3D Printing prices would decrease thanks to ... Straw!
Straw from farms should be given a new function rather unexpected. Indeed, the Chinese company Jiangsu Jinghe Hi-Tech managed to develop a plastic filament composed by straw which will be used for toys' design through 3D printing.
"A clean and solid design"
Very economic and ecological, the straw is first milled and then mixed with various additives such as silane, polypropylene and ethylene bisstearamide. This mixture composed by small plastic pellets is then transformed into filaments for 3D printing. A process which has already passed the test steps and were positive with a very clean and solid finish.
"A cheap material, up to two times cheaper"
In comparison with other plastics privileged in 3D printing, ABS and PLA, straw has the advantage of being easier to produce, it is green and very cheap.
Indeed, the ABS tonne costs to € 1,730, and PLA (polylactic acid derived from corn starch), although ecological, reached € 2,310 per tonne.According to Yan Wei, deputy director general of the Chinese firm, a tonne of plastic from crop straw reaches only € 1,155.
« We're still producing for EU market »
"Jinghe Jiangsu Hi-Tech" has already concluded agreements with local companies that can supply up to 7000 tons of straw per year. This straw is used especially for the manufacture of plastic toys dedicated to the EU toys' market. It remains a question regarding the relevance of the process challenges in which the farmers are subjected.
SOURCE: CITIZENPOST.FR
Solidworks Contributes CAD Design Software to Fab Foundation
A big announcement this week at the Fab10 International Fab Lab meeting in Barcelona was a donation from Solidworks to the Fab Foundation.
Fab Foundation Director Sherry Lassiter Introducing Marie Planchard of Solidworks at Fab10
The software company is donating a Commercial license of the Solidworks 3D CAD Premium version to each Fab Lab in the Fab Lab Network. The application for qualified Fab Labs will be available through the Fab Foundation website very soon. The Fab Academies which offer MIT’s “How to Build ‘almost’ Anything” course will be able to get a 10-seat network license of the education edition that includes simulation, and other extended capabilities. Solidworks is particularly good at handling the triangulations of 3D Printing design files and is the CAD program of choice for many working in modeling.
Fab Foundation Director Sherry Lassiter says, “We are so grateful for the generous contribution of software from Solidworks. This will help many of our Fab Labs expand their capabilities in Digital Fabrication design.”
SOURCE : 3DPRINTER
Learn about 3D printing and compare 3D printing products
Lets look at the presentation of the mission of Aniwaa's team:
We started Aniwaa in order to help companies and individuals make the most of 3D printing.We want to help you understand how 3D printing works and allow you to compare easily all the 3D printers and 3D scanners available on the market.
3D printing has a huge number of innovative applications and fun and functional uses, but the technology and tools can be complex and difficult to understand. We realized there’s a lot of information about various 3D printing services and tools available online but it’s often fragmented and requires deep technical knowledge to understand.
We decided to organize all this information in one place: Aniwaa.com, for all things 3D-printed related.
SOURCE: ANIWAA.com
