In 3D Printing News Briefs, technologies developed by ORNL researchers won six R&D research awards, Rolls-Royce delivered its first of four Coach-built Droptail models with 3D printed elements, and Boston Micro Fabrication will market the thinnest cosmetic dental veneer. The Rube-Goldberg marble run was built by an electronics engineer with 200 3D printed pieces and an old bottle of gin. Finally, there’s a new handheld gaming PC that you can 3D print and build at home, and a model kit artist on YouTube 3D printed the ‘hover bike’ design from “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” video game.
Technologies by ORNL Researchers Receive Six R&D 100 Awards
Researchers pictured here at the DOE Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL developed the R&D 100 Award-winning hybrid additive manufacturing-compression molding, or AM-CM, technology. ORNL, US Dept. Energy
Technologies developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researchers have won six 2023 R&D 100 Awards from R&D World magazine. Since 1960, these awards honor science and technology research that results in new products, technologies, or commercial products that can be licensed or sold. The DOE Office of Science provided funding for three of the projects: “Additively Manufactured Thermally Conductive Collimators for Neutron Instrumentation,” developed by ORNL and PolarOnyx; “Physics-Informed, Active Learning–Driven Autonomous Microscopy for Science Discovery,” developed by ORNL and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; and “SuperNeuro: An Accelerated Neuromorphic Computing Simulator,” developed by ORNL. Another winner was “Precise, Continuous, & High-Speed Manufacturing of Thermoplastic Composites Using Additive Manufacturing-Compression Molding, AM-CM,” developed by ORNL with funding from DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO). “OpeN-AM: A Platform for Operando Neutron Diffraction Measurements of Additive Manufacturing,” developed by ORNL, also won, and received funding from DOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development, Digital Metallurgy Initiative. ORNL also supported the development CANDLE (CANcer Distributed Learning Environment), a collaboration among several DOE laboratories, and the Frederick National Laboratory of Cancer Research.
“ORNL strives to deliver technological solutions for the nation’s toughest problems. This year’s R&D 100 Awards are a reminder of how hard our scientists and engineers work to accomplish that feat,” said Jeff Smith, Interim Director of ORNL.
The first Rolls-Royce Coach-built Droptail model has 3D-printed features
Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail. Credit: Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce unveiled its first Droptail custom coach-built model at a Pebble Beach automobile event. Only three of the two seat convertibles will ever be produced, each costing over $33,000,000 CAD. Each of the Droptails will also be unique, as owners pay for a high level of customization; for instance, this first one is named La Rose Noire, in honor of the Black Baccara, which is the commissioning family’s favorite flower. The flower is also the basis of the car’s design, with “petals” represented by red veneer triangles embedded within the black woodwork extending from the instrument panel to the rear deck. La Rose Noire’s body is also painted a shade of metallic black called True Love. The hood, wheels and removable roof are painted a darker red, called Mystery.
Once again, Rolls-Royce turned to 3D printing to create some of the Droptail’s customized features. The car’s lower intake was 3D printed from composite material. This was then enhanced with more than 200 stainless steel ingots painted in True Love. The twin-turbocharged 6,75-liter V-12 engine is behind the intake, and there’s also a champagne chest in the car made specifically for the owner’s own vintage of Champagne de Lossy. Finally, an exclusive watch, commissioned by the owner’s family from Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piguet, adorns the dashboard, secured by a motorized holder. Once removed, the watch can be worn by the owner. A titanium blank with a Black Baccara engraving can then be installed.
Boston Micro Fabrication Enters Dental Market With UltraThineer
Microscale 3D printing solutions provider Boston Micro Fabrication (BMF) develops applications where its highly-precise projection micro stereolithography (PµSL) technology can reduce cost and production time, and is launching UltraThineer, which it calls the world’s thinnest cosmetic dental veneer. Veneers require extensive preparation of the teeth. This is painful, invasive and irreversible. Developed in collaboration with Peking University, these new durable veneers are only 100 µm thick, which is three times thinner than traditional ones, and dental professionals need much less preparation with them, which allows for preservation of the patient’s enamel. Multiple dental applications use 3D printing to provide custom solutions on demand. UltraThineer is the latest example. It features a production workflow and advanced zirconia materials, as well as the finishing process necessary to create more comfortable and less invasive veneers.
