3D Printed Sharpie Mount Adds a Pop of Color to White Filament https://ift.tt/2HAW5JZ Looking to add multiple colors to your prints but you can only afford a less expensive desktop 3D printing system with a single extruder where your only option is to stop the job and manually swap out the filament? Check out this fun idea that was posted on Hackaday: a simple 3D printed mount that attaches to your printer, and holds up to three colored Sharpie permanent markers against the filament right as it’s going into the top of the extruder. Maker Devin Montes, who runs the YouTube channel Make Anything, enjoys creating, in his own words, “both functional models and delightful objects that spark inspiration.” I’d say this 3D printed Sharpie mount, which Montes has published on 3D printable design repository MyMiniFactory, would fall into both of those categories.
In order to make desktop 3D printers less expensive so they’re more accessible to all users, nearly all of them use single extruder setups, which means there aren’t a lot of options for multimaterial printing. Hackaday writer Tom Nardi does admit that from “a practical standpoint, that’s not much of a problem,” but a statement like that is practically catnip for people who like to create 3D printing and life hacks. Montes thought it would be fun to add some more color to his desktop prints, and created this small but mighty 3D printable mount, which he calls the Sharpie 3 Color Blender. Here’s how it works: just load three colored Sharpie permanent markers into the mount, tip down. The mount is angled in such a way that it holds the tips against the filament as it’s coming into the top of the extruder. If you’re using translucent or white filament, the Sharpies add a vibrant splash of color to your prints. It’s certainly not multicolor 3D printing like Mimaki or Stratasys offer, but it can definitely give your prints a little something extra. The mount has four parts:
Montes designed this mount for his Snapmaker Original 3D printer, which, according to Nardi, “is relatively well suited to such a contraption as it has a direct drive extruder and there’s plenty of clearance for the markers to stick up.” But he’s working on some upgrades that are compatible with more types of 3D printers, and in his MyMiniFactory download, he also included two additional versions of the blender part, just in case another maker comes along that can modify his original hack for a different system.
Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com November 25, 2020 at 07:32AM
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Interview: Satori and Moroccan Designer 3D Print “Work From Home” Office Goods https://ift.tt/3nT1RpK London-based startup Satori, which means “enlightenment” in Japanese Zen, recently entered the 3D printing market with the launch of its new professional 3D printer, the compact, resin-based ST1600. The system, which features a 5″ LCD touchscreen, 120 x 192 x 120 mm build volume, and increased light efficiency for fast layer exposure and higher print resolution, has been called a “good manufacturing problem-solver” by Satori, which is the startup’s key mission: to solve problems. In addition to offering increased accessibility with what it calls more affordable prices, Satori has also developed a range of high-performance 3D printing materials, printer accessories, and an exclusive consultation service and on-boarding period for customers that purchase the new ST1600. At the same time, Satori also announced a new partnership program in order to work with innovators and creatives from industries around the globe on impactful, problem-solving initiatives that 3D printing can solve. My interest in the startup was already piqued by the company’s obvious focus on creativity, and even more so when I learned that it is female-led, which is one of my favorite things to hear. During the recent Formnext Connect, I met virtually with Satori’s Marketing and PR Officer Julia Horvath to discuss the first partner in the program. Horvath told me that Satori’s main initiative is “inspiring global innovators around the world” and that the startup was “very excited” about its first partnership with the award-winning Mahdi Naim Design Lab, a full-service industrial design agency based in Casablanca, Morocco and Lyon, France. Julia explained that Satori, which was founded by the company’s CEO Chengxi Wang, was collaborating with Moroccan designer Mahdi Naim, the creator of the design lab, on a collection that will connect “3D printing with problem solving and create a community for everyone going through the same issues” during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
Wang stated in a Satori press release that the startup hopes people will use its technology “to create meaningful objects to address the most pertinent issues in daily life.” The exclusive partnership entails a series of projects, the first of which is this new collection that, according to the release, will focus on the importance of empathy and mental health during these unprecedented times. The collection is focused on 3D printing with a purpose to solve a problem, as well as connecting art with technology. It features some really unique but functional 3D printed pieces people can use while working from home that are meant to improve their workspace.
