3D printed electric muscles? Hello, I'm new to 3D printing and am waiting for my Kossel Mini set.... so because I'm bored you unfortunately have to read my stupid ideas ;) Has any research been done for 3D printed muscles? I gather that it's possible to print conductive ABS filament now and stuff like nylon is pretty flexible. So couldn't you print something like two simple spools that can move apart? Something like a squished hexagon net that will expand when current is applied? You would have to print separated layers with a dissolvable filler material, and would have to print quite many mini spools of course. You wouldn't have contracting but expanding "muscles" since field strength diminishes when the spools move apart, but maybe a hex net could do that too if they are just 90° moved apart. Maybe some spools break or aren't printed correctly, but if there are enough the total strength would simple be reduced a little bit. Even if these electro muscles aren't very strong, you could print some amazing animated creatures with it. PS: Damn this is apparently resistor filament with 10k ohm per 1 cm. So to create enough current it would heat up. Anyone know of any superconductive filament? You could print bigger / multiple strands, but that would limit the flexibility. PPS: I only found these two threads but one is about nano tubes and I don't think DIY printing is quite there yet. [forums.reprap.org] [forums.reprap.org] PPPS: Hmm, maybe you could simply glue copper wire into a print? Basically a special head that lays a copper wire into the hot printed material and can cut the wire after the circuit is complete. It would limit the design to "glue soldering" or "embedding" complete wire lines in one horizontal plane, but if you don't actually have to melt the conductive material... PPPPS: Maybe simple pneumatics would be better? You'd need some kind of pneumatic pump but you could print air channels and air bubbles into a design to create movement. P...S: Oh well, I just found this wiki page about actuator fabrication. I guess I wasn't the first who thought about this after all. Someone made a 3d printed curcuit board and used conductive paint. Maybe you could simply ink jet conductive paint during printing? You would need a specialized head / feeder, you might have to pause before you continue to print to let the paint dry. Don't know if you could connect across layers. But that way you could create three dimensional circuit boards or circuits that run through a printed object to feed lights or servos. https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?88,355822,355822#msg-355822 Sun, 14 Jun 2026 12:48:45 -0400 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?88,355822,442302#msg-442302 Re: 3D printed electric muscles? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?88,355822,442302#msg-442302
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...Actually the most common 'muscles' are elastic tubes in a network of stiff wires, knitted to a mesh -- which will contract in length, when expanded by injected air or fluid ...

I've tested the first versions with normal latex balloons in a plastic mesh ...]]> VDX Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...) Thu, 11 Dec 2014 04:21:11 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?88,355822,442194#msg-442194 Re: 3D printed electric muscles? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?88,355822,442194#msg-442194 Fluidic Muscles as well. I used them when trialling hign speed cutting blade oscilation and gripping functions. They also had a robot at a trade show I went to using them as muscle replacements. Essentially when pressurised with compressed air the unit contracts shortenning the stroke]]> d3delta3d Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...) Wed, 10 Dec 2014 17:33:33 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?88,355822,435425#msg-435425 Re: 3D printed electric muscles? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?88,355822,435425#msg-435425
They are used as 'electric' muscles or active legs -- when wetted mit salt water and 'sprayed' with electrostatic charge from one side, the nano-tubes grows/changes slightly in size and torsion and so deform the sheet to the other side ...]]> VDX Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...) Sat, 22 Nov 2014 15:42:19 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?88,355822,434740#msg-434740 Re: 3D printed electric muscles? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?88,355822,434740#msg-434740 Maxx Mayhem Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...) Thu, 20 Nov 2014 17:48:08 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?88,355822,356584#msg-356584 Re: 3D printed electric muscles? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?88,355822,356584#msg-356584
The most promising material in my eyes is silicone -- think about printing tubular structures perpendicular in slices as connected rings and inserting steel wires instead of 'bones' after finishing a segment.

Actually the most common 'muscles' are elastic tubes in a network of stiff wires, knitted to a mesh -- which will contract in length, when expanded by injected air or fluid.

For me the most interesting biological model is the octopus - really simple internal 'structure', but sheer endless capabilities in morphing and manipulating of objects ...]]> VDX Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...) Sat, 17 May 2014 17:27:50 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?88,355822,356566#msg-356566 Re: 3D printed electric muscles? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?88,355822,356566#msg-356566 What is the currently most promising technique to print muscles?

