“Although we were initially attempting to develop an interesting gearbox design by simply prototyping using 3D printing, we shifted to developing gearbox designs for 3D printing since the printed quality was just so damn good,” they told Shapeways.

The task at hand

Besuchet and Hiroyoshi, students at Waseda University in Tokyo, were not completely foreign to the world of 3D printing before tackling their thesis project, the 3Domnivore Robot. Besuchet had used the method of prototyping before, in fact, and knew it would be a great way to attack the trial-and-error process of their gearboxes.

Initial sketches of the 3Domnivore Robot

“3D printing with inkjet technologies enabled us to drastically reduce the size of our pieces and their costs. We then quickly found out that inkjet printing would give us sufficient resolution for creating miniature gears. Due to the fact that inkjet has a wax support material, this means that the pieces risk less of deforming themselves while being printed. In other words, through SLS nylon we discovered we could reliably print large parts while inkjet allowed us to achieve the same on a much smaller and cheaper scale.”

Setting strong goals in place

Once the Mechanical Engineering majors knew that 3D printing was the way to go, they laid out their main goals for the project. For starters, they wanted anyone to be able to 3D print the gearboxes. On a similar note, they wanted to show the complexities that can be designed through 3D printing. And above all, their main goal was to make a product that was cost-efficient and functional.

“Currently, high reduction gearboxes are in high demand in applications such as robotics, wind-turbines, and many more domains,” they said. “In robotics, for instance, a compact high-reduction gearbox (harmonic drive) can go up to $2000 for just one gearbox. With cheaper gearbox designs, one could envision affordable medical exoskeletons for example. Also, current solar panel farms employ expensive sun-tracking gearboxes which almost doubles the installation costs. This explains why sun-tracking is rarely used in solar farms. Yet with a cheap gearbox design, one could readily leverage sun-tracking to deliver an additional 40% solar energy capture boost.”

The inevitable bumps along the road

With their goals and mechanics in place, and the Shapeways EDU Grant to help fund and assist their project, Besuchet and Hiroyoshi were prepared to create the 3Domnivore Robot. Of course, the process came with its fair share of hiccups.

“This really was three projects nestled within each other. This made it very challenging to manage all that complexity. For instance, problems with our gearbox designs also impacted the completion of the robot. In the same vein, the 10 gearboxes of the robot  [depended on] each gearbox and sensor to work very reliably—something which took us quite some time to achieve!”

3Domnivore Robot wheel: Front view

3Domnivore Robot wheel: Gearbox

But by pushing through the difficulties, interesting discoveries were made, particularly about the precision of 3D printing and design.

“The most unexpected discovery was how precise 3D printing had become. Just a few years ago, this entire project would have been unfeasible! We started off believing we would just be able to make some quick and dirty 3D printed prototype. We then discovered we could do quite clean and precise prototypes through 3D printing. And now, we’re starting to believe we could do pretty much any mechanism we want, provided that it be small enough to be sufficiently cheap and not impose excessive stresses on the material.”

Their journey with 3D printing has only just begun

In the end, the finished product was nothing short of awe-inspiring, something that both students were incredibly proud of. And although they may not plan to turn their project into a business, they hope their story inspires others, just as they were inspired to continue using 3D printing in the future.

“Back in the lab, we’re currently attempting a medical hip rehabilitation exoskeleton design which hopefully anybody could build with minimum tooling. There, we’re blending laser-cutting and 3D printing while leveraging on craftsmanship to keep the prices low. We’ve just completed the first prototype with promising results and are now preparing that design to be motorized. Again, the idea is to show the potential of 3D printing and laser cutting in democratizing mechanics.”

3D Print Your Robotics Needs

Learn how you can utilize 3D printing for robotics use. Contact us today to let us know how we can help.

Are you a student or a teacher?

You may be eligible for a 15% discount through our EDU program. Learn more.

