3D Printing On The Subway; Or Anywhere Else!

3D-Printed wearable electronics are on the rise, however our own [Naomi Wu] flipped it around and made a wearable 3D printer which not only is portable but also manufactures on the move!

The project starts with a baby carrier that was locally purchased, and the extra fat was trimmed off leaving behind only the primary harness and square frame. This square frame is left intact to provide stability to the mounted printer as well as some level of comfort to the wearer. [Naomi] then drills a number of new holes in the delta printer in question, of which fortunately the top is made of plastic. Using swivel screws and long screws, the upper part connects with the harness. The receptacle clamp for the upper part is 3D-printed as well, and provides a modular rigid fixture for the machine.

The lower part also uses a 3D-printed triangular base that has a slot for the carrier frame which attaches with the bottom part of the delta using screws. The project is powered via two 3 Ah batteries that are kept in place behind the printer using custom clamps made with PLA. The whole project works on the move, as demonstrated by [Naomi] in the video below.

From dissecting the baby carrier to puncturing holes in a harness using a screwdriver heated by a blow torch, this project has a lot of DIY in it. For those looking for a more productive motorised wearable, check out Adding Haptic Feedback For The Disabled.

55 thoughts on “3D Printing On The Subway; Or Anywhere Else!

        1. That would probably help, as long as the disturbance is within the bandwidth of the servo. It can get kinda dicey if you get out of the stable range. It should also be a wash on weight and probably pull less power (the heated components are the real power hogs, so this may be minor).

          There are some disturbances that only a passive mechanical shock can slow down. Now, at the expense of getting larger and heavier, a thin case (to also keep out dust, air, and wandering fingers) with a passive shock (rubber mounts? I’d need accelerometer test data) may help. The backpack does a good job of isolating the printer from her and absorbing some shock, but it can’t assist in direct hits if they’re applied directly to the printer frame.

          I remember the Bukito printers being abused in a similar manner, but they’re designed as a more rigid Cartesian system.

    1. I always thought an old PC case would make for a good 3D printer enclosure…
      So you could game and print at the same time.
      Plus you get a built in heater. ;)

      Old 19″ racks would make good 3D printer enclosures as well.

  1. I’d love to see more of this! Oh.. Uh… Wait… That’s not what I meant! Well.. ok, as a guy I certainly have no problems with seeing a sexy girl but that’s still not what I meant. Here I sit in a building that very rarely sees a customer in a job with virtually no customer reaction doing work that has absolutely zero to do with my appearance. And yet I am wearing clothes I am uncomfortable in and can’t wait to get home and change out of because that’s just the social norm.

    I don’t care if the clothes are sexy, worn looking, mismatched, out of style, just plain ugly or whatever. If we had more people doing cool things in the “wrong” clothes then maybe we could finally kill this unfortunate cultural hangup on wearing more casual clothing. Honestly, if two people make the same thing, with the same quality workmanship but wear completely different clothing… THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE!

    Then I could be wearing jeans and a tee-shirt right now! That would be much better!

  2. It’d be funny to have it strapped in front of you, and configure it to print really slow. Something that’d take 9 months to print. And finally give birth to an object of some sort.

  3. I love Naomi’s stuff! She’s really creative, and shows the details of what she’s done, to the point that most novice/low-intermediate makers could replicate it. Her very basic demo of using OpenSCAD was what it took to get me to experiment with it.

      1. He mean that several thing in her story lead people to believe she is posing for someone else project to get more exposure and be more marketsble. There’s a a few posts about that online and someone investigated a bit and found many discrepancy in her story, but the blog got blocked I think bjt you can look at the google cache version.

      2. It might have seemed plausible early on. But watch any of her build videos and you’ll see she is doing all the work. Worst case, someone gives her project ideas.
        But again, after watching some of her videos you’ll realize that the are all closely related to her personality, so unlikely she is getting told what to build.

