PC Magazine took a tour of a Brooklyn, NY-based 3D printer manufacturer, and it wasn’t MakerBot. It was Buildatron, an up and coming personal 3D printer operation whose signature feature is a stunning metal case. What did they find? They found a tiny manufacturing space, likely very similar to most other personal 3D printer… Continue reading A Tour of Buildatron
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Printrbot Hits The Jackpot
Projects appearing on the Kickstarter public venture funding service sometimes surprise everyone with their success, but Printrbot’s results seem to make all others look bad. Their concept for a personal 3D printer was presented on Kickstarter in hopes of raising enough cash to produce a number of units and launch their business. But get this… Continue reading Printrbot Hits The Jackpot
Stratasys Drifting Away from HP?
In early 2010 big-time 3D printer manufacturer Stratasys signed an agreement with even-bigger-time 2D printer manufacturer HP to market 3D printers. The deal involved Stratasys producing HP-labeled printers that would be marketed through HP’s massive reseller networks. They started sales in Europe later that year. Now we see this arrangement may not be proceeding as… Continue reading Stratasys Drifting Away from HP?
The List of Personal 3D Printers, 2011
There’s been a rash of low-cost 3D printers emerge recently, so many that it prompted us to write on what we called the “Cambrian Explosion of 3D printers“. But what are these printers? We took the time to zip through our previous posts and came up with what we think might be the definitive list… Continue reading The List of Personal 3D Printers, 2011
BotMill Holiday Discounts
BotMill announced some serious discounts on their personal 3D printers just in time for holiday shopping. The discounts apply to both their Axis kit and assembled Glider 3D printer. The kit is discounted USD$100 to USD$990 and the Glider is discounted USD$175 to only USD$1,320. Not only that, but they’ve also now include a… Continue reading BotMill Holiday Discounts
3D Systems For Investors
We managed to get a peek at a 3D Systems investors presentation. This is a rather large slide deck with plenty of investor-related data as most investor presentations tend to be, but there were also lots of very interesting statistics and information. We read through the entire piece and found the interesting tidbits for Fabbaloo… Continue reading 3D Systems For Investors
Another 3D Printed ATM Skimmer
This isn’t the first time a crime was committed with 3D printing technology, and it won’t be the last. Curiously, it’s exactly the same kind of crime: ATM skimming! Krebs on Security details the plot, in which perps carefully replaced the “card reader” portion of a California Chase Bank ATM with their own compromised… Continue reading Another 3D Printed ATM Skimmer
The New Buildatron
Buildatron has released a new version of their attractive personal 3D printer, the Buildatron Series 2. Like its predecessor, the Series 2 includes that very cool wedge-shaped metal case we believe is unique among personal 3D printers. But what’s different about this version as compared to the Series 1? Here’s what we found: Series… Continue reading The New Buildatron
3D Printed Fractal Cube Originated in Second Life
In December 2007 Henry Segerman, a.k.a. Second Life avatar Seifert Surface, designed a “Hilbert Cube” using Second Life’s then simplistic 3D model creation tools and some tricky Python software. While this interesting object was for years used only within Second Life’s virtual world, there’s been a recent change: you can now 3D print this item… Continue reading 3D Printed Fractal Cube Originated in Second Life
Think You Have A Big 3D Printer?
We were contacted by Kalispell, Montana-based The Future Is 3-D after our recent post on build sizes. The post discussed the ultimately not useful statistic of cost per build size. Nevertheless, this small company has been making RepRap Mendel-based 3D printers for over a year and specializes in large build sizes. They’re not kidding, either,… Continue reading Think You Have A Big 3D Printer?