The post 3D Printed Robots – A Case Study in Democratizing Mechanics appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

The Kespry Aerial Intelligence Platform, which allows users to design and launch autonomous aerial surveying missions

When you’re pioneering a new technology, affordable iteration and scalability are key. Kespry needed a partner and a process that would help them do something that’s still extraordinary: develop parts using 3D printing, and then integrate those parts into end-use manufacturing. Reliability, repeatability, and proactive support would underpin the success of the collaboration. “We were a very small company trying to scale up our product and get it out to market as quickly as possible. We were looking for a supplier who had reasonable scale and the right combination of lead time and cost,” remembers Jordan Croom, Kespry’s lead mechanical engineer.

Croom came to Kespry, appropriately, from the aerospace industry, where he did additive manufacturing research and development with both metals and plastics. This background prepared him to apply 3D printing in a relatively novel way. “I had a good understanding of what was possible. We were in a unique place to be able to incorporate additive manufacturing into full-scale production, which I think is somewhat rare, even though it’s becoming more common these days. So that was new for me — to be making multiple hundreds of something per order and incorporate them into our production line.”

“We were a very small company trying to scale up our product and get it out to market as quickly as possible. We were looking for a supplier who had reasonable scale and the right combination of lead time and cost.”

Shapeways offered the kind of scalability and reliability that Kespry needed. “When we started with Shapeways, it was before we even had our first customer, and now we have hundreds of drones going out every quarter. And it’s been a smooth transition to get to that point. That’s definitely not true of all of our vendors. Shapeways is one of the few that’s held out throughout that scaling process.”

A look at Kespry’s 3D mapping software, part of their Aerial Intelligence Platform

Affordability and speed play equally important roles in the 3D printing-for-manufacturing calculus. “Leveraging 3D printing and Shapeways allowed us to get things out there faster without paying an exorbitant premium to do it. And it also allows us to make modifications and improvements to our product without interrupting shipping them out to customers. So we can make a change and incorporate it in production in a few weeks, whereas if we were doing injection molding, it would take maybe a couple of months to make that sort of change. Especially now at production scale, Shapeways can handle the quantities that we’re dealing with really well, without long lead times.”

“We do look for that teamwork and responsiveness in a partner, and Shapeways has shown that to us. I would definitely recommend Shapeways to other companies.”

This became particularly important when it came to the aesthetic covers that enclose the drone’s delicate inner workings. “I know for sure that if we’d tried to make an injection mold for that, it would have been exorbitantly expensive for us. We’ve been able to modify it relatively frequently without much cost impact at all because we’re not investing in fixed tooling,” making it possible for Kespry to bring the best possible product to market, faster. “Getting the right partner is definitely important to us. Somebody with repeatable quality, where we know we can prove a design once. We don’t have to worry about it changing or breaking in future orders.”

“Leveraging 3D printing and Shapeways allowed us to get things out there faster without paying an exorbitant premium to do it. And it also allows us to make modifications and improvements to our product without interrupting shipping them out to customers. Especially now at production scale, Shapeways can handle the quantities that we’re dealing with really well, without long lead times.”

Along the way, of course, there have been a few hiccups, but, “If we do have an issue, Neil, our account manager is very responsive, very proactive and patient. I’ll get an email, photos, a description, etc. asking us if it’s ok to ship, if they should reprint them. We do look for that teamwork and responsiveness in a partner, and Shapeways has shown that to us. I would definitely recommend Shapeways to other companies,” said Veronica Espiritu, Kespry’s production buyer.

In the end, the Kespry drone wouldn’t exist without Shapeways’ prototyping and manufacturing support. As Jordan put it, “We’ve been ordering Shapeways parts basically since the beginning. It’s been helpful to work with Shapeways because you’ve been able to scale with us, going from just a few parts a week to hundreds per month. Shapeways has been able to absorb the increase in demand. I think it’s reflective of both Shapeways and the state of the industry and technology that we’re able to do that in a reliable and repeatable way — without having any negative effect on usability and reliability as a product.”

start growing your drone business with shapeways

The post How Kespry’s Drones Are Mapping New Territories in Manufacturing appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

Last month, we put out a call for designs when the iPhone X was unveiled, and the community has already created some fantastic cases. We’ll be featuring the best of your iPhone X cases in a future post, so keep ’em coming!

