3D printing news: from rockets to chicken nuggets

While scrambling for some fresh content to keep the editor happy and me gainfully employed, I did the obvious: Googled “3D printing” and clicked the News icon at the top of the search page.

There’s a lot going on out there:

• UK-based aerospace manufacturer BAE Systems recently installed its fourth Stratasys F900, a whopper of an FDM printer with a build volume of 2,772 x 1,683 x 2,027 mm (that’s 109 x 66 x 78 in. to you Imperial people; as I wrote in a blog a couple months ago, I’ve gone metric). It’s part of the company’s “Factory of the Future” initiative. Not exactly an original name, but congrats, BAE.

• Orbex, another British aerospace firm, bragged that its 3D-printed rockets will be the first to launch from the United Kingdom’s new Sutherland Space Hub in Scotland. I’m glad to hear that the UK is getting into the space business, and as a long-time Star Trek fan, this helps explain the origins of Scotty, the Enterprise’s chief engineer.

• Europe’s largest 3D printer—a 10-meter square gantry-style machine from Belgium’s COBOD—just “spat out” an entire two-story house, a proof of concept aimed to pave the way for more affordable housing.

• Automaker Porsche has developed a 3D-printed piston for its 911 GT2 RS sportscar. It weighs 10% less than its forged equivalent, has a closed cooling duct within the piston’s crown, and adds an impressive 30 HP to the 730-HP engine. No big deal, perhaps, but the internal ducting represents just one more example of a part feature impossible to create without 3D printing.

• Researchers in China have reportedly used SLA technology to print “propellants” from a mix of photopolymer resin and RDX, a military explosive. They then placed these small, disc-shaped charges in a casing, tamped in a miniature cannonball, and let ‘er rip. The results were decidedly lethal to anyone on the receiving end. They’re not alone. A laboratory in the UK has begun experimenting with 3D-printed explosives (think shaped charges), while Australian scientists are 3D-printing fuel rods for rocket motors. Hang on tight.

There’s plenty more. Scientists at the University of Minnesota (Go, Gophers!) have printed a beating heart muscle, which they intend to use for disease and pharmaceutical research. California bicycle brand Superstrata has launched an Indiegogo campaign for custom, unibody, 3D-printed carbon fiber e-bikes (starting price is $2,499).

And the most exciting 3D printing news of all? The Russian firm Bioprinting Solutions has partnered with the Colonel to produce 3D-printed chicken nuggets. I can hardly wait to taste them!