The Economist Discovers 3D Printing’s Killer App
There is perhaps no bigger promoter of 3D printing within the mainstream media than The Economist magazine. Recently they visited the gigantic Euromold conference where many 3D printer manufacturers exhibit their wares – and applications of their tech. What impressed The Economist was the link between 3D print design and the biological. We’ve written… Continue reading The Economist Discovers 3D Printing’s Killer App
MAKE Makes a MakerGear
There are two kinds of personal 3D printer owners these days: those who like to build the printer from a kit and those who’d rather pay more for an assembled version. If you’re one of the former, you’ll be interested to know that MAKE Magazine is running a series of detailed posts describing… Continue reading MAKE Makes a MakerGear
Christmas at Bits From Bytes
The folks at Bits From Bytes have an interesting giveaway taking place this holiday season: their Advent Calendar 2011. According to Wikipedia, an Advent Calendar is “a special calendar which is used to count or celebrate the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas”. Typically it involves a surprise each day, and BFB is doing… Continue reading Christmas at Bits From Bytes
The New Teardrop
Maker Zaggo has discovered a truly useful design tip for 3D models. The new design helps overcome a deficiency in many low-cost 3D printers: no support material. Support material is typically extruded from a second print head during the print to add support for overhangs and difficult object geometries. The support material is then removed… Continue reading The New Teardrop
MineToys!
If it’s in 3D, it will be printed. That is the theme we see everywhere now. The latest venture in the theme is MineToys, a service that can 3D print your MineCraft characters. Like those who went before printing World of Warcraft, Mii or Second Life avatars, we now have a service that can… Continue reading MineToys!
Up! 3D Printers On Sale
Want an Up! personal 3D printer? This just might be the right time to buy if you are located in the USA as they’re on sale. Up3DUSA / X-Object has a special holiday deal underway. The first 100 buyers get an astonishing ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS OFF their purchase. This takes the price from USD$3,250… Continue reading Up! 3D Printers On Sale
Haptic Printing Experiment
Not sure about 3D printing and want to experience it? Really experience it? Now there’s a way to do so in which you (personally) become the 3D printer! You manipulate a hand-held extruder and move it about to gradually build up a 3D model just as a real 3D printer might do. Designer Joong… Continue reading Haptic Printing Experiment
MakerGear Hits Forbes
As interest in 3D printing grows we see increasingly frequent appearances in mass media. Now we see popular 3D printer supplier MakerGear featured in business publication Forbes. MakerGear is a well-stocked supply shop for 3D printer owners and would-be owners. In addition to supplying materials (ABS and PLA filament), MakerGear also offers well-regarded upgraded… Continue reading MakerGear Hits Forbes
SimCity or RealCity?
Yet another surprise source for 3D models has emerged: the game SimCity. SimCity, for those of you who have somehow never encountered it, is a simulation of a city. By tweaking various civic parameters, your city may thrive and grow – or die. It’s a great tool for learning some of the basics of city… Continue reading SimCity or RealCity?
FOC Concept Store
Our friends at Freedom of Creation have long been experimenting with the idea of selling beautiful 3D printed objects, some of which we’ve featured in the past. Now they’ve gone one step beyond that by actually printing the store itself! Or at least part of it. They’ve produced a kind of wall unit composed… Continue reading FOC Concept Store
The Cambrian Explosion of 3D Printers
Another new and innovative 3D printer kit available on KickStarter. Venture funding starts up another 3D printer factory. And then we read Rachel Park’s blog post. She reported on her experience at Euromold, where even more low-cost personal 3D printers emerged. That got us thinking about explosions. Cambrian explosions. But, you ask, what is/was… Continue reading The Cambrian Explosion of 3D Printers
The FELIX 1.0 3D Printer
We simply can’t keep up with all the new low-cost 3D printer kits coming out these days, but we’ll tell you what we know about another: The FELIX 1.0, made by (of course) FELIX Printers. As this is a brand new 3D printer we don’t know a lot about it. However, scanning through their material… Continue reading The FELIX 1.0 3D Printer
MakerBot’s Christmas Strategy
Retailers must plan around the holiday season. In fact, for some retailers that season is the “make or break” portion of the year’s revenue. Like any good retailer, MakerBot is doing the same by offering their 3D printers at a number of New York City shops, including AC Gears, Wired, GizModo Gallery and the New… Continue reading MakerBot’s Christmas Strategy
Announcing Mallyable!
Fabbaloo is very pleased to announce our new venture: Mallyable! Mallyable is a new online store providing easy-to-use, beautiful and low cost 3D models specifically designed for printing on personal 3D printers. We take the time to carefully design models ready to print on most personal 3D printers: they’ve been sized, oriented and… Continue reading Announcing Mallyable!