In the meantime, if you’re looking for some guidance on how to get started in designing your own case, our partners at Vectary have created three videos that will walk you through the process of tweaking a basic design template to fit your needs. These videos are best for experienced Vectary users, so we recommend you try out one of our other Vectary tutorials first to get familiar with the free browser-based design software before you begin. Once you’ve created your 3D model, you’ll be able to automatically send the file for printing through Shapeways.

Create an iPhone X case with a grip (AKA stand, or popsocket)

Choose a simple cutout for the back of your case…

…or a more complex pattern that’s truly personalized

If you’re an experienced 3D designer, think of these Vectary-built models as a jumping-off point for your own iPhone X creations. And let us know: What are some of the design challenges presented by the new phone? What are you most excited about?

The post It’s iPhone X Day! Get Your Case on With These 3 iPhone X Case Tutorials appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

So you’re launching a physical product. Maybe it’s just a simple object, maybe it’s a hardware product with integrated electronics, or maybe it has mechanical functionality. You’ve built one (or probably many) prototypes, you’ve launched a successful crowdfunding campaign in order to manufacture your first batch, and now you need to do just that.

This is the point at which many entrepreneurs run into trouble – how do you scale from 1 to 1,000 units? Or 10,000? Maybe even 100,000 if you’re lucky. There are many factors to consider when scaling your manufacturing, but one of obvious concern is the method with which you’ll create the physical components for your product.

So how does someone go about choosing the right method that will scale along with his or her business? Here we’ll explore the pros and cons of two popular types of plastic part manufacturing: injection molding and 3D printing.

Background

When focusing on plastic components and products, there are traditionally few manufacturing methods available, the oldest and most common being injection molding. While injection molding has dominated the manufacturing landscape for decades, new techniques, such as 3D printing, have begun to gain traction by offering an alternative at costs competitive with injection molding for low-volume runs.

Unfortunately, there is no single manufacturing method that is perfect for every part and situation. As you’re thinking about creating a new product or scaling up the production of an existing one, it’s critical that you take special care to understand the advantages and disadvantages associated with both methods.

Injection Molding

Injection molding is one of the oldest high-volume manufacturing processes, wherein a molten material (such as a thermoplastic) is injected into a metal mold. Once injected, the thermoplastic takes on the mold cavity’s shape, is cooled, and is ejected as a solid part.

Injection molding is typically used for producing high volumes of the same object. For instance, if you’re looking to manufacture 100,000 pairs of identical plastic sunglasses, injection molding would be a great way to go about doing that.

The method does have its pitfalls, however. First, there is a large upfront investment involved in making a mold. Molds can be reused to make hundreds of thousands, if not millions of parts, but can cost anywhere from a few thousand dollars to over $100,000. As a result, there is an inflexibility that comes with needing to create a new mold for every new or modified part. That said, injection molding is a complex but powerful process that has been the go-to solution in the plastic part manufacturing market for years.

3D Printing

3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is a 30-year-old technology that has picked up a lot of steam in recent years. Unique to 3D printing is the process of adding material together to create the end part. This is opposed to cutting material away, like in milling, or reshaping it, like in injection molding.

There are many benefits inherent to this process, such as the ability to produce completely custom parts with virtually no upfront cost. With 3D printing, rather than needing a new mold for every new part, all you need is a new digital file. Additionally, 3D printing is capable of producing shapes that are impossible, or very uneconomical, to produce with any other manufacturing method.

Like injection molding, 3D printing also has its downsides. Today, many 3D printing processes are expensive, slow, and may produce parts that are not up to industry quality or material standards.

So, what process should you use to manufacture your parts – 3D printing or injection molding? When considering both methods, deciding between the two can become rather complicated and case-specific.

Considering Unit Cost & Order Volume

As previously mentioned, the prerequisite to injection molding any part is creating the mold itself. Mold costs vary greatly, but the cheapest ones typically start at around $5,000. Once you have a mold, the cost to make each unit is very little considering it really only includes the plastic used (which is very cheap), and perhaps a tiny bit of labor. This means that the upfront cost of making a mold gets amortized over your production run; with each additional unit you produce, the unit cost decreases since the initial mold cost is being spread across another unit.

3D printing is a different animal. Because 3D printing is a digital manufacturing technology, there is virtually no upfront cost to making a new part. At the end of the day, 3D printed part costs can be attributed mainly to material cost, manufacturing time, and labor. All of these are more expensive for 3D printers than for injection molding, but again, without an upfront mold cost the barrier to entry is a lot lower.

