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
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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
Print a Viewfinder for your Canon DSLR
That’s just what Marc Schreibman did after taking a course in fabrication. After a “5-6 hour print”, he had a new LCD viewfinder in his hands. It wasn’t easy, however: I took many measurements of the camera body and LCD screen, designed it in Rhino 3D, and printed it out on a 3D printer.… Continue reading Print a Viewfinder for your Canon DSLR
Hive45 On 3D Printing
Beer drinking Australian futurists Tristan Grace and Nathan Waters speculate about the future of 3D printing on their podcast, episode 24. They feel that the ultimate goal of 3D printing is in fact very small: nanotechnology. In other words, that’s printing individual atoms and molecules in the right arrangements to achieve virtually any conceivable object. … Continue reading Hive45 On 3D Printing
World’s Fastest Motorcycle: Scanned
John Morewood managed to get his NextEngine 3D Scanner HD near the world’s fastest motorcycle (360.913 mph / 580.83 kph, holy cow!), the ACK Attack Streamliner, and grab a scan. Hopefully, the beast was not at speed during the scan. This was not just a routine scan, as John says: The size of the… Continue reading World’s Fastest Motorcycle: Scanned
Home Sintering Experiments
You don’t have enough cash on hand to buy that USD$40,000 Laser Sintering unit, but you are really curious about the process. No trouble – just do the experiment at home! The University of Wisconsin has posted the procedure for a lithography experiment you might even attempt at home, providing you have sufficient chemicals,… Continue reading Home Sintering Experiments
Add a Floor for only $129
There are tens of thousands of new web-based services that do practically everything, from counting kids’ allowances to photo editing to managing your sales process. One of them is FloorPlanner, “the easiest way to create floor plans”. They provide a simple web interface with drag and drop capability for true ease of use. The… Continue reading Add a Floor for only $129
A Very Solido Blog
There are many personal blogs detailing adventures with one’s MakerBot or RepRap, but what about a personal Solido SD300 3D printer? That’s exactly what Scott Elliot does on his blog. The SD300 uses dry PVC sheets as its build material, fusing them together layer by layer. However: Since the SD300 builds models inside a… Continue reading A Very Solido Blog
Shapeways Goes For Gold. And Bronze.
It’s not exactly the Olympics, but Shapeways can now print in Gold and Bronze finishes thanks to their most recent announcement. They’ve added more finishings one can select for stainless steel prints. In addition to the existing Gold Plate Matte finish, you can now choose from: Gold Plated Glossy (on the left above) Antique… Continue reading Shapeways Goes For Gold. And Bronze.
ZCorp Chases HP?
Perhaps shocked by HP’s recent entry into the low-cost commercial 3D Printer market, ZCorp has released two new models that are very inexpensive. The ZPrinter 150 prints only in monochrome, but the price is right: only USD$14,900 gets you one of these babies in your office. Monochrome isn’t sufficient for your technicolor object dreams?… Continue reading ZCorp Chases HP?
3D Printer Benchmark Results
As reported yesterday, T. A. Grimm & Associates has published a very extensive benchmarking report on a selection of common commercial 3D printers. We’ve been looking forward to something like this because we all too often hear statements from vendors such as: “lowest cost of materials” and “five times better resolution” or “suitable for office… Continue reading 3D Printer Benchmark Results
3D Printer Benchmark Announced
We’ve been waiting for this one: a real, honest to goodness benchmark for 3D printers. T. A. Grimm & Associates announced a new benchmark specifically designed for 3D printers. TAG’s approach is to produce four challenging and specifically designed models on each of the tested printers. Each printer is then measured against a series… Continue reading 3D Printer Benchmark Announced
The Two Headed RapMan!
No, it’s not the title to this summers horror flick. Instead, the very popular RapMan 3D printer kit has a new feature: two heads! For only £149.50 (USD$230) you can purchase an upgrade kit for your RapMan to add a second print head through which you may extrude a material of different color or characteristics. … Continue reading The Two Headed RapMan!