        We wouldn’t be having this conversation if she where a male over 16. Why, in 2017, do some people still want to argue their belief that women and children can’t do science and technology? (I’m not saying you specifically. I read your comment to be sarcasm)

        1. “Worst case, someone gives her project ideas.”
          I’m sure *everyone* here has been inspired by someone else at some point. Besides, accepting suggestions from viewers helps adjust the content to better match what the viewers want.

          1. Well, I went and watch a few of her videos and I am not sure about some of the stuff I read before, she does seem to be doing the work so I guess this is just some nerds insecurity about sexy girl doing the same thing that they do but better.

          2. Well, I went and watch a few of her videos and I am not sure about some of the stuff I read before, she does seem to be doing the work so I guess this is just some nerds insecurity about sexy girl doing the same thing that they do but better.

          3. Well, I went and watch a few of her videos and I am not sure about some of the stuff I read before, she does seem to be doing the work so I guess this is just some nerds insecurity about sexy girl doing the same thing that they do but better.

    1. I find the over the top emphasis on her genitalia to be a detriment. If ElectroBOOM was shoving his wang into every shot, I would probably not watch his stuff either. It definitely makes me respect her less but who cares when there is a million 13 year old boys to take my place. It is a shame really but the direction she chooses to go and stick with. Meh.

      1. Yeah I cant watch the Primitive Technology guy on youtube because of the overemphasis on his man-boobs. Lost respect for being half naked in every shot. This one time, I could swear I saw right up his shorts to his wang.
        get over it.
        If an native Amazonian was caught on video turning random rain-forest materials into a wheel barrow you CANT respect him with that wonder log swinging about.
        Not saying you have to respect her
        AM saying you should consider why it is that your respect for a person is so largely dependent on your own identity, morals, and (possibly) gender.
        She continuously gets attacked online for her appearance (being ‘too sexy for tech’). Yet she continues to defend her stance, which is (not to put words in her mouth) “Girls can do tech. Women can do tech. SEXY WOMEN can do tech (and be smart). Why should it matter what we look like? Why do you judge our technical and mental skills by our outside appearance?”
        Why is it a shame to stand up for what you believe in? Isnt that the a defining factor in earning respect?

        1. For those who think SexyCyborg is too sexy and prefer women who are modest and very strong, watch Rinoa Super-Genius instead. Among other things, you get to watch her show off her strength when she lifts one end of a Nissan Leaf battery and her bravery when she takes apart some 18650s. On the flip side, her modesty sometimes gets in her way when the weather heats up.

          I actually watch both and a whole lot of other technology-related shows. SexyCyborg is about as sexy as she could get without being pornographic while Rinoa is about as modest as she can get without being absurdly modest. They pretty much define the reasonable limits of “sexiness” as far as tech TV shows go. (I guess “sexiness” isn’t the best term because some consider strength and bravery as sexy in its own way.) All the other female tech TV show hosts fall somewhere in the middle.

  4. Just what every narcissist/performance artist needs, a way of leaving a trail of tiny plastic replicas of your tiny plastic self wherever you go. while adding to the already high air pollution in the city. I guess you could go the full ironic and print out custom face masks for people.

        1. In fact, PLA is used in modern automobile wiring insulation. When engines get hot, it gives off an attractive smell to rodents, who then proceed to chew on the wiring, causing thousands of dollars of damage. unintended consequences.

        1. Not exactly food trucks, but when I rode the train to Kanchantaburi from Bangkok (both in Thailand), food vendors boarded the train at various stops, walked through the train cars selling their wares and exited at a subsequent stop.

  5. It’s a cool version of the project. Doesn’t really matter who did it as long as it works and gets out there.
    Improvements to mobile printing always welcomed.
    A Pursa mk3 would be an e excellent printer to do this to as it has mis step detection and power panic recovery.

  6. Not real sure about the practicality of a backpack 3D printer, but I suppose you wouldn’t have to worry about it burning the house down when you popped down to the shop.
    It did seem to be a bit awkward / overbalanced when she was carrying it around. That said, I suppose that’d happen with any heavy backpack anyway. What is the thing she’s carrying? Selfie stick without phone/camera attached?

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