So, looking purely at unit costs, which method is more economical? There is always a point at which injection molding becomes more price competitive than 3D printing. Today, this point is usually somewhere between 1 and 10,000 units for parts that could be made to satisfaction with either method.

The figure below shows the relative unit cost for runs of the same theoretical injection molded and 3D printed part, plotted logarithmically. This model assumes a mold cost of $10,000 with each injection molded unit adding $0.20 of material cost. It assumes the 3D printed unit cost for the same part to be $20/unit for any run volume.

This logarithmic graph shows the theoretical unit cost for the same part manufactured separately with 3D printing and with injection molding. Using 3D printing, the unit cost remains at $20, regardless of the number of parts produced. Using injection molding, a $10,000 mold must be made prior to making the first unit. From there, each unit can be made for an additional $0.20, thus making the effective unit cost equal to $0.20 + $10,000/# of units produced. From the above graph, we can see that due to the upfront mold cost with injection molding, it only becomes the more cost effective production method if you are producing more than 500 units.

Other Considerations

Outside of unit cost and order volume, there are other considerations that come into play when choosing between injection molding and 3D printing:

Complexity – Whether an object is organically shaped or has ultra-sharp edges, its type and degree of complexity can help inform which manufacturing method you choose. Ultimately, you should choose the method best suited for making what you’ve designed. When thinking of “creative” or organic shapes as complexity, 3D printing wins. When thinking of hard engineering constraints and tolerances, injection molding [ed. note: most often] wins.

Production Time – Production time is typically determined by the manufacturer’s capacity and and the size of the production run. The many steps required to get something into production can factor into this timeline, from sourcing a manufacturer, to making a mold, to quality control, shipping and eventual delivery. You should always consider the manufacturer’s location, steps to getting to production, and guaranteed delivery time.

Iteration & Change – As with all competitive products and services, being able to iterate often and maintain agility is key to innovation. If you’re at the beginning of a long product development journey, spending a few thousand dollars on a mold that cannot be changed will most likely slow down your innovation cycle. However, if you’re at a point where your focus is scale and repeatability, then injection molding may prove to be more fitting than 3D printing.

Into the Future

As we look towards the future we’re seeing exciting developments within the realms of both 3D printing and injection molding. These advancements are making it easier and faster to get things made, and will hopefully lower the barrier so that more and more people can make the products they dream up.

Next time you find yourself on the journey to get something manufactured, consider the above factors and make the decision that will increase your chances of success in bringing a new product or part to life.

Looking to explore what 3D printing can do for your business? Get in touch with the Shapeways for Business team.

The post High-Volume 3D Printing vs. Injection Molding appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

Michael recently shared his Premium Strong & Flexible glasses on Facebook, and we are super excited to share his results with you:

Look at that sheen!

At the living henge, the finish is particularly smooth and sleek

Michael fitted his own lenses into the glasses

Check out Michael’s Designer Spotlight to learn more about his process and his work, and explore all his incredible creations in his shop, Pookas.

You can find out more about Premium Strong & Flexible plastic here. What are you making with this new finish? Comment below for a chance to be featured in Shapeways Magazine.

The post This is cool — Michael Mueller’s Premium Strong & Flexible 3D printed glasses appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

But, what about the moon?

Thanks to NASA’s 3D Printed Habitat Challenge, we’ve been hearing a lot about building habitats on Mars. But what about Earth’s moon, our first love, in terms of extraplanetary travel? The last time it got some attention was 2013, when Yutu, a Chinese rover, took a spin on its dusty face. Well, the Google Lunar XPRIZE is reviving the moonshot, awarding prizes from five to $30 million for successful unmanned lunar rover landings. One team in the competition, SpaceIL, is planning to use 3D printing to build their lunar lander’s legs, as reported by Industry Week. The lofty goals of the competition include habitats on the moon’s surface, so keep an eye out for future 3D printed lunar applications — far sooner than on that red planet that gets all the attention.

