Facial Reconstruction through 3D Scan, Print

UK Doctors are reverse engineering and reconstructing a man’s face, thanks to 3D technologies. Warning – some images could be graphic.

Eric Moger lost half of his face to cancer and as a result could no longer eat, drink or speak.  Doctors scanned his face and mirrored the “good” side over the “bad.”  The result is a model of the face very similar to how it used to look.  From that the team of doctors was able to develop a prosthesis that allows the patient use of his mouth again.

For the first time in five years, Eric Moger is able to speak clearly without holding his mouth, eat without a feeding tube, and hold his head high while going to the pub with his friends.

In the words of Mr. Moger, himself, “It is a great feeling to look in the mirror and see a whole face again. I am amazed at what they have done  – it just looks so like me. I also have something to look forward to, as Karen and I are planning to finally get married this summer.’

RapidMade Speaking at the Northwest Machine Tool Expo

RapidMade, Inc. proudly invites you to attend a one hour seminar on 3D printing next Wednesday at the Northwest Machine Tool Expo starting at 9:30 AM.  Admission to the expo and seminars is completely free and the event takes place at the Oregon Convention Center (777 NE MLK Jr. Blvd., Portland OR.)

Erin Stone, president, and Matt Garrett, VP of Operations will give the presentation.  Topics covered include:

• What is additive manufacturing (AM)?
• Where has AM been and why is it getting so much attention now?
• What’s new in AM technology & materials?
• What does this mean for your business and how can you leverage AM for a competitive advantage?
• Where does your business fit in the national and regional AM landscape?

If this topic is of interest to you (likely since you are reading this blog) and you can make it out (less likely), we would be happy to see you there!

75% of Skull Replaced Due to 3D Printed Plastic Implants

Thanks to FDA approval of the process just last February 18th, Oxford Performance Materials replaced 75% of a patient’s skull using a 3D printed replica as an implant.

They were able to take a digital scan of the patient’s skull and turn it into a 3D plastic part.  This plastic was printed so that the edges had very high porous detail, allowing for the bones to grow into and fuse to the plastic.  This allows for lower chance of rejection and an overall stronger new skull than traditional implants.

The plastic is a high performance medical grade polyetherketoneketone (PEKK) developed by Oxford Performance Materials for the EOS P800, a plastic selective laser sintering (SLS) machine.  Selective laser sintering fuses layers of thermoplastics together using an extremely precise laser.

Immediately, the company envisions that 300 to 500  patients could use this implant every month in the United States alone.

But don’t just stop at skulls.  OPM’s president, Scott DeFelice says, “If you can replace a bony void in someone’s head next to the brain, you have a pretty good platform for filling bony voids elsewhere.”

The company is submitting for FDA approval of bone implants for many other parts of the body.  Each individual bone, including the skull, could be between a 50 and 100 million dollar market.

Bionic Beak for Eagle?!?

This is a truly beautiful story about how advancements in technology help the little critters we share our planet with. In 2007, an Alaskan bald eagle named Beauty was shot in the face and she lost her top beak. Beaks are essential for preening feathers and feeding, she was found nearly dead when she was rescued by Jane Fink Cantwell, a bird conservationist near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. When mechanical engineer Nate Calvin heard about Beauty’s tragedy, he wanted to help. He proposed to create a prosthetic beak for her. 18 months after he began, he made a prototype using nylon-based polymer with the help of 3D scanning and Stereolithography technology, a most common rapid prototyping procedure.

Read the full article here!

9 Ways 3D Printing Will Change the World

Do you remember when StarTrek or The Jetsons aired? Both shows seemed to have accurately predicted the way technology has advanced in the past decade with their replicator machines. Although this emerging form of technology is widely recognized as a way to produce mass amounts of prototypes and other forms of commerce, it’s potential reaches further than that. 3D printing is becoming a crucial part of manufacturing advanced systems and replacement parts for almost every industry.

1). Medical Industry

2). Advances in Research

3). Product Prototyping

4). Historic Preservation

5). AEC

6). Advanced Manufacturing

7). Food Industries

8). Automotive

9). Jewelry/Accessories

Read the full article here!

3D Printer Used to Print Vascular Networks

A major challenge in tissue engineering is the integration of blood vessels among cells to uniformly supply them with nutrients.

Researchers from University of Pennsylvania and MIT just reported in journal Nature Materials the ability to print 3D filament networks that may serve the role of vessels in the future.  They implemented the open source RepRap 3D printer with a few of their own changes, including a customized extruder and control software.

Read the full article here!

The End of Chinese Manufacturing and Rebirth of U.S. Industry

We are beginning to see a push towards bringing American manufacturing back on American soil. There are a number of emerging technologies that are championing this movement such as robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), 3D printing, and nanotechnology. These have been moving slowly so far, but are now beginning to advance exponentially just as computing does. When the ruling corporations like Apple, Boeing, Caterpillar, and General Electric begin to bring their manufacturing back to America perhaps we will witness a domino effect that will bring family wage jobs back home where they should be.

Check out the full article here!

3D Printed Toddler?!

Working at a 3D printing facility can be very entertaining. The employees at Objet get to live and work with the models they create like this fully-sized, precisely-scaled human toddler (minus legs) – complete with visible internal bone structure! This anatomical model gives us a glimpse into the future of 3D printing in the medical industry. Surgeons in training can use these models to hone their skills before operating on actual patients, crime scene investigators can recreate how a victim’s blood splatter pattern was created, car companies can see how high speed collisions affect  bone and internal organs; the possibilities are amazing (and fun)!!

Check out the article here!

Yoda helps explain the latest technology innovation

The force is strong with this technology… Although 3D printing is still in its infancy stage, the rate that it is evolving is astounding. At first, 3D printing was used for rapid prototyping in design visualization and development. The technology has arrived to the point where it can now be used for final part production, printing circuitry, and even artificial bone structures. This article illustrates the detail and intricate geometries that are possible with this technology, and it is getting better everyday. Almost every industry can benefit from additive manufacturing in one way or another. Experts are constantly discovering new applications such as printing “smart” wings for UAVs, printing organs and prosthetic limbs, and of course printing Yoda figures (my favorite)!

Check out the full article and video here!

Thanks Yoda, you are very wise!

3D printing assists in Belgium’s first full-face transplant!

A 65-strong medical team at Ghent University Hospital, headed by Phillip Blondeel, performed Belgium’s first full-face transplant. This was the world’s nineteenth face transplant, but it was the first time that the procedure was planned digitally. Engineers used a model from a CT scan to examine the patient’s defects so they could 3D print anatomically correct models of what healthy bones in the patients’s face should look like. The printed “guides” were then used as a reference during the surgery, sitting on the donor’s face so the surgeon knew exactly where to cut.

Check out the full article here!