Latest 3D Printing News

(Voice Chronicle) -- The European Space Agency will launch its own European designed and manufactured 3D printer to the International Space Station, according to the agency. Portable On-Board Printer, or POP3D as the device is called, has been developed by Italy’s ASI space agency. It has been designed in such a way that it requires minimal power and limited crew involvement for functioning, while it creates objects using a heat-based process. This technology is quite different than those used by NASA.

POP3D, a small cube measuring 10 cubic inches and around 5.5kg in Earth’s gravity, will go into orbit in the first half of 2015, joining Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti’s ISS expedition. It will be launched on ISS to print out biodegradable plastic components.

(GigaOM) -- Taiwan-based XYZprinting has branched into the niche side of the 3D-printing industry with the announcement of a food 3D printer. There are already quite a few upcoming options for food 3D printers, but XYZprinting’s strategy is to get machines out cheap and fast, so it could beat the bulk of them to market at a better price – though not necessarily better quality. XYZprinting didn’t release the pricing for the printer this week, but the China Post reported it will be available in the second quarter of 2015.

The machine will incorporate a component found in XYZprinting’s existing desktop printers: cartridges. Ingredients for different recipes, which will be preloaded onto the machine, will come in capsules that customers will buy from the company and then load into their printer.

(3D Printing Industry) -- 3DPI.tv interviewed Harry Kleijne, executive vice president of Philips Healthcare, at the Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo last week in Shanghai, China. Kleijnen said based on what he learned at the conference that the maturity of the 3D-printing industry in China is behind that of Europe and the U.S. He added that the Chinese government is really pushing to 'catch up' and make 3D printing happen. When asked about China's future in 3D printing, he said he believes China will have a great future in 3D printing because of the government's promotion. Acknowledging that China is a large volume manufacturing country, Kleijne said the Chinese recognize customization opportunities with 3D printing.

Kleijnen complimented the Inside 3D Printing Conference in Shanghai in these words, 'The event has given us a good overview of what is happening in China in the 3D-printing industry, and it's all pretty exciting.'

(3Ders.org) -- A biodegradable drone developed by a team of students from Stanford, Brown and Spelman College and NASA AMes was entered into the recent International Genetically Engineered Machine competition. The biological material is molded around 3D-printed prototypes.The drone has a biodegradable chassis -- made from a combination of fungi, bacteria and wasp saliva. Students worked with Evocative Design, a New York-based company that has been pioneering fungal mycelium-based biomaterial.

To make the drone waterproof, they covered it with a layer of paper grown in the lab from wasp protein, a saliva that wasps use to construct wasp nests. The team calls it 'pseudo-natural and pseudo-industrial.' The device still employs some plastic, but it also means one could potentially 3D-print a single quadcopter, and construct a fleet of biodegradable drones based on its parts. Click here for the STL files shared by the Stanford-Brown-SPelman-NASA team for the prototype drone.

(Campus Technology) -- MakerBot has announced the acquisition of Layer By Layer, a software company with which it has worked before. Financial terms were not disclosed. Layer by Layer is a user experience developer that will now focus on creating user-friendly platforms for the MakerBot ecosystem. Originally based in California, Layer by Layer sought to build a 'complete and seamless user experience' for 3D printing, and has been, according to information released by MakerBot, 'successful in bringing 3D printing technology to a level where there is little need for expertise to run a 3D printer or move files between 3D software and the printer.' As part of the acquisition, Layer by Layer personnel have relocated to MakerBot's Brooklyn, N.Y., office.

“We’re excited to announce the acquisition of Layer By Layer and move forward with the projects we have been working on with the Layer By Layer team. We see this as a major step forward in being able to support not only our licensed content partners with a secure digital rights management system, but other content as well,”  said Jenny Lawton, acting CEO of MakerBot, said as part of the announcement.