Printrbot Exemplifies Ingenuity
We’ve seen a series of experimental personal 3D printers emerge over the past year, some on the KickStarter online funding service. Each experiment has an interesting idea that improves on the ideas of others, gradually moving the state of the art forward. Printrbot, made by builder Brook Drumm, includes some very interesting features, not… Continue reading Printrbot Exemplifies Ingenuity
The Customised Design Event
We’ve learned of an upcoming event for those in the UK interested in 3D printing: The University of Hertfordshire and the British Library are putting on a seminar on 7 December entitled, “Customised Design”. In the three hour event, course leader Mark Bloomfield (founder of Electrobloom) will: … talk about how customised goods and… Continue reading The Customised Design Event
BFB Updates the Rapman
The venerable Rapman personal 3D printer has had a bit of an update, the first, we believe, since BFB was acquired by 3D Systems. The new version, 3.2, includes a few improvements on an already terrific 3D printer kit for assembly. Here’s what we see: Touchscreen interface, likely replicated from the Rapman’s big brother,… Continue reading BFB Updates the Rapman
Get a Free Car From Objet!
Objet, one of the major manufacturers of commercial 3D printers, is offering a complete car at no charge. Well, it’s not a *real* car, it’s only a 3D model of one. You can find it at the link below. Objet produced this model to demonstrate the capabilities of their 3D printer line. What are… Continue reading Get a Free Car From Objet!
Formlabs Working On Secret 3D Printer?
MassHighTech noticed startup company Formlabs has just received a half million USD specifically to create a low-end 3D printer. The team apparently is two gentlemen from the MIT Media lab: Maxim Lobovsky and David Cranor. There are no specifications for the 3D printer, nor even a website for them, as far as we can… Continue reading Formlabs Working On Secret 3D Printer?
The Fabbster 3D Printer
A new personal 3D printer has suddenly emerged at this week’s Euromold conference: The Fabbster. The company behind Fabbster is Germany-based Sintermask, makers of larger commercial powder-based 3D printers. They say they wish to give everyone the power to make things at home: “Join the Revolution”. It appears that they’re now venturing into the… Continue reading The Fabbster 3D Printer
Sugru Available At MakerBot
You may not have heard of Sugru, but it’s an amazingly useful material now for sale at the MakerBot online store. It’s not something you use in your 3D printer, but it definitely adds a lot to 3D printing. But first, what exactly is it? It’s a secretly formulated air-curing rubber compound sold in… Continue reading Sugru Available At MakerBot
Homemade Stereolithography?
Dissatisfied with your plastic extrusion-based home 3D printer? Looking for a mechanical build challenge? Perhaps you’d be interested in checking out the Laser 3D Printer on Instructables. This project describes how to build a stereolithography (SLA) machine. You should know, however, that the SLA build process is quite different from typical RepRap-style 3D printers… Continue reading Homemade Stereolithography?
Stratasys 3D Printers For Less?
There’s those low-cost personal 3D printers we often write about and there’s those really expensive commercial 3D printers that you’d never be able to afford. Or at least that’s how it used to be. Stratasys announced something they call a “3D Print Pack”, composed of their small uPrint 3D printer, a cleaning system and startup… Continue reading Stratasys 3D Printers For Less?
