3D Printing: The Next Big Thing. Explained

A 3D printer cannot make any object on demand like the "Star Trek" replicators of science fiction. But a growing array of 3D printing machines has already begun to revolutionize the business of making things in the real world.

3D printers work by following a computer's digital instructions to "print" an object using materials such as plastic, ceramics and metal. The printing process involves building up an object one layer at a time until it's complete. For instance, some 3D printers squirt out a stream of heated, semi-liquid plastic that solidifies as the printer's head moves around to create the outline of each layer within the object.

One of the 3-D printers at work in the Mediated Matter group at the MIT Media Lab.
Credit: MIT | Melanie Gonick

The instructions used by 3D printers often take the form of computer-aided design (CAD) files — digital blueprints for making different objects. That means a person can design an object on their computer using 3D modeling software, hook the computer up to a 3D printer, and the watch the 3D printer build the object right before his or her eyes.

History of 3D printing

Manufacturers have quietly used 3D printing technology — also known as additive manufacturing — to build models and prototypes of products over the past 20 years. Charles Hull invented the first commercial 3D printer and offered it for sale through his company 3D Systems in 1986. Hull's machine used stereolithography, a technique that relies upon a laser to solidify an ultraviolet-sensitive polymer material wherever the ultraviolet laser touches.

The technology remained relatively unknown to the greater public until the second decade of the 21st century. A combination of U.S. government funding and commercial startups has created a new wave of unprecedented popularity around the idea of 3D printing since that time.

First, President Barack Obama's administration awarded $30 million to create the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII) in 2012 as a way of helping to revitalize U.S. manufacturing. NAMII acts as an umbrella organization for a network of universities and companies that aims to refine 3D printing technology for rapid deployment in the manufacturing sector.

Second, a new wave of startups has made the idea of 3D printing popular within the so-called "Maker" movement that emphasizes do-it-yourself projects. Many of those companies offer 3D printing services or sell relatively cheap 3D printers that can cost just hundreds rather than thousands of dollars.

3D printing Yoda using wooden material

Future of 3D printing

3D printing probably won't replace many of the usual assembly-line methods for building standard products. Instead, the technology offers the advantage of making individual, specifically tailored parts on demand — something more suited to creating specialized parts for U.S. military aircraft rather than making thousands of trash cans for sale at Wal-Mart. Boeing has already used 3D printing to make more than 22,000 parts used on civilian and military aircraft flying today.

Mechanical engineer Larry Bonassar holds a fabricated ear printed with a 3D printer in his lab at Cornell University's Weill Hall.  Credit: Lindsay France/Cornell University Photography

The medical industry has also taken advantage of 3D printing's ability to make unique objects that might otherwise be tough to build using traditional methods. U.S. surgeons implanted a3D-printed skull piece to replace 75 percent of a patient's skull during an operation in March 2013. Researchers also built a 3D-printed earmold that served as the framework for a bioengineered ear with living cells.

The spread of 3D printing technology around the world could also shrink geographical distances for both homeowners and businesses. Online marketplaces already allow individuals to upload 3D-printable designs for objects and sell them anywhere in the world. Rather than pay hefty shipping fees and import taxes, sellers can simply arrange for a sold product to be printed at whatever 3D printing facility is closest to the buyer.

Such 3D printing services may not be limited to specialty shops or companies in the near future. Staples stores plan to offer 3D printing services in the Netherlands and Belgium starting in 2013.

Businesses won't be alone in benefiting from 3D printing's print-on-demand-anywhere capability. The U.S. military has deployed 3D printing labs to Afghanistan as a way to speed up the pace of battlefield innovation and rapidly build whatever soldiers might need onsite. NASA has looked into 3D printing for making replacement parts aboard the International Space Station and building spacecraft in orbit.

Most 3D printers don't go beyond the size of household appliances such as refrigerators, but 3D printing could even scale up in size to build objects as big as a house. A separate NASA project has investigated the possibility of building lunar bases for future astronauts by using moon "dirt" known as regolith.

Limitations of 3D printing

But 3D printing still has its limits. Most 3D printers can only print objects using a specific type of material — a serious limitation that prevents 3D printers from creating complex objects such as an Apple iPhone. Yet researchers and commercial companies have begun developing workarounds. Optomec, a company based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has already made a 3D printer capable of printing electronic circuitry onto objects.

