3D Printing Liquid Metal on a Spider’s Head at Room Temperature (VIDEO), via Shapeways blog:
3D Printing metal is not easy, it usually takes serious heat and/or serious laser power to melt metal particles together to make a 3D form. A team at North Carolina State University have devised a method to 3D print liquid metal at room temperature using a thin oxide layer on the surface of the metal allows for the formation of mechanically stable structures strong enough to stand against gravity and the large surface tension of the liquid. The method is capable of printing wires, arrays of spheres, arches, and interconnects. Check out the video of the printing in action that is worth watching for the soundtrack, let alone 3D printing liquid metal on a spider’s head… Also note that the video has been sped up 40-50x so it is not a blindingly fast process. via 3Ders
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!