Fabbing in Russia
We received a note from the gentlemen at Fabbers.ru, apparently the first company to offer personal 3D printer gear in both Russia and the Ukraine. The new operation resells two 3D printer models: MakerBot’s Thing-O-Matic and the Buildatron. They’re also offering the David 3D Laser Scanner. As 3D printing interest grows, we’ll continue to… Continue reading Fabbing in Russia
Shapeways NYC Base
Shapeways, one of the leading 3D print services, announced it’s opening up a New York City production facility. This plant would include a variety of 3D printers suitable for printing customer objects on demand. While they already can do this with a European production facility in Eindhoven and through a network of partner 3D print… Continue reading Shapeways NYC Base
Keeping Up! Up
After a series of incremental hardware upgrades, PP3DP recognizes their existing customers might be feeling left out. Therefore they’ve announced an upgrade kit for older PP3DP owners. Had they not done this, owners of older PP3DPs would eventually have had to re-purchase a new model to get the improved features. What’s in the upgrade? Much: … Continue reading Keeping Up! Up
Uformia – Saving The World From Polygons
Our rant regarding STL the other day provoked some interest from the not-yet-well-known company Uformia of Norway. While we all agree that there are serious problems with STL format, some are starting to do something about it. One group with an interesting approach is Uformia, who are developing a new approach to 3D modeling specifically… Continue reading Uformia – Saving The World From Polygons
Kraftwurx Opens
As reported previously, the Kraftwurx 3D print service has been under development for years, but a recent press release indicates they’re open for business. You can now buy printed objects from them and upload & print your own objects for printing or for sale. The magic behind the nine-person Kraftwurx is their Digital Factory… Continue reading Kraftwurx Opens
Open Source 3-D Printer Design Competition
Queen’s University and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada are sponsoring a new competition for sustainable development. The competition asks that you “design sustainable technologies and their components for printing on open source 3-D printers”, specifically the RepRap. What exactly is a “sustainable technology”? We’re not sure, because that’s up to… Continue reading Open Source 3-D Printer Design Competition
Size Counts?
We often hear people asking the question “How big an object can you print on that thing?” The answer depends on which personal 3D printer you’re talking about, because they vary in size considerably. The public’s thinking seems to be “bigger is better”. We’re not so sure. Not only do personal 3D printers vary… Continue reading Size Counts?
The End of 3mm Filament?
An increasing number of personal 3D printer manufacturers are switching their products from using standard 3mm plastic filament (either ABS or PLA plastic) to a smaller size: 1.75mm. One of the early converts was PP3DP’s Up! 3D printer, which came with a 1.75mm extruder and smaller nozzle to match. In those early days 1.75mm filament… Continue reading The End of 3mm Filament?
Massive News: 3D Systems Acquires ZCorp!
In an almost unbelievable announcement today, 3D Systems has apparently acquired ZCorp, one of their major competitors. In addition to ZCorp, 3D Systems also picked up Vidar, a leading manufacturer of medical film digitizers. The cost of these two simultaneous acquisitions puts a USD$137M dent into 3D Systems’ wallet, which will be refilled by a… Continue reading Massive News: 3D Systems Acquires ZCorp!
Printing An Earthquake
If you happen to come by some digital data of any kind, watch out – it might become a 3D print! Now we see artist Luke Jerram has produced a 3D print of an earthquake, taking the digital data from a seismometer, applying a bit of rotation and voila, a very cool 3D model. Called… Continue reading Printing An Earthquake
Imagined Shopping For 3D Printer Materials
Objet just announced another amazing material for their Connex and Eden 3D printers. This new material, called “High Temperature Material”, not surprisingly provides 3D prints that can withstand high temperature exposure. It can withstand a temperature of +65C (149F) right out of the printer, but if you post-process the object with a “short oven-based,… Continue reading Imagined Shopping For 3D Printer Materials
BotMill Glider Updated
It seems that being acquired by 3D Systems is not a bad thing, at least for the manufacturers of the BotMill Glider personal 3D printer. The BotMill Glider has just been updated to include a few new features that we found interesting: 0.35mm extruder nozzle Accepts 1.75mm plastic filament (including both PLA and ABS… Continue reading BotMill Glider Updated
The Shapesmith Alternative
A new alternative to web-based 3D modeling tools is emerging: Shapesmith. We say emerging because it’s an unfinished work. Shapesmith is an open source project that offers anyone the chance of running their own 3D modeling tool from a website. The interface is truly beautiful and aesthetically simplistic, but as such it has some… Continue reading The Shapesmith Alternative
Tinkercad Gets Funding
First it was MakerBot with a USD$10M injection, and now it’s Tinkercad, that friendly online 3D modeling service that practically anyone can use. They’ve just received a boost of USD$1M from True Ventures with angel investment from Eghosa Omoigui, Taher Haveliwala, Jyri Engestrom, and Joshua Schachter. This is huge news for the small startup… Continue reading Tinkercad Gets Funding
More People Get 3D Printing
Blogger John Geraci’s recent post shows his newfound understanding of the future of 3D printing: he gets it. John’s blog talks about “innovation & entrepreneurship in New York City and beyond”, and this led him, we suspect, to Brooklyn-based MakerBot, the well-known manufacturers of the Thing-O-Matic personal 3D printer and previous models. From there he… Continue reading More People Get 3D Printing
The Wild West of 3D Models
Nick Bilton of the New York Times writes on the current “Wild West” state of legal affairs in the world of 3D printing. He compares the trading of digital 3D models with today’s sharing of music and video: “You think that was bad? Just wait until we can copy physical things.” We strongly agree with… Continue reading The Wild West of 3D Models
Autodesk’s Two New Things: Catch & Make
With the success of their first web-based design tool, 123D, Autodesk has launched (at least for preview) two new apps, Catch and Make. They’re both quite different, but readers will find them both useful. Make is a 3D slicer that converts a 3D model into layers suitable for manual assembly. This is probably best… Continue reading Autodesk’s Two New Things: Catch & Make
Investing in 3D Printing?
