A group at MIT have created a new 3D printer that builds with molten glass. This allows them to manufacture items that would difficult, if not impossible, to create with traditional glassblowing or other modern techniques. One of the coolest aspects of this technique is that it can use viscous fluid instabilities like the fluid dynamical sewing machine to create different effects with the glass. You can see this around 1:56 in the video. Varying the height of the head and the speed at which it moves will cause the molten glass to fall and form into different but consistent coiling patterns. All in all, it’s a very cool application for using some nonlinear dynamics! (Video credit: MIT; via James H. and Gizmodo)
Printing in Glass
