Massive 3D Printer Unveiled

Is your measly 10x10x10cm build chamber too small for your big ideas? Perhaps you should consider acquiring a voxeljet VX4000, which has a build envelope of 400x200x100cm. Yes, that’s 4x2x1m or 13×6.5×3.3 feet! This item is so large it requires an installation area of 25x12x4.5m, or 14,500 sqft. Definitely not suitable for your office. At… Continue reading Massive 3D Printer Unveiled

A Look Inside the V-Flash

During our recent visit to 3D Systems we managed to get a look deep inside one of their intermediate-level 3D printers: the V-Flash. This device uses a unique method of deploying build material that results in the object being built upside down! Upside down or not, the printed results are of extremely high accuracy.  … Continue reading A Look Inside the V-Flash

AdderFab!

We’ve been following the folks at Open3DP for a while now as they proceed through experiments in 3D Printing. Lately they’ve been working on perfecting printing molds that have revolutionized the production of RepRap Prusa Mendel 3D printer parts. However, we now see they’re working on an entirely new project: an inexpensive, presumably open-source powder-based… Continue reading AdderFab!

Lexus Invents New Form of 3D Printing

New Scientist reports on an innovative parts-making process invented by Lexus. It’s a kind of futuristic 3D Loom that essentially “weaves” parts together. The circular device pulls a series of carbon fibres into a desired shape and is capable of “weaving” highly complex parts much faster than traditional techniques. Curves, varying thicknesses and dimensions are… Continue reading Lexus Invents New Form of 3D Printing

Arcam Electron Beam Melting

We’re accustomed to examining home 3D printers or consumer 3D print services, but we’re also fascinated by the larger commercial species. An interesting 3D print approach is employed by Arcan, a Swedish manufacturer of Electron Beam Melting printers. Yes, they use “powerful electron beams” (up to 3000W) to melt metal powered to gradually form complete… Continue reading Arcam Electron Beam Melting

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The Platon 3D Printer

Secretly announced in a comment on one of our posts was the existence of a new commercial 3D printer offering from Danish company Create It Real. The Platon 3D Printer is apparently a plastic extruder, judging from the brief video. There is scant little information about this device, but it is supposed to be available… Continue reading The Platon 3D Printer

3D Food Printing on CNN

We’ve just been informed that CNN has a piece focused on 3D food printing. Reporter Laurie Segall interviews French Culinary Institute Chef David Arnold, who’s been experimenting with a Fab@Home printer, specially modified for printing food items. Not yet any food ingredients, but “any form of paste” as Arnold explains. Arnold says they’ve experimented with cake… Continue reading 3D Food Printing on CNN

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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

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

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

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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!

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

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

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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

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

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

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

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

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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!

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

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

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?

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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!

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

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Trade Up to ProJet?

Commercial 3D Printer manufacturer 3D Systems has a special offer underway: trade in your existing Stratasys, Dimension, Objet, Z-Corp, Envisiontec or older 3D Systems printers and they’ll credit you “up to US$15,000” toward the purchase of a new 3D Systems ProJet 3000 or 5000 model.    If you’re interested, you’d better get started as the… Continue reading Trade Up to ProJet?

Bensons Has the BFB 3000

We’ve written about the BFB 3000 before: it’s a fully assembled 3D printer priced under  £2,000. Marketed in the UK and US by A1 Technologies, we now see that the device is being sold in Australia and New Zealand by Benson Machines.    The BFB 3000 is produced by Bits From Bytes and is a… Continue reading Bensons Has the BFB 3000

MCOR Paper Printers In The Wild

MCOR’s Matrix 300 paper-based 3D printer is now in use at various industrial and educational institutions in the UK.    The Matrix 300 has been installed at Ravensbourne campus in Greenwich Peninsula; Pera, The Innovation Network in Leicestershire; the Royal College of Art in London. No doubt more installations are coming.    These MCOR clients… Continue reading MCOR Paper Printers In The Wild

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

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

Ice Printing

We know it’s spring and things are warming up (at least on the top side of our planet), but it’s time to talk about ice. Specifically, ice printing. Along with numerous other print materials, plain water can now be added to the list.    The “computer assisted ice printing” experiment was developed by professors and… Continue reading Ice Printing

HP 3D Printer Specifications

While the new line of HP 3D printers is only available in certain countries, that doesn’t stop you from finding their specifications if you aren’t in their current sales area. We’ve probed to the depths of HP’s vast ocean of web pages to find the specifications for the twin 3D printers announced last week. As… Continue reading HP 3D Printer Specifications

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Affordable 3D Printing?