Learn the (pretty darn inspiring) story of SpaceIL here:

Implanting the future

An Australian team has successfully implanted its second 3D printed sternum. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and Melbourne-based medical implant company Anatomics created the implant out of titanium and Anatomics’ PoreStar porous polyethylene material. The patient, Penelope Heller, is the first American to receive such an implant, and this is the first surgery of its kind on U.S. soil. The possibilities of medical 3D printing are becoming more obvious every day, but this is one of the first concrete realizations of that incredible potential. After covering Form Prosthetics this week, I’m beginning to think that the Aussies are in the lead when it comes to turning us all bionic. But I’m not whinging about it.

Do do that Voodoo that you do so well

PLA-only 3D printing shop Voodoo is jumping into the fourth industrial revolution with both feet, incorporating advanced robotics into its 3D printing factory. As ZDNet reported, Voodoo is making use of cobots, or collaborative robots, which are both easier to program and safer when it comes to working around people. The bots harvest prints from build plates, 24 hours a day. That means more printers in use, more money for Voodoo, and faster turnaround times. Win-win-win.

See the cobot in action here:

So proud!

As anyone familiar with Shapeways knows, we’re a Dutch company that just happens to have its HQ in NYC. So, we felt a twinge of pride this week when the first (successfully completed) 3D printed bridge debuted in the Netherlands. Led by a team from the Eindhoven University of Technology and BAM Infra, the bridge is the first 3D printed concrete structure to be put into use. But we know it won’t be the last.

See how the BAM printer works here (audio is in Dutch):

YOU WERE SO CLOSE

Bill Masters filed a patent for 3D printing technology in 1984, before Chuck Hull, the “father of 3D printing” launched his first machine. And the idea had struck him eight years earlier. So, why isn’t Bill credited rightly as our forefather? Limitations in computing power had a lot to do with it, as this Ozy feature makes clear — but also, Masters had other things to worry about. Namely, running the most successful whitewater boating business of the 1980s, Perception Kayaks. Now, we think Masters deserves his due. We’re revising the family tree, Bill.

Bill Masters in a Perception Kayak (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The post THE RETURN of The Week in 3D Printing appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

3D modeling provides a faster, more accurate way of designing prosthetics unique to their wearers. But custom prosthetics have been around for millennia — for the wealthy. 3D printing has ushered in an era wherein prosthetics are actually affordable. In fact, they’re much more affordable than traditionally manufactured devices. And, the possibilities for personalization are greater than ever before. Enter Form.

Form is nothing less than part of a new reality. Far from the purely necessary, functional, medical, and clinical, Form turns prosthetics into fabulous, futuristic accessories.

Their product range includes leg prosthesis covers in over 30 colors and dozens of styles, including below-knee 3D art (3D sculpted) covers, below-knee printed art covers, and above-knee 3D art covers.

inspired? print your design

Form prints their covers at Shapeways in our sturdy Strong & Flexible Plastic, then post-processes them to take on the rich hues and high-shine finishes you see in the photos above and below.

Prosthetics themselves must prioritize function over form, leaving little room for creativity on the part of the designer or the wearer. Form recognizes that while a prosthetic becomes part of the body, functionally, it can also express its wearer’s personality.

The prosthetic covers range from sleek and subtle to maximalist and pop-art-inspired. Because some days, you’re feeling more sexy android, and others, more artsy tastemaker.

Right now, the company processes orders from Australia and New Zealand only. In the meantime, here’s sneak peek:

prototype your work

The post Form Prosthetics Let You Be You appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

You may have seen Alvaro Uribe Studio’s products in stores, films, and basically every design magazine in existence. But until 2015, their 3D printing usage was limited to prototyping. The Onda Stylus represents this new era of offering fully finished, primarily 3D printed objects. We talked with Alvaro about how additive manufacturing is transforming creativity, the changing perceptions of 3D printing, and simple genius of his latest creation.

“Utilizing this technology has given us the ability to realize designs which otherwise would have been a production nightmare.”

Tell us a bit about your studio, what you do, and what interests you about 3d printing.

Alvaro Uribe Design is a Brooklyn-based studio dedicated to create expressive statements for everyday products.