The three interior design products in the collection, printed on Satori’s ST1600, are a laptop stand, a stationary organizer, and a USB holder, which is, amazingly, also a stress ball, thanks to its flexible outer material. Another difference is that a lattice structure was used to optimize the designs in order to use less material, but still maintain full functionality. You can really see the effects of flexible but functional design in this collection: the intricate laptop stand is based on the structure of a whale bone, while the nose at the front is a good place to put your hand while you’re using the mouse pad.
She asked if I would be interested in virtually meeting with both Naim and Wang to discuss the new Satori x Mahdi collection, and I couldn’t say yes fast enough. During our call, I asked Naim if he had ever worked with 3D printing before, and he said yes, mentioning in a later email that his studio is “equipped with 3 FDM machines.” He said that to use the technology in his line of work was “logical.”
Naim said that he has already “delivered several projects realised with this technology such as the TO-LYON time capsule for Vinci Immobilier, within the framework” of architect Dominique Perrault’s TO-LYON skyscraper project.
He explained that Africa does not have “the same network of traditional industries like in Europe and Asia,” stating how important it was to work with the right craftspeople in order to create a good product, and how 3D printing can provide many solutions to the African continent. This is why he also appreciates the mobility of the technology.
Naim went on to say that people can achieve good results when combining the 3D printing universe with that of handmade crafts, as the two can “communicate the same value.” This doesn’t necessarily mean 3D printing figurines and toys, but larger, more world-changing applications. For example, he mentioned how we can’t imagine building a habitat on the moon now without the use of 3D printing.
Wang mentioned that Naim’s focus on perspective is what made Satori so excited to work with him, and Naim said that the subject of the collaboration really touched him:
I told him that I really liked the 3D printed USB holder/stress ball in the collection, and he said that it was a good example of the co-creation between his design lab and the Satori team.
Naim explained that design is a multi-step process for him, starting with a product’s function and where it fits in the economy, and ending with intuition and empathy, which he says “gives us the possibility to share experience with the other.” Wang went on to explain that this was the purpose of Satori’s partnership program, stating that it wasn’t a service bureau, but a problem-solving process.
I took the opportunity to ask Wang why Satori had decided to work on an industrial application first.
Naim agreed with her use of the word ’empowering.’
He brought up a really good point that when we talk about 3D printing, we’re really discussing three different segments and technologies: software, material, and machines. You won’t get a good result if you use, perhaps, a good software and machine but a bad material, or a good material and software but not a good machine.
Satori and the Mahdi Naim Design Lab are currently developing other inspiring projects together, such as a social initiative in Africa to pioneer 3D printing, and I asked if they could share more about that with me. Naim said that two of their collaborative projects have been delayed due to COVID-19, but that he wasn’t allowed to tell me me too much about them just yet.
Wang elaborated on their partnership for social impact in Africa, calling it “a long-term collaboration” to find feasible solutions that can be carried out via 3D printing to provide some service, based on Naim’s own observations of what the people there need.
Naim said that he needed to find a way to help a lot of people if they want to design for Moroccan culture, noting that Satori’s less costly professional technology is helpful here.
I asked Wang if anyone else had joined Satori’s new partnership program yet, and she said that the startup is also working with a fashion designer, though she can’t reveal much more information just yet.
