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The only thing actually 3d printed here is ridged container for holding the permanent magnets in place. PCB electromagnets are not new and multilayer interconne

The only thing actually 3d printed here is ridged container for holding the permanent magnets in place. PCB electromagnets are not new and multilayer interconnect PCB boards have been around for 30 years. A real 3d printed electric motor would be quite a feat indeed.

zeta0134 8y ago
That has me wondering if kind of a hybrid solution could work, like a 3D printer that can also pick and place components mid-print. That could be a reliable way to deal with the permanent magnets, since presumably there isn't going to be a way to print out any material that would magnetize itself reliably.
- mrfusion 8y ago
  I think there’s a way to make motors without permanent magnets
  - petermcneeley 8y ago
    Indeed. An electromagnet is a magnet! However usually these are quite weak even with iron cores.
    - jacquesm 8y ago
      Quite weak? Electromagnets can be as powerful as you want in a given space provided you can cool them and you can avoid saturating the core.
      - petermcneeley 8y ago
        I more mean in reference to using them as an opposing magnetic field for using in an electric motor. Like suppose he simply put two PCB electromagnets together. What would you expect the force to be?
        jacquesm 8y ago
        I'm sorry I read your comment as a general statement on electromagnets. Yes, two PCB based electromagnets are not going to be able to make a very dense magnetic field. The major reason is that the current carrying capacity and cooling will be lousy. But a sizeable electromagnet made from a copper coil and a half decent core material will happily lift your car.
- jarfil 8y ago
  There is a solution for "printing" magnetic domains in a base magnet, maybe a printable material could be devised such that later on a "magnet writing head" could create whatever magnets are needed. https://youtu.be/drD416THU7Y https://youtu.be/drD416THU7Y
- icebraining 8y ago
  People are working on such an hybrid: https://hackaday.io/project/963-firepick-delta-the-open-source-microfactory https://hackaday.io/project/963-firepick-delta-the-open-sour... (the project seems dormant, though)
- asteli 8y ago
  The tech has existed for a while to embed components inside PCBs --- inserting them into voids during the lamination process. Small discretes (capacitors, resistors etc) up to full magnetics are being embedded in production. Example of an embedded magnetic in a board-mount DC-DC converter-- https://twitter.com/hubmartin/status/906768773180530689 https://twitter.com/hubmartin/status/906768773180530689

zeta0134 8y ago

That has me wondering if kind of a hybrid solution could work, like a 3D printer that can also pick and place components mid-print. That could be a reliable way to deal with the permanent magnets, since presumably there isn't going to be a way to print out any material that would magnetize itself reliably.

mrfusion 8y ago
I think there’s a way to make motors without permanent magnets
- petermcneeley 8y ago
  Indeed. An electromagnet is a magnet! However usually these are quite weak even with iron cores.
  - jacquesm 8y ago
    Quite weak? Electromagnets can be as powerful as you want in a given space provided you can cool them and you can avoid saturating the core.
    - petermcneeley 8y ago
      I more mean in reference to using them as an opposing magnetic field for using in an electric motor. Like suppose he simply put two PCB electromagnets together. What would you expect the force to be?
      - jacquesm 8y ago
        I'm sorry I read your comment as a general statement on electromagnets. Yes, two PCB based electromagnets are not going to be able to make a very dense magnetic field. The major reason is that the current carrying capacity and cooling will be lousy. But a sizeable electromagnet made from a copper coil and a half decent core material will happily lift your car.
jarfil 8y ago
There is a solution for "printing" magnetic domains in a base magnet, maybe a printable material could be devised such that later on a "magnet writing head" could create whatever magnets are needed. https://youtu.be/drD416THU7Y https://youtu.be/drD416THU7Y
icebraining 8y ago
People are working on such an hybrid: https://hackaday.io/project/963-firepick-delta-the-open-source-microfactory https://hackaday.io/project/963-firepick-delta-the-open-sour... (the project seems dormant, though)
asteli 8y ago
The tech has existed for a while to embed components inside PCBs --- inserting them into voids during the lamination process. Small discretes (capacitors, resistors etc) up to full magnetics are being embedded in production. Example of an embedded magnetic in a board-mount DC-DC converter-- https://twitter.com/hubmartin/status/906768773180530689 https://twitter.com/hubmartin/status/906768773180530689