3D Systems

3D System’s Smarter 3D Printing

Industry giant 3D Systems intends on teaching you a lot more about 3D printing with their new seminar series entitled, “Smarter 3D Printing”. These seminars are planned for approximately 80 events in multiple locations across the United States, four locations in Canada and one (Sao Paulo) in Brazil.    The no-charge seminars will provide:   … Continue reading 3D System’s Smarter 3D Printing

That Sticky Cube

We managed to examine 3D Systems’ latest personal 3D printer, the Cube, in person at Rapid 2012. The colorful unit was much as we expected, but there was a surprise.    The print bed appeared glossy for some unknown reason. We wondered if the surface was made  that way and investigated with a finger. We… Continue reading That Sticky Cube

You May Now Order Your Cube

First announced in January of this year, 3D Systems’ latest personal 3D printer, the Cube, is now available for pre-order.    The highly consumer-oriented device first came to light at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, where its ease of use features were very noticeable. The USD$1299 device was not available then, and actually isn’t yet… Continue reading You May Now Order Your Cube

That Cubify Van

To promote their new Cube 3D printer and Cubify 3D printing community, 3D Systems has a tricked out van shuttling around the USA. The van is equipped with Cube 3D printers and evidently a ton of 3D models, too, as they’re printing stuff at every stop. They’ve started in the western USA and are more… Continue reading That Cubify Van

3D Systems Added to S&P SmallCap 600 Index

Standard and Poors have added 3D Systems to their SmallCap 600 index. The index is a basket of (surprise) 600 companies whose aggregated stock prices offer insight into medium-sized company performance. 3D Systems was able to be added after one of the existing companies, Taleo, was acquired by Oracle (making it definitely not a Small… Continue reading 3D Systems Added to S&P SmallCap 600 Index

3D Systems Picks Up Robots, And More

Industry giant 3D Systems has made another acquisition, and this one appears to be a little different than previous purchases. They’ve acquired specialty 3D print service MyRobotNation, whom we’ve written about in the past. MyRobotNation’s specialty is, well, robots. Personalized robots.    The service provides users with a very easy to use (and fun) interface… Continue reading 3D Systems Picks Up Robots, And More

The Cube on CNN

Big media coverage for 3D Systems this week: 3D Systems CEO Abe Reichental appeared on CNN to demonstrated their new USD$1300 “Cube” personal 3D printer. Reichental explained the basics of 3D printing to the audience and said that although 3D printing has been around for decades for industrial applications, 3D Systems is now “democratizing” the… Continue reading The Cube on CNN

3D Systems’ 2011 Financial Results

3D Printing industry leader 3D Systems recently announced their year-end financial results for 2011. We wondered how the incorporation of their many newly acquired companies affected their results.    Overall it seems that the acquisitions have assisted 3D Systems in raising their results. Here’s the highlights as we saw them:    Full year revenue increased… Continue reading 3D Systems’ 2011 Financial Results

3D Systems Deploys Print3D

Industry giant 3D Systems acquired software plugin maker Print3D in April last year and this week saw 3D Systems announce the technical outcome of that acquisition: Print3D is now released as a free plugin for major 3D modeling tools for direct integration with 3D Systems’ print services.  Instead of exporting your 3D model and then… Continue reading 3D Systems Deploys Print3D

3D Systems For Investors

We managed to get a peek at a 3D Systems investors presentation. This is a rather large slide deck with plenty of investor-related data as most investor presentations tend to be, but there were also lots of very interesting statistics and information. We read through the entire piece and found the interesting tidbits for Fabbaloo… Continue reading 3D Systems For Investors

Massive News: 3D Systems Acquires ZCorp!

In an almost unbelievable announcement today, 3D Systems has apparently acquired ZCorp, one of their major competitors. In addition to ZCorp, 3D Systems also picked up Vidar, a leading manufacturer of medical film digitizers. The cost of these two simultaneous acquisitions puts a USD$137M dent into 3D Systems’ wallet, which will be refilled by a… Continue reading Massive News: 3D Systems Acquires ZCorp!