With that brief but intriguing explanation, I can’t wait to hear more about this fashion collaboration in the future, and about Satori’s continued collaboration with the Mahdi Naim Design Lab. Stay tuned for my upcoming interview with Satori CEO Chengxi Wang about diversity in 3D printing technology! (Images courtesy of Satori unless otherwise noted) Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com November 25, 2020 at 07:02AM Three Key Hurdles Restraining the Growth of the Tissue Engineering Field https://ift.tt/364tB4z The interdisciplinary field of regenerative medicine – comprised of tissue engineering (TE), cell therapy (CT), and gene therapy (GT) – is growing rapidly, characterized by groundbreaking therapeutic advances that have the potential to change how healthcare providers deliver care. The fields of CT and GT have been the primary contributors to this growth in the past decade, demonstrated by the increase in available funding and marketed products, while in comparison, the field of TE has lagged behind. We believe this delayed maturation of TE is mainly due to the greater relative complexity of tissue engineered medical products (TEMPs) compared to cell and gene therapies. Generally, cell therapies transfer intact, live cells into a patient and gene therapies introduce, remove, or change a patient’s genetic code to treat disease, whereas TEMPs are engineered to repair, modify, or regenerate a patient’s cells, tissues, and organs or their structure and function, or both. This elevated complexity, which refers to both the structural composition of the end-product as well as the associated manufacturing process, has manifested itself in three key hurdles currently holding back TE:
COMPLEX MANUFACTURING REQUIREMENTS TEMP manufacturing is relatively more complex than for cell and gene therapies due to the required raw materials, uncertainties of quality control, and difficulties scaling production capabilities. Required Raw Materials: Compared to CT and GT, TE requires additional raw materials in the form of cells, scaffolds, and signaling molecules. It may seem that these ingredients can be combined according to a pre-determined recipe; however, the desired end-product greatly influences the quantity and type of ingredients used and raises several questions for manufacturers. Which signaling molecules induce appropriate cellular differentiation? Does the scaffold provide a suitable environment for cellular growth and vascularization? Does the end-product mimic the appropriate structural and mechanical properties? The answers to many of these questions remain largely uncertain. Quality Control Uncertainties: Manufacturing TEMPs consistently raises quality and reproducibility issues, given it is often not feasible to only check for quality and consistency following the completion of the TEMP manufacturing process. There are also limited options for in-line non-destructive testing of critical quality attributes (CQAs) to accurately assess TEMPs prior to completion. Difficulties Scaling Production Capabilities: TEMPs are usually manufactured by manually seeding scaffolds with cells. While this is enough for establishing proof-of-concept, manufacturers face considerable challenges when scaling for clinical production. These challenges are exacerbated when attempting to establish commercial-scale production capabilities without the infrastructure or technology required to ensure end-product quality and reproducibility. This is seen with Dermagraft®, a tissue-engineered skin substitute approved for treatment of diabetic foot ulcers and one of the most infamous TEMPs marketed. Clinical trials for Dermagraft initiated in 1991, with expectations of FDA approval by 1995. The product was not approved until 2001. Despite achieving approval and showing clinical benefit, Dermagraft has repeatedly failed to turn a profit in part due to challenges with manufacturing, regulatory, and reimbursement, showing how complicated TEMPs can be versus other therapies including cell and gene therapies. UNDEFINED REGULATORY PATHWAYS While regulatory pathways for TEMPs exist, they are relatively undefined compared to those for cell and gene therapies, and do not appropriately handle the added complexity of TEMPs. With such uncertainty in regulatory oversight, it is critical for TEMP investigators to align with the FDA early in development, though deciding where a product falls and how to regulate it remains unknown. Regulatory bodies make decisions based on the quality and consistency of available data but, as noted, there are limited available options for in-line, non-destructive testing of CQAs. Without empirical evidence, it becomes increasingly difficult to demonstrate necessary levels of quality and consistency. If investigators clearly understood the supporting science and could readily demonstrate appropriate levels of quality and consistency, regulatory bodies could more easily differentiate one product from another and make systematic decisions on how best to regulate TEMPs. Additional TEMP complexity is currently forcing many investigators to submit low-quality and inconsistent data. Thus, while many regulatory bodies have made considerable progress toward streamlining regulation, the baseline complexity of TEMPs continues to plague investigators and regulatory officials alike. INEFFECTIVE REIMBURSMENT STREAMS Similar to the lack of industry-wide protocols for TEMP regulation, there