3d printing


3D printed drones

Need a cheap drone for a mission tomorrow? Just print one out.

We have 3D printed keys, guns and shoes — now a research team at the University of Virginia has created a 3D printed UAV drone for the Department of Defense.

In the works for three years, the aircraft, no bigger than a remote-controlled plane, can carry a 1.5-pound payload. If it crashes or needs a design tweak for a new mission, another one can be printed out in a little more than a day, for just $2,500 (£1533). It’s made with off-the-shelf parts and has an Android phone for a brain.

via Military-grade drones can now be 3D printed (Wired UK).


Perfectly modern sex toys

Just over a decade ago, I polled the Spinneyhead extended family and we came up with a list of features to build into the perfect sex toy. I never got around to creating said toy (or toys, some of the features were mutually exclusive), but a surprising number of the suggestions have been incorporated into toys which are now available, such as this high-tech selection that Wired has had a look at.


Build yourself a house with mini-bots

There have been other robots designed to 3D print buildings, but they’ve all had to be bigger than the final structure. These mini-bots- and their mobile supply trolley- aren’t restricted in the same way. They’re more likely to be building sturdier temporary structures at first. I could see rescue teams turning up at the site of a large disaster and using these sorts of robots to put a hospital up within a few days, for instance.

These Cute Little Drones Could 3-D Print a House | Design | WIRED.


The evolution of 3D guns

3D printed weapons are a scary prospect, and their development from idea to prototype to ever better versions has been typically fast. I was a relatively early advocate of the power of 3D printing, but even I wouldn’t have predicted practical firearms becoming a possibility so quickly.

How 3-D Printed Guns Evolved Into Serious Weapons in Just One Year | Threat Level | WIRED.


Christmas gift ideas from Spinneyhead

Not long to go until Christmas, so, if you’re unsure about what to get your friends and family, may I suggest a couple of online shops.

Buy my handmade, art and vintage stuff from Zibbet, or get 3D printed models from Shapeways. All cool stuff, some of it using the most modern of methods, some old school.

And don’t forget, if you have a Kindle you can buy my books from Amazon (and Garth Owen’s as well).


Greater Manchester Police seize 3D printer used to make guns in raids, as well as crack cocaine, £2m of counterfeit goods, lethal weapons and high-powered cars – Manchester Evening News

Component parts of what could be the UK’s first-ever 3D gun were seized in Greater Manchester’s biggest-ever crackdown on gangs.

Police and other agencies have been involved in around 100 raids during a week of hush-hush operations, with more expected this morning. Fifty people have been arrested so far.

via Greater Manchester Police seize 3D printer used to make guns in raids, as well as crack cocaine, £2m of counterfeit goods, lethal weapons and high-powered cars – Manchester Evening News.


3-D scans turn fossils into print replicas

Nearly 20,000 fossils in Britain have been scanned and uploaded onto the Web, allowing the public to download them and print intricate replicas.

Thousands of prehistoric fossils have been rescued from dusty museum archives and made available online by the British Geological Survey as highly detailed 3-D models.

Researchers and the public can now access almost 20,000 virtual fossils and print 3-D replicas. There are also plans in the works to digitally scan dinosaur fossils.

The blog of the 3D fossil project is here.

via 3-D scans turn fossils into print replicas.


Look at my Tiny Chopper!

Look at my tiny Chopper

Based upon a popular child’s bike, these little beauties will bring life and colour to any modern image layout set in the seventies and later.

The bikes frames are 3D printed and come unpainted with a section of bent wire for the handlebars- trim the bars to the appropriate length and attach them with super glue. (The handlebars supplied will be in silver, not, as seen in the photo, black.)

The OO Gauge Chopper 2 pack is available to order from Spinneyworld.


Little pieces of plastic that make me very happy

Little pieces of plastic that make me very happy

These arrived today, and I am very pleased with them. They’re the latest test prints of my first set of modern image bikes for model railways. The larger bikes are O gauge (1:43rd), and look to be ready for market. You can order them from the Spinneyworld shop, with the first full scale print late this month or early next.

The smaller bikes are OO (1:76th). At that size, the handle bars and pedals were too fine to print (I had to fatten them up for the O gauge ones). The question is, would people buy them if they need to fashion their own handle bars? I could make them in etched brass, but that could be expensive, or make them from wire, a little labour intensive. But I’m selling to resourceful folk, maybe I can rely on them to do a bit of the work.

Modellers, what do you think?


Bits From Bytes

Bits From Bytes is a British company which makes desktop 3D printers with prices starting under £2000. That’s for the single head version of their printer. Realistically, and especially if you want to creat more complex structures, you really need the two head version, which will also lay down support material. I’m not sure what the three head printer will do. They also make a build it yourself version if you’re feeling adventurous.


We can all be industries now

Reading this article about the revolution in small scale manufacturing and industry in Wired reminded me that I haven’t uploaded anything new to my Shapeways shop for a few months.

It’s time to reinstate the rule that Mondays are for 3d modelling, whether for upload or background details in the comic. I have a commission, of sorts, to design door and window surrounds for the station on Dad’s model railway. Tomorrow I think I’ll pick up an Airfix Ford Escort, because I have ideas of bits to do for it. Then I need to get the Italeri 1/24 Land Rover and see what I can do for that.