Objet Organizes a Dental System
3D printer manufacturer Objet has joined dental scanning provider 3Shape to create an integrated workflow solution specifically for dental restorations. The solution links 3D models produced by 3Shape’s dentist-focused scanning equipment and software directly into Objet’s Eden 3D printers. According to Avi Cohen, Head of Medical Solutions at Objet Geometries, the solution: includes special… Continue reading Objet Organizes a Dental System
Erik’s Wedding Topper
Netherlands-based personal fabrication researcher Erik de Bruijn recently got a chance to link his research area with personal life by creating a wedding cake ornament on his 3D printer for his own wedding! The project involved searching Google 3D Warehouse (unsuccessfully), preparing a 3D model (available on Thingiverse) and printing both pieces (bride and groom… Continue reading Erik’s Wedding Topper
Scanning Submarines
When you’re capturing a 3D scan of an object, you are typically limited by the size of the scanner, if the scanner requires you to put the scanned object inside it. But there’s also hand-held scanners that can overcome even that limitation. But how big an object can you scan? Creaform is going to… Continue reading Scanning Submarines
Fractal Tree Table
If the size of your 3D printer’s build chamber is too small, the answer is obvious: break your object into a series of smaller parts, print and assemble them. That or buying a bigger printer. But let’s turn this around: what if you don’t know how big your object is, and you just print… Continue reading Fractal Tree Table
MakerFaire Video
Take a look at a great video from the recent MakerFaire where: Bre Prettis of MakerBot provides a brief explanation of their hobby 3D printer Jeffrey Lipton of the Fab at Home project explains the unique features of their printer, which is capable of printing electronics or even batteries. Max Freeman of Alibre – demonstrates… Continue reading MakerFaire Video
Images From DHUB
There’s a fascinating exhibition taking place at the Disseny Hub in Barcelona, also known as “DHUB”. From the exhibition’s description: FABRICATION LABORATORY consists of not one but a series of activities (exhibitions, real-time fabrication laboratories, workshops, lectures, etc.) that offer a comprehensive overview of 3D digital manufacturing technologies. Flickr user LaN_Luis has published… Continue reading Images From DHUB
Printing Sound
Contrasting opinions are a main feature of today’s communications. We read opposing viewpoints on and endless series topics, words versus words. But what if you could actually *see* the words colliding? That’s the question Canadian artist Eva Schindling set out to discover when she produced her work, “Liquid Sound Collisions”. The artist took two… Continue reading Printing Sound
Cloud9 V2 Leads to Chameleon Bliss
A flurry of press releases rained down upon us this week to announce the availability a new version of Anarkik Angels’ amazing software modelling tool Cloud9 and its inclusion in A1 Technologies Chameleon Package. If you don’t know about Cloud9 or Chameleon and you are a 3D modeller, you should. Cloud9 is a 3D… Continue reading Cloud9 V2 Leads to Chameleon Bliss
Controversy Over Shapeways Gold Plating Formula?
A while back the Shapeways 3D Print service toyed with Gold Plating on stainless steel printed models. Evidently this trial was successful, as they have now announced a new, permanently available material: Gold Plated Stainless Steel. This sounds great, as we previously postulated that a ton (well, maybe not an *actual* ton, but lots… Continue reading Controversy Over Shapeways Gold Plating Formula?
The Future of Objects Exhibition
Two contrasting exhibitions open in Pasadena California this month: a historical examination of “The Curious World of Patent Models”, and the more contemporary “Future of Objects”. The former looks at physical models constructed for patent application, as was the custom before 1880. Fortunately for inventors, this is no longer a requirement – but imagine if… Continue reading The Future of Objects Exhibition
Sintering the Moon
We just finished reading a paper describing the viability of using microwaves to fuse lunar soil (regoilith) into solid shapes, in the hopes of creating an effective way of building lunar structures for future astronauts and their bases. The chemistry and process are fascinating. It seems that most of the lunar regolith was formed… Continue reading Sintering the Moon
Print Some Legs and Make Them Whole Again
One of the most interesting applications of 3D printing is medical uses. We’ve written about many different medical applications, ranging from printed tissue, to replacement bones. Today we ran across Alison Lewis’s wonderful post describing her experience encountering custom printed prosthetics for amputees. The procedure was to scan the patient’s surviving leg and through… Continue reading Print Some Legs and Make Them Whole Again
Printing the Disney Concert Hall – And Other Buildings
While watching a video of Sweet Onion Creations making a printout of the beautiful Disney Theater in Los Angeles, it became clear that one could find ready-made 3D models of many famous buildings. Sweet Onion Creations recommends using Google Earth to find such buildings, as it’s integrated with Google’s 3D Warehouse. We suspect there… Continue reading Printing the Disney Concert Hall – And Other Buildings
MakerBot Calibration Hoedown
Members of Kansas City’s Cowtown Computer Congress had an unusual event: 3D Printer Calibration Night. That’s right, members brought in their MakerBot 3D printers in an effort to properly calibrate their heater barrels, which are notoriously tricky to set right. Half a dozen MakerBots and a couple of RepRaps appear to be present in… Continue reading MakerBot Calibration Hoedown
Ponoko Hubs the UK
Distributed manufacturing platform Ponoko has announced they’ve got a new manufacturing hub: London, UK-based RazorLAB. This adds to their already established empire of hubs including New Zealand, San Francisco, Milan and Berlin. What does it mean? Greatly decreased shipping costs for makers using Ponoko’s services. In fact, Ponoko has actually been subsidizing shipments to the… Continue reading Ponoko Hubs the UK
Win a 3D Printer!
