Tag: 3d Printing

3D printing continues to become more mainstream, with some printers hitting the market for under $400(USD) now. While the technology is still in its relative infancy, it’s only a matter of time before 3D printing is used to build everything from gadgets to toys to cars and even houses.

Dane Christianson’s X-Cube is not the weirdest, most complex or most sophisticated puzzle cube I’ve ever seen. But Dane didn’t really want to make the world’s most difficult or intimidating take on the Rubik’s cube. His aim with the X-Cube was to make a fun and relatable product to raise people’s awareness about 3D printing.

3D printing tech can be quite amazing, but it’s usually done by melting plastic – or maybe sugar. But this is the first time I’ve heard of 3D printing using bees – or as it’s being called “3-B” printing.

If you’re a regular follower of Technabob, you know I’m a big fan of 3D printing tech. As prices come down, and speed and accuracy come up, 3D printers will become ubiquitous. While most 3D printing is done by melting plastic, did you know that you sugar can be used to make 3D prints too?

Characters don’t just drink, do it and die in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels. They also play games, particularly a board game called Cyvasse. Now you can play it too, thanks to Thingiverse member A.

For a technology that’s still largely in its infancy, you can do some things with 3D printing that are pretty much impossible with any other technique. Take, for instance, these intricate 3D-printed mobiles.

If Google Glass takes off, I think that it’s going to be a status symbol miles above any (current) gadget. The reason is obvious: the damned thing sits on your face, fully visible for everyone to see/want/hate.

3D printing is changing how people make and build things these days. From printed guns to gowns, the sky’s the limit when it comes to 3D printing. This, you can clearly see, with the shoes that Alan Nguyen of Freedom of Creation has come up with using 3D printing technology.

Go where none of your other Trekkie friends have gone before or become one of Django Fett’s clones with the force of 3D printing. Two separate services are offering to put your likeness on a Starfleet or stormtrooper figurine.

A die-hard Legend of Zelda fan saw the wisdom in using the power of 3D printing to bring the game’s items to life. He also has the courage to sell the items despite the looming threat of Nintendo’s octorok lawyers.

We talked about the controversial practice of 3D printing guns in the past, only the gun wasn’t entirely 3D-printed in that case, it was only a component for an AR-15 rifle. Now, a company called Defense Distributed has now test fired the world’s first fully 3D-printed gun.

Etsy artist Christian Griffin must’ve been listening to Soviet Russian Beyonce, because he believes that if you like it then you should put it on a ring.  That’s exactly what he did with the iconic song sheets from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

One thing that’s great about IKEA furniture is that it’s so cheap that you can feel comfortable hacking it into other forms without fear of damaging your grandma’s prized antique Chippendale. Take, for example, this epic IKEA hack, which transformed a couple of ordinary stools into a functional kid’s bicycle.

Last year we heard about how Teague Labs was able to make a pair of headphones with 3D printed components. While that’s revolutionary in and of itself, that proof of concept still used store bought and manufactured parts.

One of the coolest projects I’ve ever seen turn up on Kickstarter was the 3Doodler, which always reminded me of the mix between a 3-D printer and hot glue gun. The device is a pen that heats up strips of plastic allowing the user to draw three-dimensional shapes in the air.

Slowly but surely, 3D printers are becoming more user-friendly and affordable. The Photon is proof that 3D scanners are following suit, thanks in no small part to crowdfunding and the creativity of small startups. Invented by Adam Brandejs and Drew Cox, Photon is beautiful, easy to use and affordable.