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Main | About Me | Class Blog

Blog I: January 22nd, 2014

The Search Through the Thingiverse!


Amazing: Turbo Entabulator, Fully Mechanical Computer

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While it requires some springs, pulleys, and rubber bands for full assembly, it has 3 single digit base-10 counters that can process a chain of 10 position punch cards. For fun you can calculate some of the first few digits of the Fibonnaci sequence!







Funny: Provocative Hands

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This one needs very little explanation. While it may be terribly immature, I find it extremely funny that this was something someone printed. It makes for the perfect paper holder, desk decoration, or ice breaker at a party. While this design is a little complex, it is clearly able to be built, and a bit of an impressive feat for the overhangs to be able to hold while printing.







Useless: Useless Machine Arm

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If you have never seen one before here is an example video but "The Most Useless Machine" is an incredible feat of.... technology I suppose. No matter how many times you flick the switch, its able to come right back and flick if off (until it's batteries run out). That is why I believe that the "Useless Machine Arm" is literally the most useless thing I could find on Thingiverse.






Useful: Measuring Spoons

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Have you ever been cooking and just couldn't find that pesky tbsp.... or wait, was it tsp? Well fear no more, print your own! This build comes with all strange shapes and sizes, and has large print letters on the label. Having any size at hand while cooking is extremely useful and ensures that what you are cooking turns out just right. Also, if you are extremely lazy, you'll never have to wash a measuring spoon again!






Surprising: The Ministry of Silly Walks

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While browsing through Thingiverse I was lucky enough to stumble upon one of my favorite Monty Python skits, The Ministry of Silly Walks. Of all the models I browsed through this was one of the ones I least expected to see.







Blog II: February 1st, 2014

Open Source Ecology (OSE) and its impacts

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If you are unfamiliar with what OSE is, they have a video titled Enterprise Plan which outlines the groups goal. The OSE Project is an amazing project that has a goal of giving users the ability to make 50 different types of industrial machines. They believe these 50 machines help to create the modern, industrial civilization that we have today. Its founder Marcin Jakubowski gave a TED talk on the project back in March 2011, explaining that he wants to give people across the world the ability to inexpensively create their own industrial equipment. The equipment they have schematics and designs for range from laser cutters, to bread ovens, and even well drilling rigs. On the very top of their websites list of 50 devices, are a 3D printer and scanner. While their information on 3D printers is somewhat lacking, they show interest, and even refer users to visit RepRap for more information.

Overall the project seems like a good idea with great intentions. Personally, I believe that the largest threat facing man kind at the moment is overpopulation. Theres is a great video about it by David Suzuki that outlines why it is such a quickly approaching threat. Without the proper buffers, the fallout that will come from overpopulation when earth reaches maximum capacity could be catastrophic. Projects like this are a step in the right direction to helping solve some of earths population issues by increasing the overall amount of resources available for people. Access to industrial equipment increases the ability to create goods that help sustain human life. Giving farmers, construction workers, and laborers the ability to inexpensively industrialize their labor means greater productivity and efficiency. It also means that the workers can reap greater benefits to help sustain themselves and their surrounding communities. Many parts of Africa, South America and Southern Asia still rely on out dated agricultural methods, and occasionally suffer from famines due to this. With industrial equipment, the efficiencies of these areas of the world could surge, supplying the regions with a much needed volume of goods.

On top of providing industrialization to the third world, this website would be a great apocalypse kit. Let me paint you a picture:

China and America have finally gone to war due to land claims between Japan and China over a tiny rock in the middle of the East China Sea (sounds dumb right?). China mistakes a flock of geese on radar for an ICBM and launches their arsenal. America follow with a barrage of their own. India and Russia, having nothing better to do, launch their stockpiles. Not long after everyone is pushing the button and the Doomsday Clock strikes midnight. The surface of the earth becomes an arid, slightly radioactive wasteland in a sort of wild west, Fallout, Mad Max kind of way. A group of survivors scouring the wastes manage to dig up an old laptop out of the dust. In the laptop is a CD of OSE, and while non of them have specialized skills in farming or survival, with that disk they rebuild society (roll credits)

The above is a long, drawn out waste of text, but it makes my point that the OSE project is basically a civilization startup kit. All of the schematics and diagrams can be created by most people with the ability to think and create extremely useful machines. While it will hopefully never be needed on earth, it would be neat to see people use something like OSE to colonize planets, moons and asteroids throughout the solar system and galaxy. Even though it is still science fiction, I would love to see a future where colonists land on a new planet and use open source technology to immediately begin creating their own habitat.

