3D Printing Resistors, Fibers & Coffee - Utility Research Lab

3D printing with spent coffee grounds, 3D prints with an internal resistor network for multi-point sensing and bio fiber spinning were some incredible projects that I found at the Rocky Mountain RepRap Festival 2023 in Loveland, Colorado. The Utility Research Lab of the ATLAS Institute from the University of Colorado Boulder had a booth there and displayed some of their impressive projects to the public.

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Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:16 3D Printing With Spent Coffee Grounds
03:52 Touch Sensitive 3D Prints
06:30 Gelatine Fibers

#3Dprinting #rmrrf #science
DISCLAIMER: Part of this video was sponsored by VoxelPLA.
FTC Disclaimer: A percentage of sales is made through Affiliate links

[skelingtonrick]

the fiber spinning machine was very interesting, not too long ago I was thinking back to a TED talk I think where a scientist described synthesizing spider silk protein and the way it can sort of self assemble from a liquid. this feels very similar and makes me want to learn more

[davidrandall]

Really like the possibilities for the future of printing materials. Being able to effectively recycle is always a plus.

[voxelpla]

Awesome video; maybe we should look into making coffee ground filament too; the conductive filament for sensors is so cool!

[sniper]

I get to say I was there for once. Everyone there was so nice and so excited to talk about their projects. If there's a 3D printing event happening near you I recommend checking it out.

[SpaceTheAge]

Very cool to see you mention tom Lauerman. I had him as a teacher, and even have a mug from the clay printer. Was a highlight of the class.

[grafja]

Love the focus on recycled/reuseable filaments. More please.

[Andreas-ghis]

I always thought those conducting filaments suck at conducting electricity, but could shine as sensors, because their conductivity is related to pressure, bending etc.

[DhobbyUA]

it so incredible. I even not Imagine how it smels after printing

[MrBlakBunny]

the gelatin one caught me off guard, but its a neat idea, i want to see how good the fabric is when made from this stuff

[Kinoko]

You've got to be kidding me! I live 20 minutes from Loveland and I had no idea this happened. What a bummer.

[NeoIsrafil]

Printing resistor networks is awesome... itll be really nice

[ericlotze]

Makerspace Scale Fiber Production is AMAZING !

With stuff like that adapted to @The Thought Emporium's Spidersilk, or Rayon, etc...

[TotallyGlitch]

I coordinate with the university of Boulder Colorado on AM research and have been thoroughly impressed with their students and academics. Especially David Prawdle's students and his teams work on insitu process monitoring for polymer AM

[marcfruchtman]

This was a really great video! Thank you for providing such a great explanation of the different displays!

[Zeldur]

I like the coffee filament idea. Imagine partnering with local coffee shops to use their biproduct and reuse it before it gets thrown away

[Justin-ngzg]

coffee ground support material must smell amazing!

[shiftyjesusfish]

Im happy with my machine, AND i just stocked up on so i split the difference and bought an IDEX

[ryelor]

The resister idea seems interesting and useful but I don't know if the other two ideas will have any value. In fact, I think they'd do more harm than good because both used coffee grounds and gelatin have other important uses and creating a new demand for them would just make other important stuff more expensive. It would also cost gardeners a cheap or free source of organic matter that I also think helps acidify soil.

The idea that I think has the most value was one you mentioned doing before and that is using a 3D printer to print things out of clay. This is useful for a number of reasons. Clay is nearly limitless, its recyclable, and there's a huge amount that's just not used because its of a lower grade and not worth the risk damaging kilns and other pottery from explosions. If you could 3d print things out of clay and refractory, you'd be able to massively reduce the cost of pottery. One thing that needs to be figured out is how to incorporate grog(intentionally made or from failed parts) into new parts. The printing system doesn't have to be perfect for clay since simple modifications after the printing process can fix imperfections.

[rcmaniac]

I regret not really checking out these tables. I go to *RRFs to check stuff out and to meetup with people, and then I keep finding videos where people go "check out this table" and I go "wait, the table that looked like they printed 30 benchies in different colors and nothing more was actually demonstrating some fancy manufacturing technique?!" Thank you for covering them, because I keep missing them.

Also, that force sensor would make Adrian Bowyer happy. I remember when he went to ERRF 2019 and at some point, maybe it was his keynote speech or the multiple interviews he gave, he was asked "what's something you're most disappointed in?" and he said something along the lines of "I'm disappointed there isn't more printed circuitry ... with all the paths going through the structure of the print" and here we have someone who isn't just doing that, they're doing it in a way that expands past "this is a wire" and into "this serves a purpose"

Also, I'll note that the biofiber printer was stationary basically every time I walked past it (I tried to do laps every hour or 2), so I thought it was basically filled filament as opposed to what they actually were showing. So it was one of the "not sure what this is, moving on" tables. Next time...

[marcus_w]

Very nice video! I really like videos like this. Keep 'em coming .