Combining ambitious people wanting to make their mark on the world and 3D printing leads to impressive records. The most unbelievable 3D printing world records prove the capabilities of 3D printing and provide a look into the future of technology and art.
Come Together
You can achieve wonderful things when you work as a collaborative team. The fine people of Airwolf 3D found that out when their team ran 159 3D printers in unison, setting an official Guinness record for having the most printers running simultaneously. The feat is more impressive because the 3D printers were printing prosthetics, so it’s not as if anyone was wasting time to set a meaningless record.
You’ve Got the Whole Cube on Your Finger
Since 1974, children across the country have wanted to show off their brain power by solving the Rubik’s Cube they received as a holiday gift. While many people have set records—and broken ones—involving the Rubik’s Cube in the five decades of its existence, the mark for the smallest one will be hard to beat.
Shapeways, a company specializing in constructing several delicate objects that only a 3D printer can manage, created a Rubik’s Cube smaller than an inch wide. It may surprise you to learn that this record-breaking toy is still fully functional, meaning you can twist and turn it all you’d like!
Not Your Ordinary Lecture
The concept of how resolution quality affects 3D printing projects isn’t easy to comprehend without help. Sometimes, it helps to see something complex in person, as 914 students did for a 3D printing lecture organized by Baptist Rainbow Primary School. The lecture lasted nearly an hour, with the nearly 1,000 students doubling the previous record for the most folks attending a software lecture. We just hope the presenters didn’t dance like Bill Gates and Steve Balmer when they unveiled Windows 95.
The Extremes
One of the thrills of owning a Guinness Book of World Records is scouring through the pages to see the “biggest” and “smallest” of anything. As we know from the Rubik’s Cube, a 3D printer can do incredible things, regardless of size.
Jonty Horowitz decided to make the world’s smallest nano sculpture when he created the world’s smallest human model with the help of 3D printing. The final product is so small that it can fit within the eye of the needle on a pin, so you’d have to imagine it wouldn’t survive being in a bowl of Cheerios in a Honey, I Shrunk the Kids kind of scenario.
On the other hand, the largest project is in Beijing’s Parkview Green. The sculpture is 26.5 feet long, 9.5 feet tall, and contains 1,023 individual parts.
Vroom, Vroom!
Most people operating 3D printing machines enjoy using them to duplicate things with precision. But no one could have imagined that 3D printing could build cars—let alone vehicles approaching 200 mph. James Beswick used an Ultimaker 2 Extended 3D printer to construct an RC car that can approach that speed milestone.
Some of the most unbelievable 3D printing world records seem silly, while others could change manufacturing efforts forever. There’s no telling what 3D printing will be capable of in the future, especially when it builds the ceiling it breaks through on the way there.
Categories: Interesting Stuff
