Crain’s New York Business reports on the fate of a New York City jewelery prototyping company, Tech-Designs, who produce one-of-a-kind jewelery models for designers far and wide. Amazingly, Tech-Designs, who have a staff of only three people, also have a fleet of seven 3D printers, which are kept busy printing six days a week.… Continue reading 3D Printing Saves NYC Jeweler
All
Another Free 3D Model Repository
You might have read our previous post about 3D Model Repositories, and understand that there are, well, tons of them out there. We bumped into another one that was quite interesting, as it includes a large number of unique and free items, including many that are suitable for 3D printing. All3DModel is the site… Continue reading Another Free 3D Model Repository
The Ultimate Home 3D Printing Setup: Tools
Yesterday we described the foundation hardware you’d need for the ultimate home 3D printing setup, including printer, scanner and computer. But of course, you’ll need a variety of other minor items to actually make your ultimate printing life comfortable. Here’s our list, in no particular order: Block of Wood: You’ll be working on cutting… Continue reading The Ultimate Home 3D Printing Setup: Tools
The Ultimate Home 3D Printing Setup: Hardware
So you want to get into 3D Printing at home? What do you need? How do you get started? A printer, obviously, but what else might be useful in your ultimate configuration? Here are our ideas: A Low Cost 3D Printer: Lots of ultra-low cost (~USD$1000) options here, including kit-based RapMan or MakerBot, or… Continue reading The Ultimate Home 3D Printing Setup: Hardware
Hot Ice For Support Material?
What’s “Hot Ice”, you ask? It’s not exactly water, as you might suspect. Instead it’s a totally bizarre liquid-to-solid material that just might be useful for 3D printing as support material. This mysterious substance is very simply produced: mix sodium acetate crystals with water, and cool. The result is a clear liquid that appears to… Continue reading Hot Ice For Support Material?
MakerBot FanDom
We heard about Botacon, a convention taking place in Boston on December 11th of this year. Great, we thought, people getting together celebrating robots. Robots, great! But what we’re hearing is that a great many MakerBots will be showing up… But wait a moment – a “Con”? A Con, for those of you… Continue reading MakerBot FanDom
Sculpteo Sails Across the Sea
The 3D Print Service market just got a bit more interesting. France-based Sculpteo, whom we reported on some time ago, announced they now ship to the USA, joining major players Shapeways, i.Materialise and Ponoko. Previously, they shipped only to Europe. Thus it’s time to check out Sculpteo in a bit more detail. Sculpteo operates… Continue reading Sculpteo Sails Across the Sea
The MetraSCAN 3D Scanner
Creaform just announced a brand new ultra-high-end handheld 3D scanner, the MetraSCAN. This totally amazing 2Kg device can scan 3D objects up to 10m in size to an astounding resolution of only 0.05mm, at a rate of 36,000 measurements per second! One of the key advantages of this device is that it’s completely handheld,… Continue reading The MetraSCAN 3D Scanner
A Whole Lot of Meshes
Looking for some 3D models? We stumbled into a rather large pile of them, located at the INRIA Gamma team research database. Researchers there evidently required a lot of models and collected many. Well, 90,000+ of them – that’s many! The models are mostly stored in .mesh format, but quite a few appear to be… Continue reading A Whole Lot of Meshes
NetFabb in the Clouds
Having trouble submitting your 3D model file to one of the popular print services? The model isn’t watertight? Not sure how to fix it? Don’t have the right software or training? Never fear, 3D software maker NetFabb is here to rescue you with their new beta Cloud Service – and it’s totally free! How… Continue reading NetFabb in the Clouds
K-3D Is Free
Baffled by Blender? Why not try an alternative, open source 3D modelling tool: K-3D. Version 0.8 is available for download for Windows, Mac, and a variety of Unix/Linux environments. K-3D can handle 3DS, Collada, OBJ, MD2, Ogre, PLY, STL, and SVG files and includes many industrial-level features. From their wiki: K-3D is free-as-in-freedom 3D… Continue reading K-3D Is Free
More Moves by 3D Systems
If acquiring hobbyist 3D printer manufacturer Bits From Bytes wasn’t enough, industry giant 3D Systems has made three additional moves in recent days. Check these out: They’ve acquired Provel, S.r.l., who happen to be one of Italy’s leading commercial 3D print services. Provel specializes in laser sintering, and provides a variety of services to… Continue reading More Moves by 3D Systems
BfB Acquisition Reactions From Across The Interwebs
There have been many opinions raised after the blockbuster announcement of 3D Systems acquiring Bits From Bytes. The official announcements are here and here. We scoured the web to find reactions: European Plastics News: gained a 17% share of the worldwide 3D printer market in its first year of operation. Rachel Park: My… Continue reading BfB Acquisition Reactions From Across The Interwebs
Simplifying Mendel
The purpose of the RepRap project is to produce a 3D printer that can effectively reproduce itself. Fears of robot domination aside, this is a truly momentous project. However, it’s a difficult task to conceive of the most efficient machine design – the fewer and simpler parts required by the design means it’s easier to… Continue reading Simplifying Mendel
Objet is Certified
Objet Geometries, makers of the powerful Alaris, Eden and Connex lines of commercial 3D printers just announced they’ve managed to receive ISO 13485:2003 certification. This certification means Objet is now able to deliver various types of 3D printing equipment into a wide variety of medical roles. We’ve seen Objet dabble in dental before but this… Continue reading Objet is Certified
The Dome is Complete!