“The ability to print ceramics at minimal thickness will be revolutionary. Our current processes can be laborious when compared to milled zirconia full coverage crowns. Conservative reduction of the patient’s enamel should be practiced whenever possible,” said Jessica Love from Capture Dental Arts, a leading U.S. provider of cosmetic dental service. “I’m looking forward to the start of this new technology, allowing intricate, ultra-thin veneers to be printed. BMF’s advancements and innovation will continue to push the boundaries of dentistry and inspire innovation worldwide.”
UltraThineer Veneers should be available to the U.S. market by spring 2024, following a review of the FDA.
Rube Goldberg Inspired 3D Printed Marble Run kinetic sculpture
This kinetic sculpture is almost entirely 3D printed, and serves as a homage to the creator’s favorite gin.
David McDaid, an electronics engineer, was inspired by Rube Goldberg’s machines when he created a 3D-printed marble run kinetic statue. It also pays tribute to his favorite gin from the Isle of Harris Distillery. He designed the 2D Marble Run in Fusion 360 with the intention of making a piece of art that can be displayed on a wall. It features around 200 individual 3D printed parts, including the lightweight links of a roller chain that brings the marble back to the top after it completes a run, which he called “an absolute pain.” The marble run uses about 250 screws, nuts, and washers, and the empty gin bottle forms part of the structure’s driving mechanism. There’s also a Trinamic TMC2208 stepper motor driver connected to a NEMA17 stepper motor for reducing the noise, and several LEDs, and the whole thing is driven by an Elegoo Nano V3.0 Arduino-compatible microcontroller board and some custom PCBs. McDaid took about three months for the project to be completed.
“There’s only so much testing you can do within a CAD environment, which meant there was a lot of “print, test, repeat” required for each individual component for this build. Revisions ranged from a version one working first try, right up to a version 15 for some non-cooperative parts,” he wrote. “The total amount of filament used during development was around ~2.5kg [around 5.5lbs]. The total weight required to build the final product is just 0.66kg [around 1.5lbs].”
3D Printable NucDeck Handheld Gaming PC
Dan McKenzie is the creator of the NucDeck. It’s a handheld gaming computer that you can print out and build in your home. It features a 7″ touchscreen display, gyroscopic aiming, analog triggers, RGB joystick surrounds, a battery/controller information screen, and a 4s 3,000mAh Li-ion battery. Combine all of that with a Intel Core-i5-7260U 7th-generation CPU, 16GB DDR4-2133RAM, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 custom PCBs and a 3D-printed housing to make your NucDeck. It will cost you around $370. McKenzie created two housing versions, one with RGB joysticks and the other without. This was done to simplify 3D printing. He also notes in GitHub that the PCBs and software are incomplete, so you should take this project on “at your own risk!”
“There are two different versions of the buttons, membrane and clicky. The Membrane buttons are shorter and are designed to be used with silicone membranes,” McKenzie wrote on GitHub. “I’ve included files for molds to make the membranes. You should definitely try this with a resin-based printer as it will improve the feel and look of the buttons. FDM printers struggle to achieve the level of accuracy needed to create these parts. The clicky version is slightly taller and can be used without the membranes.”
Zelda Hover Bike 3D Printed
A few months ago, “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” video game, also known as “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2,” was released for Nintendo Switch, and it’s just as popular as you’d expect. The game is either being played or homages are paid to it by fans. In one example, a model kit artist from Hong Kong known as ‘qshyj‘ on YouTube turned to 3D printing and an airbrush to recreate the popular hover bike design from the game. It’s one of the top transportation modes in the game because it’s easy to put together: you only need two fans and a stick to switch from riding a horse in the game to riding a hover bike.
From the video, it appears that qshyj used a Creality HALOT-MAGE PRO resin 3D printer to print all the parts for the hover bike, which she designed so they’d all fit in one build. The supports appeared to be easy to remove. She then sanded and UV-cured the parts before using an airbrush to spray paint them. Paintbrushes and spray nozzles were used to add all the small details. Then, everything was either glued or snapped together. The work was time-consuming and intricate but the result was well worth it. While it’s definitely not a full-sized vehicle, the handheld replica itself is stunning and lifelike—even featuring the Ultrahand’s “sticky substance” that’s used to connect the devices of the Zonai in the land of Hyrule.
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