3D printed electric muscles?
Posted by Dejay
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3D printed electric muscles? May 15, 2014 10:01PM |
Hello,
I'm new to 3D printing and am waiting for my Kossel Mini set.... so because I'm bored you unfortunately have to read my stupid ideas
Has any research been done for 3D printed muscles? I gather that it's possible to print conductive ABS filament now and stuff like nylon is pretty flexible. So couldn't you print something like two simple spools that can move apart?
Something like a squished hexagon net that will expand when current is applied?
You would have to print separated layers with a dissolvable filler material, and would have to print quite many mini spools of course.
You wouldn't have contracting but expanding "muscles" since field strength diminishes when the spools move apart, but maybe a hex
net could do that too if they are just 90° moved apart. Maybe some spools break or aren't printed correctly, but if there are enough the
total strength would simple be reduced a little bit.
Even if these electro muscles aren't very strong, you could print some amazing animated creatures with it.
PS: Damn this is apparently resistor filament with 10k ohm per 1 cm. So to create enough current it would heat up. Anyone know of any superconductive filament? You could print bigger / multiple strands, but that would limit the flexibility.
PPS: I only found these two threads but one is about nano tubes and I don't think DIY printing is quite there yet.
[forums.reprap.org] [forums.reprap.org]
PPPS: Hmm, maybe you could simply glue copper wire into a print? Basically a special head that lays a copper wire into the hot printed material and can cut the wire after the circuit is complete. It would limit the design to "glue soldering" or "embedding" complete wire lines in one horizontal plane, but if you don't actually have to melt the conductive material...
PPPPS: Maybe simple pneumatics would be better? You'd need some kind of pneumatic pump but you could print air channels and air bubbles into a design to create movement.
P...S: Oh well, I just found this wiki page about actuator fabrication. I guess I wasn't the first who thought about this after all.
Someone made a 3d printed curcuit board and used conductive paint. Maybe you could simply ink jet conductive paint during printing? You would need a specialized head / feeder, you might have to pause before you continue to print to let the paint dry. Don't know if you could connect across layers. But that way you could create three dimensional circuit boards or circuits that run through a printed object to feed lights or servos.
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/2014 10:25PM by Dejay.
I'm new to 3D printing and am waiting for my Kossel Mini set.... so because I'm bored you unfortunately have to read my stupid ideas
Has any research been done for 3D printed muscles? I gather that it's possible to print conductive ABS filament now and stuff like nylon is pretty flexible. So couldn't you print something like two simple spools that can move apart?
Something like a squished hexagon net that will expand when current is applied?
You would have to print separated layers with a dissolvable filler material, and would have to print quite many mini spools of course.
You wouldn't have contracting but expanding "muscles" since field strength diminishes when the spools move apart, but maybe a hex
net could do that too if they are just 90° moved apart. Maybe some spools break or aren't printed correctly, but if there are enough the
total strength would simple be reduced a little bit.
Even if these electro muscles aren't very strong, you could print some amazing animated creatures with it.
PS: Damn this is apparently resistor filament with 10k ohm per 1 cm. So to create enough current it would heat up. Anyone know of any superconductive filament? You could print bigger / multiple strands, but that would limit the flexibility.
PPS: I only found these two threads but one is about nano tubes and I don't think DIY printing is quite there yet.
[forums.reprap.org] [forums.reprap.org]
PPPS: Hmm, maybe you could simply glue copper wire into a print? Basically a special head that lays a copper wire into the hot printed material and can cut the wire after the circuit is complete. It would limit the design to "glue soldering" or "embedding" complete wire lines in one horizontal plane, but if you don't actually have to melt the conductive material...
PPPPS: Maybe simple pneumatics would be better? You'd need some kind of pneumatic pump but you could print air channels and air bubbles into a design to create movement.
P...S: Oh well, I just found this wiki page about actuator fabrication. I guess I wasn't the first who thought about this after all.
Someone made a 3d printed curcuit board and used conductive paint. Maybe you could simply ink jet conductive paint during printing? You would need a specialized head / feeder, you might have to pause before you continue to print to let the paint dry. Don't know if you could connect across layers. But that way you could create three dimensional circuit boards or circuits that run through a printed object to feed lights or servos.
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/2014 10:25PM by Dejay.
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Re: 3D printed electric muscles? May 16, 2014 06:03PM |
Thanks for posting the links, I guess I have some reading to do! 
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Re: 3D printed electric muscles? May 17, 2014 05:27PM |
... my first ideas+tests for 'bionics' were around 1980, when I tried to replicate the behaviour of a spider-leg for robotics
The most promising material in my eyes is silicone -- think about printing tubular structures perpendicular in slices as connected rings and inserting steel wires instead of 'bones' after finishing a segment.
Actually the most common 'muscles' are elastic tubes in a network of stiff wires, knitted to a mesh -- which will contract in length, when expanded by injected air or fluid.
For me the most interesting biological model is the octopus - really simple internal 'structure', but sheer endless capabilities in morphing and manipulating of objects ...
Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]
Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]
The most promising material in my eyes is silicone -- think about printing tubular structures perpendicular in slices as connected rings and inserting steel wires instead of 'bones' after finishing a segment.
Actually the most common 'muscles' are elastic tubes in a network of stiff wires, knitted to a mesh -- which will contract in length, when expanded by injected air or fluid.
For me the most interesting biological model is the octopus - really simple internal 'structure', but sheer endless capabilities in morphing and manipulating of objects ...
Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]
Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]
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