Imagine designing amazingly intricate, one-of-a-kind electric guitar bodies years ago – and now wishing you could document your work while you still can. Then Imagine trying to produce a detailed 3D model of the guitar shown in the image here – with conventional measuring tools. Yep, you’d be there a very long time, and… Continue reading Decades-Old Custom Guitar Scanned
All
Replicating The Volcano
Students at Clevedon School in North Somerset made a volcano. A tiny one – based on NASA 3D data they downloaded and converted into a 3D model. The model was then pushed through a Bits From Bytes RapMan, giving the students the opportunity to see and touch the shape of an actual volcano. In this… Continue reading Replicating The Volcano
3D Modelling Contract Work
You’re an experienced 3D modeller and have some time on your hands? Why not try doing some contract work for extra cash? One way to do this is at Projects For Freelancers, a site where the needy can post a job and the skilled can bid on a job. The site works as an… Continue reading 3D Modelling Contract Work
Hands on With Cheetah3D
Many 3D modeling tools exist for Windows, but what about OS/X? We’ve been testing a very useful 3D modeling tool for OS/X: Cheetah3D. This software isn’t a Maya, SolidWorks or Cinema 4D, but it actually includes a great many functions that you’d find in those much more highly priced tools. Cheetah3D includes all the… Continue reading Hands on With Cheetah3D
i.Materialise Metalises
“Clank” is a sound you’ll be hearing more often at i.Materialise in the future after this week’s announcement of their new Titanium 3D printing process. No kidding – you can now order a Titanium Whistle! This very advanced process seems unique to i.Materialise, and involves a powder based process. Powedered titanium metal is laid… Continue reading i.Materialise Metalises
Scott Elliot Invents an Insert
Scott Elliot, owner of a very busy Solido SD300 plastic-sheet 3D printer has come up with yet another amazing design: shipping inserts to ensure safe travels for package contents. Since Scott uses the SD300, he is able to print items not possible with other extrusion-based devices. The plastic sheet approach can print objects with… Continue reading Scott Elliot Invents an Insert
3Data Expert
Finnish software company DeskArtes has released version 9.1 of their 3Data Expert product, which is a professional tool for “repair, conversion and manipulation of 3D CAD data for 3D printing, Rapid Prototyping, Rapid Manufacturing as well as for simulation.” It can import a variety of formats and prepare – and repair – accurate models. As… Continue reading 3Data Expert
Enter The Extreme Redesign Contest Now
Every year Dimension Printing sponsors a design contest for students, in which entrants try to redesign something they use every day in a unique way. Winning entries will be awarded scholarships and of course have their designs actually printed on Dimension 3D printing equipment. Who can enter? There are three categories: Middle /… Continue reading Enter The Extreme Redesign Contest Now
3D Printing In The News
This week saw not one, but two big media splashes for 3D Printing: First, a New York Times article introduced the topic to their readers, and secondly (perhaps triggered by the NYT article) MakerBot chief Bre Prettis was interviewed live on CNN in front of (presumably) millions. There was also a brief mention in Scientific… Continue reading 3D Printing In The News
Breaking: Solido Folds
Very disappointing news today: desktop 3D printer manufacturer Solido appears to have ceased operating. Reports indicate they’ve laid off their entire workforce (some thirty people) and are being liquidated by receivers. Solido had a very unique approach that we’ve written about several times: ultra-thin plastic sheets were glued and cut to patterns, gradually developing… Continue reading Breaking: Solido Folds
Inventables – Materials for Inventors
We’re taking another look at maker material store Inventables, which we wrote about a year ago. At the Inventables hardware store, you won’t find very much that you could put through your 3D printer. Plastic filament is best purchased elsewhere. However, sheer amount of truly amazing materials available at Inventables is staggering. While we… Continue reading Inventables – Materials for Inventors
Modular Desktop CNC Machine Needs Your Help
AJ Quick’s new Kickstarter project is an inexpensive but highly capable desktop CNC machine. The device was designed by University of Minnesota Mechanical Engineering students specifically for use by home operators or perhaps even light business use. While the original prototype was quite successful, they want to take the concept to the next level. To… Continue reading Modular Desktop CNC Machine Needs Your Help
2011: The Year of 3D Printing?
