3D printed bridge looks like alien technology

MX3D is 3D printing a fully functional stainless steel bridge to cross one of the oldest and most famous canals in the center of Amsterdam, the Oudezijds Achterburgwal. They equip typical industrial robots with purpose-built tools and develop the software to control them. The unique approach allows us to 3D print strong, complex and graceful …

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Metal Additive Manufacturing grew 80% in 2017 and Additive manufacturing grew 21% overall

A. Wohlers Associates has published its series of annual reports on AM for 23 consecutive years. * an estimated 1,768 metal AM systems were sold in 2017, compared to 983 systems in 2016, an increase of nearly 80%. Wohlers Associates found that 135 companies around the world produced and sold industrial AM systems in 2017, …

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Radically simpler 3D printing rockets with less than 100 parts instead of nearly 100,000

Relativity Space is 3D printing rockets. Rocket Labs is also trying to 3D print rockets. Relativity Space is making a rocket that has 4 times the thrust of the Rocket Labs rocket. Relativity rocket engine will still have ten times less thrust than the SpaceX merlin engine. Relativity Space wants is reimagining the way rockets …

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NASA laser wire 3D printing of rocket nozzles is much cheaper and five times faster

A new process called Laser Wire Direct Closeout (LWDC) was developed and advanced at NASA to build a less-expensive rocket nozzle in significantly less time. LWDC is a different process than most 3-D printing technologies, which are powder-based and fabricated in layers. It uses a freeform-directed energy wire deposition process to fabricate material in place. …

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Rocket Lab successfully reaches orbit and deploys payloads and will charge less than $5 million per launch

Rocket Lab has successfully reached orbit with the test flight of its second Electron orbital launch vehicle, Still Testing. Electron lifted-off at 14:43 NZDT from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on the Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand. Following successful first and second stage burns, Electron reached orbit and deployed customer payloads at 8 minutes and …

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Lawrence Livermore unlocks 3D printing to smaller than 150 nanometer features

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have discovered novel ways to extend the capabilities of two-photon lithography (TPL), a high-resolution 3D printing technique capable of producing nanoscale features smaller than one-hundredth the width of a human hair. The findings unleashes the potential for X-ray computed tomography (CT) to analyze stress or defects noninvasively in embedded …

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Spacefab bootstrapping higher resolution space telescopes and then manufacturing in space at asteroids

Spacefab is currently building ther Waypoint space telescope with a 21 centimeter mirror. It is launching as a co-payload on a SpaceX rocket in 2019. This commercial telescope will have an image intensified ultraviolet and visible camera, and a 48 megapixel camera for visible and near-infrared imaging for astronomical and Earth observation purposes, available for …

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GE reveals 3D Printer for one meter metal objects and system will scale to larger sizes

GE revealed the beta version of the world’s largest 3D printer for metals, which uses a laser and a powder bed to make parts. It is capable of printing parts as large as 1 meter in diameter directly from a computer file by fusing together thin layers of metal powder with a 1-kilowatt laser. The …

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