You’ve been reading many articles about 3D printing, or perhaps you’ve seen one. You think (like us) that 3D printing is going to be a Big Thing one day. You want a piece of the action. But how do you do that? Normally you’d select one or more likely companies and simply buy their… Continue reading Investing in 3D Printing?
An End To The Dreaded STL Format?
Experiments are underway to 3D print without using STL, the standard meat and potato file format used by 3D printers worldwide. How can this be? The folks at the RepRap project are trying to use a different approach using CSG format. Ok, let’s back up a bit; there are too many acronyms fling around… Continue reading An End To The Dreaded STL Format?
Free 3D Printed Christmas Ornaments
Happen to be using i.Materialise’s 3D printing service? Plan on erecting a Christmas tree in your home? If you answered yes to both of those questions, you might qualify to receive a free 3D printed Christmas ornament from i.Materialise. Their special promotion enables any order at or exceeding €50 to receive an ornament from their… Continue reading Free 3D Printed Christmas Ornaments
Shapeways Smooths Out The Ceramics
3D print service Shapeways has re-announced their ceramic service. They’ve long been known for experimenting with different materials in their 3D printers and now offer what is probably the widest array of materials to choose from when using a 3D print service. As is their habit, they typically offer a new material experimentally so… Continue reading Shapeways Smooths Out The Ceramics
Up! Is Up!Graded!
The busy technical folks at PP3DP have just released an upgraded Up! 3D printer. The popular personal 3D printer is one of the favorites for home users due to its ease of use and very high-quality output. But what’s new on the upgraded machine? They’ve changed quite a few things, but these caught our… Continue reading Up! Is Up!Graded!
3D Printed Circuit Boards?
Ponoko’s CEO David ten Have believes 3D printers will soon be able to print actual working circuit boards, in a recent chat with Wired. According to ten Have, “most of the assembly tools are completely automated anyway”. The RepRap project’s design goal is to design a machine that can actually reproduce itself, but automated… Continue reading 3D Printed Circuit Boards?
3D Printing Event Ends, But Not Really
Unfortunately we were not able to attend the first 3D Printing Event that took place in Eindhoven on 25 October. If you couldn’t attend either don’t give up hope! The generous folks running the event have managed to post videos of all the sessions from the conference. If you have an interest – and a… Continue reading 3D Printing Event Ends, But Not Really
From iPad to Your Finger
The ubiquitous iPad is well known because the primary interface is, well, your finger. Sometimes more than one. Nevertheless, a new iPad app promises to turn the tables on the interface by permitting you to design (with your trusty iPad finger) a 3D ring. The iRing3D app by Paracloud does just that. The app… Continue reading From iPad to Your Finger
The Araldite Digitalis 3D Printer
3D Systems acquired not only a materials manufacturing operation from Huntsman the other day, but also another type of 3D printer: the Araldite Digitalis. We didn’t know much about this device and thought it would be useful to find out more. Perhaps we’ll see how it fits into 3D Systems’ product line. The Digitalis… Continue reading The Araldite Digitalis 3D Printer
DesktopFab Partners with 3D Systems
Some time ago we wrote about a small Texas-based operation called DesktopFab that resold PP3DP’s Up! personal 3D printers in the USA. We hadn’t heard much from them for quite some time. And then suddenly… They issued a press release describing their new partnership with 3D Systems. No longer are they selling PP3DP’s in… Continue reading DesktopFab Partners with 3D Systems
3D Systems Acquires Huntsman Technology
3D Systems continued its acquisition strategy this week by picking up not a company but a technology. They’ve recently been acquiring whole companies related to 3D printing, but this one is slightly different: they’ve purchased what appears to be the USD$7M/yr revenue rapid prototyping arm of Huntsman, a very large chemical conglomerate. The specifics… Continue reading 3D Systems Acquires Huntsman Technology
Sculpteo Asks: 3D Printer or 3D Service?
