Orbit1 Electroplater - Coat Anything in Metal
The Midas Touch: now available for as little as $2 per gram. 3D printing is still cool and all, but in technology years it's getting to be an old man. Between hobbyists being able to print their trinkets on desktop models and car manufacturers being able to print entire cars, Orbit1 figured we were ready for the next stage in 3D printing. What they came up with: 3D coating the 3D printing in gold. Or copper. Or nickel. Or maybe even palladium if Orbit1's Kickstarter campaign gets enough support.
Orbit1 is a countertop-sized electroplating device. Efficient and easy to use in tandem with its Android/iOS app, all kinds of makers--from jewelers to engineers to scientists--will be able to coat almost any of their designs in metal. 3D print a cool plastic ring (or trumpet, or head of Batman) and turn it into a coppery sparkler in just a couple of hours. Or, for a more practical application, print and coat your own PCBs.
Three steps take objects from 3D plain to 3D plated: 1) Clean and polish the object; 2) Spray it with Orbit1's proprietary conducive paint; 3) Attach the to Orbit1 rack, place in machine, and click start. Again, the average cost for coating is $2/gram. Orbit1's maximum plating size is 7.8" tall x 5.9" wide, so larger objects would need to be plated in segments.
Read more and get answers to FAQs on Orbit1's website and Kickstarter page--follow the link below.
LIX 3D Printing Pen
Paperless pens and drawing in 3D. True, we've seen it in the 3Doodler, but LIX is the first 3D printing pen to condense this technology into a writing instrument of normal proportions. You know, rather than one that looks...
/gallium-melts-in-your-hand-10843.jpg?mode=crop "Gallium - Melts-in-Your-Hand Metal")
Gallium - Melts-in-Your-Hand Metal
The chemical element Gallium does not exist in pure form in nature, but since it's so magical and badass looking all solid-to-liquid-at-the-touch-of-a-human-hand and all, of course man figured out a way to extract it...
3Doodler - 3D Printing Pen
Bring your doodles to life. Well, except for the animation and biological functionality parts. So more like, give your doodles 3 dimensions, without the added concern of feeding or sending them to private school. WobbleWorks'...
$100 3D Printer
July 2016 Update: I received the following email from a Dude reader this week: "Hey, just a heads up, I just checked their page and the inventor says that the business partner stole people's money whom invested in this...
Inkless Pen
Adios, pocket protectors! Inkless pens are the way of the future. OK, probably the way of the future is the elimination of pens altogether, in favor of app-controlled telekinetic writing implementations, but in the interim...
/tungsten-sphere-58467.jpg?mode=crop "Tungsten Sphere")
Tungsten Sphere
I'd call the Tungsten Sphere a desktop toy, but given its high density - at just about 2" in diameter the sphere weighs over 3 pounds - I'm not sure how much fiddling or stress-relieving palm rolls you'll be able to do...
Titanium & Jack Daniels Barrel Ring
I guess I've been in a serious relationship with Jack Daniels for long enough now that I'm willing to don his ring and announce it to the world. Especially a ring as slick as this one. Check out the genuine used JD white...
/rhei-liquid-display-clock-19323.jpg?mode=crop "Rhei Liquid Display Clock")
Rhei Liquid Display Clock
First thing's first: if you want to see what's so special about Rhei, fast forward to 1:50 in the above video to bypass the dramatic buildup and jump straight to the action flow...
Gallium Spoon Mold
Now that you know about the weird science of gallium, you're probably wondering what the WTF you can do with it once you've scored a nugget. My suggestion: spoon prank...
Liquid Mercury
I think metal is OK, and I think liquid is OK, but for some reason if you put them together, "OK" turns into SO FUCKING RAD. (Huh. I just realized I feel similarly about vodka and this girl Karin I know). And when it...
Nitinol Shape Memory Paper Clip
Nitinol. It's kind of like Rain Main. Has an infallible memory and a habitual state to which it always returns precisely and without fail, but...it doesn't deal with deviations from what it knows very well. Also, it is...
Structure - 3D Sensor for Mobile Devices
Occipital believes the future of computer vision is mobile. That means the company's forthcoming Structure Sensor for iPad has 3D depth--the camera attachment captures accurate, all-dimensional measurements and models...