Novo Plástico, da Ponoko, e 3D em folhas

Isto é importante, a Ponoko mudou o seu Plástico, para um material que permite peças embutidas, e por exemplo, rodas dentro de eixos, já feitas no seu lugar, sem precisar de encaixes:

NEW material: Superfine Plastic in white for 3D printing — with gelatin support material

We’ve added a new 3D printing material to the Ponoko catalog:
Superfine Plastic in white.

This material is has a very smooth, milky white finish and excellent accuracy and detail. It’s not quite as durable as our Durable Fine Plastic, but it uses the same dual resin build technique that allows for interlocking, hinged or nested objects. The second resin, a gelatin support material, is removed with a high pressure water spray.

Take a look at the Superfine Plastic White material page for full details and design tips for getting optimal results from this material.

And you can pick up a sample of our new Superfine Plastic White for $4.50.

http://blog.ponoko.com/2011/11/11/new-material-superfine-plastic-in-white-for-3d-printing-—-with-gelatin-support-material/

E isto vai fazer furor, em Cartões de Natal, um dia, folhas de plástico cortadas, que se montam à luz do dia!

From 2D to 3D: Just add light

Imagine if you could take an everyday inkjet printer, and use it to create dynamic self-assembling three dimensional structures. Researchers at North Carolina State University have been doing exactly this, and the results have a simple elegance that is really quite mesmerising to behold.

Dr Michael Dickey, one of the authors of the paper “Self-folding of polymer sheets using local light absorption” explains the team’s findings:

This is a novel application of existing materials, and has potential for rapid, high-volume manufacturing processes or packaging applications.

It all happens remarkably quickly. A pre-stressed plastic sheet is run through a standard inkjet printer, where bold black lines are printed onto the material. When exposed to an infrared light source (such as a heat lamp) the darker areas absorb more energy and folds occur without any external mechanical intervention.

http://blog.ponoko.com/2011/11/12/from-2d-to-3d-just-add-light/