3D print service Sculpteo poses the question, “Would you rather have a personal 3D printer or simply use a 3D print service?” Based on a column from industry consultant Terry Wohlers, it seems that Sculpteo might agree with Wohlers when he says: most people would not want to mess with an AM (additive manufacturing)… Continue reading Sculpteo Asks: 3D Printer or 3D Service?
3D Printing is a Cleantech Innovation
Pike Research, whose tagline is “Cleantech Market Intelligence” posted a report listing “Five Disruptive Cleantech Innovations”. These, we presume, are technologies that should deliver dramatic ecological benefits to future generations as they come online in force later in this century. But what was on the list of five? Energy Harvesting Energy Storage Fuel Cell… Continue reading 3D Printing is a Cleantech Innovation
My Robot Nation Lives
This past August we learned of a new specialized 3D print service under development, My Robot Nation. It specializes (obviously) in printed robots. The service works much like 2D web-based composition tools and games, where you select parts from a library to build up your robot. My Robot Nation provides a variety of stickers,… Continue reading My Robot Nation Lives
Extreme Redesign Contest Winners for 2011
The winners in Dimension’s Extreme Redesign contest for this year have been announced! As is the case every year, the contest has three major categories: College, Art & Architecture, Middle/High School. Buildings & Bridges and Puzzles & Games. You can check out all the winners at the link below, but a couple of items… Continue reading Extreme Redesign Contest Winners for 2011
3D Printed Crabs
No, we’re not talking about pretty little crab toys you can print and hand out to your 8 year old nephew. Instead we’re talking about an innovative project undertaken by one of MakerBot’s artists in residence, Miles Lightwood. The project is concerned with the fate of the lowly Hermit Crab, a crustacean currently facing… Continue reading 3D Printed Crabs
Crania Anatomica Filigre Results
KickStarter, the crowdsourced fundraising site continues to amaze us. As does this particular project, Crania Anatomica Filigre. As you can see, it’s an extremely cool 3D print of a stylized skull by Chicago-based designer Joshua Harker. Harker’s fundraising goal was to collect USD$500 and get his work seen and touched by more people. It… Continue reading Crania Anatomica Filigre Results
Modeen’s Meat and Bone Experiments
3D design dxperimenter extraordinaire Dr. Thomas Modeen continues his radical 3D printing design experiments in his “Meat and Bone” series. This technique is incredibly simple yet the results are startlingly beautiful. His approach retains the normally discarded support structures as part of the printed work. By thinking of the design in this way right… Continue reading Modeen’s Meat and Bone Experiments
3D Printing’s Great Divide
We’ve been observing some of the fantastic features offered by the major 3D printer manufacturers and realized there could be a growing problem. While all 3D printers can produce objects, some manufacturers use unique (and patented) approaches to getting that done. They also offer some great features: ZCorp’s printers can print in full… Continue reading 3D Printing’s Great Divide
Wohlers On 3D Printing Futures
At a recent seminar we were able to meet with 3D printing consultant Terry Wohlers. Terry has been a leading 3D printing and additive manufacturing industry consultant and prolific speaker for over 25 years. Each year he publishes the definitive report on the industry, available from his website. We asked his opinion on 3D printing… Continue reading Wohlers On 3D Printing Futures
The Tale Of Printing Your Own Part
Pete Prodoehl of RasterWeb tells an interesting tale of his experience in making a replacement part using a home 3D printer. We’ve gone through this scenario ourselves, and you should hear this tale as it typifies the current state of affairs for home repair using 3D printers. Pete required a light switch button and… Continue reading The Tale Of Printing Your Own Part
The iModela IM-01 “3D Printer”
We’ve been reading a ton of posts from various online services talking about Japan-based Roland’s new “iModela 3D Printer”. This fully assembled device is able to produce 3D objects upon command and retails for under USD$1000. The iModela IM-01 comes with software to design your objects, a travel case and there’s even an online community… Continue reading The iModela IM-01 “3D Printer”