Richard of Capolight Electronics Projects examines the popularity of 3D printing over time and asks the question, “How popular will it be this time next year?” His investigation involved use of Google Insight, a free service that shows the popularity of terms over time. By searching for typical 3D printing terminology, like “Extruder”, “RepRap”,… Continue reading 2011: The Year of 3D Printing?
Amazing iPhone 3D Scanner
Shapeways has uncovered a really intriguing iOS app: Trimensional. This simple app uses a four-way flash to roughly capture the shape of a face or other object held motionless as far as 20cm away from the front-facing camera. Since the front camera is used by the app, it’s only available for iPhone 4’s and the… Continue reading Amazing iPhone 3D Scanner
Fab-Enabled Fiction: Books That Print
Guest writer Andrew Monti proposes a unique way to use 3D printing in the publishing industry: Fabbed items from books. The idea is to include a QR code somewhere in a book that corresponds to a URL holding a 3D design. The design can then be printed. But how would it work in a book?… Continue reading Fab-Enabled Fiction: Books That Print
3D Printing Featured On Science Friday
Science Friday’s Flora Lichtman visits 3D Printer designer Jim Smith and his extraordinary new device at his workshop. Erm, his living room. Now we finally understand why Jim decided to include a fume extractor on his printer! Jim explains in basic terms what a 3D printer does and how it works, pointing out the… Continue reading 3D Printing Featured On Science Friday
Crossing the 3D Printer Chasm
Following up on this post speculating on 10,000 MakerBots in 2011, we’re thinking of what steps MakerBot (or any other 3D Printer company) might consider to “Cross the Chasm”. The “Chasm” refers to a social scenario that often occurs as a business grows. At first their clients are enthusiastic early adopters, capable of accepting… Continue reading Crossing the 3D Printer Chasm
How To Assemble A BotMill Glider
What? You say the BotMill Glider 3D printer is already assembled? That’s correct, it is. We mean how does BotMill assemble them, not you! In order to save 3D printer operators a heck of a lot of work (and ensure consistency among all the Gliders) BotMill sells these units in fully assembled form. We… Continue reading How To Assemble A BotMill Glider
3D Printing Timelines
TeamTeamUSA prepared two very cool timelines on Dipty, the site that lets you create, well, timelines! The first (pictured) is “2010: The Year in DIY 3D Printing”, and includes many notable events that took place last year. The second is “2011: 3D Printing Predictions”, where speculative events are envisioned, including (at the time of this… Continue reading 3D Printing Timelines
The BotMill Glider
A new printer has just been announced from BotMill: The Glider. This RepRap-inspired printer includes a slew of great features, but the one we like best is this: It’s Assembled. Here’s the key features: USB based printer (did we say “assembled” yet?) Big build size of 20.3cm X by 20.3cm Y by 14cm… Continue reading The BotMill Glider
10,000 MakerBots?
Joris Peels of i.Materialise guest-posted 11 provocative predictions for 3D printing on TechCrunch this week, and one of them caused us to ponder whether it could really happen. No, it’s not the “Bre Pettis will appear on the cover of Bloomberg Businessweek magazine in 2011” – that’s entirely unpredictable. We’re more interested in the “Makerbot… Continue reading 10,000 MakerBots?
3D Printed Couture Shoes
Designer Marloes ten Bhömer is well-known for her unorthodox shoe designs, and now she’s apply 3D printing technology to her craft. Pictured above is her latest creation, the Rapidprototypedshoe, showing at the Design Museum Holon in Israel until January 8th. The shoe was designed in Rhino and printed on an Objet Connex500. We believe… Continue reading 3D Printed Couture Shoes
Carbon Credits Required For 3D Makers?
We’re reading a piece on GearFuse that reviews a short video of folks designing and printing some very cool salt and pepper shakers – but they say some things we disagree with: But should we be at least slightly concerned about the way 3D printing seems to make plastic crap safe for hipsters? A… Continue reading Carbon Credits Required For 3D Makers?
Print A 3D Printer Today!
A surprising item showed up in Thingiverse the other day: an entire 3D printer! Thingiverse is one of the most widely used open source repositories for 3D models suitable for 3D printing, and you’ll see all kinds of interesting items appear. But today’s item was worth a post: user wacko posted a 3D model of… Continue reading Print A 3D Printer Today!
