All manner of items have joined the pantheon of 3D-printed stuff, but until now no one has 3D-printed cloth. Or yarn for that matter. “Felting Printer” boldly crosses that divine boundary, becoming the first functional 3D-printer/sewing-machine hybrid. Designed by Carnegie Mellon University Professor Scott Hudson, in a joint effort with Disney Research Pittsburg, the printer has successful created the first felt teddy bear to be spewed out of an extruder.
Felting Printer is dubbed a “3D printer” because it also builds objects based on computer models like other 3D printers, making it useful for rapid prototyping.
Although “Felting Printer” may look like an embroidery machine, it‘s actually a close cousin of the fused deposition modeling printer because it uses the same FDM method of additive fabrication, meaning that successive layers of material are stacked upon one another to achieve the desired shape. A conventional FDM printer pulls the filament line into the machine and melts it before extruding it from the printer head layer after layer. By contrast, Felting Printer forsakes the plastic and resin in favor of yarn, and rather than melting the yarn, the printer repeatedly pierces it with a barbed felting needle to drag individual fibers down into the layers of yarn below, thus entangling adjacent layers of fiber.
In the video above, Hudson demonstrates that stiffeners can be used to augment a print’s rigidness, simultaneously bridging the gap between soft and hard materials. Also noted is the ability to integrate a degree of electronics if manually placed into the prints; Hudson hopes that future multi-material printers will expand on the ability to create composite within a single print session. “A number of researchers are looking at mixed materials in 3D printing,” he explains, “that’s one of the most interesting challenges now.”
While the final product may resemble a hand-knitted teddy bear, it cannot reproduce the same structural integrity. Objects fabricated in this manner often wind up being fragile and easily pulled apart. Since the felt is weaker than typical fabric, Professor Hudson stipulates that a stronger base of nylon mesh is necessary to keep everything together. Secondly, the layers of yarn extruded by the Felting Printer are thicker than the plastic and resin used by a FDM printer, resulting in a lower print resolution.
All in all, as trivial as printing a felt teddy bear may seem, the technology is clearly a forerunner for the eventual 3D printing of winter clothing and parts for soft robots.
Via Gizmag
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