Some months ago we posted a request from maker Vernon Effalo who had commenced a project to crowdsource parts for his exterior dome project. Basically, he was paying USD$2 per icosahedron vertex connector, and he required 26 of them. We’re happy to announce that the project has now completed, and you can see Vernon… Continue reading The Dome is Complete!
The Suits Meet The Hobbyists
Up to now, the 3D printer space has been occupied by two entirely different groups: the high-end, high-priced commercial printers typically affordable only by large firms or service bureaus, and the hobbyist, open-source market of low-end, low-priced devices typically found in DIY kit form. The two groups could not be more different in almost all… Continue reading The Suits Meet The Hobbyists
An Olympic Finish at Shapeways
As we predicted in July, Shapeways 3D print service now offers Sterling Silver as a build material for 3D prints. At this point it’s only an experiment until November 7th, apparently for the tall foreheads at Shapeways to determine if it really works. Interestingly, the Sterling Silver is not actually 3D printed. Instead, they… Continue reading An Olympic Finish at Shapeways
One Really Big Replicator
Thingiverse member KurtCircuit has designed a rather enormous device: a 3D printer that is theoretically capable of printing 1m cube-sized objects. Even more astonishing is the fact that he’s actually building this device! The massive device, known as the “Scalable Largescale Cartesian Bot”, apparently uses RepRap-derived principles, and is likely the biggest 3D printer… Continue reading One Really Big Replicator
Veteran 3D Printers
i.Materialise reports they have some rather old 3D printers still in operation at their site. These stereolithography printers (3D Systems SLA 250’s) were apparently originally installed in 1990 – and are still used to produce parts for clients. To put it in perspective, these devices are so old you could buy them a beer –… Continue reading Veteran 3D Printers
A Rapid RapMan
How hard is it to build a RapMan? The very popular 3D printer DIY kit has been built by many people but here’s an opportunity for you to see it done in only 2 minutes and 53 seconds. No, it wasn’t actually built that quickly, but the video link below shows a time lapse of… Continue reading A Rapid RapMan
Bre’s Pumped!
We’re still excited by 3D System’s acquisition of BfB, and we’re not the only ones excited. We wondered how this move would affect BfB’s biggest competitor, MakerBot. Would 3D System’s massive resources put such a push into BfB that MakerBot would be sidelined? We contacted MakerBot mandarin Bre Prettis for his thoughts: I wish… Continue reading Bre’s Pumped!
Advertise on Fabbaloo
After receiving several requests for advertising information, we’ve decided to offer a suite of offerings for advertisers. At this time we offer two types of CPM advertising slots: a 336×280 image on the main Fabbaloo page, and a 200×200 sidebar image. For complete details, please check out our Services and Rates page. Thanks… Continue reading Advertise on Fabbaloo
Commercial 3D Printer Price Drops?
Apparently Objet has reduced the price of their low-end Alaris 30 3D printer to less than USD$25,000. We say “low-end” but this is only a relative term: The Alaris 30 is a much more refined printer than the hobbyist kits we also blog about. Nevertheless, this is a significant development, as it shows how the… Continue reading Commercial 3D Printer Price Drops?