are currently no universally accepted standards for accurately valuing and reimbursing curative cell and gene therapies and TEMPs. Curative therapies have the potential to generate long-term benefits with a single or limited number of therapeutic applications, which are valued based on their clinical impact on disease, quality of life for patients, overall healthcare system costs, and added societal value, such as increased productivity, avoided hospital visits, and long-term impact on caregivers. Despite their long-term value, curative therapies are scrutinized extensively due to their often-high upfront costs, raising serious questions about how they should be funded. Industry stakeholders are currently focused on answering these questions on cell and gene therapies. Healthcare systems around the world are beginning to evolve their policies and reimbursement systems to accommodate curative cell and gene therapies by exploring alternative reimbursement (e.g., cost-sharing, value-based contracts) and/or financing models (e.g., reinsurance, installment payments, consumer health loans). Developing and implementing reimbursement schemes for TEMPs will be especially critical, given the high costs incurred by innovators and manufacturers in clinical development stages. Looking ahead, there is potential to apply newly developed reimbursement schemes for curative cell and gene therapies to TEMPs to help these costly and more complex products be effectively valued and reimbursed by healthcare systems. CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY ASTM F2211-13, Standard Classification for Tissue Engineered Medical Products (TEMPs), ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, 2013, www.astm.org. Dodson BP, Levine AD. Challenges in the translation and commercialization of cell therapies. BMC Biotechnol. 2015;15:70. Published 2015 Aug 7. doi:10.1186/s12896-015-0190-4. Gardner, John, and Andrew Webster. 2016. “The social management of biomedical novelty: Facilitating translation in regenerative medicine.” Social Science & Medicine 156: 90-97. Kim, Y. S., Smoak, M. M., Melchiorri, A. J., & Mikos, A. G. (2018). An Overview of the Tissue Engineering Market in the USA from 2011 to 2018. Tissue Engineering Part A. doi:10.1089/ten.tea.2018.0138. Mount, Natalie, Stephen Ward, Panos Kefalas, and Johan Hyllner. 2015. “Cell-based therapy technology classifications and translational challenges.” Biological Sciences (The Royal Society Publishing) 307 (1680). O’Donnell, B. T., Ives, C. J., Mohiuddin, O. A., & Bunnell, B. A. (2019). “Beyond the Present Constraints That Prevent a Wide Spread of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Approaches.” Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 7. doi:10.3389/fbioe.2019.00095. Pangarkar, Nitin, et al. “Advanced Tissue Sciences Inc.: Learning from the Past, a Case Study for Regenerative Medicine.” Regenerative Medicine, vol. 5, no. 5, 2010, pp. 823–835., doi:10.2217/rme.10.66. Yadav, Vikramaditya, Roza Ghaemi, and Lim Siang. 2019. “Improving the Rate of Translation of Tissue Engineering Products.” Advanced Healthcare Materials 8 (19). About the authors The views expressed herein are the authors’ and not those of Charles River Associates (CRA) or any of the organizations with which the authors are affiliated. Lev Gerlovin is a Vice President in the Life Sciences Practice at CRA with more than 12 years’ experience in life sciences strategy consulting, focused on commercial and market access strategies. Andrew Thomson is a Consulting Associate within the Life Science Practice at CRA with several years of experience in commercial strategy consulting with pharmaceutical and biotech clients alike. Jack Vailas is an Associate within the Life Sciences Practice at CRA with several years of experience with biotech innovation and commercial strategy. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com November 25, 2020 at 07:02AM Breakthrough in 3D Printing Graphene Self-powered Sensors for Smart Tires https://ift.tt/33jDzxo Researchers at Virginia Tech have developed a breakthrough method to integrate self-powered, wireless strain sensors into smart tires using 3D printing and graphene. Their work was recently published in Nature, and describes the development and cost-effective integration of graphene-based piezoresistive sensors for tires which can measure and securely transmit tire data wirelessly. The sensors, which can provide information about tire loads, pressure, temperature and more, are energy-efficient and harvest strain energy from the tire itself to transfer wireless data. The team behind this novel work included researchers from the Center for Tire Research (CenTiRe), and Department of Mechanical Engineering at VirginiaTech, as well as from the Department of Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering at Penn State. Before there are fully autonomous cars, there will be smart tires. At least that’s what experts from Nokian Tyres (a Finnish tyre manufacturer known globally for specializing in winter tyres) believe as part of their prediction that smart tires will be commonplace within five years. Their view is that this would arise more out of the need to meet safety requirements, in a future where autonomous driving is more prevalent with regulations built around the safety and reliability of autonomous systems. Indeed, by estimates since 2015 through 2018, 10 million self-driving cars