Sure, you’d love to win a 3D printer of your own (in this case the basic MakerBot Cupcake CNC kit), but you’ll have to do some work if you’re considering entering the 2010 (Un)Limited Design Contest. But the work is a little different from what you’d expect in a design contest. From Ponoko: … Continue reading Win a 3D Printer!
MakerBot on CBS Evening News!
They’ve hit the big time, hopefully. Last night’s CBS Evening News featured MakerBot’s Cupcake CNC printer and a very brief segment with ‘Bot mandarin Bre Prettis (left), who explained: A MakerBot is this magical device that turns ideas into objects… It’s a new way of thinking about how we get objects. The report… Continue reading MakerBot on CBS Evening News!
Breeding RepRaps
The premise behind the RepRap project is to build a machine that can reproduce itself. While it’s not quite able to accomplish that task entirely, it can produce a great many of its own parts. That’s exactly what’s going on at the University of Washington, where they seem to have set up a “RepRap… Continue reading Breeding RepRaps
The Inevitable Obj Store
After re-reading Bradshaw, Bowyer and Haufe’s paper “The Intellectual Property Implications of Low-Cost 3D Printing”, we’ve been considering where this personal manufacturing space is heading. In the paper, the tangled intellectual property rights scenarios they described involved personal manufacturing of some sort. It occurred to us that at the end of the day, most manufactured… Continue reading The Inevitable Obj Store
High Glossing Shapeways
Another development from always-inventive Shapeways 3D print service this week: you can now print in High Gloss Glass material. The material is indeed glass, made by depositing crushed glass powder with a binding medium. The resulting (and at that moment very fragile) object is then fired in an oven to remove the binder and… Continue reading High Glossing Shapeways
IP Rights vs. Personal 3D Printing
At this early stage in inexpensive personal 3D printing, we’re still exploring the technology and what it means. While we see intellectual property confusion and carnage in the digital music and now text-based industries, some of us feel that a similar catastrophe will befall personal manufacturing. In the meantime, we continue to explore the space.… Continue reading IP Rights vs. Personal 3D Printing
Glowing Objects
Nicholas Lewis has discovered that the Blue PLA filament build material he’s been using glows when illuminated by black-light. The picture above tells the story. Imagine the build possibilities! The PLA is available from UltiMachine at the link below. From the description: This is Natureworks PLA4042D extruded into 3mm filament. This is a… Continue reading Glowing Objects
From Solidworks to Shapeways
Popular 3D print service Shapeways has announced the availability of a new add-in for SolidWorks, the well-known commercial 3D modelling system. The add-in was developed by Design Solutions in a joint project with Shapeways, but is currently considered a “beta”, so expect frequent updates. Both 32 and 64 bit versions are available for download. If… Continue reading From Solidworks to Shapeways
RapidToday For Sale
We were contacted by fellow 3D print blogger Barnaby Wickham, owner/writer of the popular RapidToday blog. Barnaby says: I am selling www.rapidtoday.com, the rapid prototyping and 3D printing site I own and have edited for the past 2.5 years. I thought one of your readers might be interested in it. RapidToday has developed good… Continue reading RapidToday For Sale
The Homebrew Industrial Revolution
Kevin Carson has published a new book speaking to a vision of industrial revolution based on home-based manufacturing. This is a theme we’ve written about many times before, but we’ve not yet seen anyone take the concept into such detail as Carson’s nearly 400 page tome. Carson starts with the history of manufacturing, discussing… Continue reading The Homebrew Industrial Revolution
3D Memories?
We’ve written before about the sentimental value of 3D printed objects. Consider the notion of capturing 3D data from a pregnant woman’s ultrasound scan of her unborn child – and then reproducing the child in 3D even before it’s born! These and many other similar activities are quite possible these days with 3D print tech. … Continue reading 3D Memories?
The Columbus Idea Foundry
The Columbus Idea Foundry is one of many community workshops that keep popping up all over the globe. Their mission: The “Idea Foundry” is intended to serve those in the community who express interest in art, design, engineering, and fabrication but have not yet found a viable outlet for exploring such a complex combination… Continue reading The Columbus Idea Foundry
MicroManufacturing with a MakerBot?
