Similar to an SDK, this “3DK” is a base set of 3D design files for designing cases and accessories for the new Lumia 820 Windows phone. It’s not clear what license they are releasing these designs under.. but the idea is great.

The US Army has launched their second “rapid equipping force”, in Afghanistan. It’s effectively a military fablab, comprised of 3D Printers, CNC mills, laser cutters, water cutters packed into a 20 ft shipping container — and I’m sure some top notch scientists and engineers.

And there’s an interesting video! It’s unclear if the intention is to provide a manufacturing capacity, or merely an embedded engineering capacity.

link to pdf:

http://openglam.org/files/2013/01/iRights_CC-NC_Guide_English.pdf

And it looks pretty slick, I gotta say. I think they could be pretty competitive if they’d drop the whole proprietary plastic charade (at $100 a pop no less, ~3times the cost of others, if they are 1kg cartridges) — we get it, the desktop printer industry got themselves a good thing goin. no thanks.

Great stuff! Though I do wish it had an open source flavor..

Useful breakdown of machine costs at 3Ders.org

Most 3D printers available today are no larger than your average dining table — but Schafer aims first to not only print the smaller components of an aircraft, but by 2050, to print the plane as a whole.

Airbus’ parent company EADS has researched the process Schafer proposes to use, known as additive layer manufacturing, since it may be cheaper and lighter than traditional methods used in aircraft construction. However, due to the complicated processes involved, the concept printer would need a fair amount of room.

“It would have to be about 80 by 80 meters,” Schafer told Forbes. “This could be feasible.”

amazing