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I found a video demonstration of small particles levitating in air held and manipulated by ultrasonic field.

My first thought was: this could be used in 3d printing!

Particles could be manipulated and held in shape by this ultrasound technology and then melted together by laser or ultrasound energy itself. I know it is far fetched theory ... but somehow I think it could be done ...

Ultrasonic technology is already used in high-end metal 3d printing by Fabrisonic:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2013/07/ultrasonic-metal-3d-printing.html

And similar technology is also used to weld plastic:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2012/12/diy-ultrasonic-plastic-welding.html

So, all these technologies could be merged together, why not?

Video of ultrasonic particle levitation:


Video description:

The essence of levitation technology is the countervailing of gravity. It is known that an ultrasound standing wave is capable of suspending small particles at its sound pressure nodes and, so far, this method has been used to levitate lightweight particles, small creatures, and water droplets.
The acoustic axis of the ultrasound beam in these previous studies was parallel to the gravitational force, and the levitated objects were manipulated along the fixed axis (i.e. one-dimensionally) by controlling the phases or frequencies of bolted Langevin-type transducers. In the present study, we considered extended acoustic manipulation whereby millimetre-sized particles were levitated and moved three-dimensionally by localised ultrasonic standing waves, which were generated by ultrasonic phased arrays. Our manipulation system has two original features. One is the direction of the ultrasound beam, which is arbitrary because the force acting toward its centre is also utilised. The other is the manipulation principle by which a localised standing wave is generated at an arbitrary position and moved three-dimensionally by opposed and ultrasonic phased arrays. We experimentally confirmed that various materials could be manipulated by our proposed method.

Source:

http://96ochiai.ws/3DOFacoustic

Experiment was done and domnstrated by Yoichi Ochiai, Takayuki Hoshi and Jun Rekimoto ( University of Tokyo, Nagoya Institute of Technology, University of Tokyo and Sony CSL ).

Josef Prusa also 3d printed a working speaker. But he didn't publish it. So he is now noted in the history books of 3d printing as second person to successfully develop 3d printed speaker ...
who cares ...
Great work Josef!



First ones recorded were the Cornell guys:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2013/12/fully-3d-printed-speaker-at-cornells.html 

Speaker was fully 3d printed including metal coil at Cornell's Creative Machines Lab by Apoorva, Robert MacCurdy and Hod Lipson. To make it printable, the electronic components are made with two customizable 3D printers: a special silver ink extrusion is used for the coil and a viscous blend of strontium ferrite is used for the magnet.
It's the future people. We just need to get more synergy and merging of 3d printed plastic and 3d printed electronics.
I hope that projects that could empower every maker to print similar speakers like Spoolhead wire embedding 3d printhead RepRap will be revived and improved. http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2013/09/embedding-metal-wire-in-3d-printed.html











Source:

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2013/12/fully-functional-loudspeaker-3-d-printed

Update:

Josef Prusa also developed 3d printed speaker:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2014/01/josef-prusa-also-3d-printed-working.html

I have a plan to build a music room in a old brick shed in my back yard. I want to have cheap HiFi vinyl listening setup. After a research I learned that sound diffusers are goot thing to have. I went to Thingiverse and found 3d printed sound diffusers by dkubicek.
The idea is good but the time needed to print sufficient are is ridiculous and the costs are just too high for me.
I'll maybe make couple of modules just for decoration and stick with the wooden ones from wood scraps laying around.























From Thingiverse description:

What is a diffusor ?

If you have an room with unpleasing audio properties, one possibly reasons can be echos that occur in a structured way. Early echos (e.g. <0.4 sec) are e.g. well known for inhibiting personal speaking comfort.
Now to get rid of echos, there are two practical ways: sound absorbers and sound diffusors.
The goal of a good diffusor is to scatter sound, so that a specific incoming sound goes to all possible output directions. Hence echos are quite "mute" and do not start at a precise time, but one hears a slow buildup and decrease of echo noise.
Audio absorbers create a harsh empty environment, similar to speaking in open air, while diffusors create a "warm" and sound of a well stocked living room.
Mainly, there exist one and two-dimensional variants, and a you will find heaps of information in the references. And, they are extremely common in recording studios.
Where do you want to put your diffusor ?On the sides and above the "viewing direction" to the sound source. In your rear, sound absorbers are a better choice.

Building a diffusor

Usually, diffusors are made from wood. The material should be reasonably stiff, so sound does not deform it. Ideally, the material should not burn, which sadly, PLA and ABS do. So, please be aware that a room with diffusors is a possible deathtrap.
I figured that these diffusors can be printed easily with 3d printers, although the printsize requires to join many pieces to obtain a large enough area to actually effect the room sound. For a minimal effect, you want a couple of square meter (>25 prints).

Cost Analysis

I found one offer where 6 pieces of 0.6*0.6 mm diffusor cost 370 E. Thats 170 E per square meter.
If you 3d print it with the octagonal structure, you will need 5kg of filament per square meter. Thats in a similar price regime. If you print for material costs. Also, you need to print for 16 days for a square meter on my printer...

The files

All files are created using openscad, the stls are just examples, and its highly recommended that you do not reuse a single part in a panel, but each part should be different. Also, you want to set the wall thickness according to your 3d printers nozzle.
2d rectangular diffusor. It has sideholes, to mount the pieces together. It is suited for 3d printing, but takes quite a while.
Hexagonal diffusor. I figured that instead of a recitlinear grid, the diffusor cells can be aligned in a hexagonal layout. Really neat, no? However, you need to play with your slicing software, so that the outside walls actually print.
Manhatten 1d diffusor, which prints quickest, but only diffuses in one direction. The figer structure might be to small, you might want to increase the cell size to 20mm, for even faster printing.

Reference:

The videos linked here are also shown above. They are not from me, and I just wanted to link them for further information for the reader.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_%28acoustics%29http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFeM2uWuMZIhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOjHsexNBTQhttp://arqen.com/sound-diffusers/http://www.mh-audio.nl/diffusor.asp

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:189052

Here is a video on how-to build skyline sound diffuser from wooden boards:

Great video showing the process of creating DIY 3d printed headphones with all the steps.



Source:

https://www.youtube.com/user/guardthemind?feature=watch