On the down side, some of the projects still require moderately expensive equipment to make, and some of the materials used are not the easiest thing to get your hands on. Also one of their largest challenges could be actually spreading their plans to the far reaches of the world where computers and internet are hard to find. On top of this the projects are still in developmental stages, so some of the devices may not have the longest life cycle or overall strength/refinement. Also, while I see the website as having little liability for people making their machines, if someone were to follow their schematics and build a machine that would injure or kill them, I could see a sue happy person taking OSE to court. As grandpa always used to say, "it only takes one idiot to ruin something good for everyone".

Recently The New Yorker published an article titled The Civilization Kit, which goes in depth on the ESO project and Marcin's work. The article was critical towards his work, what he has actually accomplished, and the project's feasibility. It also notes the poor living conditions on his farm and his relationships with his fellow workers/supporters. While this article is very harsh it brings up some very good points about the project. While the project is extremely flawed, it is a startup that is still in its infancy. They are low on cash and trying to do some pretty amazing things at the same time. Marcin posted a response on the OSE wiki site defending his project. He defends himself and his work, claiming not to be the estranged commune that Emily Eakin writes about in her article. He also goes on to defend his mission statement and explain how their operation is limited by money. While I can see many valid point in The New Yorker article, I also understand that this project is still developing and trying to construct its base. It will need a lot of work to become a fully realized, but hopefully, its core idea will remain pure and achieve its overall purpose of helping the world.

As far as PSU is concerned, I fell like a club or organization could definitely take root that follows the ideology and goals that OSE has set forth. With the amount of agricultural, and engineering majors around campus, a club where students can come together and create designs for complex mechanical systems would be educationally beneficial for students and foster development and innovation on such machines. Faculty in the agricultural, engineering, or even computer sciences departments could possibly be interested in exploring ways to create complex machines for the common man in hopes of performing research with them. On top of all of this, the on campus ROTC and military programs may be interested in such a club. In remote areas of the world where the military operates, they are sometimes required to use heavy machinery to complete a variety. The formation of a club could allow them to use students to innovate new methods and designs to be built or repaired. With new more robust designs, the military could have workers repair machinery on site and more quickly, and reduce delays.

Blog III: February 9th, 2014

Kansas Teen Uses 3D Printer to Make Hand for Boy

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This article was published on January 31st in The Kansas City Star newspaper.

Who created this design and when/where was it done?

Ivan Owen, a designer an professional artists from Washington State, and Richard Van As, a South african carpenter, designed the original 3D Robohand when Van As lost a finger and portions of three other fingers in a workshop accident. Van As went to the internet looking for a solution and came in contact with Owen. The two began online communications and began working to create a finger replacement for Van As. A South African Mother then found their online communications and asked if the two could build a prosthetic hand for her son. Their original prototypes were made from metal, but they soon switched to working with 3D printers to be able to create prosthetics that could be easily printed and allow adaptations for each user. Work for this project began in November of 2012, and the first 3D printable version was released in January 2013.

If you wanted to make one, where would you go to get it?

The 3D printing files for the hand can be found on the Thingiverse website, and can be seen using this link. Its appears to be a fairly simple yet robust design and as the article discusses, it is adaptable depending upon the extent of your hand injury. The only other parts necessary are the strings to activate the fingers, the fasteners, and the sheaths for the wrist and knuckle areas.

How many news articles can you find which reference this technology?

There are quite a few articles referencing the design made by these two men, many of which can be found by performing a simple google search. There are even more referencing 3D printing's ability to make prosthetics. Included below are some example articles for anyone who wishes to read more about these devices:

Robohand: How cheap 3D printers built a replacement hand for a five-year old boy

These 3D printed prosthetic hands can be made for just $5~$1000

3-D Printer Brings Dexterity To Children With No Fingers

Man Makes 3D Printed Prosthetic Hand For Son For Only $10

Two Makers Create a $150 Open Source 3D Printed Prosthetic

Blog IV: February 15th, 2014

Looking From Another Mans Shoes, OSE Revisited

Team Super Awesome's Response to OSE

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Looking through my fellow teammates responses, I can say that some of them I agree with, some I disagree with, and some I just hadn't thought quite as much as. Nathan saw the project as a doorway for small scale farmers to come back into today's market of mega farms. With the recent boom in organic foods, and free range meats, cheaper farming machinery would definitely be a much needed boost. Jess saw the project as promising, but has some issues with it. She states that everyone creating their own equipment would run larger companies out of business over time and it would take a great deal of skill to create such prjects. While I see her point as completely valid I don't believe it would completely deter people from buying products of larger companies. I believe it would help smaller producers get a foot in the door, but when it comes to larger scales, the efficiency of specialized labor would keep the larger companies in business. Sam was pretty rough on the New Yorker columnist, and discussed how she was disconnected from the ideology of the project and the plight of the common man. I had not really considered this thought, and reviewing her article once more, completely see where Sam is coming from. While some of her criticisms have a core of truth, the majority of her article reads off as petty and rude. Sadly Ben had not written a blog about the OSE project, but from what I remember that was the week he had traveled to the far reaches of the Atlas Mountains in the north of Africa to hunt the vicious, blood-thirsty, and deadly sand cats.