3D Printing Event Soon
If you happen to be in Eindhoven on the 25th, you might head down to 3D Printing Event 2011. The theme of the event is something we focus on: 3D printing at home. You’ll be able to attend seminars that discuss the theme in depth, and you can also peruse the offerings of many… Continue reading 3D Printing Event Soon
3D Printed Crime
PC World takes a very deep look at some of the criminal possibilities of 3D printing in a recent article. We’ve been quite concerned about how this will play out, as have some others. When you have a machine that can create practically anything, what do you expect to happen? PC World’s article details… Continue reading 3D Printed Crime
Up!’s Platform Suit
PP3DP has introduced a possible solution to the scourge of all home 3D printer operators: ABS warping. As most 3D printer operators discover (usually catastrophically) certain shapes and sizes of ABS plastic prints tend to curl as the print proceeds. Usually thin edges are the worst. This problem actually severely limits the size of… Continue reading Up!’s Platform Suit
Finding 3D Models With Google
We’re always interested to find new ways of developing 3D models, be it through software modeling tools, capture through scanning of real objects, physical manifestation of found 3D data, or other techniques. Why? Because you can 3D print them! Now we see artist Daniel Michel of Germany has found yet another way to create digital… Continue reading Finding 3D Models With Google
Waiting For AMF
Some months ago (March actually) we wrote about a new file format for additive manufacturing that had been approved after long discussion: AMF, the Additive Manufacturing Format. This new format included a variety of key features to dramatically improve the information content found in 3D models. Meta data, materials, colors, textures and more were… Continue reading Waiting For AMF
MAKE Talks with Bre
There’s a very long interview with MakerBot Chief Bre Pettis in MAKE magazine that we encourage you to read. We went through it looking for clues to MakerBot’s future plans, especially after their recent gigantic infusion of an astonishing USD$10M from investors. Here’s what we noticed: Bre is still very pumped about MakerBot as… Continue reading MAKE Talks with Bre
Unlimited 3D Printing For Only $10K?
We’ve found out a bit more about MCOR’s intriguing free 3D printing program, called “freeDrevolution”. As we wrote earlier, the idea is to give you (literally) a free commercial 3D printer (the MCOR Matrix, of course) and then you simply pay a flat fee to cover all printing costs – including maintenance and supplies. In… Continue reading Unlimited 3D Printing For Only $10K?
More on the 3D Systems Projet 1500
We’ve obtained some additional information about 3D Systems’ new low-cost commercial color 3D printer, the Projet 1500. Priced at slightly under USD$15,000, this device has quite a few very interesting features that we noticed while perusing 3D Systems’ documentation. Here’s the highlights of our scan through their material: Front panel has a window for… Continue reading More on the 3D Systems Projet 1500
More on the Solidoodle 3D Printer
After yesterday’s post on the new Solidoodle 3D printer, we spoke with team leader Sam Cervantes, who answered some key questions were pondering. Fabbaloo: Why another 3D printer? Aren’t there several for sale already? What makes Solidoodle different? Sam Cervantes: Some people love to put complicated machines together and that’s great – it’s… Continue reading More on the Solidoodle 3D Printer
The Solidoodle 3D Printer
Yet another inexpensive 3D printer has emerged: the Solidoodle. The amusingly named device is unique because it is, as far as we can tell, the only fully assembled personal 3D printer currently available at a price under USD$1000: their price is only USD$699. But that’s their introductory price. The final price is no doubt a… Continue reading The Solidoodle 3D Printer
The Mosaic 3D Printer
MakerGear, that wonderful online source for all kinds of 3D printing goodness, launched the Mosaic 3D Printer this past summer. The Mosaic is similar to several other inexpensive 3D printer kits. This item comes in three forms: The basic kit, for USD$799 The “Plus” version for USD$999, which adds a heated build platform and… Continue reading The Mosaic 3D Printer
Free 123D T-Shirts!