Stockbrokers Looking Into 3D Printing
With all the kerfuffle last week (Shapeways gets major investment, New MakerBot 3D printer shown at NYC MakerFaire, Massive New York Times article) it seems that at least a few stockbrokers are taking notice of the 3D print industry. The broker we spoke with actually “got it” and could not stop talking about how this… Continue reading Stockbrokers Looking Into 3D Printing
Amazingly Detailed 3D Prints
David Munson is a professional 3D technologist who provides a wide variety of 3D-based rendering services, such as studies of solar illumination on proposed buildings, 3D diagrams, etc. But we noticed some incredibly cool 3D prints he’s prepared, including the one above. Notice the staggering detail in the support structure of the radar dish –… Continue reading Amazingly Detailed 3D Prints
Junior Veleso’s Homemade High Resolution 3D Printer
Junior’s making his own hi-res 3D printer, and he has the experience to do it, having previously converted an inkjet printer into a 3D powder-based version. He’s been blogging this journey since July 2010 and is providing all the information and discoveries to the public, “you agree to not make use of it for commercial… Continue reading Junior Veleso’s Homemade High Resolution 3D Printer
A Non-Obvious 3D Print: Sound
Andy Berlin, Z Corp engineer extraordinary decided to push the limits of 3D printing by printing something unusual, in an attempt to inspire others to bend their imagination. He managed to convert a sound wave into a spiral ridge, with the sound wave corresponding to peaks and valleys in the shape. That’s right – he… Continue reading A Non-Obvious 3D Print: Sound
Why 3D Systems Chose BfB
After Tuesday’s big announcement of 3D Systems acquiring Bits From Bytes, we wondered why 3DS chose to acquire BfB instead of the other major hobbyist 3D printer manufacturer, MakerBot. To get answers we asked 3D Systems VP of Marketing Cathy Lewis, who explained the reasons quite clearly: They have demonstrated execution and achieved the… Continue reading Why 3D Systems Chose BfB
Blockbuster Announcement: 3D Systems Acquires Bits From Bytes!
In a totally stunning announcement today 3D Systems has acquired the Bits From Bytes operation based in Bristol, UK. This is perhaps the biggest corporate manoeuvre we’ve yet seen in the 3D printer space, and heralds a bold move by 3D Systems into the ultra low-end 3D printer market, now competing directly against such… Continue reading Blockbuster Announcement: 3D Systems Acquires Bits From Bytes!
Materialise Rescues Itself
Interesting story from i.Materialise, where Joris explains that some two years ago, a tripod lever was catastrophically damaged. Rather than buying a new tripod and unable to acquire a replacement lever, they decided to “eat their own dog food” by designing and printing a replacement part. A suitable design was prepared and the lever… Continue reading Materialise Rescues Itself
US Government To Operate Fab Labs?
What? We think of Fab Labs as independent operations supplying a focus for local fabrication activities, channeling ideas, tools, techniques, parts and space together where Great Things Evolve. Typically they spring up out of grassroots ideas from strong proponents who just make it happen, sometimes with local academic or corporate sponsorship. But now we read… Continue reading US Government To Operate Fab Labs?
FOC’s Jointed Jewels
Freedom of Creation, one of the most dynamic artistic users of 3D printing technology have recently collaborated with Alissia Melka-Teichroew to produce “Jointed Jewels”. These artistic jewellery items were made using selective laser sintering, one of the few technologies capable of producing a ball joint in a single operation. While each jewelry item appears… Continue reading FOC’s Jointed Jewels
Sophisticated 3D Scanning Advances
Creaform, makers of the Handyscan line of 3D scanning devices recently released new software to drive their highly capable devices that increases their capability. While these scanners are typically out of the price range of hobbyists, they are very useful in a variety of commercial situations. The new software (VXElements) provides some pretty amazing capabilities,… Continue reading Sophisticated 3D Scanning Advances
Cool Stuff Collective Covers 3D Printing
The Cool Stuff Collective is a new UK-based kids show, where, well, “cool stuff” is demonstrated to children by well-known presenter Sy Thomas. In their first episode of September 13th of this year, they demonstrated 3D printing, but in a followup on September 20th they showed a related technology: haptic design. We’ve covered haptics previously,… Continue reading Cool Stuff Collective Covers 3D Printing
The Opposite of a 3D Printer?