were expected to be on the road by 2020. While that’s nowhere near the case right now, advances and improvements indicate that such numbers would be a possibility in the near future. Without a driver, tire condition and safety needs to be measured in new ways, using sensors and connected technologies that relay information directly to on-board or remote systems. These sensors will provide data to inform autonomous decision-making related to tire condition, temperature, pressure, grip and wear, and replacement. In the future, connected service models will see more automated preventive maintenance such as tire replacement services – where sensors notify on-board systems of the need for replacement, which in turn connect to nearby tire service providers who dispatch a new set of tires to the car owner. Even for current traditional cars, such sensor technology could be integrated with traditional tires, to reduce the number of road accidents caused due to tire-related issues. Earlier in 2018, a collaboration between Virginia Tech and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory developed a novel stereolithography-based method to 3D print graphene in theoretically any size or shape, at a higher resolution than possible before. This enabled applications of graphene, which uniquely combines high thermal and electrical conductivity with strong mechanical properties, in aerospace, sensors, and batteries among other applications. Earlier this year, we had also reported on Virginia Tech’s development of a novel 3D printing method for latex rubber, at high resolution with mechanical properties akin to those of traditional latex rubber. In this paper, the sensors are made by this novel 3D printing method using a graphene-based ink, which is designed with a wrinkled microstructure. The wrinkles provide high flexibility and prevent the sensor from being damaged or failing due to repeated or large deformations in the tire. Graphene sensors are found to deliver higher performance and are more sensitive compared to traditional sensors. With the 3D printing method developed by Virginia Tech researchers, the cost of a 3D printed strain sensor is as low as 2.7 cents. Their method uses an aerosol with silver nanoparticles to optimize the printing process, after which graphene oxide sheets are chemically reduced to obtain reduced graphene oxide with enhanced conductivity. These sensors can be directly printed on a variety of substrates, expanding its scope of applications to beyond just tire materials. This isn’t the first time that efforts have been made to integrate wireless sensors into tires to make them ‘smart’ in sensing and communicating dynamic parameters in real-time. Yet the key difference in these efforts is that these sensors have relied on external power sources, are typically rigid, and their development and integration involves multiple steps, raising the complexity and cost of such wireless mechanisms for tires. For example, accelerometers can be rigid, capacitative sensors have varying sensitivity, energy harvesting approaches using electromagnetics can be large-sized and difficult to integrate, or nanogenerators which are flexible, but expensive to fabricate. Eventually, the piezoelectric patch was the chosen approach for researchers in this case, given its flexibility, ability to bear large deformations without failure, cost-effectiveness, and ease of integration. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com November 25, 2020 at 07:02AM Dyze Design Pulsar™ 3D Printer Pellet Extruder Now Available for Pre-Orders https://ift.tt/2HDUAe2 Canadian-based OEM Dyze Design is now officially taking preorders for its new pellet 3d printer extruder, Pulsar™. This state-of-the-art high flow rate plastic pellet extruder was designed with a single purpose: quickly and cost-effectively 3D print parts of 1 m³ and more. Pulsar™ is able to output 2.5 kg of material per hour (500 mm³/s). “Pellet-based extrusion is a true game changer in the 3d printing industry. It enables really high throughput, but most importantly, it reduces your material costs by up to 10 times and gives you access to new kinds of polymers, some that don’t even exist in filament format,” says Simon Duchaine, Chief Marketing Officer of Dyze Design. “There’s more and more demand for pellet-based printers or extrusion systems in the industry. Companies just want to get things done faster, at a lower cost. Pellets give you the best of both worlds.” The Pulsar™ extruder is intended to work with pellets, also commonly known as granules, ranging from 3 mm to 5 mm. Pellets can be from popular polymers to more advanced engineering material (such as PEEK, PEAK, PEI, PVA, HIPS) thanks to its maximum operating temperature of 500 °C and its integrated liquid-cooling loop. Optimised for industrial 3d printingThe customized screw design is optimized for 3D printing with high resolution. The triple heat zone guarantees the polymer is at a constant temperature: the top section receives cold pellets and generates more heat to melt them. Then, the middle zone stabilizes the polymer at a precise temperature. Last, the nozzle heater ensures an even flow. The Pulsar™ also features an “anti-oozing mechanism.” As the screw can’t pull molten plastic, an anti-oozing device ensures nice looking prints without any flaws, such as “hairs” appearing during linear travels. With dimensions of 48 cm by 17 cm by 13 cm, Pulsar™ is designed