3D printer creates working loudspeaker Printers can be constructed with multiple cartridges for different materials, just as traditional 2D printers use differently coloured inks. But the large hurdle to overcome is that these materials need to be extruded at different temperatures and have different curing times, making printing one object with two or more materials troublesome. Creating the speaker involved printing a plastic housing, a flexible diaphragm, a conductive coil and a magnet. The conductive parts were created with silver ink on a Fab@Home printer, while the magnet was created from a viscous blend of strontium ferrite. The rest was printed with traditional plastic materials. The project was led by mechanical engineering graduate students Apoorva Kiran and Robert MacCurdy, working with associate professor and 3D-printing pioneer Hod Lipson. Creating a market for printed electronic devices, Lipson said, could be like introducing color printers after only black and white had existed: "It opens up a whole new space that makes the old look primitive."