The opposite of a 3D printer would be a recycling machine. In other words, there should be a way to collect leftover material (or even leftover objects) and convert them back into a medium suitable for feedstock back into a personal manufacturing device for creation of new objects. No such universal device exists today… Continue reading The Opposite of a 3D Printer?
Has 3D Printing Hit The Knee Of The Curve?
We’re pondering a couple of recent developments in the low-end 3D printing space that may indicate a change of state in the low-end 3D printing world. First, Shapeways received a massive investment from top-ranked venture capital firms: USD$5M from Union Square Ventures and Index Ventures. We wrote, and still believe that this means Union… Continue reading Has 3D Printing Hit The Knee Of The Curve?
Shapeways Takes A Big Step
Since they emerged in 2008, 3D print service Shapeways has continually enhanced their capabilities very regularly. In fact, it’s rare week that we don’t mention Shapeways in one way or another. As such, they’ve grown from nothing to what is probably the most visible 3D print service in the world. Now they’re making a big… Continue reading Shapeways Takes A Big Step
The Tribulations of Printing 3D Models
You’ve read yesterday’s post about where you might find amazing 3D models for printing, but you’re wondering what to do next. Is it as simple as downloading the model and printing it? Not exactly. Here’s some considerations: Are you legally permitted to print this model? What license was it distributed under? Best to check… Continue reading The Tribulations of Printing 3D Models
MakerBot’s New Thing
In a rather sudden but welcome announcement, MakerBot industries has revealed a brand new 3D printer model: The Thing-O-Matic. This device replaces their original model, the Cupcake. But what makes it so different from the Cupcake? Sudden though the announcement was, the new device is evolutionary, and indeed elements of it were already appearing… Continue reading MakerBot’s New Thing
Free 3D Repositories
Your personal 3D printer sits idle while you ponder what to print. Should you go back to Thingiverse and print out another coat hook? Perhaps some spare MakerBot parts? Maybe you should fire up SketchUp or Blender and create a new 3D model of your own design. Nope, not tonight. You’re feeling lazy and… Continue reading Free 3D Repositories
LMN Tech Studio Reviews Objet Alaris
Seattle-based LMN Tech Studio recently received a new Objet Alaris 30 3D Printer, and they’ve written up an extensive report on their experience with the device. Here’s the highlights: They’re impressed with the build quality, resolution and smoothness of the printed objects They like the “lack of mess” and ease of use over comparable… Continue reading LMN Tech Studio Reviews Objet Alaris
Mom’s 3D Printer
Open3DP reacted to our reaction to MAKE’s post regarding the future of 3D printer manufacturers. MAKE suggested the hobbyist manufacturers would ultimately be eaten by cheap Asian factories, while we commented on the differences between the hobbyist and commercial 3D printer markets. Open3DP adds an analysis of material costs in the equation, suggesting that the… Continue reading Mom’s 3D Printer
Managing Strokes with 3D Printing
Leslie Langau tells an amazing story of how a 3D printer was used to treat stroke patients. Professor Robert Rennaker II at the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at the University of Texas in Dallas has been doing experiments simulating the various disabilities of stroke victims. … Continue reading Managing Strokes with 3D Printing
Underworld’s Selene: Printed!
You’ve seen the film. Now see the object. Or rather Selene from “Underworld” herself. See some amazing images of constructing this wonderful model, which apparently was done as a private commission. Via 3DTotal and The Creature Lab
Bespoke Makes Legs – Beautiful Legs
We’ve been waiting for something just like this: a startup company that takes full advantage of 3D printing technology to mass personalize an item for everyone. In the case of Bespoke Innovations, they supply one-of-a-kind prosthetics for individuals by leveraging 3D print technology from 3D Systems with an artistic flair: The Bespoke process is… Continue reading Bespoke Makes Legs – Beautiful Legs
MakerBot’s Factory Option
There’s been many add-ons and upgrades available for MakerBot 3D printers, but the latest addition, the MakerBot Automated Build Platform is special. It’s an amazing addition to an already amazing device that replaces the troublesome default orange acrylic build platform and provides two key capabilities: a heated platform and an automated object removal mechanism. … Continue reading MakerBot’s Factory Option
The Manufacturing Revolution Visualized
There’s a great animation made specifically for the FULL PRINT3D exhibition by DHUB http://www.dhub-bcn.cat/ that visualizes what we think might happen in the future when 3D printing becomes widespread. Two images in the animation resonate strongly with us: The scene of billions of mass-manufactured cups representing what must be behind virtually every object we… Continue reading The Manufacturing Revolution Visualized
Capture Your Body – Or Someone Else’s!