Classmates of Dutiful Intelligence's Response to OSE

Tom's opening statements about OSE are something I had not even though of at all when I wrote my post, and I must say he is extremely correct. He states that "You could find out how to make these types of projects by doing some internet searching. Additionally, these designs would be superior as they have probably been tested and refined by multiple people." After searching the internet for a few minutes, I found he was completely correct. It brings me back to a statement I made above about Jess' blog post, when I state it is far more efficient to have specialized workers in their respective fields working. But it also makes me think of what inspires creation, and that is an understanding of many systems and how to relate them to one another. While I agree it is not the most efficient for farmers to create all of their own equipment, for some entrepreneurs out there I believe a project like this will spawn creation and original thought.

Donago had very negative impressions of the OSE project. He states that tractors are too complex of equipment to have open source builds for, unlike 3D printers which are shared in open source forums such as this site. He also states that in larger scales it lacks efficiency, which I completely agree with. While I also agree that tractors are complex, when it boils down to it so are 3D printers. I believe the project is meant for smaller scale start ups and not meant to compete with the heavy hitters of the industry. Kevin gave a rather fair critique of the New Yorker article, and noted on its pettiness towards the projects but also noted towards the articles mention of the projects major flaws. He was correct in pointing out that the people working on the project are more enthusiasm then skill, which makes sense because the people who are very skilled at making tractors or bricking machines probably work at John Deere or at Belden. Anthony states that he does not believe that OSE is a civilization starter kit. He takes the build times with some skepticism and is reserved in the total ability of the project which I understand and appreciate. He is completely right to think that the project is not some magical thing to come along and re-invent the wheel, but personally I still believe it is a step in the right direction. Lastly I read Nam's response to OSE. First off shout out to Nam for the awesome About Me Section, I thought it was pretty funny. I read Nam's idea on how to start an OSE chapter at Penn State and his response was similar to mine. I thought he made extremely valid points about the projects feasibility at Penn State, but also noted on how it being such an agriculturally minded community would help start a project.

Blog V: February 22, 2014

A Journey Through the Past

I figured I would start my media search with the year that I came to Penn State, back in the fall of 2010, to see how much 3D printing, and its community has evolved over my college tenure. All of the articles or information used for this blog was found on the SCRUG media page.

November 2010 : It Will be Awesome If They Don't Screw It Up

This article written by Michael Weinberg centers on 3D printing and how it relates to intellectual property. He begins with delving into the work spaces (garages, basements, workshops, etc.) that 3D printing is taking root. He compares the emerging 3D printing world to be similar to the computers world of the early 90's. After some explanation of what 3D printing is he dives into intellectual property. He talks about how after patenting an object, reproduction of that product without the creators consent is infringement. With 3D printing on the rise, he expects a boom in "innocent" patent infringements. Where owners of 3D printers create a part for personal use not realizing it is patented. He also talks about how 3D printer owners will be copying products purposefully with the intention of avoiding purchase of them. To this day this is something that is commonly address when people mention 3D printing. Whether intentional or not, 3D printing comes with a responsibility of the owner to know when they are infringing on a patent. Personally, I believe that as long as the person printing is not selling the printed object for resale or mass production, personal use is something they should feel free to indulge in when it comes to printing. Overall Michael wrote an excellent article that is still relevant to printing even 4 years later. When it comes to intellectual property and 3D printing I am sure it will be debated in many years to come.

January 2011 : 3D Printing, Now in Titanium

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Did you ever wish you could print out those titanium hub caps you've always wanted? What about printing out a shiny new titanium necklace for that girl down the block that makes you feel funny? Well dream no more, you can now print whatever you can think in titanium (back in 2011). Written by Charlie Sorrel, this article introduces a new printing method developed by I.Materialize called Direct Metal Laser Sintering. The process uses a high power laser to sinter the metal into the proper shape. Sadly the process is expensive, using one cubic centimeter costs 125$. Despite its large price tag, it is a step towards increasing the catalog of what is printable and another application for the technology to be used in.








August 2011 : All-Star Lineup Invests in MakerBot

Bre Pettis takes readers on an inside look at a 10million dollar investment that is planned to help grow the company and develop the MakerBot product line. I saw this article as a significant step into making a wider range of low end printers available to the general public. MakerBot is widely known as one of the leading manufacturers in 3D printers for home use, and with a larger investment pool will be able to develop better products, and create larger manufacturing capabilities. Hopefully as the business grows it will be able to foster more education and technological developments in printers not only today but down the road. While it appears MakerBot is almost becoming less open source, the development of their products and build types will help open source printers to become better and less expensive.