Some more rambling thoughts:

I guess the most simple approach would be hydraulics, but then you need electrically controlled pumps again. But printing an hydraulic actuator is far easier than printing an electrical motor, since good conductive filament isn't readily available yet.
To experiment with this you'd really need to be able to print 3 materials, a hard material for bones, a flexible material for muscles and soluble material that you can use to print complex capillaries and meshes. But can you even wash out soluble stuff from a long capillary ending in a fine mesh structure? And how long would that take? I guess oscillating water into it might work.

I know of "ninjaflex" (elastic) nylon (flexible but not elastic) and PVA (water soluble). Not sure if that will be flexible enough to print muscles that are "soft" enough.

Oh I just found this article about 3dxtech.com releasing a conductive carbon nanotube filament:
[3dprint.com]
[3dxtech.com]
I'm not quite sure what "Target conductivity for 3DXNano™ ESD ABS: 10(7) ohm/sq surface resistivity" means in practice,
(107 ohm/sq?) apparently this is "sheet resistance" but I wonder what resistance a centimeter of 0.4mm strand would actually have?

This article mentions carbon black infused filament and also possible use of this as pressure or flex sensor:
[www.plosone.org]

Unfortunately some links on the wiki page to 3dreplicators in the wiki are already dead. Damn you internet!

Instead of sensors and precision, you could use motion tracking. There are some algorithms for hand tracking with a single camera that work by comparing a virtual 3D generated image of your model with the camera image, calculating an error value and then using derivative function optimization to match it up. That might work to create a reusable workflow to design a model (including a simulation of the forward kinematics or the "variables" in the system you'll need to solve approximately) and then capture an image of the actual motion and knowing in what position your animated model / robot actually is, so you can control it precisely, even if the kinematics / motors themselves aren't precise. Sorry for the bad grammar, but too lazy to fix it and it's a rather complicated algorithm. But the basic idea is that computer vision would be great not only for recognizing your surrounding (as a robot) but also to be able to skimp on precision and use cv algorithms to know what your robot is doing and adapt the power to the actuators to create precise movements.]]> Dejay Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...) Sat, 17 May 2014 16:57:10 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?88,355822,356217#msg-356217 Re: 3D printed electric muscles? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?88,355822,356217#msg-356217 Dejay Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...) Fri, 16 May 2014 18:03:44 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?88,355822,355883#msg-355883 Re: 3D printed electric muscles? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?88,355822,355883#msg-355883
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[forums.reprap.org]]]> VDX Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...) Fri, 16 May 2014 03:14:37 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?88,355822,355822#msg-355822 3D printed electric muscles? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?88,355822,355822#msg-355822
I'm new to 3D printing and am waiting for my Kossel Mini set.... so because I'm bored you unfortunately have to read my stupid ideas ;)

Has any research been done for 3D printed muscles? I gather that it's possible to print conductive ABS filament now and stuff like nylon is pretty flexible. So couldn't you print something like two simple spools that can move apart?
Something like a squished hexagon net that will expand when current is applied?
You would have to print separated layers with a dissolvable filler material, and would have to print quite many mini spools of course.

You wouldn't have contracting but expanding "muscles" since field strength diminishes when the spools move apart, but maybe a hex
net could do that too if they are just 90° moved apart. Maybe some spools break or aren't printed correctly, but if there are enough the
total strength would simple be reduced a little bit.

Even if these electro muscles aren't very strong, you could print some amazing animated creatures with it.

PS: Damn this is apparently resistor filament with 10k ohm per 1 cm. So to create enough current it would heat up. Anyone know of any superconductive filament? You could print bigger / multiple strands, but that would limit the flexibility.

PPS: I only found these two threads but one is about nano tubes and I don't think DIY printing is quite there yet.
[forums.reprap.org] [forums.reprap.org]

PPPS: Hmm, maybe you could simply glue copper wire into a print? Basically a special head that lays a copper wire into the hot printed material and can cut the wire after the circuit is complete. It would limit the design to "glue soldering" or "embedding" complete wire lines in one horizontal plane, but if you don't actually have to melt the conductive material...

PPPPS: Maybe simple pneumatics would be better? You'd need some kind of pneumatic pump but you could print air channels and air bubbles into a design to create movement.

P...S: Oh well, I just found this wiki page about actuator fabrication. I guess I wasn't the first who thought about this after all.

Someone made a 3d printed curcuit board and used conductive paint. Maybe you could simply ink jet conductive paint during printing? You would need a specialized head / feeder, you might have to pause before you continue to print to let the paint dry. Don't know if you could connect across layers. But that way you could create three dimensional circuit boards or circuits that run through a printed object to feed lights or servos.]]> Dejay Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...) Thu, 15 May 2014 22:01:51 -0400