You’ve probably heard of hand-held 3D scanners before, but CreaForm produces units specifically designed for “body capture”. No, they’re not ensnaring people in nets, but rather they take a 3D digital picture in the form of a 3D model. (Actually any of these formats: .OBJ, .FBX, .DXF, .STL, .VRML, .LWO, .MAYA, .HRC, .3DS). The awkwardly… Continue reading Capture Your Body – Or Someone Else’s!
MakerBot’s Global Brain
Some companies still operate in 20th-century mode, but not MakerBot Industries. First they crowdsourced their manufacturing ops back to their own customers (which we still get a giggle about) and now they’re crowdsourcing their strategy by using true 21st century innovation management technology. What the heck does that mean? They’ve opened up a website… Continue reading MakerBot’s Global Brain
The Future Collision of 3D Printer Manufacturers
We read a provocative piece by Make that contrasted the approach by different 3D printer manufacturers. On one hand, we have MakerBot industries leveraging the power of community and open source techniques to improve their product; on the other we have PP2P’s (strongly) closed source Up! 3D printer. And on yet another hand, if we… Continue reading The Future Collision of 3D Printer Manufacturers
Is it a Laser Cutter? Or a 3D Printer? Or Both!
What do you get when you take a normal laser cutter and bolt on some RepRap componentry? You get a Hybrid Laser Cutter/3D Printer called a Chimera. Buildlog.net has put together a new project to do just this, and it actually works. They have plans to expand the project by adding various interesting and dangerous… Continue reading Is it a Laser Cutter? Or a 3D Printer? Or Both!
RepRap’s Huxley
Most readers know the the purpose of the RepRap project: to design a machine that can reproduce itself. This hasn’t quite been fully achieved yet, but they’re getting close. But here’s the thing: not only can RepRap almost reproduce, but it also is evolving into different species, each more advanced than the previous. The first… Continue reading RepRap’s Huxley
The SculptCAD RAPID ARTISTS Project
Sponsored by TEDxSMU and SculptCAD, the Rapid Artists project borings together a dozen Texas artists who will attempt to use contemporary 3D printing tech to produce works of art in ways they’ve never tried before. They’re using 3D modelling software to create designs in a variety of materials. The artists were selected late in 2009… Continue reading The SculptCAD RAPID ARTISTS Project
FOC’s Punch Bag
Watch this video showing the process of creating Janne Kyttanen’s highly fashionable 3D printed Punch Bag. This unusual fashion item was printed on an EOS 3D Printer and after cleaning, is complete, flexible and ready to be used. Interesting aspect: the print run also produces a heart-shaped gift box for the bag. Via… Continue reading FOC’s Punch Bag
3D Printer Reproduces Itself: Pictures at Ten!
We know that a RepRap can (mostly) reproduce itself, but have you ever actually seen this happen? Pictures or it didn’t happen! Now we can see this process when Gavilan Steinman of onshoulders.tv takes a Darwin RepRap printer to produce parts to build a new RepRap Mendel 3D printer. Then (thankfully in high-speed motion,… Continue reading 3D Printer Reproduces Itself: Pictures at Ten!