January 2012 : Physibles now a Section on The Pirate Bay

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Avast ye mateys, prepare to set sail for adventure, and printing on the high seas of the internet. In January 2011, the infamous torrent site, with the goal of sharing all media freely on the internet started as section devoted to sharing files for 3D printers. While affiliation with The Pirate Bay may land you in hot water, or on a movie studios mailing list, it also is a huge source for sharing files between a large volume of people. Earlier in this blog I commented on an article focused on intellectual property, and two years later the issue emerges again with the pirate bay. While there may be some issues with infringement of intellectual property with the emergence of Pirate Bay physibles, I believe it is a great way to share prints and ideas between many users. Overall, I do not see this development as the most important to come along, especially with other sites like Thingiverse in operation, but it is still an impressive note on the growing popularity of 3D printing.



November 2012 : 3D Printers Could use Moon Rocks, Say Scientists

Space marines be warned, you may be torn apart by aliens sooner than you think if we can print our own space colonies. This BBC article looks at the exciting possibility of using non terrestrial material as a 3D printing substrate. While I was not able to find much more about this development in more recent times, It seems like a great technology that could aid in off planet construction. The ability to print with materials that you don't have to take into space with you would be a huge step in construction on foreign celestial bodies, by decreasing the weight of space craft. It would also help astronauts/cosmonauts by building parts they might need to repair space craft or mechanical equipment. This technology would also greatly aid in space colonization by allowing construction of complex and quickly built structures to act as both bases and jumping platforms for further space exploration. Overall it is a very exciting prospect and I hope to see more development on this capability in the future, and I would enjoy discussing this technology more in the future.

June 2013 : 3D Printing Tiny Batteries For Tiny Robots, Medical Devices

3D printing had many exciting developments that they can offer to the medical community. This article discussed the ability to print lithium ion micro-batteries the size of sand grains which would be applied to microscopic mechanical devices. The batteries could be used in applications for cameras, microphones, surgical implants, tracking devices, motors, and more. This step into the small scale world could open up a huge realm of possibilities for 3D printers. While printing high accuracy parts at such small sizes will be a challenge, the technology created would later be able to help personal printers improve and create better prints.

Blog VI: March 1st, 2014

How To Stop A Runaway Train When There Are No Tracks?

While recently working on the team printer which we have passionately named "Deep Purple", I have encountered a reoccurring problem. Multiple times I have been printing and I will lose heat to the extruder tip or the idler will catch on the filament and the printer will stop extruding. This is particularly frustrating due to the fact that the printer is unaware it has stopped extruding and continues along its pathways given to it by the Gcode. Therefore I believe the next logical step for our printers in giving them awareness as to whether they are extruding or not.

I have thought about this concept from many angles and discussed it with some fellow classmates on how to correct this issue. My first thoughts on how to create such a system evolved along monitoring the physical movement of the filament through the extruder head and setting a failsafe to stop printing if no movement of the filament is detected. I looked into different methods of monitoring this movement such as tension sensor to monitor tension in the filament as it is drawn to be extruded. Unfortunately this method would be quite costly and most tension sensors are rated for mush higher stresses than our printers produce. I also looked at simply using a DC motor as a generator which would be coupled to an idler which the filament would thread through. This would produce a voltage as the filament fed through which could be monitored. Sadly the filament moves so slowly that the voltage would be hard to differentiate from the electrical noise and therefore hard to monitor. I also though of using a spring potentiometer system that would have a sleeve or be pressed against the filament on top of the extruder. The changes in voltages in the potentiometer could be the monitored factor to determine if the printer was printing. Once again the flaw in this design is there would have to be some spring to keep the potentiometer at a neutral position but sensitive enough to be stretched by the movement of the filament and then slink back when extrusion stops. In each of these processes I saw flaws that would limit the ability of creating a functional safeguard from runaway printing.

I then began to look into the optical monitoring to find a cure for my ailment. I had the idea that I would use some sort of camera or optical sensing device to monitor either the extrusion of filament out of the extruder head, or coming down into the extruder body. It would have to be able to sense a variety of colors for different colors of filament, and be able to monitor the movement of filament and determine whether the printer was extruding or not. This would require a code that would constantly watch for the movement of that color and if its detection was lost, the program would send a pause command to pronterface. This method seemed complicated and I believe it would be difficult for any non-expensive optical sensor to pick up such small changes at either the top or bottom of the extruder. I also believe it would have a high chance of sending a false signal to pause printing if it were sensitive enough to watch the movement of the filament.