A .22 pistol assembled using a 3D-printed receiver part.
Credit: HaveBlue.org

The 3D printing boom could eventually prove disruptive in both a positive and negative sense. For instance, the ability to easily share digital blueprints online and print out the objects at home has proven a huge boon for do-it-yourself makers.

But security experts worry about 3D printing's ability to magnify the effects of digital piracy and the sharing of knowledge that could prove dangerous in the wrong hands. Defense Distributed, a Texas group, has already begun pushing societal boundaries by working on the world's first fully 3D-printable gun.

Low-cost saltwater battery wins $500,000 award

This could be a turning point for renewable energy.

A relatively cheap and environmentally friendly battery that uses saltwater and other commonly available materials to solve one of the biggest technical challenges facing renewable energy technologies was awarded a prize whose past recipients have gone on to have significant impact on technology and society at large.

An Aqueous Hybrid Ion battery roughly the size of a dishwasher or small refrigerator potentially stores enough solar or wind energy to power a single-family home completely off the grid in a region where sunlight is relatively plentiful, according to Dr. Jay Whitacre, a professor of materials science at Carnegie Mellon who invented the battery.

Whitacre founded Aquion Energy in 2008 and received venture funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers shortly thereafter. It was announced Tuesday that Whitacre was given the 2015 Lemelson-MIT Prize, an award worth $500,000, for inventing the battery. (Investors in Aquion include Bill Gates and venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers.)

Past winners of the Lemelson-MIT Prize have included other influential inventors, including Ray Kurzweil, Dean Kamen, Douglas Engelbart, the inventor of the computer mouse, and Leroy Hood, who invented the DNA sequencer.

A suitable and inexpensive method for storing energy could be a boon to the adoption of renewable energy technology, especially sources such as wind and solar energy.

When conditions are favorable, these sources are capable of capturing much more energy than users might immediately need. But when the sun is not shining or the wind is not blowing, they are of little help.

Scientists and the renewable energy industry have considered using batteries to smooth out this imbalance; energy captured when sun or wind are abundant can be stored and be meted out in leaner times.

This would make wind and solar far more competitive with fossil fuels and nuclear power, which are seen as providing a steadier stream of electricity than wind and solar.

There already are similar batteries available, but Whitacre says they are typically made with materials that might be unsafe, are more expensive or are environmentally dangerous.

Lithium-ion batteries are a common technology that Whitacre said might be considered competitors with Aquion's batteries, but lithium-ion batteries that can perform for as many charge and discharge cycles as Aquion's saltwater battery would cost significantly more.

Whitacre said that the company should be able to sell Aquion batteries capable of powering a typical single family home for between $1,000 and $3,000, depending on the size, once the company is working at full production in the next year or two. Those batteries will last for about 3,000 cycles, or 3,000 days and nights. So, if the battery were hooked up to solar panels, one day would represent a full charge and one night might represent a full discharge. Taken together, one charge and one discharge makes one complete cycle.

In addition, lithium-ion batteries are full of a flammable solvent, whereas the Aquion battery are nonflammable and nonexplosive, Whitacre told CNBC.

"[Our batteries] cannot burn, they are full of water," he said. "And when they dry out, they are fire retardant." The batteries also do not use heavy metals or toxic chemicals.

Michael Webber, deputy director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas, said he was not familiar with Aquion Energy in particular, but he said that a saltwater-based battery poses a number of potential advantages over other options.

"With some battery technologies, such as lithium-ion, you have potential issues with the price and availability of the materials."

Webber said that some of the materials needed for batteries could prove difficult to source down the road. There even could be trade or supply-chain security issues that may hinder access to needed materials in countries where they are mined.

"Saltwater, on the other hand, is everywhere, so you don't have those same constraints," he said.

Aqueous-ion batteries are also easier to build than lithium-ion batteries, said Robert Fares, a researcher in Webber's lab at the University of Texas.

"It is basically electrodes that dip into the saltwater, whereas lithium batteries undergo this complex manufacturing process," Fares told CNBC.

Stringing lithium-ion batteries together also generally requires a battery management system to manage them, which Aquion's batteries do not need.

However, there are a couple of limitations to saltwater batteries in general, Fares said. First, aqueous-ion batteries have a lower energy density than lithium batteries; lithium-ion batteries can pack more battery capacity into a smaller case than aqueous-ion batteries can.