Rethinking Education Through Technology
If you happen to be in the top end of the Italian peninsula this weekend, you might consider attending a seminar put on by the lettera27 Foundation at Festivaletteratura in Mantova entitled, “The disenchanted teacher. Rethinking education through technology”. The seminar: focuses on how context influences the expression of each person’s potential, and how… Continue reading Rethinking Education Through Technology
Tweaking the Bot
Adam Mayer describes a fascinating experiment with the MakerBot Cupcake CNC. As readers may recall, the ‘Bot extrudes hot plastic (ABS or PLA) in a consistent manner. By moving the build platform along the X, Y and Z axes appropriately, the desired object is formed. However, not everything can be built in this manner. Overhangs… Continue reading Tweaking the Bot
Ponoko’s Electronics
Distributed manufacturing service Ponoko has added some new materials to their shelf. Actually a *lot* of new items, and they are electronic! No, you’re not printing or extruding electronics, but instead they are selectable components that can become part of your creations. The list of components is astonishingly long, ranging from fourteen different styles of… Continue reading Ponoko’s Electronics
The Zaggo Box
MakerBot operator extraordinary Zaggo has been designing a new filament box for his *second* MakerBot. As usual, Zaggo has taken this task as an opportunity to enhance the design he’s already made for the senior MakerBot. The filament box neatly stores your input filament, be it ABS or PLA hidden underneath your MakerBot. Essential… Continue reading The Zaggo Box
The Freedom to Print
John of hackable:news complains that whenever they show off their 3D printer, viewers inevitably ask: “Could you print me this, could you print me that”. They just don’t realize how difficult it can be to produce a 3D object. Unless the exact object model is readily available (and findable) within a repository like Thingiverse or… Continue reading The Freedom to Print
Sketchup & i.Materialise Pose a Challenge
Joris didn’t take long to get things going in his new role at Materialise – he’s announced a new 3D design contest sponsored by i.Materialise and Google Sketchup. The challenge is to create the most beautiful 3D printed lamp, which we think will certainly generate some very interesting entries, because illuminated 3D models always look… Continue reading Sketchup & i.Materialise Pose a Challenge
V-Flash Scores The Details
We received some fascinating images of sample objects printed on a 3D Systems’ V-Flash Personal Printer. This printer is perhaps priced higher than one may consider owning personally (USD$9900), but it is sufficiently small and inexpensive to be operated “personally” within an engineering or design firm. These images show incredible fine detail on these… Continue reading V-Flash Scores The Details
Blurring the Distinction Between the Physical and the Virtual
An interesting essay by Portland-based Thomas Schreiber poses a variety of thoughts on the coming digital fabrication revolution. The highlights: The distance between idea (digital) and real (objects) is becoming very close, and soon will be almost zero as digital fabrication becomes widespread. Marxism’s definition of power, the means of production, was always relegated… Continue reading Blurring the Distinction Between the Physical and the Virtual
BotMill!
There’s a new shop in town: BotMill. They’re addressing the growing DIY 3D Printing space: At BotMill.com, we cater to the growing number of 3D DIY enthusiasts with quality products at discounted prices. We are constantly on the look out for new and innovative products… They appear to market a wide variety of… Continue reading BotMill!
MakerBot Extrudes The Mk5
At long last MakerBot has finally released their new extruder design: the MK5. This design incorporates a number of learnings gathered from MakerBot operators’ experiments. Key features: Greatly simplified filament drive that completely eliminates the troublesome idler wheel and replaces it with an easily adjustable chunk of Delrin, as well as a custom… Continue reading MakerBot Extrudes The Mk5
Design-Worthy Cement Printing
Two years ago we wrote on Contour Crafting’s experiments with building-sized 3D printing, in which they were designing a house-sized 3D printer assembly to extrude concrete into shapes suspiciously resembling buildings. The concept is almost unbelievable, where you could erect most of a house at the push of a button (and a few deliveries of… Continue reading Design-Worthy Cement Printing
Dimension’s STARBASE
3D printer manufacturer Dimension is contributing back to the community by working with STARBASE Minnesota on a way to deeply involve students in the process of 3D manufacturing. The students, from Minneapolis area public schools, are shown problems, data and techniques and they work out solutions. One of their projects has been to design… Continue reading Dimension’s STARBASE
3D Print Post Processing: A Wiki
So you’ve 3D printed your object, and hold it in your hand. Are you finished? Not at all – there’s the often-required “post processing” step, in which your object is subjected to various treatments leading to its final, perfected state. That might involve manual trimming of extraneous blobs, painting or in some cases removal of… Continue reading 3D Print Post Processing: A Wiki
The Future of 3D Printing
Here’s an interesting 50 minute video from the Singularlity University by Scott Summit who speaks of many topics of interesting to our readers. Highlights of the “OK, So You Can Create Anything. Now What?” Talk: Introduction to the concept of Mass Production – how the making of things became cheap Some things are simply… Continue reading The Future of 3D Printing
Ponoko Arriva in Italia
Distributed manufacturing hub Ponoko continues its invasion of Europe by opening an Italian front. They’ve partnered with a local fabrication shop, Vectorealism, to produce your items locally in Milan. The Italian operation joins the Ponoko club, which now boasts manufacturing hubs in San Francisco, London, Berlin and the 10,000 Garages of 100KGarages.com. Oh,… Continue reading Ponoko Arriva in Italia
Another Slicing Option for BfB
BfB (Bits From Bytes) has announced the availability of a new 3D slicing software option that will be bundled with each of their new 3D printers: Axon. This software is built upon the traditional Skeinforge software that performs the delicate task of converting a 3D model into layered slices suitable for 3D printing. The issue… Continue reading Another Slicing Option for BfB
Another Hobby 3D Printer: The Ultimaker
There seems to be a sudden rash of open source, low-cost 3D printer kits lately. In addition to the usual suspects (MakerBot, RepRap, Fab@Home and the very recent UP!), we now have The Ultimaker! This prototype device is being developed at FabLab Utrecht (under the name “elserbot”) and seems to build on the experiences of… Continue reading Another Hobby 3D Printer: The Ultimaker
3D Systems’ Print In 3D
It’s a brand new site just announced by industry giant 3D Systems: all you need to know about 3D printing all bundled together in one place. “Your 3D Printer Source”, is the tagline, and integrates all their material “into a contemporary, intuitive destination serving customers, prospects and partners with a secure, 24-hour online presence” … Continue reading 3D Systems’ Print In 3D
Printed Meats!
