Tag Archives: 3D printing

Here’s printing at you kid.

by

If you have been reading this blog for awhile, you know that I am slightly obsessed with 3D printing.  Ok, a little bit more than slightly.  Maybe, I can convince you to join in my enthusiasm for all things 3D.

13-leo-marius-photo-sbinoux-14.jpg

A French man, Leo Marius created a fully functional SLR film camera for his graduation project and printed a working copy using his school’s 3D printer.

According to Leo, the OpenReflex is an Open-Source analog camera with a mirror, viewfinder and a finger activated mechanic shutter (running ~ 1/60 sec).

12-leo-marius-photo-sbinoux-13.jpg

It’s also compatible with ANY photographic lens with custom mount ring (that you print yourself, of course).  This would make a perfect gift for the photographer with a lot of older lenses, of any type.

Printing the parts is possible using a RepRap, MakerBot or any of the other available 3D-printers (now available on Amazon) using only ABS plastic without any support material.

A copy of the plans for printing is available on the Thingiverse website.

Printing all the parts and assembling them should take no more than 15 hours of printing and one hour of assembly time.

It is people like Leo that make me yearn to join an artist colony.  Only problem is I am a Lawyer, so I don’t think I’m allowed in. 🙁

– Ex astris, scientia –

I am and avid amateur astronomer and intellectual property attorney in Pasadena, California and I am a Rising Star as rated by Super Lawyers Magazine.  As a former Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy, I am a proud member of the Armed Service Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association working to aid all active duty and veterans in our communities. Connect with me on Google +

Norman

Space Pizza.

by

No delivery needed, and its not DiGiorno.  NASA has unveiled plans to print pizza in space.  That right, printed pizza.

The RepRap self-replicating printer 'Mendel". (Credit: CharlesC under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license).

I have probably mentioned once or twice on this blog how I love 3D printing.  3D printing has been in the news a lot lately when someone figured out that you could print a functioning plastic gun that would pass through security. Not the best use of the technology, but predictable.

A much better use has been chocolate (and other extrudable materials) for making fantastic food.

Picking up on this theme, NASA has awarded a $125,000 grant to the Systems & Materials Research Cooperation to design a 3D printer capable of printing a pizza from 30-year shelf stable foodstuffs.  SMRC built a basic food printer from a 3D chocolate printer to win the grant.  The design is based on an open-source RepRap 3D printer (shown above).  The 3D printer would “build-up” a pizza serving by first layering out the dough onto a heated plate then adding tomato sauce and toppings.  Mmmmmm….Pizza.

So instead of plastic containers of food, members of the International Space Station will be dinning on pizza in 2014.  There are a few problems to solve, such as zero g printing, but the upside is huge.

The ISS and other long term missions would only need to carry quantities of food material and have dinner printed.  Sort of like a poor mans replicator.

beermug

Now if they could only print beer, everything would be perfect!

– Ex astris, scientia –

I am and avid amateur astronomer and intellectual property attorney in Pasadena, California. As a former Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy, I am a proud member of the Armed Service Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association working to aid all active duty and veterans in our communities. Connect with me on Google +

Norman