World’s Largest 3D-printed boat

The University of Maine has printed a 25-foot, 5,000-pound, fully seaworthy boat using the world’s largest 3D printer. The 70 feet long printer uses plastic polymer pellets to form the “ink” for printing. It consumes up to 500 pounds of it per hour. The boat was printed in one solid piece resulting from non-stop printing […]

Precision Hip Replacements

When I first started having knee pain many years ago, an orthopedic surgeon told me he thought the problem may have arisen because one of my legs is a fraction of an inch shorter than the other. Such a condition may exist with many people who never notice the difference. However, if you are running […]

How mHealth, 3-D Printing & Robots Will Change The World For People With Special Needs

Exceptional Parent Magazine provides practical advice, emotional support, and up-to-date educational information for families of children and adults with disabilities and special healthcare needs. One of my readers follows EP and introduced me to Vanessa Ira, Managing Editor. Vanessa told me about EP’s Annual Resource Guide for their readers, and asked if I would write […]

3-D Printing with Steel

The LulzBot TAZ 5 3-D printer in my shop (in photo above) prints using a roll of filament which feeds into a heated nozzle. The nozzle moves back and forth and up and down to print objects such as the blue ball bearing race on the printer table. (When it was finished printing, the newly printed […]

3D Printed Corneas

The cornea is a transparent layer forming the front of the human eye. It may seem like a simple component of our body, but is actually a highly complex tissue. The cornea contains no blood vessels, and receives its nourishment from tears and the aqueous humor, which is a fluid in the front part of […]