3D printing
Technology: Print me a Stradivarius
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FILTON, just outside Bristol, is where Britain's fleet of Concorde supersonic airliners was built.
3D printing: The printed world
The world's first store for 3D printed goods just opened in Brussels, and while we imagine they've already got a fair selection of prototyped merchandise to choose, might we suggest they invest in a few production runs of this fabulous new flute? Amit Zoran of the MIT Media Lab -- yes, the same soul who helped dream up a 3D food printer early this year -- has now printed a fully-functional concert flute with a minimum of human intervention. Directing an Objet Connex500 3D printer (which can handle multiple materials at the same time) to spit out his CAD design, dollop by tiny dollop, in a single 15-hour run, he merely had to wash off support material, add springs, and assemble four printed pieces to finish the instrument up.
3D printed concert flute rapidly prototypes sound (video)
A Flute Made on a 3D Printer, and the Possibilities to Come
MIT Media Lab researcher Amit Zoran has printed a playable flute, using a 3D printer that is capable of on-the-fly use of multiple materials, in 15 hours.