3D printing was once a tool to test products before they were tooled and produced. However, today it is empowering creatives to make their own products. Not only are designers able to receive quick feedback while changing and updating designs without any additional costs, but they are also creating a new market where the designer is in direct communication with the end user. Our studio believes this dialogue with our users is the future of brands and new design icons. Utilizing this technology has given us the ability to realize designs which otherwise would have been a production nightmare.

Alvaro Uribe Studio’s Onda Stylus pen

What inspired you to design a 3D printed Onda Stylus?

We wanted to create a product that elevated the user’s perception of 3D Printing, reflecting the nature of the material and the production process with the form, and that is how the Onda design was born. A typical stylus, functionally, is an evolution of a pen that retains a solid tube-like form as it were to hold an ink refill. When designing Onda, we wanted to revolutionize the product, reducing the structure to the crucial elements of a stylus, while maintaining its image of a writing tool and keeping it light and comfortable for the hand.

“3D printing was once a tool to test products before they were tooled and produced. However, today it is empowering creatives to make their own products.”

What materials are the pens made from and how did you choose those materials?

Stainless steel and steel-bronze alloy gave the design the strength we needed. Its conductive capacity allowed the functionality of the product by passing the user’s capacitance to the tip and subsequently onto the screen. 3D printed steel gives the stylus a unique textured finish; we are inviting the user to interact with this new material that offers tactility and durability.

see your design in 60+ materials

How did you come up with the form of the pen?

The design came to life from multiple inspirations, but most directly by MC Escher’s “Bond of Union” series. We were fascinated by the idea of unfolding objects three-dimensionally, to reveals its interior, make them lighter and give them a sense of endlessness.

MC Escher’s Bond of Union was an inspiration for the design.

Has your studio created other 3D printed designs in the past?

In 2015 we created a set of lamps utilizing additive 3D Printing in PLA. Just like the Onda, the Mushroom Lights studied how to use printing technology to create new patterns and experiences in products. As you light up each lamp, a magical and elemental pattern appears through the surface. These patterns commonly used to give structure to 3D prints are celebrated in this collection as part of the design.

How have you worked with Shapeways?

Shapeways has been a great tool for both prototyping and creating our first branded products. For our clients’ projects we use Shapeways to test the proportions, strength and other aspects of the products we design before sending them out for production. For our studio, it has allowed us to start selling our own designs without having to worry about the investment in tooling or inventory. The Onda Stylus is our first product on the store, and we have had great response from all users.

“Shapeways has been a great tool for both prototyping and creating our first branded products.”

What else is your studio working on?

We are currently growing our 3D Printed line to include a bottle opener, a corkscrew, and two lines of jewelry that we are super excited about. In all of these we are always looking at new ways to use the technology in such a way that users can proudly use it or wear it as a symbol of avant-garde design.

3D print your design

You can buy the 3D printed Onda Stylus pen on Shapeways, and browse Alvara Uribe Studio’s past projects here.

The post Alvaro Uribe Reinvents the Stylus for a Smarter Era appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

3D printed parts meet traditionally manufactured parts in Preceyes’ first-of-its-kind surgical robot

Thijs Meenink had a challenge both enormous and microscopic: create a solution for eye surgeons to perform procedures at a scale never before attempted — a much, much smaller scale. However, the size of the problem he was addressing was huge: untreatable retinal diseases that affect 50 to 75 million people.

Meenink co-founded Preceyes to develop a new kind of precision robotic solution, one that could both assist surgeons and mitigate the risks of human error in the most, well, precise of surgeries: vitreoretinal procedures that take surgical instruments inside the eye. “These are the most delicate, and the most difficult kind of procedures within eye surgery, and even within microsurgery,” he told us. “The stability and precision, plus the smoothness of using a robot really contribute to the abilities of the surgeon.”

Pioneering a technology based around hardware iterations has traditionally been a costly endeavor. For Preceyes, creating a new generation of ultra-precise, first-of-their-kind surgical robots necessitated a new way of working. “The complete system is totally new. There is no part that was already available; the entire system is built from scratch.” Shapeways would play a key role in bringing it to life.

“I started out experimenting with Shapeways over five years ago. First I made one thing, then a few things per month, and it just kind of snowballed. I soon saw how useful it could become.” As Meenink developed Preceyes’ robots, 3D printing became more than a means of creating parts. Without Shapeways, the robots simply would not exist.

