Hardware

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

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

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

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

A 3D Design Alternative

We received a follow up comment regarding our post “Poor Man’s 3D Printing: The Design” from A1 technologies, marketers of a variety of 3D gear. They wished to point out one of their products, the Chameleon, might be considered as an inexpensive design alternative.    What is the Chameleon? It’s a hardware/software combination that enables… Continue reading A 3D Design Alternative

The Vitraglyphic Process: Revealed

A wonderful video from Doctoral Student Meghan Trainor and Professor Mark Ganter of the University of Washington shows the entire process of producing 3D printed ceramics. The initial fragile print made from a glass powder formula is placed into a furnace for firing and solidification.    An ongoing issue with the process, which is still… Continue reading The Vitraglyphic Process: Revealed

A1’s Subtractive UNIMAT Series

A1 Technology, sellers of a variety of additive 3D equipment including the low-cost BfB 3000 3D printer and RapMan 3D printer has introduced an entirely new line of products: The UNIMAT series, a collection of subtractive manufacturing tools.    The premise is UNIMAT’s extremely low pricing and modular design that should enable the technology to… Continue reading A1’s Subtractive UNIMAT Series

DeviceKnit Discovers Good Uses

We were approached by John Ganotis, developer of DeviceKnit, a unique way to think about gadgets. Here’s how it works, according to John:   We’ve been describing it as a “cookbook for gadgets.” In its first, simplest form its all about sharing applications for different electronics and gadgets people have. Users submit “implementations” as responses… Continue reading DeviceKnit Discovers Good Uses

HP 3D Printers Rolling Out

NeBusiness reports on the new HP 3D printer that’s now in the hands of another UK reseller: Standing Stone. They’ve been selling it since the first of May. The firm’s national sales director, Simon Buckton, says of the £16,500 3D printer + cleaner combo:   We’ve shown some architects, who are very excited about it,… Continue reading HP 3D Printers Rolling Out

Stratasys is Savoring

That’s according to their CEO, Scott Crump, who in a recent blog post described the moment when HP announced it entered the 3D printer market – using machines made by Stratasys. Crump:   It’s a sweet feeling to see Stratasys reach this point. I’ve envisioned an event like this for more than 20 years.  … Continue reading Stratasys is Savoring

WaveWash From Stratasys

One of the big challenges with 3D printers is the clean up process. Unlike 2D printers, where you can use the output immediately, most 3D printers produce objects that require various types of post-processing, and this is especially true for support media. While some printers simply use the same print material for support sections that… Continue reading WaveWash From Stratasys

DIYLILCNC

The DIYLILCNC is a do-it-yourself CNC machine. Much like open source 3D printer designs, this one is instead for a CNC machine. This one can be built for approximately USD$700. From the site:   Plans and instructions for building the DIYLILCNC are distributed freely and intended for wide distribution and modification with few restrictions. The… Continue reading DIYLILCNC

The Most Popular 3D Printer Brands & Manufacturers?

A strange post appeared last week on Red Chill Media where they listed their thoughts on the “Top 4 Most Popular 3D Printer Brands & Manufacturers”. Their list included: Objet Z Corporation Desktop Factory (!) Dimension/Stratasys We’re not sure we’d agree with this list, particularly item 3, Desktop Factory. While DT was highly touted and… Continue reading The Most Popular 3D Printer Brands & Manufacturers?

SpaceNavigators Are Free!

We’re a big fan of SpaceNavigators, those pleasant-feeling 3D controllers that are most often found in your not-the-regular-mouse hand. The SpaceNav is compatible with a long list of 3D software, ranging from most modelling tools to 3D games.   There’s several types of SpaceNavs available from maker 3DConnexion, including more advanced models with many buttons,… Continue reading SpaceNavigators Are Free!

Solido Pricing Update

We were contacted by Valori Pagone, VP Technical Support at Solido USA Solido USA, after she read our post from last week examining a sample print from a Solido 3D printer.    In the article we posted pricing we found at typical resellers, but according to Valori:    Consumable kits are $359 USD for any… Continue reading Solido Pricing Update

Make Anything!

That’s the tagline for the new Fab@Home website, just unveiled in the past few days:   Fab@Home will change the way we live. It is a platform of printers and programs which can produce functional 3D objects. It is designed to fit on your desktop and within your budget. Fab@Home is supported by a global,… Continue reading Make Anything!

3D Printing Aids Biohacking

These days people are fiddling with anything that can be made digital, and one of the more interesting digitizations recently is biology! DNA, those tiny molecular strands that define us all, are increasingly being investigated by, well, hackers. BBC News reports on this phenomenon, which has grown recently aided by technological developments.    The idea… Continue reading 3D Printing Aids Biohacking

Stratasys Reduces Support Material by 40%

Stratasys, makers of the Dimension series of commercial 3D printers has announced a breakthrough in support technology. For those who don’t know, support material is frequently used in 3D printing to overcome the problem of printing overhangs. If there’s no support material to hold it up, the printer can’t properly deposit the build material. Support… Continue reading Stratasys Reduces Support Material by 40%

Ponoko Makes MakerBots!