After talking with some classmates, one of whom was Anthony, he came up with the concept of having a camera monitor dots on the idler bearing of the extruder. A camera would monitor a certain color which the dots would be that would pass by the lens and react every certain number of seconds. If these dots stopped then the program would send a pause command to pronterface stopping the print. I thought this idea was brilliant and hope to work with him on it in the future and have a prototype running by the end of this semester.

Printer Upkeep

As far as printer upkeep goes, the only thing I could see that could improve it is creating a simpler and more efficient method to log repairs and ongoing issues that would also be well organized and easy to use. While I maintain good communications with my teammates on what is going on with our printer, I am sometimes not 100% sure what was the last thing troubleshot or repaired on it. Possibly a log spreadsheet that could stay with the printer would be a great way to keep track of maintenance and make it easy for users to inform others using the printer of its faults.

What A Twist

I believe a good way for students to become more familiar with printers in general is learning other systems and what makes them tick. Mixing it up like a 70's key party would force students to learn how to operate and repair more printers and make them well rounded as 3D printer users. It would also help teach how to troubleshoot issues when things go awry, and help improve repair times through familiarity and experience.

More Isn't Always Better

Or is it???? No just kidding. Or am I? But seriously, I would like to see a single dual extruder printer up and running before the class began construction of anymore. I am not insinuating that it will not work or it is not worth the effort, but what I do believe is that once one is up and running, subsequent systems will become much easier to create. This will be due to the fact that students can learn from the mistakes of the first dual extruding printer, improve on design flaws, and avoid obvious pitfalls we have not yet experienced. With more knowledge on dual extruder systems that will come from completing one, we will be able to streamline the completion of more.

Blog VII: March 15th, 2014

Open Source = More Cash Money In Your Pocket

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Hi Billy Mays here for saving money on just about any research equipment you need to research.... anything! Are you tired of going to the store and staring at thos daunting price-tags on [ http://www.academia.edu/3333921/Open-Source_Colorimeter colorimeters], and nanoscopes? Well fear no more! Thanks to 3D printing and people REALLY not wanting to pay for expensive things you can now build your own with similar accuracy for a fraction of the price.

In all honesty though, 1) RIP Billy, infomercials will never be the same, 2) these articles are pretty amazing. The fact that we can now print such highly developed pieces of technology that perform so well for such a small cost is astounding. Ideas like these are what help drive technology markets forward. Not only that but it really sticks it to the manufacturers that are charging many times more for similar products. Overall I see these two examples as amazing uses for 3D printing technology and hope to see, and possibly help develop more in the future.



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Blog VIII: March 22nd, 2014

Intellectual Property and 3D Printing

    Copyright

The exclusive legal right, given to an originator or an assignee to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material, and to authorize others to do the same.

Examples: Movies, Books, Television Shows

    Trademark

A symbol, word, or words legally registered or established by use as representing a company or product.

Examples: Band-Aid, Chapstick, Jeep

    Patent

A government authority or license conferring a right or title for a set period, esp. the sole right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention.

Examples: Type in almost anything

    Trade Secret

A trade secret is a formula, practice, process, design, instrument, pattern, or compilation of information which is not generally known or reasonably ascertainable, by which a business can obtain an economic advantage over competitors or customers.

Examples: Coca-Cola, Chartreuse Liqueur


3D Printing and the Future (or Demise) of Intellectual Property

The 5 I's

Infringement, Identification, Impractical, Impossible, and Irrelevant are the five I's. These relate to the danger 3D printing places upon intellectual property. The five I's basically show how with 3D printing becoming widespread, easily attained, and more sophisticated, protecting intellectual property will become a waste of time for an inventor. It also shows that the only true limiting factor protecting an invention is mass production, where no one would gain from producing a stolen part unless they did it in mass quantities.

The Future of Intellectual Property

While the author seems to believe that in time intellectual property protection will become futile, I disagree. The music and movie industry is currently experiencing a similar problem. With the advent of file sharing and torrenting it seem almost impossible to truly protect media these days, yet we still see large companies producing records and movies and profiting greatly from them. Not only this but they are influencing lawmakers to create internet laws which will help them to inhibit the sharing of their media. If sometime down the road 3D printing gets to the point that it is hurting large manufacturers pocketbooks(pocketbooks much heavier than a film company's), you can be assured there will be some legislature that will limit 3D printing. Will this legislature be completely effective at enforcing intellectual property infringement? no probably not, but it may make it more difficult to 3D print your favorite things. At the end of the day the man upstairs (A CEO not God, or Gods, I don't judge) will find a way to invest their capitol to make capitol. They will still need to protect their products from other people with money who will try to copy them, and we will still end up buying many of our daily products for them. Unless 3D printing evolves into the replicators from Star Trek, then the only companies would probably be replicator companies, but people would eventually replicate replicators....... on second though maybe intellectual property isn't going to last us much longer.

