4 coolest 3D printing projects this week: 3D printed espresso cup, Iron Man suit, handheld PC, V for Vendetta masks

Jul 16, 2017 | By David

We all know 3D printing is cool, so why not take a little time to appreciate some of the more fun projects that have been going on in this past week. Here are some of the coolest things we've seen, including a stylish 3D printed espresso cup and a 3D printed Iron Man suit.

1.Kutarq’s 3D printed espresso cup

If there’s anything that fuels 3ders.com as much as 3D printing technology does, it might be coffee, so this unique new product from product design company Kutarq is a perfect combination. It’s a 3D printed porcelain espresso mug, known as the Cerco.

Kutarq specializes in stylish, minimal designs and this is certainly no exception. A minor twist on the classic ‘white cup with a curved handle on the side’ espresso mug design, this coffee lover’s dream has its handle curving over the rim and inside the cup. The design was inspired by body adornment culture, as the way the delicate looped handgrip is placed on the cup makes it look a little like a piercing in someone’s ear or nose.

The 3D print job for this porcelain delight was carried out by a 3D printing service that specializes in product design. OTHR provided its services to Kutarq for the Cerco, and the results are really something to behold. The 3D printed cup is currently retailing for around $80.

2. System 76’s 3D printed V for Vendetta masks

Leading manufacturer of premium GNU/Linux computers System 76 was recently rolling out a new marketing campaign, and was in need of a fast way to produce its promotional materials. The team made use of its LulzBot 3D printer to create masks inspired by the graphic novel/movie V for Vendetta. They were distributed to major industry influencers to generate buzz as part of its big Fourth of July sales push.

“This was the first time we used our LulzBot TAZ 3D Printer for this level of mass production,” Jason DeRose, chief of research and development at System76, said. “I was extremely impressed with its reliability.”

The System 76 team used other free software, including Blender and Cura LulzBot edition, to help with the task of making the 3D printed masks, which were intended to promote the company’s ideology of user freedom and rebellion against corporate tyranny. 26 were printed in total and they were sent out to press, friends of the company and previous competition winners. Each mask took around 21 hours to complete, and they were 3D printed with nGen filament. “We’ve been very happy with nGen filament and now use it as our go-to filament for most projects,” DeRose said.

3. This cosplayer’s 3D printed Iron Man suit

3D printing being used in the world of cosplay is nothing new, and we’ve seen some great costumes and props made over the years, but this recent project is one of the most impressive yet. Australian superfan Jesse Lovell made an Iron Man suit for the recent Supanova Gaming and Comic-Con, and it must have been turning heads all over the place with its phenomenal attention to detail.

Lovell got the initial design for the suit from Onekura, a website where users can upload costume templates. It’s based on the specific suit Iron Man wore in the recent Marvel franchise entry Captain America: Civil War. The suit was built entirely from scratch, which took around 6 months in total. 152 separate pieces had to be 3D printed and assembled together, in Lovell’s makeshift 3D printing studio in his garage at home in Brisbane.

This is my Iron Man Mk. 46 (Civil War / Homecoming variant), which, except for the EVA foam, shins and boots, is entirely 3d printed.

Printed in 152 pieces (with about 8-10 reprints due to breakage and resizing) all in ABS, on my Up Mini (max build size 12cm3). Printed over the course of 6 months, totalled about 8kg of ABS. Each part acetone welded and large pieces (chest, back, thighs) backed in fibreglass.

All lights are Arduino Neopixels, initially as solo circuits to be wired up in a network for full color changes in the future. Eyes are electroluminescent panels with a tiny gap at the top that I can see over.

Wearing the suit might look almost as difficult as making it was, but that’s not true, according to Lovell: "The suit is heavy around the shoulders, but overall is reasonably comfortable to wear. Airflow is fine, bit hot in the chest, but I've worn worse in my other costumes."

Images: jesse lovell

4. This gamer’s 3D printed handheld PC

One passionate gamer who wanted to play his favourite state-of-the-art PC games on the move decided that he could make use of 3D printing technology to build himself something that wasn’t available on the market. Chase Cobb 3D printed a portable personal computer, and regularly posted updates of progress of this prototype project on his Youtube channel.

Cobb was a major fan of Blizzard’s popular shooter Overwatch, and saw this as the only way he was going to get to play his favourite game on-the-go. He assembled the main body from 3D printed parts, and under the hood he added some serious juice. The device uses a i3-6100 CPU and 8BG of RAM paired with a 7-inch screen. A 250GB SSD is also included for storage. The project isn’t finished quite yet, but once a battery and a touch screen is integrated, it’ll be up and running.

Cobb is considering the idea of a Kickstarter for his device, should it prove to be successful, as he sees serious potential in this kind of product. We bet plenty of PC gamers would love to play something like Overwatch on the move and, although Blizzard has said that it is ‘open-minded’ about porting the game to the Nintendo Switch, it is probably still a long way off. We could well be seeing more of Cobb and his amazing 3D printed handheld PC sometime in the near future.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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