Veteran 3D Printers
3D Systems,
service in
event,
hardware,
printer
Stross delves into a possible future where 3D printers become commonplace - and explores the problems that could result.
3D Systems,
service in
event,
hardware,
printer If you happen to be a 'maker', and love the creative experience like we do, then you definitely welcome the chance to spend a week or so assembling, testing, and debugging the MakerBot. It's roughly similar to our experience years ago building ham radios from surplus electronic parts.
I regret to read this, because we don’t share the opinion that is stated on our name at all. The person you stated is not an employee of Materialise, he is a journalist who talked to an i.materialise employee. The opinion he shares are therefore not ours.
We are very enthusiastic about fablab printers and we really support people that use it. In my opinion, we have one great interest, which is to make production of unique models accessible for everyone. in that sense, we don’t see the existence of fablab printers as competition, well in contrary. It’s just the same as with 2d printing, where most people own one at home, but still use a service when they need something else.
That is our opinion as well: there are many reasons to use print services, just as there are reasons to own your own hobby printer. As a consumer of 3D printing, you must choose the route that is most appropriate for your own situation. You might want the one-time cost and quality and reliability of a service or you might want your own printer if you intend to print a great many objects - or if you like rebuilding hobby 3D printers. Where's our soldering station?
CNBC and Fox Business News recently aired a segment of "21st Century Business" in which Prototek Sales Manager Dennis Rocheford explained a bit about his company. Originally in the sheet metal rapid prototyping prototyping business, they've been expanding their capability and now include stereolithography and 3D printing with ZCorp machinery.
Prototek is a large rapid prototyping company that provides a wide variety of rapid prototyping capabilities, including engineering, CNC laser/punch/form/bend/machining, shearing, graining, welding, finishing, etc.
Two interesting aspects to this: We can see a traditional manufacturing company starting to introduce new 3D manufacturing methods beside the traditional CNC equipment; Mainstream media is picking up on the technology once again.
Via Prototek
mainstream media,
service,
video in
service
Every one of us is a specialist in something, and our belief is that great things happen when different specialists intersect to combine the expertise from different disciplines. One such collision recently took place at RedEyeOnDemand, a popular 3D print service.
It turns out that Tim Thellin and several co-workers at RedEye are hobby musicians, and they decided to put the two skills together. They experimented with different guitar styles and build materials, and eventually came up with a variety of interesting instruments:
It started out as a gimmick to build something really different that would stand out for use at tradeshows. So, we made our first two telecaster style guitars out of PC-ISO and ABSi red materials. The sleek, translucent look of the PC-ISO only added to its rigidness and durability. Then, we chose ABSi red to build something in a different color that we could send to Stratasys' European sales office for use as samples and at their tradeshows. We quickly learned how easy it was to create custom designs with intricate geometries using the FDM technology.
We couldn't stop with single color projects, so we worked on a truly custom design and build a double S-shaped guitar for Stratasys using ABS black and blue. We further enhanced the complexity using PolyJet Clear and Vero White for the knobs.
To accomplish this, Tim first purchased an actual guitar so that he could reuse the non-printable bits as well as get some hints about dimensions and layouts. The video shows some of the process undertaken and the resulting rather unconventional guitar. Future designs are limited only by their imagination.
Amazing stuff, but we're wondering whether this opens up a legal question: what happens if someone buys an object and then precisely copies it? Could that be considered "personal use" by means of making a "backup copy" of the object? Whose Stratocaster is that?
Via YouTube and RedEye On Demand
How robust, you might ask? Apparently strong enough to make ping pong paddles from the material and play a real game with them: "Even smashing is possible!" Don't believe us? Watch the video.
The material would be great for snap-lock parts or extra-durable cases. We're wondering when this robustness will make its way from stereolithography into 3D printers.
Via Materialise
Piasecki and Kwiecinski designed a GA specifically to produce such rings and this is their result.
But it doesn't end there. This GA is evidently to become part of Fluid Forms' standard service. In other words you'll soon be able to use the GA as a "ring configurator" to generate a unique ring of your own! They say this is mass customization, and it is.
But it's also Customized Evolution. Your solution, grown in seconds.
Via FluidForms and Michal Piasecki (Hat tip to Andreas, Bryan and Kerry)
The beta service proudly announces their manifesto:
We love 3D printing and are excited by amazing designs. That's why we developed the i.materialise platform. An online service making 3D printing as easy as printing on paper.
Matt's experience was based on his attempt to print a potentially challenging children's book character. Among his findings:
Via We Don't Do Retro and i.materialise (Hat tip to Bart)