The Naturalis Biodiversity Center, a national natural history museum and research center, is using an Ultimaker 3D printer to add missing bones to the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur found in Montana. While about half of the bones found are extremely well preserved and intact, the skeletal feet, left leg and arms bones are missing.
Before 3D printing technology, this process was previously done by molding missing parts out of styrofoam which was a very time consuming, difficult process. To create more accurate models of the missing bones, Naturalis has scanned the existing bones. The artificial 3D printed bones will be painted a slightly different color than the authentic bones so museum visitors can see the difference. In September 2016 the real T. rex skeleton will be on display in the museum.
Once the skeleton has taken center stage at Naturalis, Ultimaker will host a how-to-print guide for some of the bones and will share the actual STL files used by the museum so 3D printing enthusiasts can print the exact T. rex replica bones themselves.