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Although this article came out in April; I wanted to share because it highlights even how energy companies are using 3D printers.


Shell is using 3D printing technology to make the design and construction of equipment used in oil and gas production faster and more efficient.

The printing technology allows the oil giant to create accurate scale prototypes in material like plastic, which it tests and uses to improve designs and construction process.

“Digital design and 3D printing offer scope to build more efficient prototypes, which we transform into products in their full physical form,” says Shawn Darrah, Shell Innovations Adviser.

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BAM has teamed up with Universe Architecture to launch a ‘robo printer’ that can create free-form buildings in stone and concrete.

The ‘building machine’ is described as the first to link free-form print technology to automotive industry robotics. It is designed to make free-form architecture possible, as well as enable the creation of complex ornamental exteriors.

In 2013, architect Janjaap Ruijssenaars of Universe Architecture had plans for the creation of a building without beginning or end, Landscape House, using a 3D printer. The 3D Builder machine entered service yesterday and is starting with the construction of a 1:4 scale version of Landscape House at FabCity, a temporary sustainability campus in Amsterdam.

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Together, Eidos Montreal, Square Enix, and OpenBionics are working on the development of two Deus Ex inspired bionic arms, which are set to be finished in 2017. The first model is inspired by Adam Jensen’s own bionic arm, and the second is described as the Deus Ex Universe arm. The 3D illustrations of the arms are undeniably stunning, as Vu added that “we wanted something to touch upon high fashion…something that looks very slick and you could be very proud to wear.”

Continue to read on http://www.3ders.org/

#obminitiative

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Interesting; however, I will be interested still how QC and 3D printing can converge and possibly address challenges such as this one, mass production of synthetic diamonds, cell circuitry, etc.

Researchers: 3D Printing Offers Great Benefits for Water Treatment Industry, But Progress is Slow Thus Far


You might be surprised at how often 3D printing and water intermingle. After all though—as you’ll well remember if you try to go without it for a few hours—water is our life force. And as innovative 3D technology is used at the hands of researchers and innovators around the world to make positive transformations in nearly every industry, surely water should be included.

Whether we are discussing how to recycle water bottles in an attractive manner, adopt new methods for desalination to increase worldwide accessibility, or actually using 3D scanners to detect corrosion in older water pipes in the UK, the seeds have been planted for allowing 3D technology to play a substantial and versatile role in how we deal with water in the future, on many levels.

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For every star performing biotech, life sciences or innovative 3D printing company there are another 9 where investors would have been better off keeping their cash under a mattress.

As Organovo report their first full year operating on a commercial basis we look for clues as to which category they might fit into. With more than 25 patents secured and another 80 pending, does the current share price and today’s published financial accounts tell the full story?

Organovo increased total revenue from $570 thousand in 2015 to $1.5 million for 2016. However, losses also increased from $30.8 million to $38.6 million. Although yet to turn a profit, Organovo were always going to generate a sizeable amount of text in the 3D Printing media and beyond. The promise of combining biophysics, developmental biology and of course 3D printing to advance healthcare and life sciences is an attractive proposition.

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Wow — scary. Not scary for law abiding citizens to do this; scary due to criminals & terrorists. And, we have seen the ammo and high quanity gun clip already produced as well.


The 28-year-old is the face of open-source 3D gun design, an online movement of enthusiasts who use 3D printers and machining tools to build their own homemade weapons – ones that can shoot very real, and very deadly bullets.

Wilson isn’t some gun loon on an online soapbox; he is a well-educated, well-spoken, very argumentative young man who’s as responsible for creating his press portrayal as the journalists who’ve written about him. “I’m now more and more of a self-caricature,” he tells me. “I’ve had to become a fanatic over the past three years just to move the ball another three yards.”

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Wishing them luck.


Tennessee -based Branch Technology has announced it will begin construction of a 3D-printed house in 2017. Designed by Honolulu-based WATG, the project was initiated for the Freeform Home Design Challenge, which asked participants to design for Branch’s Cellular Fabrication (C-Fab) 3D printing technology. The small house designs were required to be between 600 and 800 square feet.

Branch’s C-Fab technology involves 3D printing carbon-fiber-reinforced ABS plastic with a large robotic arm. The resulting formwork can then be covered in more traditional building materials, such as concrete or foam. Instead of the typical completely 3D printed additive technique, C-Fab uses an algorithm to formulate an interior framework for the structure.

WATG’s design, entitled Curve Appeal, will be built at Branch Technology’s lab in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The house is comprised of a curving shell around an open plan. The form of the building also provides a car port. The interior of the house is divided up with class walls and a solid core.

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