Disney creates fabric 3D printer

When you say 3D printers, you typically think of a polymer or metal as being the primary material, building durable, hard products and prototypes. Disney and other toy makers may have uses for such things, but many toys for children are made with a softer touch in mind. To fill in this gap, Disney, along with US universities Cornell and Carnegie Mellon, has designed a new 3D printer that can print from felt sheets.

The machine works like many other 3D printers, cutting shapes out of a sheet of adhesive felt and heating each layer as it builds to create a form. The resolution is not terribly impressive, creating more of an impression of a toy than a fully-formed, detailed doll. Nevertheless, it could be of great interest to those wanting quick prototyping of stuffed dolls.

Interestingly, the team that developed the printer has also demonstrated a method of embedding layers of conductive fabric within the "soft print". This would allow the creation of a touch sensor embedded in the printed "doll" that could then interact with other electronics.

This is not Disney's first foray into the 3D printer market, and it remains to be seen just how far this sort of technology can go. It is, however, a good reminder that 3D printing technologies can go beyond polymers or metals, if only for specialized use cases.

See a comparison table of selected personal 3D printer suppliers on GlobalSources.com