SparkRover Open Source 3D Printable Robotic Rover

SparkRover is an open source rover powered with Arduino with Bluetooth connectivity so it can be controlled with a smartphone. Its structure and wheels are 3d printed.
It was developed by Instructables user Dominick Lee who described the main areas where this small rover can be used:

• Robotics Learning Platform
• GoPro Automatic Camera Dolly
• Panorama Camera Assistant
• Maze Solving Robot
• Robot Racing

SparkRover parts list:

• 3D Printed Parts (1x - SparkRover Chasis, 1x - Cover for the Chasis, 2x - Front Wheel, 2x - Back Wheel)
• 2x of 55mm O-Rings
• 2x of Futaba S3003 Servo pack (contains a servo, servo horns, screws, etc.)
• HC05 Bluetooth module
• Arduino Nano v3
• 26 AWG stranded wire (or jumper wires)
• Push button latch switch
• Small 3.7v LiPo battery
• 3.7v to 5v Step-Up chip
• Ultrasonic sensor

Detailed construction guide, .stl files and guidance software can be found at:

http://www.instructables.com/id/SparkRover-3D-Printed-Smartphone-Controlled-Robot/?ALLSTEPS

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Educational TETRIX 3D Printer

Tetrix is a new 3d printer design based on needs of schools to provide simple and affordable teaching tool.

Here is the project description:

The TETRIX 3D-Printer was designed as an educational tool for middle and high school technology students, robotics teams, and adults. The purpose of constructing the printer is to train people's building, tool usage, electronics, CAD, and programming skills with a single project. You also get a 3D-printer once you're done!

The printer design is based on TETRIX parts, which are designed by PITSCO and used in the FIRST Tech Challenge robotics competition. The printer also utilizes elements of various RepRap printer designs, such as the Printrboard control system. The design is completely open-source, so feel free to personalize and alter your printer.

The overall cost of the printer is about $640, and the educational value is priceless! The majority of the cost is attributed to the TETRIX parts, but the high accuracy of the pre-drilled, pre-sized aircraft-grade aluminum saves time and reduces error, which outweighs the price.

Very detailed build guide:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Tetrix-3D-Printer/?ALLSTEPS

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How to get 3d printers in libraries?

If you are a librarian and want to get a 3d printer in your library here is a full and free webinar that will teach you all the basics you need to know. It is presented by Sharona Ginsberg for UM3DLab.





Here is entry level video webinar aimed at educators by Javelin Technologies Inc.:

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Materials for Extreme 3D Printing, Talk by Walter Voit

Here is a great talk at Google about more advanced 3d printing materials and their properties. The talk is delivered by Walter Voit.




Talk description:

Adaptive 3D Technologies makes the toughest - and softest - 3D printed polymers on the market by creating custom materials specifically designed to be 3D printed. Advanced processing techniques eliminate anisotropy and result in durable, high quality parts that can be used directly in practical applications far beyond current stereotypes of 3D printing (prototyping). Walter Voit is the president of Adaptive 3D Technologies and an Assistant Professor in Materials Science and Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas at Dallas.

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3D Printable DIY Ion Thruster and EmDrive

Space will be colonized by human race, 3d printing will help but chemical rockets won't get us far. Here are two propulsion methods that you will be able to make and demonstrate here on Earth with some help of your 3d printer. Ideal for educational purposes.


3D Printable DIY Ion Thruster

Ion thrusters are proven space propulsion method and you can learn more about it on Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_thruster

With some spare parts and 3d printed structure you can make a working model:




Learn more about the project and get more detailed construction instructions:

http://www.elab-hackerspace.org/2015/09/18/ion-thruster/

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1037204


3D Printable EM drive or RF resonant cavity thruster

EM-drive is much more exotic method of electromagnetic space travel which was considered a hoax when first presented but turned out to be potentially revolutionary since some tests show it works thus enabling future spacecrafts to fly without fuel mass.

Learn more here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RF_resonant_cavity_thruster

Now you can also make a model and test it with few metal parts and a 3d printed support.

Project homepage:

https://hackaday.io/project/5596-em-drive

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Prototyping Pi Top DIY laptop with 3d printing

Pi Top is DIY laptop kit based on Raspberry Pi and aimed at education and students. The team used 3d printing to prototype the casing. Maybe they could release the files and open source the project for the people who want to build it completely on their own and not buy it in kit form.