3D Print Wishes for 2011
We did it last year, so we must do it again this year. What would we wish to happen in 2011? A capable and assembled 3D printer for under USD$1500. The Up! 3D printer was initially priced at USD$1500, but that was an introductory price and it’s now well over USD$2600, far out of… Continue reading 3D Print Wishes for 2011
3D Printing in 2010
A year ago we posted our “wishes for 2010“. Did any of them come true? Let’s take a look: A consumer capable 3D printer: This didn’t happen, but clearly big steps were taken in that direction. Three events were key for us: MakerBot’s Thing-O-Matic, which automated much of the operation of a 3D printer… Continue reading 3D Printing in 2010
Announcing Fabbaloo’s 3D Resources
When we started blogging about 3D printing more than three years ago things were a lot simpler. We tried to promote the technology by including a list of appropriate links on the side of our pages, but in the past year there seems to have been a bit of an explosion. More companies, experiments, services… Continue reading Announcing Fabbaloo’s 3D Resources
3D Printed Food Futures
We’ve been thinking some more about 3D printed food after yesterday’s post, and wondered what the future might look like if reasonably capable food printers really existed. Here’s some thoughts: If they were low cost, we’d find them in most kitchens and restaurants. Why not? People pay huge sums for fancy ovens and other… Continue reading 3D Printed Food Futures
Printing Musical Instruments
Tipster Jb pointed us at a video of a rather startling project: Printing a complete musical instrument. In this case, MIT Media Lab researcher Amit Zoran attempted to print an entire and working flute in one operation. We’re not sure if printing an object of this complexity has ever been attempted before; we’ve seen some… Continue reading Printing Musical Instruments
Make-A-Bot
Charles Guan is the mastermind behind the experimental Make-A-Bot, a new 3D printer of (mostly) his own design. Based on a combination of MakerBot and RepRap tech, this interesting printer makes extensive use of water-jet cut aluminum, with acrylic and wooden components as well. The printer uses a MakerBot Mk5 plastruder, but has a… Continue reading Make-A-Bot
BBC Investigates 3D Printed Food
We’re reading a big report from BBC news where they investigated the incredible notion of 3D printing food. We’ve covered this before, and sure, it’s obviously at an experimental stage right now – but readers will all know where this is heading. We want food printers! The Beeb article primarily focused on Jeffrey Lipton’s… Continue reading BBC Investigates 3D Printed Food
Shapercube
There’s another low-cost 3D printer for sale: The Shapercube. This German made €979 (USD$1,290) build-it yourself kit is based on the RepRap Darwin design and includes a rather hefty build volume of 190x200x185mm (slightly reduced if an optional second print head is installed). The key specs: 3mm filament required 0.5mm nozzle Pre-assembled… Continue reading Shapercube
StudioMill
It’s not a 3D Printer, but it is a very capable 5-axis CNC machine; the StudioMill, sold by A1 Technologies. Directed at academic institutions, the device will enable students to get their hands on serious CNC technology: Studiomill is supplied as a complete educational CAD CAM solution with the purpose built PathingCNC software which… Continue reading StudioMill
Idea: What Can I Model For You?
We re-read last week’s post on the new “What Can I Make For You?” service and had an idea. If you recall, the WCIMFY service was quite simple: type what you want (in natural language) into a box and hit submit. The service then figures out how to match your desired “thing” with someone who… Continue reading Idea: What Can I Model For You?
