by Brian Krassenstein — 3Dprint.com

The ability to 3D print objects of all shapes, and many sizes, has enabled individuals to take at least some control of their lives away from the large manufacturers and corporations out there. We can now become the makers of what we consumer. 3D printing has been touted as a way to cut back on waste. Additive manufacturing is clearly a much better fabrication method than that of subtractive manufacturing. These new processes are certainly saving materials for the large manufacturers out there who may be printing in metals, or other materials instead of using milling techniques. For those of us who use ordinary FDM-based desktop 3D printers to make trinkets and little doo-dads, let’s be honest, we are probably causing more plastic waste than we were prior to purchasing these machines. How many 3D prints have you had which have failed and you simply end up throwing away? Half of the stuff you print, you likely would never have purchased anyway, right?

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TJ McCue — Forbes

Depending on where you get your statistics, there are between 10 and 15 million amputees in the world. People who lose a limb go through a lot of pain obviously and the challenge to get a prosthetic limb that allows them to fully function again often doesn’t lessen the emotional pain aspect. It is a difficult process. Plus, it is not inexpensive. In this week’s news, there is a post about a young man in Ottawa who needs help to purchase a new prosthetic leg and he’s taken his need to crowdfunding on YouCaring.com.

Selvan Mohan is a PhD candidate at Carleton University. The university will help cover $10,000 of the $22,000 needed. His campaign is almost 50 percent funded. A group of people, friends included, got together to help him create the video which you can watch here. I found Mr. Mohan’s story compelling and worthy (check out the video), but what do you do if you cannot take your case to the powerful crowd-funding platforms?

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By Adrian Mars — ZDNet

Cheap 3D printers have had a bad rap. Seen as toys for enthusiasts, most work by squeezing melted plastic filament through a thin nozzle (Fused Filament Fabrication, or FFF), producing what is often dismissed as tat.

The reality is far more exciting: these devices are revolutionising the world of product development, are set to educate a generation and are home to some of the most innovative developments in the 3D printing world.

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Jason Dorrier — Singularity Hub

Consumer 3D printing has been creeping into mainstream awareness. Last year, office supply chain Staples announced they’d sell 3D Systems Cube 3D printers in stores, and UPS began offering 3D printing services at select locations.

Not to be outdone, massive online retailer Amazon dedicated an online storefront to 3D printers and supplies. And most recently, the firm added another storefront selling 3D printed products—bobbleheads, jewelry, smartphone cases.

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Written by Janey Davies — Inside 3DP

Forget those eight-inch mini-me models you can get for £60 if you happen to live near an Asda in Manchester, offering the service. Now, thanks to a firm in China, you can actually own a fully life-sized replica of yourself.

The company is called Qingdao Unique Products Develop Co. Ltd, and in order to print a life-size model, they have developed the world’s largest 3D printer. The Chinese company revealed their life-size 3D printed model and their 3D Wax Statue Printer at the World 3D printing technology Industry Conference and Exposition held in Qingdao in June.

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by Brian Krassenstein — 3D Print.com

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By Randy Rieland — Smithsonian.com

These days, 3D printing seems to be at the core of most new new research ventures, whether it’s developing ways to print entire meals or recreating facial features to repair a patient’s face.

But Skylar Tibbits wants to up the ante: He’s hoping 4D printing will be the thing of the not-so-far future.

The name for his concept, Tibbits admits, was a bit lighthearted at first. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tibbits and researchers from the firms Stratasys and Autodesk Inc were trying to come up with a way of describing the objects they were creating on 3D printers—objects that not only could be printed, but thanks to geometric code, could also later change shape and transform on their own.

The name stuck, and now the process they developed—which turns code into “smart objects” that can self-assemble or change shape when confronted with a change in its environment—could very well pop up in a number of industries, from construction to athletic wear.

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By Signe Brewster — GigOm

When NASA sends a 3D printer to the International Space Station, it will dramatically improve the crew’s ability to fix unforeseen problems like broken parts and supply shortages. It will also reduce how much mass needs to be carried into space; instead of having a spare copy of everything, astronauts can just print parts as they are needed.

NASA is considering taking that reduction in material one step further by putting a plastic recycler on the ISS. The Made in Space printer that will board the ISS later this year prints in ABS plastic, which is the same type used in Legos and other common items. A recycler would allow the ISS crew to turn broken parts and other unneeded items back into the raw material on which the printer relies.

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