3D Systems Acquires Huntsman Technology

3D Systems continued its acquisition strategy this week by picking up not a company but a technology. They’ve recently been acquiring whole companies related to 3D printing, but this one is slightly different: they’ve purchased what appears to be the USD$7M/yr revenue rapid prototyping arm of Huntsman, a very large chemical conglomerate.    The specifics… Continue reading 3D Systems Acquires Huntsman Technology

More on the 3D Systems Projet 1500

We’ve obtained some additional information about 3D Systems’ new low-cost commercial color 3D printer, the Projet 1500. Priced at slightly under USD$15,000, this device has quite a few very interesting features that we noticed while perusing 3D Systems’ documentation. Here’s the highlights of our scan through their material:    Front panel has a window for… Continue reading More on the 3D Systems Projet 1500

3D Systems Acquires Kemo

Mark down another acquisition for 3D Systems, who this week announced they’ve picked up Belgian 3D print service Kemo B.V. Modelmaker. This Belgian firm adds to the significant number of 3D print services now under the vast 3D Systems umbrella. Kemo focuses on on-demand custom parts for industry, similar to other services that 3D Systems… Continue reading 3D Systems Acquires Kemo

More on the 3DTouch 3D Printer

After yesterday’s announcement from 3D Systems / BFB on their new 3DTouch printer, we sought additional details. Today we’ve learned a few more things about this very interesting device, including why it’s called the “3DTouch”. Check out the much more detailed image above (click for larger view). Here’s our latest findings:     The “touch”… Continue reading More on the 3DTouch 3D Printer

3D Systems Acquires Formero

Continuing their sweep across the world acquiring 3D print services, 3D Systems has now absorbed Formero, and Australian 3D print service. Formero focuses on the Asia-Pacific market from their Melbourne base of operations.    With this acquisition 3D Systems now has stretched its global reach quite a bit farther, at least in terms of 3D… Continue reading 3D Systems Acquires Formero

More on the 3D Systems’ BotMill Acquisition

We were a tiny bit surprised last week when we learned that up and coming 3D printer manufacturer and marketer BotMill was snapped up by industry giant 3D Systems. At the time there was not a lot of information available about this move, so we contacted 3D Systems VP of Global Marketing to clarify the… Continue reading More on the 3D Systems’ BotMill Acquisition

BotMill Acquired by 3D Systems

Buzz on the interwebs last night indicated another 3D Systems acquisition has taken place. This time they’ve scooped up Florida-based hobby 3D printer manufacturer BotMill.    While there doesn’t seem to be an official announcement or press release on this event yet, there is a very telling indication from the graphic on BotMill’s site, as… Continue reading BotMill Acquired by 3D Systems

Space-Based 3D Printers Pass Important Test

Space.com reports this morning on experiments undertaken by Made In Space to verify whether 3D printers can be used in orbit. Evidently two commercial 3D printers were tested during temporary zero-gravity environment simulation fights.   We’ve written about Made In Space before, as they were formed last year to address the problem of efficiently solving… Continue reading Space-Based 3D Printers Pass Important Test

3D Systems Catches Alibre

Big announcement from 3D Systems this morning: They’ve acquired CAD/CAM software manufacturer Alibre. Alibre current markets several versions of their 3D modeling software for pro’s and hobbyists, as well as reselling several of 3D System’s 3D printers as software/hardware bundles – so obviously there was a strong existing relationship between the two parties.    … Continue reading 3D Systems Catches Alibre

3D Printing on CNN

CNN Money’s page today had a front-page article dedicated to 3D printing, featuring an interview with 3D System’s Rajeev Kulkarni, who spoke about their newly acquired BFB line of inexpensive 3D printers. He said:    This is our attempt now to get at the consumer level, where we make 3-D printing accessible to the mass… Continue reading 3D Printing on CNN

The New 3D Systems

This week industry giant 3D systems unveiled their brand new logo (above). But that’s only the tip of the iceberg, as they’ve been making all kinds of moves lately. We like to think they are now the “new” 3D Systems. Here’s some of the things they’ve been up to lately:   Moved their stock from… Continue reading The New 3D Systems

Freedom of Creation: Absorbed!