Jeffrey Lipton Explains 3D Printing
3D Printing researcher Jeffrey Lipton delivers a 5 minute talk introducing 3D printing at Ignite Ithaca. Jeffrey works on the Fab@Home project, one of several open source 3D printer development initiatives. In the talk Lipton explains in a rather excited manner that the introduction of 3D printing technology will produce another manufacturing revolution, transitioning… Continue reading Jeffrey Lipton Explains 3D Printing
The T-Rep3
We keep seeing incredible 3D printer design experiments, and this is another we haven’t written about yet: the T-Rep3. It’s a RepRap-based device made from the highly versatile T-slot aluminum extrusions. The T-slots make this 3D Printer very rigid (and inspires its name, too, we suppose). Like the GrassRoots Engineering design we posted the other… Continue reading The T-Rep3
Hands On With the PP3DP Up! 3D Printer
Meet Phil Letourneau, an Up! 3D Printer Operator. This week Phil dropped by the Fabbaloo office to demonstrate the rarely seen Up! 3D Printer. We put this elusive device put through some basic tests to see how it works. The result? Overall, we’re pretty impressed – but there are some caveats. Here’s what we found:… Continue reading Hands On With the PP3DP Up! 3D Printer
Gigantic Home-Designed 3D Printer
Troubled by a tiny build chamber size? Anxious to print those 13 inch custom-designed sandals in one operation? You might want to get your hands on Jim Smith’s new project at Grass Roots Engineering, where he’s designing a low-cost 3D printer with an incredible build volume of 403x403x322mm (15.86×15.86×12.70″). In addition to the build volume,… Continue reading Gigantic Home-Designed 3D Printer
Breaking: 3D Print Retail Store Opens
We’ve just learned that Materialise has opened a retail store dedicated to selling high-end 3D printed goods. This, we believe, is the first such store ever in existence, and follows on the earlier announcement of MakerBot selling their 3D printer in a retail setting. The new store, operated by Materialise’s .MGX venture, specializes in… Continue reading Breaking: 3D Print Retail Store Opens
Racing Prototypes
MCD Racing produces radio-controlled racing cars, 1/5 the size of real vehicles. These are not toys – they are highly sophisticated machines capable of winning world championships. These cars are capable of world record speeds of an unbelievable 260Kph (161mph)! Obviously they must be very carefully designed, perhaps with 1/5 the effort that goes into… Continue reading Racing Prototypes
PC Board Printed
We just noticed this development that was posted last July: a RepRap 3D printer was used to print a circuit board. Well, not completely – the 3D printer actually printed the etch resist, which protected the conductive bits from the acid bath. The resulting board was then cleaned up and had components mounted on it. … Continue reading PC Board Printed
My Head’s Going To Explode!
That’s what MakerBot Chief Bre Prettis says in this video report on low-cost 3D printing from Reuters. The well-known news agency put together this piece to explain the topic to the vast majority of people who simply don’t know that 3D printing is not only possible, but inexpensive. Bre’s comment in full: Our… Continue reading My Head’s Going To Explode!
What Can I Make For You?
There’s another option for makers to keep their fabbers running: What Can I Make For You? is a web service that links consumers to makers. The service solicits requests for, well, anything, from consumers. The service attempts to match the request against someone from their pool of makers. This small five person San Francisco-based… Continue reading What Can I Make For You?
Treating Clubfoot, One Print At A Time
According to Wikipedia, Clubfoot is a “congenital deformity involving one foot or both”. You might not realize this, but clubfoot occurs naturally in approximately one out of every one thousand births. Without treatment, sufferers are forced to painfully walk on the sides of their feet and face a lifetime of misery. In developed nations… Continue reading Treating Clubfoot, One Print At A Time
3D Printing For Girls: An Idea
If you read yesterday’s post, you’ll know about the controversy regarding BfB’s attempt to address the younger female market. We pondered this situation: how to get more children (including female) to learn about, experience, desire and grow into 3D makers as they get older? Discussing this with a friend who has both a 3D… Continue reading 3D Printing For Girls: An Idea
A Pink Controversy in 3D Printing
There are those of us who know about 3D printing, and those who don’t. We’ve all seen the looks of awe from those transitioning to “those who know”, and we want more people to come over and realize what can be done with this technology. Last week BfB made an attempt to bring 3D… Continue reading A Pink Controversy in 3D Printing
A 3D Print Giving Experience