for rather huge printers with a printing volume of 1m3 and more. “Pulsar™ lets you print large parts, like a chair or even a car, in a single piece,” tell Dyze’s CMO. “The extruder could actually be installed on a robotic arm. It’s a trend we start seeing. Some industrial companies already have access to robotics arms on premises, so they can simply mount an extrusion tool head to enable FDM technology,” adds Simon. The extruder is also compatible with any standard open source firmware (Marlin, RepRap, Repetier, etc.) Regarding supplying granules to the extruder, a hopper can be fixed on the extruder inlet to make use of gravity or an automatic feeding system can be purchased as an add-on to continuously bring pellets from a bulk container. Last year, Dyze Design managed to do rigorous testing of the extruder through a beta program. Several industrial or large-scale 3d printer manufacturers experimented and provided feedback, such as Compound Dynamics, Filament Innovations, Tobeca, Hybster, Rapid 3D, Lynxter to name a few. The Pulsar™ extruder is now officially open for preorders. It is priced at US$7949. About Dyze DesignMontréal-based company Dyze Design has been in the 3D printing industry since 2015 developing and manufacturing cutting-edge high performance, reliable, and innovative extrusion systems and 3D printer components for professional and industrial 3d printers. They are renowned for their Typhoon™ high-flow extruder, DyzeXtruder GT and DyzeXtruder Pro extruder line, their SENTINEL™ filament detector or Tungsten Carbide Nozzles. Today, many 3D printer brands such as Roboze, Sharebot, Blackbelt, Dynamical 3D, Aon3d, Trideo, 3DPlatform, Filament Innovations, Mark One and Cincinnati have chosen their hotends, extruders, and nozzles as OEM parts for their industrial or high-end printers. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com November 25, 2020 at 06:35AM
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Daan Rietbergen https://ift.tt/3fwfV5D Daan Rietbergen is an Utrecht based independent graphic designer and artist working on visual identity, poster design, typographic systems, record sleeve design, book design and murals. He studied Graphic Design at Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and St. Joost School of Art & Design. After graduating, Daan worked as a visual designer at Studio Dumbar from 2014 to 2019. “Working at Studio Dumbar completely shaped me as the designer I am today” says Daan. At Dumbar, he started to develop his love for grids and systems as a base for designing visual identities, and later his typographic systems. Before working there, Daan painted a lot of graffiti in a free and expressive style. After leaving the studio, he started to paint in public spaces again, but now with his new typographic systems.
When designing a visual identity for a client, Daan always begins the process with visual research; looking at competitors and visualising concepts he has in mind in order to begin sketching from. He states; “With these projects there are always deadlines and I need to force myself to produce. With my personal typographic systems, it’s different. I never sit down and think now I’m going to make a new typeface. Most of the typographic systems I designed started as little ideas when I was sketching on a project for a client. Those little ideas or shapes can be interesting but not for that particular client, so I will use them later on, without any deadline”. Daan constantly switches between client work and personal work, with each reinforcing the other; “letting the project rest for a while provides new insights”. His work is greatly influenced by Dutch Modernist graphic designers such as Wim Crouwel, Ben Bos and Jurriaan Schrofer; “The way they designed is the way I try to design; only show the things that are really necessary by using very powerful graphic shapes based on well thought out grid systems that get rid of all the visual noise”. Daan works across a variety of materials and techniques, including silkscreen printing, fineliner drawings on paper that are made with rulers and pencils to create a grid, acrylic paint on paper and tape for masking, wheat paste, spray paint, and Offset printing in CMYK or Pantone colors. Going forward, Daan hopes to create a series of publications; “I want to design books that are the summary of my typographic systems”. The book about his first typeface, Nespor, will be published at the end of this year. The publication will be like a type specimen, but also with all the drawings and murals he created, resulting in a complete overview of 200 pages, offset printed. www.daanrietbergen.com Printing via People of Print https://ift.tt/2DhgcW7 November 25, 2020 at 05:28AM