We’re examining a news release from Bits From Bytes, who apparently will be unveiling what they say is the “first fully assembled 3D printer to be put on the market for less than £2,000” at the RAPID 2010 Conference and Expo on May 18th.    The new BFB 3000 has a couple of interesting features,… Continue reading Affordable 3D Printing?

HP is 3D Printing!

The big news today was the anticipated release of HP’s new line of 3D printers. The printers are actually made by Stratasys, makers of the Dimension line of printers by means of a joint venture the two signed earlier this year.    The announcement specifies two models, which will be available this May only in… Continue reading HP is 3D Printing!

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?

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!

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?

Sampling Solido

Fabbaloo managed to lay our hands on a sample 3D print from Solido, one of the major commercial 3D printer manufacturers. The print, in the image above, is a palm-sized horse. We were very impressed with the strength of the object – it’s quite stiff to handle, and according to Solido’s website, prints are suitable… Continue reading Sampling Solido

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

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

RapMan Wins BETT Award

A1 Technologies, the makers of The RapMan, an inexpensive 3D printer kit targeted at the educational market, recently won the BETT award in the  Digital Devices category for their Bits From Bytes kit. The BETT Awards recognize “the best in educational technology solutions”.   The Bits From Bytes “complete” kit is priced at £750.00 and… Continue reading RapMan Wins BETT Award

MCOR Prints A Car

MCOR’s Matrix 300, the 3D printer that prints in plain paper, was recently used by design students from London’s Royal College of Art to produce a vehicle design, shown above. The MCOR Matrix is unique among 3D printers due to its use of paper as a print material, resulting in extremely inexpensive (and recyclable) media.… Continue reading MCOR Prints A Car

RepRap Grandchild Produced

Maker Erik de Bruijn has already persuaded his RepRap 3D printer to produce parts for a “child” printer, as have others using the RepRap design. That’s one of the main objectives for the RepRap project: a self-replicating machine. This was first accomplished in mid-2008, as we reported then.    On Friday Erik announced on Twitter… Continue reading RepRap Grandchild Produced

Chocolate Printing

For some reason this week a wave of chocolate fever passed through the Fabbaloo offices. After gorging on several delectable chocobars, we wondered about the current state of 3D chocolate printing. Certainly we saw early experiments by the Fab@Home folks, but what else is happening? After some searching, we encountered ChocALM: Customized Chocolate Made by Additive… Continue reading Chocolate Printing

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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

Objet vs. ProJet

The gloves are off now. We’ve just found a rather dramatic slideshow from 3D Systems that provides their take on a comparison between 3D Systems’ ProJet technology and Objet’s deposition tech. The slides are filled with side-by-side images of identical objects printed using both technologies.    The examination covered areas of quality, accuracy, stability, productivity,… Continue reading Objet vs. ProJet

The uPrint PLUS!

Stratasys just announced a new member to their 3D print family: the uPrint Plus. One year after they announced the inexpensive commercial uPrint device, they’ve upgraded it to the new Plus version. The main features of the Plus: Small floor footprint: 25×26 inches (.635m x .660m) Build chamber: 8x8x6 inches (.2 x .2 x .15m)… Continue reading The uPrint PLUS!

HP Makes 3D Printers!

Not quite yet, but apparently soon – HP will be selling not only 2D printers, but 3D printers, too. Today it was announced that Stratasys will “manufacture an HP-branded 3D printer” after the two parties signed a “definitive agreement”.   The new line of printers (suggesting there will be more than one model) will be… Continue reading HP Makes 3D Printers!