Pi Top features (from the project page):

• Free Hardware Innovation Lessons: Pi-Top is where it starts. We will be building new content for Pi-Top users.Learn to 3D print, design PCBs and create your own products from start to finish. 
• No Compromising on Quality: Mobile designs often use Bluetooth keyboards, that took away from the user experience. Enjoy using Raspberry Pi with a fully integrated laptop keyboard and track-pad with extra ports.
• Easy Component Access: A clear sliding panel allows access to the Raspberry Pi. Kickstarter DAY 1 editionPi-Tops will feature a lazer-etched panel design, as well as the standard clear panel.
• Raspbian Operating System: Once built your Raspberry Pi is ready to go. Start learning to program on the latest Raspbian OS.
• 6 - 8 Hour Battery Life & Wifi enabled: Battery time 6+ hours. Wifi enabled out of the box, Pi-Top is truly mobile. 
• 13.3" Screen: No compromising on screen size. Enjoy using your Raspberry Pi with a 13.3" HD screen.

Pi Top homepage: http://www.pi-top.com/

Reddit thread where they presented their 3d printed prototype:

http://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/2g0opb/fullsized_3d_printed_laptop_prototype_pitop_print/

They used the following setup:

• Printer used: Rostock Max V2 kit - with E3D full metal hotend
• Filament: PLA 1.75mm nozzle: 205 Bed temp: 55 Speed: 70mm/sec
• Print time: 3 prints total (two pieces together and the two larger pieces seprately) roughly 160 hours of printing
• Support settings: KISSlicer with medium support, at 45 Degrees with a horizontal gap (from object) of 1mm.
• De-string Settings: Prime 5.5mm Suck: 5.4mm Wipe:5mm Z-lift: 1mm
• Notes from the creators: "PLA really keeps its shape well. We had to use floating beams in the STLs to achieve a rigid enough support structure so the model wouldn't wobble after 10 inches tall and ruin the print. We found KISSlicer worked the best in terms of support structure."

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Free webinars on 3d printing jigs, fixtures and hollow composites layups

Another great video from GoEngineer on all kinds of jigs and fixtures used in various manufacturing processes and made with 3d printers. Very educational!

Here is the previous tutorial on injection molding:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2014/08/free-webinar-on-3d-printing-and.html

Update (14.5.2015.):

Here is a new free webinar on FDM 3d printing with soluble material to create low cost, quick, one-time use patterns for hollow core composite layups.

Update (5.7.2015.):

Here is another great webinar on benefits of 3d printed fixtures by Aaron Latzke

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Oddbot is 3d printable DIY robot with Mecanum wheels

Oddbot is 3d printable open source DIY robot with omnidirectional Mecanum wheels which you can make yourself with your 3d printer. It is aimed at robotics education and small projects. It doesn't look optimized for FDM printers but it is probably possible to do it.

Mecanum wheel

Detailed construction instructions with all the files and software can be found at:

http://www.odd.org.nz/oddbot.html


The project is developed by Olaf Diegel whois  well known for his 3d printed electric guitars and 3d printed saxophone.

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NIH 3D Print Exchange for publicly available biomedical files

Ever needed to download some 3dprintable models of cells? viruses? molecules? Some scientific lab equipment? Here is a new place for you!

What is NIH 3d print exchange:

The NIH 3D Print Exchange is a collaborative effort led by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in collaboration with the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development and the National Library of Medicine.

Few scientific 3D-printable models are available online, and the expertise required to generate and validate such models remains a barrier. The NIH 3D Print Exchange eliminates this gap with an open, comprehensive, and interactive website for searching, browsing, downloading, and sharing biomedical 3D print files, modeling tutorials, and educational material.

The site will have prewritten scripts that can turn 3D medical data, such as free models from the Electron Microscopy Database, into 3D printable files using the open-source UCSF Chimera software package.

 

http://3dprint.nih.gov/

NIH 3d print exchange youtube channel 

User can also submit their projects to NIH 3d print exchange

Some of the models on NIH

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NVBots presents NVPrinter designed for schools with simplicity and automation as main features

New Valence Robotics presents new 3d printer aimed ad education institutions that features fully automatic 3d printing and part ejection with storage. The company wants to lease this NVPrinter they describe as "the first of its kind, fully automated, cloud-connected 3D printer," to schools for between $3,000 and $5,000 a year.

NVPrinter features:

This new machine is certainly evolutionary step forward from the first one they presented:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2013/10/new-valence-robotics-nv-3d-printer.html 

There are no independent tests or detailed technical specifications. I'm always skeptical with printers that claim high level of automation. There is not even a video of machine printing. We will see ...

They are crowd-funding at: http://www.fundable.com/nvbots

Company page: http://nvbots.com/

Automatic part removal is nothing new, but it was usually done in DIY fashion with many custom variations mostly by people who use their printers as small business machines to produce many parts:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2013/08/upgrade-of-reprap-automatic-printing.html

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2012/11/ultimaker-print-farm.html

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