Autodesk is running a promotion to raise interest in their new web-based 3D modeling tool, 123D, which we’ve written about before. You don’t get a t-shirt for nothing, though. You have to make an image of your original 3D Jack-o-lantern design and share it within their online gallery. This could be easier than you… Continue reading Free 123D T-Shirts!
Foodsafe 3D Printing
Foodsafe is one of those words we keep bumping into. What does it mean, exactly? Well, we’re pretty certain there is an official international standard, complete with a number of specifications, but basically it means you can use the produce for purposes of human consumption. You can eat with it. “But it’s just plastic… Continue reading Foodsafe 3D Printing
The Global Village Construction Set
Want to build a civilization? Sure, we all do. But now you can with the Global Village Construction Kit. It’s a set of tools you’ll need to produce and maintain an modern, industrial civilization. From their wiki: The Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) is a modular, DIY, low-cost, high-performance platform that enables fabrication of… Continue reading The Global Village Construction Set
Stratasys Expands
3D printing industry giant Stratasys has been spending some money lately – on a new 90,000 sq. ft production facility in Minnesota. The new facility, which is actually a refit of an existing building in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, actually doubles their capacity for building their line of 3D printers. Evidently Stratasys believes there’s a… Continue reading Stratasys Expands
3D Systems Acquires Kemo
Mark down another acquisition for 3D Systems, who this week announced they’ve picked up Belgian 3D print service Kemo B.V. Modelmaker. This Belgian firm adds to the significant number of 3D print services now under the vast 3D Systems umbrella. Kemo focuses on on-demand custom parts for industry, similar to other services that 3D Systems… Continue reading 3D Systems Acquires Kemo
ZCorp’s On This Old House
If you’re watching the perennial PBS TV series “This Old House” you might see a 3D printed house in a couple of their October episodes. The series has used a ZCorp 3D printer to produce a model of a home being remodeled in order to show the viewing audience what the final outcome of the… Continue reading ZCorp’s On This Old House
The New ProJet 1500 From 3D Systems
3D Systems has released a new personal 3D printer, the ProJet 1500. This device is priced at under USD$15,000 and seems to compete directly with Stratasys’s popular uPrint device. The ProJet 1500 is billed as a color printer, since it is capable of using cartridges with some six different colors: White, Red, Grey, Blue,… Continue reading The New ProJet 1500 From 3D Systems
Free 3D Printers!
We wrote about a mysterious program from MCOR in which they hinted they’d be giving away 3D printers at no charge. Certainly this deserves some investigation, and it turns out it’s actually true! MCOR now no longer sells their paper-fuelled 3D printers. Instead they simply give them away! But there’s a catch, of course.… Continue reading Free 3D Printers!
More on the Origo 3D Printer For Kids
We contacted Joris Peels, one of the founders of the Origo 3D printer for Kids and also a long-time friend of Fabbaloo to find out more about this interesting venture. Here’s our interview: Fabbaloo: Why kids? Joris Peels: Artur and I both want to let anyone make anything. Making is an ability… Continue reading More on the Origo 3D Printer For Kids
Keep Up The Support
Designer Dr. Thomas Modeen, whom we’ve written about recently, has come up with another unusual design: various species of bowls and bottles. The unique aspect of this design is that he’s incorporated support material into the final object. Normally this stuff is used only to support overhangs and is swiftly removed after the print completes.… Continue reading Keep Up The Support
Making Dinosaurs
It’s been the fantasy of many kids (and adults) to recreate dinosaurs. Those almost mythical, but real beasts from prehistoric times challenge our curiosity. What were they really like. Probably they’d eat you if they had a chance, but is there a way to rebuild the dinosaurs? The late author Michael Crichton proposed doing so… Continue reading Making Dinosaurs
Objet’s Clear Bio-Material
Commercial 3D printer manufacturer Objet has released a new very interesting print material: MED610, which is a transparent bio-compatible substance. You might think that making a clear, safe substance would be easy, but it’s not. In order to qualify for such a designation numerous tests and certifications are required, and that’s the tough work that… Continue reading Objet’s Clear Bio-Material