Hello again, here is a selection of what I was looking at this week.

This is currently the largest contained 3D printer available, it works the same as any other printer on a larger scale. Even given it's size it is still only a prototyping machine. The technology still has many limitations that preclude it from becoming a viable manufacturing tool. From the materials used, the finished texture of the objects and the time taken to print them 3D printers will remain a tool for hobbyists and prototyping until those issues are solved. This may take a decade.

This image is of cutlery that has been printed using steel and then electroplated in silver. The cutlery needs to be plated to make the objects food safe as the unplated steel has many imperfections in the surfaces that hang on to bacteria and may leach into foods when being used. Being plain steel the objects would be susceptible to rust as well reducing the lifespan of the object.

This is an image of synthetic human cell tissue that has been printed. Medical 3D printing technology is a branch that has developed quite rapidly and could play a major role in the future providing new organs, bones and tissue for treatment of various problems.

This device is one of the first examples of a printer that can create food by printing. This is pretty much a novelty at the moment. The most successful ingredient to use is chocolate so far. As far as convenience or ease of use is concerned, these machines are not. The refills would be expensive and the range of foods you can create is quite limited. I imagine the future of food creation would involve a machine that uses a special substance that can be manipulated into certain formulations as well as being able to cook the food.

This image is of a structure that is smaller than the width of a human hair. This opens up possibilities to combine with nanotechnology to create nanobots and other structures and materials that could be useful the future, including the possibility of self replicating nanobots that can live inside humans to repair damage and destroy viruses.

Here are some more things I found cool this week. First one is a handy way to give printed models a glossy smooth surface.

This method is quite a simple way to finish your models. It involves a hotplate, a glass jar and some acetone. Sounds dangerous but the method looks pretty straightforward and would be a great way to make your prints into display quality items.

I like this photo and I would like to think in the future you can get cereal printed out in custom shapes just for fun. As far as foods go, cereal would probably be the easiest to produce printing in 3D as they are quite manufactured anyway.

This is a model that is available on the website thingiverse.com. It is a highly articulated action figure that is printed in pieces and then assembled. Finding models to print out is getting easier every day. In the future it is possible people will buy objects online, download the plans and print the item at home.

This object was printed in ceramic. This is an interesting material to use as it seems to be able to produce a smoother surface and would be a better texture to paint. For artistic sculptures and display models, ceramic would be the material of choice.

This image is of printed walls of a house. The material used is mostly derived from waste products. Producing houses this way could be a very low cost and potentially environmentally friendly way to solve  issues such as homelessness in third world countries and quickly rebuilding after disasters.

Hello there, here is a collection of items that have caught my fancy this week
I like this photo because it reminds me of a toy castle play set. This kind of modular interlocking set of buildings could create a wide ranging variety of products that could be used to make individual play sets and enable secondary creation of objects like figurines to sell with them.



This is a drill which has been printed and while its not fully functional, the chuck turns and the trigger depresses. This is a good example of the possible future of creating complex items like tools or toys although this kind of holistic printing is quite a way off.




This image is of a city that has been modelled and printed in edible chocolate. Printing with food is an exciting glimpse of what may be possible in the future. Units that can print any type of food may be found in every kitchen in a few decades and would be able to create any kind of food by manipulating a source material into the right configuration and consistency.

This image is of a printed pizza. This is a interesting one as it uses more than one nozzle to be able to complete this. Multi nozzle machines are the next step form 3D printing enabling the creation more complex items. The only problem with this machine is the amount of clean up that would be required to keep it hygienic. You would need to flush out the lines after every use plus it would require a different kind of dough and sauce that may or may not be easier to produce than normal dough.


This ball was printed using titanium. Printing with metals is the cutting edge for 3D printing at the moment. It requires a high amount of accuracy to create reliable parts. The machines that print using titanium are very expensive as is the raw materials used in the process. It is hard to see this technology reaching the hobby user because of the expenses involved. The developments achieved however will filter down into the more accessible technology as time goes by.


This is an example of a real world use of 3D printing technology. It is a very useful medium for developing and creating items that conform and work with the human form, many prosthetics are made using this method. Combined with clever electronics, this hand can become a true extension of the body and function effectively.