We’ve written many times about the amazing 3D printed furniture and artwork produced by the design house Freedom of Creation, home of master designer Jyanne Kytannen. But today we learned that FOC, like many other 3D printing-related companies and services in recent weeks, has been acquired by industry giant 3D Systems.    It’s been getting… Continue reading Freedom of Creation: Absorbed!

Hands On With The BFB 3000: Unboxing and Setup

Fabbaloo Labs has obtained a brand-new, two-headed BFB 3000 3D printer for detailed experimentation and evaluation. We’ll talk about our unboxing and setup experience in this post, while upcoming posts will focus on the 3000’s operation and software.    The BFB 3000 ships in a rather large 38kg box. It’s large for one obvious reason:… Continue reading Hands On With The BFB 3000: Unboxing and Setup

This Week’s 3D Systems Acquisition Is . . .

Print3D Corporation! They’ve been acquired by industry giant 3D Systems, who are now even giganticker. But what exactly does Print3D do? They are an industrial 3D printing parts service with a unique capability: they have a plug-in for CAD software to provide additional 3D printing features.    Here’s what their plug-in does:    The Print3D… Continue reading This Week’s 3D Systems Acquisition Is . . .

3D Printing Companies Will Continue To Do Well

One might think that it’s not a good time to invest in 3D printing companies after their latest run up. However, according to a report by analysts at Piper Jaffray:     Based on conversations with industry sources and Q1 channel checks, we believe demand in the 3D printing market has improved and we believe… Continue reading 3D Printing Companies Will Continue To Do Well

The Anything Factory

During our recent visit to 3D Systems HQ we were able to walk through one of their production facilities. This is a room containing many large-scale 3D printers, each of which was going about its business printing parts for requestors. The facility was part of 3D Systems’ parts-on-demand business.    But we had an interesting… Continue reading The Anything Factory

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

3D Systems Acquires A Service. Again

Not long after purchasing Bits From Bytes, 3D Systems has now acquired industrial rapid prototyping service QuickParts. Quickparts is a significant service that provides a variety of 3D printing technologies, including:    Stereolithography(SLA)   Machined Plastic Prototypes(MPP) Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) Selective Laser Sintering(SLS)   QuickParts also provides injection moulding services.    We’re contemplating what… Continue reading 3D Systems Acquires A Service. Again

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!

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

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

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

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!

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!

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

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

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?

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?

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

Cathy Lewis On Daily Planet

  Cathy Lewis, former CEO of Desktop Factory and now VP of Global Marketing for 3D Systems, recently made an appearance on Discovery Channel Canada’s Daily Planet science news show.   In the short interview, Cathy explains the basics of 3D printing and displays a variety of different printed objects, including one with moving parts.… Continue reading Cathy Lewis On Daily Planet

Desktop Factory – 3D Systems Update

As readers may recall, Desktop Factory – the startup that attempted to build a sub USD$5,000 3D printer – was recently acquired by 3D Systems, makers of not-sub USD$5,000 3D printers. We’ve been wondering what has transpired since the acquisition, and this week Desktop Factory’s former CEO, Cathy Lewis provided an update. Here’s the highlights:… Continue reading Desktop Factory – 3D Systems Update

The World’s Largest Parts Service?

We received notification that 3D Systems, makers of various manufacturing devices, including the V-Flash and ProJet series of 3D printers and most recently acquirers of Desktop Factory, have done it again. From their press release, 3D Systems: … announced today that it acquired the assets of Acu-Cast Technologies, a leading provider of rapid prototyping and… Continue reading The World’s Largest Parts Service?

