Engineer turns old 3D printer into a tattoo gun that you definitely shouldn't use at home
Engineer turns old 3D printer into a tattoo gun that you definitely shouldn't use at home
"On that note, Dan, stick your leg in the printer"
Heads up: Maybe just link to Emily's video rather than an article about it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt1kS52V3MM
And yeah. Emily The Engineer is increasingly the (number two) youtuber I wish would have a second channel to do deep dives into the actual engineering behind these projects (nothing beats Shane at Stuff Made Here). There are just so many factors as to how this even works and I would love a deep dive on what was done to actually compensate for the... curvature of flesh? I feel real dirty now...
But yeah. Her videos have kind of hit that sweet spot of "completely unhinged" and "really really cool from a design and engineering standpoint".
High-finctioning ADHD maybe? I loved her life size benchy video.
She has Preston Goes vibes, but in a garage and backyard.
Emily is my favorite. She's got some really fun original ideas, and watching her videos perfectly captures that "it works!" feeling when you're working on something that really shouldn't work.
She's almost a female version of Michael Reeves. Less chaotic and more legal, but I still enjoy her videos. I agree with the other comment that a second more technical channel would be interesting.
Ah emily the engineer. Cool person
Less chaotic huh? Geez.
I’m a bit surprised that the thigh bubbling up in the frame didn’t cause any z-axis issues. Probably benefitted from being a small tattoo.
Yes, although I think auto "bed" leveling with a bltouch-style probe could work to compensate that
They made a custom mount attaching the tattoo gun to the toolhead that included springs or something with extra give to accommodate a slightly irregular surface. They also used a small patch of skin on a relatively flat area.
Honestly, I'm slightly surprised 'tattoo printers' haven't become a thing for those little 'formulaic' tattoos. (Stars, hearts, bird silhouettes, etc.) People love getting inked up and I could see it making those sorts of tattoos absurdly fast, albeit probably much more intensely painful due to the speed.
I could see this being the future of tattoos in general. Most tattoos are designed digitally, or at least go through a digital phase. Load the image and hit print. No more shitty "my artist was drunk that day" posts, which I'm sure are actually rare as hell, but scare so many people off of getting a tattoo.
Basically, it'd take out the human element and make the experience a little shittier, but with a more polished (again, less human) final project... So it fits 100% perfectly in line with everything we do as a society.