Creative Commons

Creative Commons appears to me to be a catalyst to the end of intellectual property, providing shortcuts and backdoors to expanding the public domain. They seem to be on the forefront of the liberation of free information for the masses and are propelling the ability of individuals to explore and create more freely. Overall it seems like a step into the future and is helping foster a culture that will become more readily available to share ideas which will probably be hosted mainly by the internet.

Blog IX: April 5th, 2014

The internet is a strange an amazing place, with websites ranging from TheMostAmazingSite, to LeekSpin, and all the way to CorgiOrgy, which lies deep within the dark-side of the web. With all these sites in your way, it may confusing sometimes on where to go for 3D printing supplies. For your convenience and for my reaping of experience, I have assembled a list of filament suppliers I have found across the web. I have also looked through suppliers on a list from RepRap itself to sort through to find some of the best on the web.

THE LIST

     3D Direct   4 Stars

3D Direct has a clean and well formatted website and a huge selection of different colors, sizes, and materials to choose from. Their catalog includes PLA, ABS, and HIPS in 1.75mm and 3mm sizes. Overall their prices are fair and they accept most forms of payment. Overall their site is well formatted, clean, and easy to use and provides a quality service with well reviewed products.

     Amazon   5 Stars

Amazon has become a mecca of online shopping and now has incorporated its own 3D printing section to its site. They have a huge range of filaments from a huge range of suppliers and provide extremely competitive prices. They too have PLA, ABS, and HIPS in 1.75mm and 3mm sizes with a few odd sizes intermixed here and there. They also host a wide variety of colors that could fill almost any printer's needs. On top of this, Amazon has great reliability, low shipping costs, and accepts almost all payment methods. Overall I would rate Amazon as the best site I found seeing as it has the overall best values with the most security.

     3D Filaments   3.5 Stars

This site also has a large selection of colors, materials, and sizes that the other sites have, but frequently has sales that provide great prices for a short time. This site also has a selection of Nylon and PETT at what appear to be somewhat competitive prices. Overall, the site is clean and well assembled and even offers 10% off every purchase for educators.

     3D Factory   3.5 Stars

3D Factory competes well with the other sites of this list. Despite having somewhat higher prices, there is a nice variety of filaments as well as glow in the dark filaments. The payment options are all convenient and accessible and the site ships all across the US. While its prices are not the best it provides good service and good products.


AVOID

    Cubify

Despite its clean cut website, Cubify has extremely poor reviews from its customers and has higher prices than its competition. Customers frequently complain about Cubify's product qualities, as well as a lack of customer service. This site is a great example of how some sites on the internet may look nice, but are not necessarily good.


Dual Extrusion

Looking at the various printing materials, I would like to see a combination of PLA and ABS plastics together. PLA offers a better surface finish and ABS offers greater strength, which would lead me to desire an outer layer of PLA with and infill and support structure of ABS. I would like to believe that this combination would result in higher quality parts that could be made less dense with similar strengths to wholly PLA parts. While these materials are not necessarily exotic, they are materials we are familiar in working with and are reliable, and inexpensive. Both materials can be found for around 32$/kg, making them on the lower end of the price scale, and can be bought from most suppliers in a wide range of colors.

Overall, if I were in the market to buy printing filament, I would more than likely choose Amazon. I have been an Amazon user for a long time now, and trust its site greatly and find security in its online shopping services. I can also have my Amazon account alerted to when certain products go on sale or become available making shopping easy and quick. Amazon also has the largest selection of materials, sizes, and has users rate each product allowing me to stay informed with what I am buying. All of these factors make my choice easy and lead me to use Amazon for my one stop online shopping for 3D printing supplies.

Blog X: April 5th, 2014

Hot Tips!

The Penn State SCRUG has already set up a page of the hot tips we use in class with a large article on the Bowden Extruder, but it is somewhat laking in the total range of extruder tips available. Below is a short list of extrusion tips that can be found across the internet:

    Techzone
Parts included in the Hot End Kit



The tech zone tip is a good tip that has good heating, decent print quality and easily built. While the this can be made with wood it can also be designed to be made with metal allowing for sturdier design but has a trade off of more heat transfer to the extruder body. This tip is inexpensive to make and easy to add to most printer setups.







    J Head
Various forms of the J Head Tip



The nozzle was designed to reduce the number of parts needed to be machined to create an extruder head in hopes to cut costs and improve reliability. While the head is fairly bulky, and requires a large amount of machining to make, it works fairly well.





