Today in Sliced, the 3D Printing Industry news digest, we have the latest 3D printer acquisitions, medical applications, a AR Pokémon app, large scale 3D prints and a bonus from Prusa Research.
Injection molding expands with 3D printing facility
Venture Plastics, Inc., an ISO certified injection molding company based in Newton Falls, Ohio has acquired its first 3D printer: a CreatorBot 3D Pro Series II.
A desktop FDM 3D printer, priced around $2,995, the Pro Series II is the flagship product of 3D PrinterWorks based in Youngstown, Ohio. It has a print area of 12” x 12”x 18” (305 x 305 x 457 mm) and is capable of dual extrusion. At Venture Plastics, the 3D printer will be applied to the rapid development of jigs, fixtures and customer prototypes.
3D printed orthopedics
American spinal implant and instrument developer and manufacturer CoreLink LLC. has announced the commercial availability of 3D printed interbody cage systems. Designed for implant within the spine, the devices are made from titanium using the company’s trademark Mimetic Metal technology, copying the porosity of natural bone.
In Lomé, the capital of Togo in West Africa, the national orthopaedic device and physiotherapy centre (CNAO) has started using 3D printing to create custom orthotics.
Gotta catch ’em all
A 3 meter tall triceratops has been brought to life by French events management specialist and advertising firm METROPOLE. Made on a Massivit 1800, the life size dino took two days to 3D print, and has been made to promote a new exhibition at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris.
Kevin Anders, a member of the 3D Printing group on Facebook, recently posted a video demo of an app he created for use with his 3D printed Pokémon collection. A kind of AR Pokédex, the app tests the features of Apple’s ARKit giving a profile of the objects its recognizes.
Yonhua Tzeng is IEEE Nanotechnology Council President and University Chair and Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. Mr Tzeng has a long list of academic achievements in his career, to which he can now add very specific additive manufacturing accomplishment – the creation of a titanium alloy tenor saxophone mouthpiece.
On LinkedIn Mr. Tzeng writes, “My real interest is to make a good and almost “Forever” mouthpiece, which is free from wear and corrosion. Titanium alloy is a convenient material to begin with. When the fabrication is completed it might become obvious.”
The 3D printed mouthpiece was made using Electron Beam Melting by Metal Industries Research & Development Centre in Taiwan. Follow this link if you’d like to hear how it sounds.
And, in a bonus tidbit from Josef Prusa’s twitter feed, Prusa Reserach HQ just got a make over with two new wall graphics screen-grabbed from the company’s livechat support…
We just installed wall graphics at the office 😂 These are true livechats at support btw… pic.twitter.com/2S8QauNNBr
— Josef Prusa (@josefprusa) June 21, 2018
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Featured image shows Sliced logo over the 3D printed and finidhed triceratops made by Metrolpole. Original photo vai Metropole/Massivit 3D