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Reverting to Type Demonstrates Letterpress’ Enduring Legacy of Dissent https://ift.tt/3m65zvA In a year dominated by the ins and outs of a global pandemic (pangolins, 5G, Dominic Cummings’ eyesight, government-mandated-no-missionary positions, and so on and so forth), it’s pretty easy to forget that all the other Big News items haven’t conveniently sidled off behind flimsy blue masks and resolved themselves. Yup, we’re sorry to say that things like climate crisis, racism, sexism, fake news, “surveillance capitalism” et al remain rife in lockdown; and a new exhibition of contemporary letterpress protest posters looks to gently remind us that these things aren’t just going to sidle away if we ignore them. The exhibition, titled Reverting to Type 2020, is held by east London-based letterpress printing studio New North Press and curated by its cofounder Graham Bignell along with Richard Ardagh, who’s been a partner at the studio since 2012. The show marks 10 years since the studio’s Reverting to Type exhibition of contemporary letterpress practitioners from 20 presses worldwide that aimed to “showcase how the centuries-old craft of letterpress is being reinvented by progressive practitioners.” This new show takes something of a sharper angle: according to the studio, all the works exhibited have “something to say.” It adds that the exhibition will be “a visual riot, giving voice to all that is worth protesting in 2020.” Alongside discussing (in fact, protesting) the thorny issues previously mentioned, a few posters naturally touch on Covid-19, but the focus is broader here and seems to look more as much at the medium as the message and drive home the power of big, blocky, beautifully grainy letterforms to raise awareness, persuade, celebrate and warn. The work of more than 100 letterpress artists from 16 countries will be on show in the exhibition which takes place both physically (from 4 December – 31 January 2021 at the Standpoint Gallery in Hoxton, east London) and online. Alongside the expected letterpress big guns like Alan Kitching, Erik Spiekermann and Anthony Burrill; posters have also been created by comedian, Fall fan and callback king Stewart Lee and Extinction Rebellion Art Group. Among the other less-expected contributors are photomontage artist Peter Kennard, graphic designer Malcolm Garrett (he of The Buzzcocks’ Orgasm Addict cover design fame, if anyone needed reminding), Turner Prize-nominee Mark Titchner and fashion designer Katharine Hamnett, who fittingly made her name with those 80s block-lettered slogan t-shirt designs. The work is certainly impressive and does what it purports to do—protest—but with a show that suggests that it, like its artists, is railing against structural inequalities such as racism and sexism, it’s a bit of a shame to see the lineup dominated by white men. We’ve nothing at all against these white men, but in the name of putting its curation where its cause is, to clumsily paraphrase the cliche about “money” and “mouths”, it’s a little disappointing not to see slightly more effort in uncovering non-white, non-male artists. A saving grace in that respect is found in the fact that New North Press is also showing works created by “asylum-seekers, adults with learning disabilities and young people with downgraded exam results,” who were invited to make posters at the studio. “Letterpress has long been a medium of dissent,” says New North Press. “Printing technology may have surpassed it in terms of speed but at the core of this centuries-old practice the ingredients to communicate ideas and give power to thoughts remains strong.” The exhibition will open with a virtual live-stream on 3 December. Visitor opening times will be determined once the lockdown exit plan has been announced.
Printing via People of Print https://ift.tt/2DhgcW7 November 25, 2020 at 03:21AM
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Mika Schalks https://ift.tt/33gMnEe Mika Schalks is a final-year Graphic Design student at the Royal Academy of Art The Hague, and a self-proclaimed gaiety-enthusiast, encouraging the omission of narrative. In their work, focused largely on the light-hearted nature of aesthetic, Mika induces a feeling of vague tangibility to a narrative seemingly reduced to nonsense. “It is why gimmick and exaggeration hold such a firm place in my heart, as they so closely express what inspires and animates us, and do so in a gloriously unapologetic manner” says Mika.They comment; “I, too, aspire to be so gloriously unapologetic. I also aspire to be so celebratory of the playfulness that attracts us to design to begin with”. Mika works in bright colours and with an ever-open possibility for change and revision, fully embracing the reign of chance and in full approval of Murphy’s ill-famed law. Their preferred techniques include Riso and screen printing, with a special appreciation for analogue processes precisely because of their characteristic tendency towards playfulness. Currently, Mika is an intern at Holymotion Studio in Arnhem, where they assist in set design and the subsequent fabrication of set pieces for the stop-motion film De Wraak van Knor; “Among other things, I much appreciate the opportunity to contribute to the film’s whimsicality with my complementing view on aesthetics and willingness to embrace creative thinking. I strongly believe the world benefits intensely from childish wonder and excitement, and as in my own work, I therefore am grateful for the opportunity to create with the encouragement of almost childish playfulness rather than its condoning”. Mika’s work deeply values the discussion on the function of design without being bound by blatancy; “I try to rhyme meaning with aesthetics by not allowing myself or my work to be defined by exclusion, which is why camp or queer aesthetics are often at the heart of my projects”. Their inclusion and recent fortitude in modern media is also what Mika is building their thesis around. Mika states; “It inspires me to work around the notion of identity and gender issues enriching new spaces in society, and it interests me how they are