    E3D
E3D Hot Tip



The E3D nozzle is probably the best extruder tip on this short list of examples I provide, but with many things better quality equates to higher cost. This tip is all metal and prints with great quality due to its even heating. The shaft of the tip has fins which help to dissipate heat and give rigidity to the head. While this tip is more expensive than the others by far, all reviews highly recommend it and suggest it to be as high quality as it price suggests.






Blog XI: April 5th, 2014

Show and Tell Response

One of the most exciting presentations I saw was Sam's presentation on 3D printing cells and organs. Biomedical applications for 3D printing have made headlines over the past year and a half and hold promising prospects. What is even more exciting is the range of projects that Bio-Printing has begun to undertake. Companies such as Organovo has started Bio-Printing cells to tests cells efficiency against diseases helping to more quickly find treatments for the ailments that plague our society. Organovo has also begun to 3D print organs that one day may find their way to transplant patients across the country in the future. On top of this, 3D printing has also begun to help with many medical treatments of broken and fractured bones as well as congenital diseases. Many doctors are now using CATSCANs to produce 3D models of bones and other internal organ shapes that a patient may need to have replaced or bolstered to add support. 3D printing has also lead to developments in affordable prosthetics in both the US and around the world.

What is most exciting about all of this is the long term potential on human life. The average human life span has been greatly increased by industrialization, increased medical technology, and better understandings of diseases and how the human body responds to such diseases. To add to the medical revolution mankind has seen over the past 100 years, we are now producing technology that can help produce human organs at a whim. The ability of humans to not only prevent disease but protect and repair ourselves from it is growing to the point where disease, disabilities and illness may be a thing of the past. Overall, our society is beginning to progress towards a human life that could be productive for much longer than previously thought, which I hope to see translate into a great accomplishment of mans higher functioning needs. Additional years of life could lead to engineers and scientists having more time to invent and create, allowing their ideas to flourish. Artists could have more time to develop and master their style and provide more works to society.

In the end, I see 3D Bio-Printing as a huge step forward in medical technology that can lead to smarter solutions to human health issues. While many cite economic and political issues with people living longer and longer, I see it as a gift for society. This gift gives potential for each humans life to not only possess more meaning, but for that meaning to have more opportunities to be translated and shared with societies. All of this, I believe, will yield high returns for mankind in the long run with richer, more intelligent cultures, that will be allowed to lead more fulfilling and successful lives.

Blog XII: May 2nd, 2014

Review Blogpost 5 of your team members and 5 other classmates.

Team Members:

Nathan Myer - In his post he points out the fact that guns are a major topic of discussion with 3D printing. Being a gun user and supporter my self I think its much less about supply but how people use them. A huge majority of guns are well controlled and well used, I think the focus should be less on guns themselves and more on treatment of mental illness and awareness on gun safety and control. He also talks about printing with various materials which I touched on briefly. It is cool to see how the material selection has broadened over the past ten years and see where it is going.

Sam Carroll - I found Sam's critique about hermit crab article pretty funny. He is right though it is kind of a stupid article. The chipotle article was interesting and while it is on the forefront of media it also seems kind of silly and less groundbreaking than other articles.

Jessica Mewkalo - It was funny that Jessica also commented on the hermit crab article and its lackluster. She did write a nice piece on the bio-engineered ear which I also found to be a good article. I agree that that form of 3D printing will change the medical world in the future.

Ben Gorenc - Ben once again touches on 3D printed guns which Nate also spoke about. Again, I believe its all about responsibility for ones self, and that the 3D printed gun is a bunch of hype to get media attention. I don't believe its going to be a huge deal unless CNN's ratings are low.

5 Class Mates:

Carson -

Kevin -

Vinny -

Eva -

Anthony -

Blog XIII: May 2nd, 2014

Review Blogpost 7 of your team members and 5 other classmates.

Team Members:

Nathan Myer - Nate is a bit of a cheapskate ( I hope he doesn't see this) so it comes as no surprise that he wants to save money by 3D printing. Despite this he makes a great point that a lot of great and influential work is sometimes stifled by the high cost of research equipment. From electronics, to materials, to biomedical, 3D printing has a great deal to offer researchers and can cut very high costs. Hopefully in the future 3D printing itself can decrease in cost even more as their precision increases, offering researchers and intellects cheap means to accomplish their goals.

Sam Carroll - Sam complains on how the second article is not open source and claims their accomplishments are not as impressive as they make it seem. I don't necessarily disagree with Sam, but I do believe that having the ingenuity to make your own 3D devices is more important that the difficulty of the build. Ideas like these can not only revolutionize industries but also provide inspiration for more ideas.

