settings, especially business or educational, it might make sense to make it at least irritating to print some documents. A professor could forbid students from printing a hundred-page coursepack, for example. That's all assuming anybody actually embraces the format, which is doubtful, but it's not necessarily the worst idea ever.
[Save as WWF via Lifehacker]
Apple’s iPhone OS wireless printing dubbed AirPrint, still coming in November
Apple on its wireless printing technology today, which is still due for release in its November iPhone operating system (iOS) 4.2 upgrade. It’s now dubbed “AirPrint”, and will at first support HP’s ePrint (web printing ready) devices.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs mentioned the wireless printing technology — which will be available for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch — at earlier this month. Developers (and eager testers) can get their hands on AirPrint early by installing the iOS 4.2 beta release, which Apple released today as well.
The technology will allow iOS devices to find and use printers on local networks via Wi-Fi without installing drivers. In addition to HP’s ePrint devices, AirPrint will also work with printers shared via Macs and Windows PCs.
It’s surprising that it’s taken so long for Apple to officially support wireless printing on iOS devices. HP, along with other printer manufacturers, have had their own iPhone printing apps for some time. Third-party apps like have also garnered groups of fans and have the ability to print over 3G.
Apple’s simple implementation of wireless printing will likely be enough for most users, which is bad news for developers of apps like Print. They’ll either have to come up with exciting new features for their wireless printing apps, or just concede defeat.
Getting content noticed is a challenge for everyone making apps. We’ll cover the topic at . Startups and big companies alike should consider entering our . Early bird discounts are available until September 15. Sponsors can contact us at sponsors@venturebeat.com. To buy tickets, .
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New Method Could Print Out Prescription Pills to Order
System liquefies medicine and makes it into printable ink
Most tablet pills are made of about 99.5 percent preservatives and inactive solids, mainly so they can be easily picked up and swallowed. But the digestive system has to break them down before the medicine can enter the bloodstream and go to work.
The printing method would deposit the medicine on the surface of the pill instead. It could also allow for multiple medicines to be printed onto single pills, reducing the number of tablets patients must swallow and preventing tablets from being needlessly embiggened.
Pills with different dosages could be individually printed for each patient, depending on
Printing active ingredients onto pre-made tablets would be faster and easier than making a tablet from scratch for each medicine, according to the researchers, from the University of Leeds, Durham University and GlaxoSmithKline.
Each pill would get the exact right dose, which is more accurate than the current system -- now, each batch of pills is checked at the factory to make sure dosages are right. The researchers say that with those arduous quality-control procedures removed, new pills could get to market much faster.
Much more work still needs to be done, however. As of now, the method would only work for about 0.5 percent of all medicines used in tablet form. But the team hopes the number could reach 40 percent.
A medicine droplet is about 20 times larger than a traditional ink droplet, so the researchers have to figure out how many drops each tablet can hold and how to increase the level of active ingredients in each drop.
Till now, the process for making pills hasn't changed much since the first patent for tablets in 1843.
Tiny Titanium Origami Highlights New Method Of Micro-Construction
The researchers start by printing out a flat sheet of titanium hydride. Normally, this material is too rigid to fold, but the printing process imbues the "ink" with a number of solvents that soften it up enough for manipulation. In the case of the crane, it took 15 steps to go from a flat sheet to a finished bird.
This material is malleable enough to fold, but strong enough to retain its shape once the folding process is complete. Additionally, titanium hydride can be treated after folding to become pure metallic titanium. That way, a potential medical device could be folded into the desired shape, and then transformed into a substance that the body wouldn't reject.
The scientists have just begun to explore the implications of this technique, so it might be a while before a doctor actually uses a stent or implant created by folding titanium hydride. However, Japanese legend holds that if someone folds 1,000 origami cranes, a real crane will grant their wish. So all the researchers need to do is fabricate 999 more of these, and just wish for a practical application for this technology to arrive within a year. Easy!