And, generally lithium-ion batteries come out on top for efficiency.

"A battery is a box of energy where you put a certain amount of energy in, and you get a slightly smaller amount of energy out," he said. With lithium-ion, you get out a larger amount of the energy that you had put into the box.

That might not be a problem for aqueous-ion batteries, as long as they save enough money over lithium-ion to make up for the lost efficiency, Fares said.

Aquion is focusing its near-term sales efforts on areas where energy is expensive and dirty, such as island regions, developing countries or remote regions with poor energy infrastructure. 

Courtesy: msn.com

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CREATIVE DESIGN

A lot of people are becoming aware and are interested in creative design lately due to its lucrative nature, especially print media but that’s a story for another day. People come up to me saying stuff like “I want to learn creative design and make money with it”, some even say things like “This looks like fun, I can do it”. I admire the ‘can do’ spirit, but here are some things one should consider before you start creative design.

1)    It isn’t easy:  Creative design is fun but it isn’t easy, the fun is in seeing the finish of your creation, a lot of people see this but don’t know the processes it had to go through to become the work of art that it is.

2)    Passion: You have to enjoy what you do. Every artist must be passionate about his work else it’ll just be work to him/her. When one has passion for their work then it’ll be fun and a good learning process as well.

3)    Make sure you learn new things all the time: one can never assume to know all there is about creative design because it is a vast discipline that requires constant practice in a specialized area. So if you want to do branding, publications, advertising, and art etc; then focus on that area and be awesome at it.

4)    Be open to criticism: art and creativity will always be criticized so don’t feel bad when someone says “I don’t get it” or “I don’t like it”. Remember that it was inspired from within and it is a part of you. Besides everyone can’t like your work so focus on those who get you.

5)    Don’t be afraid to charge people for your work: If they don’t want to pay you for your work then they are not the right client for you. There are many clients out there that love your work and want to add value to their business, the idea of creative design is to add value to business.

6)    People value things that cost something: Whatever we buy for a huge cost, we tend to put value on them. I’m not saying you should overcharge like $2000 for a line or a dot; that is not cool. Just as one would place more value on a phone you got for $800 than one you got for $50.

7)    Stop doing free work all the time: There are some misconceptions about doing free work like:

                    i.            Helps you gain experience

                  ii.            Promotes your work

Well that’s what we want to believe but the truth is that it destroys the creative community; it cheapens the value of our work. So next time you are tempted to help a friend out try to charge them a little, they’ll appreciate your work and it adds value to creativity. By doing so you are helping another creative designer and earn some money as well. Everybody wants to earn.

  8)    Always listen to the client and understand what they really want: As designers our work is personal to us so we don’t like being told that our designs are not desirable because we’ve put in a little bit of ourselves in that. Don’t get offended.

   9)    Learn to accept constructive criticism: We get criticized everywhere these days especially on the internet. This is a great way to grow and a necessary process.

I don’t expect people to always tell me “oh that’s nice” because they are friends or family who are trying to be supportive. I want people to advise me about my work and add value to it.

Do not listen to offensive people though; they only end up discouraging you and sowing a seed of bitterness and self esteem issues. Use the criticisms to build a better you.

   10)    Don’t give up:  our generation seems to have too many opportunities that we tend to give up on a lot of things whenever we experience any difficulty. We have the internet which provides us with a lot of free information that we could use to better ourselves. One can learn anything on the internet e.g. by using YouTube, Coursera, Lynda and any other online resources. There should be no excuses for failure, rather we should see opportunities. Believe in yourself and work hard to make a point. Block out the excuses and focus on the opportunities.

   

   11)    Avoid comparison: people compare themselves more now than ever before because the world is now like a global community where everyone is accessible online, so we see other designers’ works and compare with what we’ve done. We are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses, of designers, and critics and so on.

E.g. we see others getting more followers or likes and we don’t measure up, or other designers getting more money for their work and we probably think we can do better than they.

When we compare ourselves to that it makes give up or want to give up because we are not there yet.

The process of growth is continuous; we never stop growing till we die. It also applies to our careers, there is no peak we just keep climbing, and there is always room to grow.

It’s like a game of golf; you don’t try to beat others, you try to beat your last score. Strive to be better than you were yesterday, be a better you by practising and being consistent; learn to motivate yourself.

 On a closing note never stop learning, the day you stop learning is the day you stop living.  Starve your distractions and feed your focus.

