Shapeways 3D Printspiration

(via Skulltruder by schlem on Shapeways)

Behold and fear my Skulltruder!

This is a set of spur gears for the Printrbot ( and other) extruder. Derived from Brook Dunn’s Printrbot’s spur gears, which were derived from Wades Accessible and Herringbone gears

( http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:16990 )

and Cleaned Skull by ssd

( http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4126 ).

Notice that there is a cap for the bolt the skull on the larger gear - may need a wee bit of sanding around the perimeter for a proper fit. This should seat at the proper depth for stealthy concealment of your secret hardware. Upgrade your Printrbot with these gears from Shapeways in Laser-sintered nylon for greater precision and consistancy.

I ditched the small skull on the small gear. It never printed well with the hole through the forehead and the reduction in size. The NEW! small gear has some nice features, including cleaned up teeth, and a flat bearing surface for the set screw.

See the picture with the black and the white gears: The Black gear came with my Printrbot Plus kit. The STL file shows a diameter of 63.78 mm. The gear that was printed by a Printrbot in my kit measures 61.25 (averaged 8 measurements) The white gear was printed by Shapeways in Laser-sintered nylon and averages 63.25 mm

Nokia Becomes the First Major Manufacturer to Release 3D Printable Files for Their Product

Nokia has become the first major manufacturer to release 3D files so anyone can download and 3D print parts for their own phone.

Nokia have made the rear shell for the Nokia Lumia 820 available to download from their developer site as an STL that can be uploaded and 3D printed by Shapeways or a STEP file that can be opened and parametrically modified by a variety of CAD software such as Solidworks and Inventor.

The Nokia Lumina 820 has a simple clip-on interchangeable back which makes it possible for people to change the color of their phone.  By releasing the CAD file, people can now download and modify the basic design to add any feature they like, be it a functional like a folding stand, bike mount, cable wrap, or something cosmetic like branding, images or patterns.

What makes this really important is that a major manufacturer is making it possible for their customers to add value to their products without any cost to the manufacturer.

We have seen the seeds of the when Teenage Engineering made accessories for their synthesizer available for download and 3D print, but this is the first time one of the big guys has come to the world of 3D printing.

One thing to note is that the 3D file is quite fine, and will not suit all forms of 3D printing. We have uploaded the part to Shapeways and made it available for download. We are also doing some test prints at Shapeways this weekend to ensure printability in Nylon (WSF), but we do not recommend 3D printing components such as this in Acrylic as it may be too brittle and Nokia recommend no steel, ceramic or sandstone parts.

The file may also be challenging for Desktop FDM machines as the wall thickness and direction of the stresses may make this a fragile part.

This is a fantastic first move by Nokia, we asked who would be the first manufacturer to make the move to 3D printing in a previous blog post. Nokia get the prize for being the innovator, now let’s see who follows in their path and if they can raise the bar.

(via TriK Tripod Adapter by IHeartEngineering on Shapeways)

Introducing 3D Printed Black Elasto Plastic : I Can’t Believe It’s Not Rubber

It’s squishy, it’s flexible, it stretches, it bounces, it blends, it’s 3D Printed Black Elasto Plastic!!!!!

Black Elasto Plastic is our first fully flexible material! It is still in the experimental stages of development, and we are learning more about the possibilities and restrictions of this material each and every day. Design, order and give us feedback when your model arrives at your doorstep! This material will be on trial until the July 20th, 2012, so get your orders in soon. After the trial, we will review and decide whether to introduce it permanently, whether we need to change any design rules, etc.

The Codified Set of the Builder’s, Crafter’s, Maker’s Rules thanks to The Tinkerer’s Handbook.

3D Printed PC Case

An awesome industrial design project that uses 3D printing to construct a custom PC case from scratch.  Very ambitious and very impressive project by Pazu….