Desktop Factory Resurrected

  We’ve been following the saga of Desktop Factory for quite some time, beginning with its promising start attempting to manufacture the first commercial high-quality 3D printer with a price less than USD$5,000. More recently though, they’ve had severe financial difficulties, possibly related to the economic climate of late. Last month CEO Cathy Lewis announced… Continue reading Desktop Factory Resurrected

V-Flashed

  Quite a while ago we wrote on 3D Systems’s upcoming V-Flash Desktop 3D printer. At the time it was only in Beta, but now it’s available for purchase by anyone. According to 3D Systems’s press release: It’s the very first commercial 3D Printer priced at less than USD$10,000 (actually it’s USD$9,900, we’re told) Produces… Continue reading V-Flashed

There’s Another Stereolithography Vat In Town

While we’re on the topic of giant stereolithography printers, we’ve just been tipped onto a video of another. This one is the iPro 9000 XL, evidently the largest commmercially available SL system. Amazingly, the build chamber is a 59 inch long vat full of liquid manufacturing media. Somehow we just don’t find SL videos as… Continue reading There’s Another Stereolithography Vat In Town

Individual Olympic Shoes Fabbed

3D Systems recently assisted Loughborough University in the UK to produce highly customized shoe soles for olympic athletes. Researchers observed that the margin of victory in recent Olympic track events has been vanishingly small, sometimes as low as 0.01 seconds. You can’t get much closer than that. But a close margin of victory means that… Continue reading Individual Olympic Shoes Fabbed

It’s All Wax

3D Systems has announced the ProJet CPX 3000 3D printer, and it’s claim to fame is that it can produce objects of fine detail using wax as the medium. This is a pretty specialized device, as you can’t just print a wrench or part requiring stability and strength using wax. And yes, it won’t sit… Continue reading It’s All Wax

The ProJet™ SD 3000 Printer

  3D Systems has announced the availability of their new ProJet™ SD 3000 Printer, which is said to be directed to “professional in-office model-making by design and manufacturing businesses of all sizes”.   The 254Kg (560 Lb) office-friendly unit comes in three models:   HD – Capable of “UHD” resolution of 656x656x800 DPI (xyz) SD… Continue reading The ProJet™ SD 3000 Printer

Competition for Desktop Factory?

  Desktop Factory, the designers of an upcoming desktop 3D printer that intends on breaking the USD$5,000 barrier, may have competition. It’s the black box on the desk pictured above.   What we find interesting is 3D Systems’ new V-Flash “desktop” model, apparently priced at USD$9,900. Twice as much as Desktop Factory’s target price. It’s… Continue reading Competition for Desktop Factory?

Blind Man Sees!

An incredible story comes from 3D Systems, a 3D service bureau that we’ll have to review very soon. The University of Louisville’s Rapid Prototyping Center and Harvest Technologies (a 3D Systems provider) together helped produce an amazing result for the popular TV show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”.  The show’s premise is to rapidly rebuild or… Continue reading Blind Man Sees!

Investment Attitude to 3D Printing Shifts?

Investment analyst firm Piper Jaffray has upgraded their assessment of 3D Systems from “Sell” to “Neutral”. Evidently PJ was impressed with 3D’s newest product announcement, particularly its unique curing technology. This seems to be further evidence that 3D printing is viewed not only positively by mainstream observers, but that it is even being viewed at… Continue reading Investment Attitude to 3D Printing Shifts?

3D Systems Announces Printer

3D Systems has announced they will be producing the ProJet HD3000 3-D Production System. This item is a “high-end professional” system that is capable of “fine feature detail” and “superior surface quality”. The device also includes factory-like features such as a very large build chamber, parts stacking and automated operation. Evidently this machine is very… Continue reading 3D Systems Announces Printer