Issues to take note of in carrying out design jobs

·        Payment for services

·        Terms and conditions

·        Disagreement with clients

·        Knowing your strengths and limitations

·        Originality

·        Distractions

These issues will be addressed in details in my next post. Thank you for reading, will appreciate your feedback.

Why digital prototyping is rewiring the future of design

Photo credit: emercedesebenz.com

Photo: bakerbaynes.com

Digital Prototyping isn’t a new technology. There’s been talk of the benefits of Digital Prototyping for years, but until recently, the budget and tools required in building and testing a digital prototype meant that it wasn’t an option for most manufacturers. Traditionally, Digital Prototyping solutions have been expensive, customised installations for larger enterprises, while out-of-the-box 3D modelling software typically offers only part of the functionality required to build and test a true digital prototype. Today, though, the playing fields are starting to level out. Autodesk’s approach to Digital Prototyping is radically different from the traditional: it allows for a cost-effective and attainable solution that brings the power of digital prototyping to businesses that don’t have the budget to match. So, with such powerful software becoming viable for use by small and medium enterprises, what do smaller companies stand to gain? Digital Prototyping makes processes more efficient and cost effective For firms that have already adopted Digital Prototyping software, the results speak for themselves. The internet is awash with case studies and statistics about companies who have seen significant increases in productivity and profitability as a result of adopting Digital Prototyping. Because digital prototyping makes it possible for conceptual design, engineering and manufacturing departments to explore a virtual product in its entirety, the number of physical prototypes required before manufacture can be reduced dramatically. Not only does this mean that all parties involved across your entire firm have a unified idea of the project outcomes, but the costs of physically prototyping products is minimised, if not negated altogether. Say goodbye to siloed tools and disconnected workflows Some of the most common, and severe, hurdles in product development arise from miscommunication between siloes. Traditional workflows, in light of the software solutions available today, are restrictive in that they prohibit collaboration throughout your firm. With digital prototyping software, siloed tools are replaced with integrated ones. Your entire workflow is centred around a single, intelligent digital model, eliminating traditional barriers to collaboration and innovation. Aside from the obvious benefits to productivity and the reduced chance for error, bringing your firm together and giving them access to a single, detailed 3D model makes it possible for true collaboration to happen across departments. Innovation is one of the most valuable commodities at the disposal of the modern business, and any service that fosters it should be considered an important asset. Fewer physical prototypes makes your company more environmentally friendly Environmental concerns are a very real and pressing issue for companies in today’s marketplace. With fewer physical prototypes, the ecological impact of your business – as well as product and testing-related overhead – will be significantly reduced. Using digital prototyping software also keeps wastage of materials and resources to a minimum. As environmental responsibility is at the forefront of public consciousness, firms that adopt “green” thinking or environmentally sustainable practices are sure to be viewed more favourably. Digital Prototyping is being adopted across the board – why wait? Because of its integrated nature, digital prototyping software provides a holistic benefit to your entire firm. Each member of your team is kept informed about project progress, and as a result each individual is able to make the most meaningful contribution to the project at hand. On a project scale, objectives and requirements are understood across the board from the outset of the project, resulting in more well-defined goals and smoother operations from start to finish. For more information on the many benefits of Digital Prototyping Software and how you could be using it to drive better business, please download our complementary Digital Prototyping infographic. I came across this article this morning, it's pretty amazing how design in technology is revolutionizing the manufacturing and oil & gas industries.

To read the main article click in the link below.
 Courtesy www.bakerbaynes.com

For training in 3D simulation and prototyping software visit
Ace International Training Center 
Call this number: +2348177777327

My First Blog (Design is Life)

Nowadays everyone blogs or do something to achieve some level of fame at any expense, well I'm not going to say I'm different but I can surely tell you that this blog is unique in its own way.

We shall showcase designs from across the globe; and from time to time feature unique designs from other designers.
At Lucullan Enterprises we value design because design is life.

Everything has a design; from the house you live in, the cars you drive, the phones you use, the clothes you wear, even your body has a unique design. So try to correct me if you don't agree that "Design is Life".

Would appreciate your contributions to this blog, feel free to send in your designs (graphics, websites, fashion, engineering, etc)
We promise to engage you with some interesting content soon, but for now enjoy one from our portfolio and tell us what you think (negative or positive).

Please which of these designs do you prefer?

Sample A

Sample B