YouTuber and software developer Humphrey Wittingtonsworth IV recently wowed his audience with an amazing creation: a rotating 3D printer. This printer, a modified Creality CR-10, is capable of printing tubular objects onto a rotating 8mm rod. He describes it as a “simple mod” that includes 3D printed mounts and a few ball bearings to support the modified printing surface. Due to its unique design, the printer is capable of creating springs, screws, washers, gears and even solid rods.
The addition of individual 3D printed sleeves for the print rod acts as rafts for the rotary prints while facilitating their removal from the print surface.
Humprey presents an airgun barrel created using his modified rotary printer.
Humphrey states in his video description that the goal of this project was to create “the baddest air rifle ever,” so it was no surprise when he showed off a printed barrel. This will certainly make elected officials even more nervous about the possibilities of at-home 3D printing.
It is worth noting that Humphrey is not the first to develop a method of printing on a rotary axis. Dutch manufacturer Jonas Duteloff introduced a similar concept in 2021, which he called the 3D rotoprinter. Unfortunately, both his personal website and the website for the project appear to no longer exist. Duteloff’s YouTube channel is still active, but there have been no updates about Rotoprinter since its release in 2021.
A screen of a demonstration of the 3D rotoprinter
Diabase introduced similar functionality on its H-series printer and CNC router back in 2020. There are some similarities to Humphrey’s design, including the use of a shell for adhesion and removability of the structure. Unfortunately, Diabase’s websites are no longer functioning and the company’s social media presence appears to have gone silent in 2022.
A group of medical researchers published a paper in 2020 about using rotary printing to create tubular implants. Their research was based on the use of a modified Roland EGX-360 rotary engraver. The applications for the tubular bioprinter proved so extensive that Desktop Health even released a rotating variant of its bioprinter earlier this year.
What makes Humphrey’s printer so special? The Diabase H series was a $5,000 piece of hardware. The Roland, which isn’t even a 3D printer, appears to retail for between $6,000 and $12,000. The 3D rotoprinter was a custom-built device whose exact specifications and modified firmware were never made available to the public. In contrast, Humphrey’s rotary modification was performed on a widely available, popular, and, not to mention, extremely affordable home printer. This revelation has shifted the pressure of rotation from the realm of medical science and CNC equipment into something that can be achieved by a broader community of manufacturers. In theory, these modifications could be applied to other printers, including other Creality devices.
According to his own comments on YouTube, while Humphrey doesn’t believe the software he wrote is good enough for wide release, he believes other engineers can easily reproduce his work. Still, there seems to be strong interest among YouTube viewers in seeing his code, which will encourage him to publish it. Humphrey seems interested in showing off more features of his modified printer. We hope this idea doesn’t fall into obscurity like previous efforts.
