Special wire drawing machine allows you to make flexible TPU 3D printing wire

The exploration of materials in the field of 3D printing has been going on. We already have metal-like wires, wood-like wires, carbon fiber wires, and more. But there is one material that is not widely used because of the difficulty of manufacturing, and that is soft and elastic thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU).

But objectively speaking, more and more 3D printing enthusiasts are trying to print something with it. In the past year, we have seen many people 3D print countless different products with TPU materials, which was almost impossible a few years ago.

And, recently, a guy named ThomasPalm even developed a consumer-grade wire drawing machine that you can use to make TPU wire at home. The machine will be sold through his company Rubber3dprinting.

3D printed robotic fingers

“The current consumer-grade wire drawing machines can’t produce good quality TPU wire,” Palm said, “so I designed my own wire drawing machine. My real goal is to hope to crowdfund my wire drawing machine on Kickstarter or Indigogo. It is expected to be in the first quarter of 2015.”

Palm can not only make ordinary TPU wire, but by adding carbon to it, he can also make TPU material that conducts electricity. To be honest, the application prospect of TPU material is really broad. Palm used it to create some unique designs while testing it. One of them is using it to 3D print prosthetics or robotic fingers. Palm used a dual-extruder 3D printer, using two types of filaments, of which TPU material was used to print the joints between the knuckles and the fingertips. And he designed it at the fingertips to respond to external pressure.

3D printed remote control 4WD tire

“There is a shell on the fingertip. When pressed, it will be connected to the internal conductive surface, thus forming a loop.” Palm said: “The connection of the knuckle is also designed for pressure feedback.”

Although Palm admits that putting pressure-sensitive fingertips on a robotic hand is not his first. But he thinks his innovation will make it more affordable and also allow it to be fully 3D printed, so less assembly work is required.

The samples that Palm 3D printed using his TPU material include a set of wheels for a remote-controlled 4WD vehicle, a keyboard-like device, a soft plastic bag handle, and a pair of comfortable and beautiful slippers.