We decided to give the gift of 3D printing. That is, we were too lazy to head out and shop, and instead decided to create a gift using a 3D printer. In this case we designed and printed a simple multi-denomination coin holder. As you can see in the image, it’s really crude, yet amusingly… Continue reading A 3D Print Giving Experience
Lowering Barriers To 3D Printing
We’re reading an interesting piece by Kevin Carson on OpenManufacturing who discusses the challenges of switching manufacturing from today’s highly centralized, mass produced, container shipped model to a more distributed, local and “home” based manufacturing world. Obviously there are challenges to providing appropriately capable equipment and software for such ventures, but in the piece… Continue reading Lowering Barriers To 3D Printing
Things Growing Out Of Your Head
Inspired by our previous post detailing MeshMixer, a fabulous 3D modelling tool that easily allows arbitrary 3D models to be pasted together, tipster Ken has found further examples of making things grow out of your head. And these have been printed! (Click for larger images) What causes people to want things protruding from their… Continue reading Things Growing Out Of Your Head
See The MCOR 3D Paper Printer In Action
There’s a new video on YouTube showing a glimpse of the MCOR Matrix 300, a 3D printer that prints using common paper as its build material. In the video we can see each layer, er, sheet of paper, being cut by the print head. The unused portions are not removed; instead full sheets remain until… Continue reading See The MCOR 3D Paper Printer In Action
3D Printed Bridge Holds 146X Its Own Weight
Students at the Rochester Institute of Technology Statics Lab were challenged to build a truss out of any non-metallic material, with the winning design being the one holding up the most weight. While other students opted for traditional materials such as bamboo or wood, student Kyle Manchester remembered there was a Dimension 3D printer… Continue reading 3D Printed Bridge Holds 146X Its Own Weight
Metal and Plastic Materials from EOS
It’s press release season at EuroMold, and here we see that laser sintering equipment manufacturer EOS has released some pretty amazing new materials, as you might notice in the image of a laser sintered automobile engine exhaust manifold made in nickel alloy. Here’s the new materials: A flame-retardant polyamide, PrimePart FR, that is especially… Continue reading Metal and Plastic Materials from EOS
Objet Launches Two More 3D Printers
Two very interesting 3D printers were just announced by Objet at EuroMold: the Objet24 and the Objet30, both low-cost desktop machines. These relatively inexpensive, yet very capable printers begin pricing at USD$19,900 and ‚Ǩ16,900 in Europe. The Objet24 is labelled as a “Personal 3D Printer”, whereas the Objet30 is labelled a “Desktop 3D… Continue reading Objet Launches Two More 3D Printers
The New 3D Systems ProJet HDplus 3D Printer
Every year the EuroMold conference seems to be the place where new commercial 3D printing products are announced, and no surprise, we haz a new printer from 3D Systems: The ProJet HD 3000plus, a big brother to the ProJet HD 3000. The “plus” obviously means “more” in this case, because the PJHD3K+ has an… Continue reading The New 3D Systems ProJet HDplus 3D Printer
Human Thermostat Used in 3D Printer
YouTube user Moonyjube posts a video in which they use a manual temperature control (a human with a switch) to moderate the warmth on their heated print bed. Why on earth would someone use manual feedback? Haven’t they installed the appropriate and commonly available hardware to do this automatically? The answer is found on the… Continue reading Human Thermostat Used in 3D Printer
Thing-O-Matic Nears Release
Just posted on the MakerBot site: the advanced hobbyist Thing-O-Matic 3D Printer is about to start shipping this Friday. Those who’ve ordered the device in advance will receive their shipment in the order it was received by MakerBot. The new printer is perhaps the most advanced hobbyist 3D printer kit available, including a precision… Continue reading Thing-O-Matic Nears Release
Bits From Bytes Gets New Website and a RapChick!
We’ve been waiting to see what 3D Systems will do with their latest corporate acquisition, Bits From Bytes. BfB’s market is quite a diversion from 3D System’s normal industrial/commercial clientele. How will they take on this marketplace. This week we see two elements of their new strategy. First, 3D Systems has completely replaced the… Continue reading Bits From Bytes Gets New Website and a RapChick!
Gift Giving? How About Gift Making!
It seems that some of the popular media are starting to catch on to 3D Printing, with the notion that gifts can be made rather than purchased. Perhaps this is a reaction against the fear of oppressive crowds at the shops, but we think it’s a natural conclusion to 3D printing capability, which can produce… Continue reading Gift Giving? How About Gift Making!
