Blog Written by Hutch Hutchison, Director, Technology & Engineering Matching, FuzeHub
Recently, Cornell University, in Ithaca, has been making waves (sound that is!) in Additive Manufacturing Technology advancement. Their accomplishments have encompassed both sides of Audio technology – 3-D printed loudspeakers, to produce the sound, and 3-D printed Ears, to hear it with!
First, the loudspeakers – two grad-student researchers at Cornell, Apoorva Kiran and Robert MacCurdy, have developed the first, completely 3-D printed loudspeaker. Working with Hod Lipson, who has established quite a name for himself in the AM technology field, as well as the Creative Machines Lab at Cornell, the two students have been able to make the first consumer electronics device ever 3-D Printed. The device consists of plastic cone and magnet housing, with integral silver ink employed for the wiring, and a strontium-ferrite ink, developed by another Cornell researcher, Samanvaya Srivastava, was used for the magnet.
While the device had to be printed in two parts, using two printers, then assembled, it still represents a significant step forward in 3-D printing of a complete electro-magnetic system. One printer had cartridges loaded with the plastic case and cone material, the other selectively loaded with the silver ink and the magnetic ink as needed.
Of further significance, the printers were also developed at Cornell. The Fab@Home printer, developed by two Graduate students , Adam Tow and Jeffrey Lipton in 2011. The printer uses two syringe-like nozzles to 3-D print a variety of inks. (Including food!)
Read more about the loudspeaker and see the video at First 3-D Printed Loudspeaker.
Speaking of the Fab@Home 3-D Printer, it was also used to develop one of the first cellular human ears, aimed at fulfilling ear development, lacking in infants, suffering from a congenital deformity called microtia, or replacing ears lost in accidents or to cancer. The technique, being developed at Cornell by a team of physicians and scientists, prints a plastic mold, then fills the mold with a gel comprised of cartilage from a rat tail and collagen from a cow’s ear to form an human-implantable ear, with living cells. Given the printer’s ability to print almost anything precisely, we are not far from a printer, printing the live ear from human cells.
Enjoy the article here, along with a video by Hod Lipson, commenting on the future of Additive Manufacturing, and other organ-manufcturing projects: 3-D Printed Organs from living cells.
First, the loudspeakers – two grad-student researchers at Cornell, Apoorva Kiran and Robert MacCurdy, have developed the first, completely 3-D printed loudspeaker. Working with Hod Lipson, who has established quite a name for himself in the AM technology field, as well as the Creative Machines Lab at Cornell, the two students have been able to make the first consumer electronics device ever 3-D Printed. The device consists of plastic cone and magnet housing, with integral silver ink employed for the wiring, and a strontium-ferrite ink, developed by another Cornell researcher, Samanvaya Srivastava, was used for the magnet.
While the device had to be printed in two parts, using two printers, then assembled, it still represents a significant step forward in 3-D printing of a complete electro-magnetic system. One printer had cartridges loaded with the plastic case and cone material, the other selectively loaded with the silver ink and the magnetic ink as needed.
Of further significance, the printers were also developed at Cornell. The Fab@Home printer, developed by two Graduate students , Adam Tow and Jeffrey Lipton in 2011. The printer uses two syringe-like nozzles to 3-D print a variety of inks. (Including food!)
Read more about the loudspeaker and see the video at First 3-D Printed Loudspeaker.
Speaking of the Fab@Home 3-D Printer, it was also used to develop one of the first cellular human ears, aimed at fulfilling ear development, lacking in infants, suffering from a congenital deformity called microtia, or replacing ears lost in accidents or to cancer. The technique, being developed at Cornell by a team of physicians and scientists, prints a plastic mold, then fills the mold with a gel comprised of cartilage from a rat tail and collagen from a cow’s ear to form an human-implantable ear, with living cells. Given the printer’s ability to print almost anything precisely, we are not far from a printer, printing the live ear from human cells.
Enjoy the article here, along with a video by Hod Lipson, commenting on the future of Additive Manufacturing, and other organ-manufcturing projects: 3-D Printed Organs from living cells