Eggheads at MIT say they have developed a method for 3D printing, which they claim significantly reduces the time it takes to adapt machines to use different materials.
Additive Manufacturing: From 3D Printing to the Factory Floor – MIT
One of the drawbacks of 3D printing, which has been hyped as a revolutionary technology for more than a decade, is that changing the printed medium can require lengthy adjustments to the machinery, in something of a trial and error process.
A collaboration between MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA), the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Center for Scientific Research in Greece (Demokritos) has attempted to tackle that problem.
The team used a 3D printer they had already developed to capture data and provide feedback as it works. They added three instruments to the machine's extruder—the part that pushes the print media, melts it, and squirts it onto the object to be printed. The additional instruments were designed to take measurements when the printer was doing its thing, which are used to calculate parameters.