What does a personal manufacturing service from New Zealand have to do with a 3D printer kit manufacturer from New York City? A lot more now, apparently. The two organizations have teamed up to leverage each other’s strengths.    MakerBot has opened a Showroom on Ponoko, where you can purchase and customize not only your… Continue reading Ponoko Makes MakerBots!

RepRap – MakerBot Controversy!

Controversy erupted over the past few weeks where someone was providing an assembled electronics kit for RepRap based on the MakerBot electronics board. The controversy stemmed from the maker’s (kymberlyaandrus) alleged lack of posting the required files with the electronics kit.    The way it’s supposed to work, according to basic open source concepts, is… Continue reading RepRap – MakerBot Controversy!

Ceramic 3D Printer?

Unfold is experimenting with printing ceramics. They’ve acquired a RapMan 3D printer kit and “Currently we are working on a toolhead that can extrude clay.” This is not something the RapMan was originally designed to do, but what are kits for if not to modify?    The test vase, shown above appears impressive, but it may… Continue reading Ceramic 3D Printer?

HP Ready to Ship 3D Printers

In an update to the blockbuster announcement in January, DesignNews reports that HP will very soon begin shipping their new 3D printers to five selected European countries, eventually widening their market to the entire globe. The printers are being manufactured by HP’s partner and 3D printing leader, Stratasys at their Minnesota plant.    DesignNews believes… Continue reading HP Ready to Ship 3D Printers

Another Inexpensive 3D Printer Kit Emerges

Competition for Makerbot? Cubely jumped into the 3D printing scene this week at an Arizona Hackerspace meetup. Cubely, a RepRap derivative, hopes to produce a superior hobbyist 3D printer at low cost.    Cubely consists of four major components: Electronics, which they recommend purchasing from MakerBot, as they are “unfortunately” the sole supplier; Stepper motors… Continue reading Another Inexpensive 3D Printer Kit Emerges

Laser Scanning Sale!

Laser Design has a special offer on for those requiring a full-scale commercial 3D scanner: 30% discount. This is a substantial amount, given the normal prices for such equipment.    The device in question is the Surveyor WS-Series system:   Surveyor WS-Series scans parts from all orientations, then easily rotates the data back into a… Continue reading Laser Scanning Sale!

Purple Platypus

As the 3D printer market grows, the sales model changes, too. At first we see manufacturers selling directly, but once established they expand their coverage by partnering with hardware resellers. Resellers are a very effective way to market products within a fixed geographical area because they can be much more attuned to local conditions and… Continue reading Purple Platypus

ProMetal’s Experience

ProMetal is an innovative manufacturing company that uses advanced techniques such as additive manufacturing to get an edge. In a wide-ranging interview and analysis, RapidToday profiles ProMetal and their recent challenges: Identifying the right sales channels to meet the market Enabling customized versions of products Keeping consumer costs low It seems that selling 3D items… Continue reading ProMetal’s Experience

Two Metallic Announcements

In recent days two announcements regarding 3D metal printing have emerged: Shapeways announced a new material and Materialise released new software optimized for metal additive manufacturing. Firsrt, Materialise released the “Magics Metal SG” software package that should make life a little bit easier for 3D designers: Magics Metal SG provides metal AM professionals with a… Continue reading Two Metallic Announcements

Who Is The RapMan?

We’ve covered the very popular RapMan 3D printer kit on several occasions previously, but there’s something a little mysterious about them. We noticed their website and branding changed. We see a new name: “Bits From Bytes”. What’s going on? Clarification arrived from their spokesperson, Rachel Park, who explains: Bits from Bytes (BfB, is how they… Continue reading Who Is The RapMan?

The Homemade 3D Printer

Those new to the concept of 3D printing are often even more amazed to find out that it’s entirely possible to actually build a 3D printer yourself! It’s not particularly easy and you must have very reasonable hardware talent, but definitely possible.   You’ll need to select a method of depositing print media from many… Continue reading The Homemade 3D Printer

Wallpaper Magazine Awards “R-O-B” Best Builder Award

Normally we who follow the 3D printing world expect to see a (probably) beige printer-like box containing a steamy build chamber from which excellent 3D objects are extracted. But the R-O-B is a very different kind of additive “printer”. It’s actually a full-scale industrial robot that’s mounted inside a standard shipping container. The shipping container… Continue reading Wallpaper Magazine Awards “R-O-B” Best Builder Award

CubeSpawn

Another very cool KickStarter project has appeared: CubeSpawn, by James Jones. The project’s concept is to establish a standard approach to linking personal manufacturing machines together based on the common cube shape. In this vision, 30cm square cubes are placed adjacent to one another, and each contains some type of manufacturing machine. Results from one… Continue reading CubeSpawn

New Image Plastics

Need some plastic for your 3D printer? Unsatisfied with your current choice of print media? There’s another option for you to consider: New Image Plastics, who manufacture a variety of different thermoplastic rods: We manufacture and stock a vast inventory of the finest quality, zero porosity (voidless) plastic welding rod and welding wire for all… Continue reading New Image Plastics