Following up on last week’s post regarding the amazing feats of the Cornell Computational Synthesis Lab’s work on Food Printing, this week they have more spectacular announcements. They’ve been working with the French Culinary Institute to produce what is perhaps the most advanced forms of printed food yet. In this example they’ve managed to… Continue reading Printed Meats!
3D Gem Holders
Scott Elliot of the SD300 blog came up with a great idea: print Gem holders for homemade gemstones. Well, not exactly homemade, but home-etched. You see, he happens to have a C02 laser with which he’s able to engrave tiny patterns onto the gemstones. He’s discovered the best results are obtained from engraving “lab grown… Continue reading 3D Gem Holders
Wujec on 3D Printing
Tom Wujec, Fellow at AutoDesk, spoke at the Thinking Digital event earlier this year. In a video of his fascinating talk, Tom speaks of the nature of emerging technologies, specifically tech evolution and tech possibilities. He describes a special moment in the evolution of technology where the previously “impossible”, suddenly becomes possible. This is… Continue reading Wujec on 3D Printing
Fabricating UAVs
UAVs, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, seem to be slowly taking over air forces around the world. It turns out that a key contributor to some of these vehicles is Laser Sintered parts. Many parts can be fabricated using this technology, and they are “stable in hot environments and are tough, pliable, and robust in harsh… Continue reading Fabricating UAVs
A Trophy for Materialise
Materialise was selected to produce trophies for the Moto GP in Sachsenring and Formula 1 race in Budapest. The design was made by Antonio Pio Saracino at the request of Eni, who needed a new interpretation of their traditional six-legged dog logo. Saracino’s ethereal design is quite amazing, and of course, impossible to build using… Continue reading A Trophy for Materialise
Calibration Mojo?
Quebec MakerBot operator Nicolas Gravel ponders better ways to calibrate his personal 3D printer. While he’s overcome all of the mechanical and technical difficulties in constructing his MakerBot kit, he’s stuck getting the calibration just right to permit great printouts. His idea: Why not having a couple of test pattern related to some important… Continue reading Calibration Mojo?