Aluminum Bronze Casting Succeeds
Open3DP’s experimentation with metalcasting molds has paid off: one of their experimental hydroperm molds was used in traditional metalcasting (in this case poured aluminum bronze) at the Port Townsend Foundry and the successful results are apparent in the image above. According to Laura West and Dave Feathers: The mold was placed in a greensand… Continue reading Aluminum Bronze Casting Succeeds
Reality Mixed Up By MeshMixer
Once in a while we bump into a truly amazing product and today its MeshMixer. This software permits easy manipulation of 3D mesh objects – that is to say, cut/paste/resize/move about, etc. The creation of unreal models such as the fellow with the unusual nose above is almost trivial using MeshMixer. Here’s some highlights: … Continue reading Reality Mixed Up By MeshMixer
MCOR’s 3D Paper Printers On Sale
MCOR produces the world’s only 3D printer that uses paper as its print material. This makes it among the least expensive devices to operate, since the print material (paper sheets) can be found at practically any store worldwide – and in any color you choose, too. The printer is also one of the most ecologically… Continue reading MCOR’s 3D Paper Printers On Sale
Printing Rockets
You may be under the impression that 3D printers produce flimsy models, suitable for show – but not for action. This is generally true, but it’s changing as 3D printing ventures into metal or concrete printing. One project we’re watching is taking place at ZCorp, manufacturers of high-end commercial 3D printers. Mark Cook, ZCorp’s VP… Continue reading Printing Rockets
Get Your 3D Printer At The Store Today
No, you can’t buy them at Best Buy yet, but we’re hoping you will within a few years. Meanwhile, you actually CAN buy a 3D printer at a corner store right off the shelf, if you happen to live in a particular Brooklyn, NY neighborhood. That’s right, MakerBot Industries has opened a Retail… Continue reading Get Your 3D Printer At The Store Today
Ponoko/Google Sketchup Contest Underway
Ponoko’s promoting their recent launch of Personal Factory version 4 by joining forces with Google Sketchup on a new contest: The Ponoko 3D Printing Challenge. As far as we can tell, there are very few rules, other than: produce a piece of instructional content that’s equal parts enlightening and entertaining. Each entry must be… Continue reading Ponoko/Google Sketchup Contest Underway
Ultra-Micro 3D Printing
We’ve been examining the work of EoPlex, a manufacturer that uses a proprietary 3D print technology to produce astonishingly tiny devices and structures, typically for electronics packaging. The EoPlex “basic design rules” state: Minimum object length of a mere 1mm, with a maximum of 200mm Feature size as low as 25 microns Layer size… Continue reading Ultra-Micro 3D Printing
Additive Memories
Laura West is a sculpture artist based in California. You may have heard of her successful work collaborating with the folks at the University of Washington on formulating a way to 3D print molds for metalcasting. But in addition to the lab work, Laura is also an amazing artist, who is currently running an… Continue reading Additive Memories
Lunar Spin-Offs for 3D Printing?
We’ve been reading a discussion on OpenManufacturing about the discovery of various elements on the lunar surface by NASA’s LCROSS project. LCROSS was a pretty daring expedition to determine if water is present in ice form within permanently shaded polar craters: Place a spacecraft into Lunar orbit Separate into two spacecraft, orbiting on similar… Continue reading Lunar Spin-Offs for 3D Printing?
MakerFactory.com
As often is the case, and experiment leads to a hobby, leads to a business and sometimes to a multinational corporation. In this case the experiment was Vernon Effalo’s effort to build a dome. He required a large number of dodecahedrons and simply outsourced it to other makers, which eventually enabled him to complete the… Continue reading MakerFactory.com
Ponoko Personal Factory is 3D
Personal fabrication is an amazing feat: being able to press a button and then hold a completed item in your hand a short while later. Typically Fabbaloo focuses on 3D printers as the device of choice to do that, but the reality is that such devices are limited to producing only certain types of objects.… Continue reading Ponoko Personal Factory is 3D
Shapeways Finances Exposed
Some detective work by Joris Peels of i.Materialise has revealed interesting facts regarding 3D print service Shapeways. Recognized as one of the industry leaders in print service, we (and others) have wondered about the success of their expanding business. Peels reports that in an interview with Netherlands website Sprout, Shapeways CEO Peter Weijmarshausen reveals some… Continue reading Shapeways Finances Exposed
Printing A Beautiful Figurine
There are quite a number of people who collect and design figurines, those small humanoid representations. Actually, this has been going on for a very long time, perhaps thousands of years now, but these days we’re likely in the Golden Age of figurines, historically speaking. We read the adventure of how one figurine designer,… Continue reading Printing A Beautiful Figurine
3D Marvels
We ran across an unusual 3D model service: 3D Marvels. The site operates as a clearinghouse for 3D artist works. In other words, you can shop there for STL and COLLADA format 3D models that you can print on your 3D printer. 3DMarvels is a companion site to the very successful Wood Marvels site, which currently… Continue reading 3D Marvels
Battle at EuroMold
EuroMold is a massive trade conference held in Frankfurt each year, billed as “World Fair for Moldmaking and Tooling, Design and Application Development”. According to European Plastics News, this year poses to be a showdown among low-cost 3D Printer manufacturers. We add that it’s actually just the *commercial* 3D printer manufacturers, as we could not… Continue reading Battle at EuroMold
New 3D Modeling Interfaces Get All Touchy
The other week a surprise announcement from Interactive Fabrication described their “Beautiful Modeler”, essentially a touch-based iPad interface to a 3D modeling program. Nice! Also recently the MakerBot Blog reported on Dries Verbruggen demonstrating a no-touch motion-detecting way to sculpt a vase – which was then 3D printed to the delight of onlookers. Also… Continue reading New 3D Modeling Interfaces Get All Touchy
Printing A Car? Really?