“It started with prototyping — just to hold something and get a feel for its shape and mechanisms. And testing to see if things work like you’d thought. But, when you get more familiar with it, you make real products. And you have a lot of freedom. Now, I think we have 60 products made by Shapeways that are in the robotic system, in nylon, aluminum, and stainless steel. In the beginning you aren’t really familiar with the process and the possibilities. I was expecting to receive parts that were very weak. But that changed: the parts weren’t weak, and tolerances have only gotten better and better. They simply work.”

One of the best illustrations of the power of 3D printing in the robots’ continued development are the covers that protect its most delicate operations. “The robot makes weird movements. The space the robot moves in is much larger than the actual robot. With complex shapes enabled by 3D printing, you can make sure that this space is bounded, keeping the system small. This impacts and improves the efficiency of space, cost, and many other things. This is not possible with other production methods — it’s way too expensive to make these covers from metal or plastic using conventional manufacturing. 3D printing is a really perfect system.”

The Preceyes Surgical System uses a revolutionary technique in which the motions of the physician are mimicked at micro scale within the eye of the patient. Meenink is a mechanical designer, so the ergonomics of the human-computer interface would pose a unique challenge. “The surgeon holds the motion controller (or joystick), and the gripper on the joystick must have a very ergonomic shape. I had to work through five or six iterations to get there. All were made by Shapeways. Quickly testing and adapting designs, week by week, easily iterating, works so well with Shapeways.”

“I frequently recommend Shapeways to others. The freedom of design, the speed, the large custom parts, large bounding box, and prices — even up to 100 pieces, it’s still way cheaper to use 3D printing. And there’s no other supplier that has this kind of transparency of production and delivery. It’s always consistent.”

Now, Preceyes is preparing to take its robots to market as “the very first company in the world to make a system for robotic eye surgery that will be available commercially in operating rooms,” but the research and development process won’t end there. And it will continue to be enabled by 3D printing. “When I’m designing something new, I try to put the most 3D printed parts and the least conventional parts. Cost, speed, the ability to combine parts, etc. all play a part. With 3D printing, the possibilities are endless.”

He also reminds us that the promise of medical robotics is just beginning to be fulfilled. And while some fear the power of these technologies, Meenink, for one, welcomes the rise of the bots. “Don’t be scared of robots; theirs are better than human hands. They will not take over the world, but they will assist surgeons for the better.”

start growing your business with shapeways

See the Preceyes system in action here:

The post “Don’t be scared of robots” How Preceyes Surgical Robotics Define Medicine’s New Frontiers appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

“My friends think it’s really cool I’ve got my own custom army,” says James Tasker, who runs the Terror Form Miniatures Shapeways shop and makes many of his fantasy figures in High Definition Acrylate.

High definition acrylate is printed one 50-micron layer at a time. Once a model comes out of the 3D printer, Shapeways technicians wash it in an alcohol bath, remove support materials by hand (unless you prefer to remove them yourself), and cure it under ultraviolet light.

“My goblin warrior was the first miniature I printed in BHDA,” Tasker says.

“I was really amazed by the smooth finish and how paintable the material was. I’d tried Frosted Detail, which has amazing resolution, but it had always been a bit tricky to paint. Even though I’d seen some pictures and read up on BHDA, I was still really impressed at how close it comes to typical injection-molded plastic models.“

Tasker urges anyone interested in working with BHDA to pay close attention to the material guidelines. He took a conservative design approach at first, then got more ambitious with his cleric’s ball and chain and his scaly snake-monster).

Painting can start off simply too, says Tasker. “The goblin warrior is pretty much just a few basic colors applied with a run-of-the-mill paintbrush with some inks to add shading,” he says, adding that YouTube is full of great tutorials for painting miniatures. “After the goblin warrior I started playing around with an airbrush, which can add a serious amount of character and shading in seconds.”

What have you made in Black High Definition Acrylate? Share your projects in the comments below for a chance to be featured on Shapeways Magazine.

The post Materials Explainer: Black High Definition Acrylate (BHDA) appeared first on Shapeways Blog.