Future Links March 19th 2015
Here are our daily links with the most important news from the printing industry. Today they feature financing partners for Makerbot, a new line of digital textile inks, 3D-printed nose cartilage, ideas for recycling standards, the newest acquisition by Cimpress, a digestible barcode and a blood sugar sensor created through e-jet printing.
MakerBot acquires new partners to finance 3D printer purchasing
At their current price point, many 3D printing systems are too expensive for small companies and private persons. This is why desktop printing brand MakerBot has partnered with Affirm and Leaf Commercial Capital. With the help of these financing services, customers will be able to pay for their 3D printers in manageable installments.
More at 3DPrintingIndustry
Xennia Agate: New digital textile inks
UK based Xennia Technology has launched its new ink range Xennia Agate – a full range of digital textile inks. It is designed for production printing of silk and polyamide fabrics including nylon and lycra/elastane/spandex and aimed at sports, swimwear and intimate apparel applications.
More at MYPrintRessource
Nose cartilage 3D printed in 16 minutes
Researchers at ETH Zurich’s Cartilage Engineering and Regeneration laboratory, have found a way to bioprint a joint or nose cartilage that is designed to grow with the body over time. Under laboratory conditions, nose cartilage can be created in roughly 16 minutes. The project is ready for pre-clinical trials. Should it become a viable option for human trials, it could make bioprinted cartilage implants far more successful than their silicone counterparts.
More at Engadget
A plea for change in recycling standards
The Open Sustainability Technology group at Michigan Technological University has published a paper calling for a change in US recycling standards. According to the group, the current system is simply not detailed enough: While the US groups plastics in seven categories, China uses 140 distinct categories. This lack of granularity makes it difficult to reuse plastics for 3D printing.
More at Phys.Org
Cimpress to acquire Druck.at
Cimpress N.V., the world leader in mass customization, recently announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire druck.at druck.at, one of the leading web-to-print businesses in Austria. With this acquisition Cimpress aims to support its strategy of building a software-enabled operational platform that aggregates and optimizes the supply chain and production of mass customized products.
More at Talking New Media
DNATrax: A digestable „barcode“
Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have developed a new method to track down the source of tainted foods. Their so called DNATrax is a combination of sugar and non-viable DNA that can be sprayed on fresh produce or mixed into liquid or dried foods where it acts as an invisible „barcode“.
More at CBN
E-jet printing could help patients with Type 1 diabetes
Using electrohydrodynamic jet, or “e-jet” printing, engineers at Oregon State University have created an improved type of glucose sensor for patients with Type 1 diabetes that should work better and cost less current products. E-jet printing can be compared to an inexpensive inkjet printer – but it utilizies much finer drop sizes and works with biological materials such as enzymes, instead of ink.
More at R&D