Jessica Mewkalo - Jess comments that just because people have access to a technology doesn't necessarily mean they will or should be using them. While I also am not wise enough to say whether or not it matters that the poor have access to 3D printing, like I stated in my response to Sam, these technologies, whether useful to certain people or not, they inspire and foster imagination.

Ben Gorenc - Ben commented on how quickly the team was able to create the lego device, and that the first device promises to bring higher quality research products to the impoverished areas of the world. I too am amazed at the speed and sophistication of the the lego probe and hope to see the proliferation of high technology and low cost devices. I think they bring promise of a greater understanding of the world around us.

5 Class Mates:

Carson -

Kevin -

Vinny -

Eva -

Anthony -

Blog XIV: May 2nd, 2014

Review Blogpost 8 of your team members and 5 other classmates.

Team Members:

Nathan Myer - Nate comments about how IP laws once protected creators and innovators but how today it hinders the creative process. While I cannot agree completely I do believe on some scales that intellectual property laws stop those with ideas from creating. Nate also states he worries about not being able to contribute to open source when he begins his full time job. Hopefully this will not be the case but with many large companies today, intellectual property and non disclosure agreements are very important and may restrict his ability to freely create.

Sam Carroll - "The whole idea of IP is so companies can make money over their competitors. The reason people need money is to buy things. If people don't have to buy things, they don't need money. If they don't need money, where's the incentive to create some silly invention and profit off of it." I think what Sam is getting at is a world where there is no money. One video that I have always found particularly interesting was by Jacque Fresco about how the world could work without money through advances in technology.

Jessica Mewkalo - Jess speaks about how it is fair for creators to gain rewards for their work, which is righteous thing to believe in. She seems to hint at wanting a "middle of the road" approach where she neither gives away all benefits from inventing or having selfish and demanding intellectual property laws.

Ben Gorenc -Ben comments on how the natural trend of things is to go with less inhibitive intellectual property laws. I agree with this statement especially when looking at music, television, and other such media industries that have been shared online for free. He also comments on how making things open source could speed their development and improve technologies and industries.

5 Class Mates:

Carson -

Kevin -

Vinny -

Eva -

Anthony -

Blog XV: May 2nd, 2014

Review Blogpost 11 of your team members and 5 other classmates.

Team Members:

Nathan Myer - I had forgotten about the remote control printers until I read his review of Jared show and tell. That was a pretty sweet technology that could be used pretty easily to help manage longer prints. Also thanks for liking my show and tell Nate you get 3 golden stars.

Sam Carroll - Like sam said props to Carson, making all of that hot tip stuff and building the Bowden Extruder is some tough stuff.

Jessica Mewkalo - THe I phone app was pretty cool. Hopefully this technology becomes more refined and less expensive so we can print EVERYTHING.

Ben Gorenc - Knowing that Ben was checked into a chocolate rehabilitation center over this past winter break for two weeks, it makes sense he liked Kevin's presentation. The chocolate printing was pretty neat and it'll be nice to finally be able to upgrade my easy-bake-oven to a 3D chocolate printers for when I make miniature confections.

5 Class Mates:

Carson -

Kevin -

Vinny -

Eva -

Anthony -

Blog XVI: May 2nd, 2014

Printing Research Equipment-Extra Blog

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After recently speaking with a professor that is involved with research at ARL, I learned that he/she (confidentiality) was looking for a 3D printable material with an index of refraction similar to that of water. While I didn't press exactly what the use was for, I could only assume that it involved some kind of optical recording, or the use of lasers in measuring of some fluid flow or characteristics. I found this interesting due to the fact that I myself have hypothesized the use of lasers in monitoring gear face wear or at least lubrication film thickness or lubrication quality. In order to perform such a task the index of refraction would have to be similar to the fluid that the optics would have to pass through. This set me off wondering as to wether the index of refraction of clear, commonly 3D printed materials were recorded or even talked about. Thanks to a helpful wiki article, I found that PLA when clear has an index of refraction of 1.46, Acrylic 1.49, and Polycarbonate 1.58. All three of these materials are thermoset plastics meaning there is a chance that we can print with them (except for PLA which I know we do print with).

My best hope is with PLA, which when printed, and given an acetone bath (I hear its exfoliating for the scalp) could result in a clear and glossy surface finish. If this property could somehow be transferred throughout the part, then we could possibly print transparent 3D parts. In fluid flow research this could be useful in manipulating flow and being able to measure particle movement via light or laser on either side of the body. Also, if the part is not transparent enough, one could also 3D print a mold using PLA, and use it to cast PU resin, which solidifies perfectly clear.

My future plan is to discuss these ideas with my contact who mentioned it in relation to his/her work. In discussing these ideas I hope to find a solution that could incorporate 3D printing and provide the means for new levels of research.