U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Carderock Division completed a fabricated model of the hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) on Jan. 10, 2013. This is the first ship model to be created using a new 3D printer.
As a hospital ship, USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) provides emergency, on-site medical and surgical services for U.S. combatant forces deployed in war or for use in disaster. Comfort is more advanced than traditional hospital on land.
The state-of-the-art 3D printer used by Carderock is one of four in the United States. It provides Carderock with the capability to deliver large, complex ship models. The 3D printed ship models require less assembly time and can be fabricated unattended, 24 hours a day.
(3D printed model USNS Comfort | Image credit: NSWC)
“3D printing technology is currently being used in industry to produce parts, structures and models for various applications,” said NSWC Carderock engineer Francisco “Paco” Rodriguez. “For more than a century, Carderock engineers have been at the forefront of technology in delivering ship models in order to build the Navy’s future fleet. This next generation technology provides Carderock unprecedented capability to deliver fabricated ship models faster and at a more affordable cost for the Navy.”
NSWC Carderock engineers and technicians upload computer-aided design (CAD) drawings of a ship model into the 3D printer. As the printing process begins an epoxy resin is exposed to ultraviolet light, changing its state to a solid. A wiper applies a coat of the liquid to a flat surface on the machine and the ultraviolet laser then traces the shape of the part to be constructed. Once solidified, the wiper continuously applies additional coats of epoxy until the ship model is completed.
Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!
Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!
The Adafruit Learning System has dozens of great tools to get you well on your way to creating incredible works of engineering, interactive art, and design with your 3D printer! If you’ve made a cool project that combines 3D printing and electronics, be sure to let us know, and we’ll feature it here!
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: Open Hardware is In, New CircuitPython and Pi 5 16GB, and much more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