After last week’s news that an entire car body was being produced on a 3D printer, we had an offline discussion with Joris Peels of i.Materialise on what this really meant. Obviously, the mass media would have everyone believe an Entire Car was printed, when in fact it was only the body – and then… Continue reading Printing A Car? Really?
Do 3D Printers Bypass Customs?
There could be several interesting effects on business and society when 3D printers become widespread, and we’ve discussed a few of them in the past, including possible crime, for example. But here’s another one to think about: Customs Control. Most countries have some level of customs controls, in which imported goods are inspected for… Continue reading Do 3D Printers Bypass Customs?
Stratasys 3Q2010 Results
We like to take a peek at Stratasys’ financial results, because as one of the very few dedicated 3D printing companies that is publicly traded, we get a glimpse into the state of the industry, at least from their standpoint. So what happened during the third quarter of 2010 for Stratasys? Their revenue hit… Continue reading Stratasys 3Q2010 Results
Human Organ Printing
We ran across a fascinating video showing a bio-printing concept being researched at the Biophysics Lab of the University of Missouri-Columbia. According to Dr. Gabor Forgacs, they will be able to replicate human parts by creating new organs cell by cell in a manner similar to everyday 3D printing. Here’s how it works: “Spheroidal… Continue reading Human Organ Printing
MCOR’s Talents
Here’s a new challenge specific to a particular 3D Printer: the Freedom of Creations (FOC) Talents design brief Quarter 4 2010 requests “end product application and design for Paper Rapid Prototyping (PRP)“. In other words, “what’s a commercially interesting object to print on the MCOR Matrix 300 paper 3D printer?” FOC has been running… Continue reading MCOR’s Talents
The Digital Manufacturing Analysis, Correlation and Estimation Challenge
One of the hugest proponents of innovation challenges has been the US military, and we’ve just uncovered a challenge sponsored by DARPA that’s underway right now. The prize: USD$50,000. The challenge: devise an algorithm to reliably predict the strength of digitally manufactured objects based on a series of input parameters. Here’s their description of the… Continue reading The Digital Manufacturing Analysis, Correlation and Estimation Challenge
3D Printing Made In Space
We wrote about NASA’s interest in 3D space printing here and here, but now there is interest from an independent space printing company: Made In Space, recently founded by students from The Singularity University. At last week’s SSI Space Manufacturing Conference, several folks from Made in Space presented “3D Metal Printing in Space: Enabling… Continue reading 3D Printing Made In Space
Metalcasting Breakthrough
Those inventive folks at the University of Washington are at it again. This time they’ve been working on a simple formula for cementenous metalcasting. In other words, material with which you can make an effective mold for molten metal casts. At one point, they were using this recipe: 1000 parts VersaBond 250 parts Maltodextrin 250… Continue reading Metalcasting Breakthrough
Make $80,000 With Just an Idea
Personal manufacturing doesn’t have to take place on your premises using your own equipment. It can be outsourced to Ponoko, the personal manufacturing company. Ponoko posted a very interesting story of one of their users who managed to bootstrap his way to a cool USD$80,000 – starting from nothing! It started with an idea,… Continue reading Make $80,000 With Just an Idea
Phil Renato’s Designs
Phil Renato is an Associate Professor at Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, Michigan, but he’s also an amazing designer. We admire his tagline: My work oscillates between mass-produced and one-of-a-kind, trendy and timeless, fashionable and filthy. I make jewelry and functional wares that engage playful, intimate, procreative subjects using primary,… Continue reading Phil Renato’s Designs
Shapeways Stretches Their Envelope