MakerBot operator Pete Hinzy asks an interesting question: who else out there is using their MakerBot or other type of low cost manufacturing equipment as a part of their business? What is your business model? Pricing structures, etc.? For certain, the MakerBot and similar low-cost 3D printers don’t offer typical commercial capabilities, such… Continue reading MicroManufacturing with a MakerBot?
Objet Patents a New Print Material
We’ve just been going through a rather lengthy patent application submitted by Eduardo Napandensky and Diana Ravich – and the patent is assigned to Objet Geometries, one of the top line commercial 3D printer manufacturers. The patent describes a mysterious new print material that has new color and strength properties. Specifically, this is the… Continue reading Objet Patents a New Print Material
How Are Open Design Projects Organized?
Marvelous Onwukamike of TUHH, Hamburg University of Technology, is conducting a survey on the organization of open design projects. We felt that many Fabbaloo readers might be appropriate respondents to this exercise. The 36-question survey is available for interested parties, and takes approximately 8-10 minutes to complete. The survey may be found right here. … Continue reading How Are Open Design Projects Organized?
Materialise Replicates King Tut!
The Discovery Times Square Exposition in New York City has a unique addition to its display of Tutankhamen artifacts: King Tutankhamen himself! Or at least a very precise replica of his mummy. Artist Gary Staab was commissioned to prepare the replica, and he turned to 3D service Materialise for assistance. Using their sophisticated Mimics… Continue reading Materialise Replicates King Tut!
ZBuilder Ultra Introduced
It’s a brand new, lower-cost option from ZCorp for building objects – but it uses a very different approach. It’s not like their 3D printers, which use a fused-powder technique. Instead the ZBuilder Ultra uses “a high-resolution Digital Light Processor (DLP) projector to solidify a liquid photopolymer”, similar to laser sintering. Here’s the specifications… Continue reading ZBuilder Ultra Introduced
Shapeways Summer Colors
Who thought 3D printing would have seasons? Turns out that Shapeways does – they’ve just announced a special set of what they call “Summer Colors”, available for inclusion in your Shapeways 3D prints until September. The set of colors was chosen by popular vote, and include: Summer Blue Summer Green Summer Magenta … Continue reading Shapeways Summer Colors
Materialise Shapes F3 Euro Series Cars
3D service Materialise has been working with the Signature F3 Euro Series team to fine tune their racing cars, apparently quite successfully. The approach is to duplicate the aerodynamic scenario by testing a scale model of the proposed car design in a wind tunnel. By tweaking the shape of critical parts, the airflow can… Continue reading Materialise Shapes F3 Euro Series Cars
A Simple Scanning Service
3D Scanner manufacturer GKS Global Services has introduced a really simple method of obtaining complex 3D scans. They’re addressing the scenario where you need a 3D model of an existing physical object, but you can’t afford to buy your own scanner and/or don’t happen to have the skills to convert the data into a usable… Continue reading A Simple Scanning Service
In Need of Spools
A question on Hack A Day asks, “Im looking for someone with a 3d printer to help me manafacture 620 spools for old cameras. Anybody?” We suspect there just might be some Fabbaloo readers out there that could definitely get this done. Try the link below to get in contact with the questioner if… Continue reading In Need of Spools
Sculptris!
Tomas Pettersson has created a pretty amazing sculpting tool in his spare time: Sculptris. The Windows-based software provides a very intuitive way to model freeform sculptures. Using simple controls, a designer can quickly produce symmetrical shapes of great detail and beauty. You must watch the video to appreciate how easily an artist can produce amazing… Continue reading Sculptris!
Do You Need an Atomic Force Microscope?
Sure, everyone needs an AFM! But what is it? From Wikipedia: Atomic force microscopy (AFM) or scanning force microscopy (SFM) is a very high-resolution type of scanning probe microscopy, with demonstrated resolution on the order of fractions of a nanometer, more than 1000 times better than the optical diffraction limit. The precursor to the… Continue reading Do You Need an Atomic Force Microscope?
Visiting a FabLab
There’s a great photojourney of a visit through Aachen’s FabLab at lekernel’s scrapbook, including images of their 3D printer, laser cutter and milling machine. What exactly is a “FabLab”? Here’s the Wikipedia definition: A Fab Lab (fabrication laboratory) is a small-scale workshop with an array of computer controlled tools that cover several different length… Continue reading Visiting a FabLab