3D Printed Chairs
Freedom of Creation has produced another set of amazing furniture, this time by Dutch designer Bram Geenen. The design of the Gaudi stool (pictured) and a matching chair was done mathematically, where the curves and internal structure were determined by the distribution of various forces. From design, the furniture was produced by laser sintering. These… Continue reading 3D Printed Chairs
3D Printing in Multiple Materials – at Home
There are many differences between commercial 3D printers and hobbyist equivalents, including build quality, size, ability to print in color, etc., but now there’s one item that might be crossed off the list: the ability to print in more than one material. The RepRap team are working on a “head changer” that would enable… Continue reading 3D Printing in Multiple Materials – at Home
Wearable 3D Fashion
Iris van Herpen’s startling clothing designs are worn even by Lady Gaga – but now Ms. van Herpen has used 3D print technology to produce some totally awesome items exhibited at the Amsterdam International Fashion Week in July. The “Crystallization” collection included the amazing top seen above. We especially like the back view (click for… Continue reading Wearable 3D Fashion
Hydrocolloid Printed Food
Researchers from Cornell University have been exploring a new angle on food printing: the use of hydrocolloids. What the heck is that? From their paper: Using a novel combination of hydrocolloids (xanthium gum and gelatin) and flavor agents, texture and flavor can be independently tuned to produce printing materials that simulate a broad range… Continue reading Hydrocolloid Printed Food
BfB Captures RepRap Designer
In a surprising move, 3D vendor Bits From Bytes has snared a key worker for their future: Ed Sells, one of the folks who designed portions of the original RepRap machine. What will Ed be doing at BfB? Ed will now allow be involved in developing the technology further to make 3D printers common… Continue reading BfB Captures RepRap Designer
3D Printing Standards and Jailbroken Materials
A couple of interesting articles provoked some thinking about 3D printing standards. First, we have a post by the Open3DP folks, who complain that they’d like to use different types of print material in their 3D printers. They are, of course, known for experimenting with all kinds of unusual print materials. They suggest standards for… Continue reading 3D Printing Standards and Jailbroken Materials
UP! A Personal Portable 3D Printer
We’re surprised to see yet another ultra-low cost 3D Printer appear: the UP! Personal Portable 3D Printer by PP3DP. It is indeed priced very low: only USD$1500 for an assembled version (at least for the first 100 orders received, which may have occurred by time this post runs). Here’s the specs: Material: ABS plastic… Continue reading UP! A Personal Portable 3D Printer
ZCorp Questions Open Source Printers
A post from Olimpio DeMarco, VP of Research and Development at ZCorp questioned the possibility of using open source 3D printers for business use. He says: Who then is buying open source FDM printers? It isn’t clear to me that there is an industrial, true business application for open source 3DP. He’s probably… Continue reading ZCorp Questions Open Source Printers
The 100% Design Contest
There’s yet another 3D printing contest brewing (and haven’t there been a lot lately?) This one involves a team effort between Shapeways and Despoke as part of the 100% Design event in London (“The UK’s leading design & architecture event”). The prize: Finalists in The 2010 Shapeways Despoke 100% Design Contest will get their… Continue reading The 100% Design Contest
Stratasys Roars Back
Stratasys, the folks behind the popular Dimension series of 3D printers has released their quarterly results. We like to follow their announcements, because by extrapolation we like to pretend we can see what’s going on in the entire 3D print industry. This quarter Stratasys reports their revenue is up quite a bit: 22% over… Continue reading Stratasys Roars Back
3D Print an ATM Skimmer!
Attention Criminals: you’d better buy your own 3D printer; DO NOT use a 3D printing service to build parts for your bank job, or you’ll be apprehended. That’s exactly what happened at 3D printing service i.Materialise, whose sharp-eyed operators managed to catch what appeared to be the card slot of an ATM being printed!… Continue reading 3D Print an ATM Skimmer!
Materialise Touts 3D Printing Services Over Hobby 3D Printers
Ok, that might be totally predictable: a big 3D print services vendor promotes the use of services instead of using your own low-cost 3D printer (such as a RepRap, RapMan or MakerBot). Here’s their take: If you happen to be a ‘maker’, and love the creative experience like we do, then you definitely welcome… Continue reading Materialise Touts 3D Printing Services Over Hobby 3D Printers
Creaform Gets Certified
Handheld 3D laser scanner manufacturer Creaform has just achieved an interesting milestone: they’ve been certified by the Chinese National Institute of Metrology after extensive testing at NIM’s Beijing facility. What? You’ve never heard of NIM? Here’s what they are about: Founded in 1955, the National Institute of Metrology (NIM) is China’s national metrological institute… Continue reading Creaform Gets Certified
Which Desktop 3D Printer Do I Buy? Part Two
Editor: This is a guest post courtesy of well-known 3D Printing blogger Joris Peels. Most recently Joris was the Community Manager for Shapeways, but these days he’s blogging at VoxelFab. This is part two of a two-part post. You may read part one here. The Dimension uPrint Plus (a.k.a. HP Designjet) Don’t get… Continue reading Which Desktop 3D Printer Do I Buy? Part Two
Which Desktop 3D Printer Do I Buy? Part One
Editor: We are totally tickled to present our very first guest post – and we’re greatly honoured to have it written by well-known 3D Printing blogger Joris Peels. Most recently Joris was the Shapeways Community Manager, and now he’s blogging at Voxelfab. Over the past few years Joris has written extensively on 3D printing helping… Continue reading Which Desktop 3D Printer Do I Buy? Part One