perceived and managed in said society from different perspectives”. In the future, Mika hopes to start their own studio with like-minded Royal Academy fellows, and to introduce their work to commissioners, such as newspapers or museums looking to bring a touch of whimsicality into their worlds. www.mika.computer Printing via People of Print https://ift.tt/2DhgcW7 November 24, 2020 at 09:56AM 3DPOD Episode 43: Powder Bed Fusion Innovations with Aerosint’s Edouard Moens de Hase https://ift.tt/360plDe Edouard Moens de Hase talks to us today about Aerosint. For the last few years, they have been working on improving powder bed fusion. The company has an innovative drum roller that can recoat layers of powder selectively. This means that the company can mix several metals, polymers, or ceramics in one layer or build. The company can also make gradient materials or bimetallic parts. Aerosint’s path to market is also unique in that it is focusing on its drum-based recoater technique and not in making the entire machine. Aerosint is a very inspiring company to me. They can radically alter what can be made and how parts can be designed and used with an existing technology. Aerosint could really be a force multiplier for many users and OEMs and advance 3D printing applications for many players. We hope that you enjoy listening! Podcast (podcast-audio): Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Android | Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com November 24, 2020 at 09:32AM Scale Modeling Tutorials: 3D Modeling Basics for 3D Printing, Part Two https://ift.tt/2UTpBxA In my last article, I began to show you how to use Fusion 360 to create some basic shapes. Here, we take those skills further, exploring more functions in the software before getting into an easy, yet somewhat complex example. More Basic FunctionsThere are a ton of different operations you can perform on objects. Let’s go over one more useful tool. Let’s create an object and duplicate it around the cylinder. Type “L” and click the top surface of our box to create a new sketch and draw a line. You can now draw your own shape using lines. Click somewhere on the box to create the starting point of a line. Move your mouse to draw out the line and click to place the end point. Continue clicking to create more points and lines until you’ve created a shape you like. Make sure you connect your final point to the first point we drew. (In order to extrude a sketch, it’s important that the shape be totally enclosed). Now type “E” and click your newly created sketch to extrude it up. This time, however, select “New Body” in the Extrude window to create a new body and click ok. You can select an object simply by clicking on it. Click the new shape we just created and notice that it’s now highlighted in blue. (Note: if your cursor is only able to select faces, click the “Select” dropdown in the top right, click “Selection Priority” and click “Select Body Priority”). You can move the object by typing “M” and dragging it along the arrows, or using the curve symbols to rotate it. You can also duplicate an object by selecting it, clicking it, then typing Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V and moving the new object in the same way. For now though, let’s create a few shapes around the edge of the cylinder. So type Ctrl+Z to undo any moving or copying and pasting you just did. Now, from the “Create” dropdown in the top left, select “Pattern” and click “Circular Pattern”. You’ll notice a new “Circular Pattern” window. If not already selected, choose “Bodies” from the “Pattern Type” dropdown. Click our newly created shape to select it. It should now be highlighted in the “Objects” field of the window. Right below that, click “Select” in the “Axis” field. Now, hover over the base of the cylinder until it’s highlighted and click the circle. There are a few other objects in the Circular Pattern window, but, for now, let’s just increase the “Quantity” to four and click ok. It may not be pretty, but you’ve just learned the basics of CAD design and created your first 3D objects. There are plenty of other functions to explore, but the basic process of creating sketches and objects, then manipulating them, can be used to create some pretty detailed models. Let’s quickly create a slightly more interesting model, using those same basic steps. A Fun ExampleHere is a model of some kind of sci-fi speeder I’ve been working on. I’d like to create a few, small accessories to add to the model once I print it off. I’m going to make some kind of fuel tank or canister to attach to the back of the model. Here’s a quick walkthrough that showcases a few other useful functions.
So, there you have it. You now have the basic tools you need to start creating your own models and hopefully you can see that the process isn’t nearly as daunting as some people think. As with any skill, practice makes perfect and there are plenty of other functions available in Fusion 360, which I may cover in future tutorials. However, you can create some pretty impressive designs just using the basic process of creating sketches and manipulating objects. If you enjoyed this tutorial and want to see some of my models, check out my Instagram, where I share pictures of my designs and prints as well as painting tips. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com November 24, 2020 at 09:02AM |
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