openMaterials

D-Shape, whose 3d printers are capable of fabricating amazing mega scale free-form building size models, are now working with the European Space Agency to create a 3d printer that can extrude within the moon’s vacuum environment using lunar dust. They are currently experimenting with ’simulant’ lunar dust, and hope to conduct trials in a vacuum environment [...]

growth modeling device is an artwork by David Bowen which involves a system using lasers to scan an onion plant from one of three angles, which then creates a plastic model based on the information collected. The device builds a series of simulations of a growing onion plant by means of three-D scanning and printing, outputting [...]

This is great talk by Dominic Muren on the Digital Fabrication Ecosystem, given @ Dorkbot Seattle, Feb 3 2010. You can download the slides of the talk in PDF form here. Muren, a design professor at the University of Washington, runs the Humblefactory, a product development consultancy offering strategic and design consulting in open hardware, user-assisted [...]

Open3DP’s Recipes are a really nice resource for those interested in experimenting with different materials for 3D printing. There’s a little bit of everything in there, from glass to porcelain to sugar. Open3dp is a website hosted by the Solheim Rapid Prototyping Laboratory in the Mechanical Engineering Department on the University of Washington campus. [...]

Unfold has started printing with ceramics on a modified rapman. First results look amazing: We took some time to play around and get used to the dynamics of the clay print process. It was also time to step up (or down?) the resolution from 1.9 to 0.8 mm using screw-on luer lock tips. We are also [...]

A talk by Bath University Professor Adrian Boyer, creator of the RepRap 3D Printer, given @ FOSDEM. (via Erik de Bruijn)