Most low-cost 3D printers offer rather constrained build sizes, of less than 20-30cm per side, sometimes much smaller. Print services can be similar, unless they use SLS approaches, but Shapeways has broken through this barrier by now offering a gigantic build envelope of 70cm x 38cm x 58cm (27.6″ x 15″ x 22.9″). This is… Continue reading Shapeways Stretches Their Envelope
RapCAD Announced
If you are into personal 3D printing, one of the first things you’ll observe is the disconnected nature of the required software. You might design models in one environment, then convert them for printing in another, and finally drive the 3D printer to produce the object. This is awkward to say the least, and is… Continue reading RapCAD Announced
The Marble Challenge
Talk about difficult things to print: Scott Elliot of My SD300 3D Printer has been working on designs for marbles. Sure, one could easily print a sphere and call it a marble, but that’s just too easy. Scott is designing a two-piece snap-together model with embedded colors and a twisty design. As you might… Continue reading The Marble Challenge
OpenSCAD
There are several free 3D modeling tools available, including Blender and the ubiquitous Google Sketchup, but each has the advantages and drawbacks. Some are designed to produce viewable or artistic 3D scenes, rather than 3D objects. These are often usable for designing 3D printable objects, but they are not optimized for engineering of solid machine… Continue reading OpenSCAD
The Gada Prize
We’ve seen tremendous achievements in recent years through the excitement generated by a series of startling X-prize challenges. Now there’s one addressing 3D printing, specifically the RepRap project. The Gada prize, to be awarded to a winning team on January 1st, 2013, intends on dramatically improving the capability of open source 3D printing. Some USD$20,000… Continue reading The Gada Prize
FormZ
Have you ever used form.Z for preparing 3D models? As shown in this video, it’s fully capable of doing so. form.z is known for its 3D modeling capability, but it also includes features enabling exporting model files to formats suitable for 3D printing. This video demonstrates some of the 3D printing features, including fixing up… Continue reading FormZ
3D Printing Demo in Silicon Valley
James Warmkessel, founder of the Bay Area MakeBot users group will deliver a public talk on 3D printing in Santa Clara California on November 8th. The talk, entitled, “Making 3D Printing Ideas Real: Demo and Talk” should provide an introduction to 3D printing concepts as well as a demonstration. From the event description: The… Continue reading 3D Printing Demo in Silicon Valley
Capture That Onion!
Last year artist David Bowen produced a fantastic kinetic artwork entitled “growth modeling device” in which a live onion plant is 3D scanned once every 24 hours, and then that scan is 3D printed. Amazingly, the 3D prints are then shuffled along a conveyor belt so you can see (and touch) the various stages of… Continue reading Capture That Onion!
Stratasys Prints A Car!
Well, not exactly an *entire car* – but just its body. The Urbee was an entrant to Progressive Insurance’s Automotive X-Prize. The competition has now closed and Urbee ended up ranked “in the top 30 in the world” according to a recent press release. What’s so interesting about this to us? The car’s body, including… Continue reading Stratasys Prints A Car!
Up! Printer Photos
There are increasing numbers of Up! 3D printers appearing. Up! is a pre-assembled, low-cost RepRap-based plastic extruding 3D printer using an optimized physical design. We found recent photos of Up! in use, this time by Flickr user Christopher.e. In the photos we see some excellent quality prints, which is even more amazing when you… Continue reading Up! Printer Photos
Students Race 3D Printed Cars
The Utah Valley University recently held a competition in which students designed “pinewood derby” style race cars – and then printed them out for actual racing. This derby began in 2008, when Professor David Manning of their Engineering Graphics & Design Technology department managed to convince the budgeteers to acquire a Dimension 3D printer. … Continue reading Students Race 3D Printed Cars