Sales of Stratasys’ Connex equipment must be going well. So well they had to open a brand new factory to build them.
materials
How Much 3D Printer Filament Do You Need?
There’s a slight trend emerging in the 3D printer filament market: volume shipments.
Endless Filament with the FUSE Welder
We’re looking at a unique device, the FUSE welding filament clamp, by industrial designer Pedro M. Librero.
The Pros and Cons of Proprietary 3D Printing Filament
Some folks have very strong feelings regarding the use of proprietary filament by some 3D printer manufacturers. Are those feelings warranted?
ABS Plastic On The Way Out?
We’re beginning to notice a significant trend. When looking at new emerging personal 3D printers we are seeing fewer that offer ABS plastic as an option as a 3D printing material. ABS was among the very first materials used by historic personal 3D printers, as it was commonly available due to its heavy use… Continue reading ABS Plastic On The Way Out?
ColorFabb’s Focus on 3D Printing
We had a chat about filament with Sander Strijbos of ColorFabb at the recent 3D Printshow in London. While there are quite a few vendors marketing filament, most of their innovations involve new colors of PLA and ABS plastic. Not so with ColorFabb, who explore the edge of the envelope in filament technology. Strijbos… Continue reading ColorFabb’s Focus on 3D Printing
Inexpensive, High Quality 3D Printer Resin?
Most personal 3D printers are filament-fueled extrusion machines, but there are a number of resin-based machines, such as the Form 1, the Nautilus, the mUVe 1, the B9 Creator and others. There’s also several open source plans for resin-based machines. But there could be a problem. Resins used by some of these machines can… Continue reading Inexpensive, High Quality 3D Printer Resin?
OpenFab’s Visionary Goal: Multi-material Objects
Developed by MIT and presented at this year’s SIGGRAPH conference, OpenFab proposes a way to more easily produce incredibly complex milt-material objects. OpenFab is not a 3D printer; it is a software “pipeline” of steps that enable the creation of complex, multi-material 3D models that can then be printed on a 3D printer capable… Continue reading OpenFab’s Visionary Goal: Multi-material Objects
HYREL Achieves Multi-Part 3D Printing
In almost every 3D printer we’ve seen, even those with multiple heads, only one print head is actually used at a time. First you print the model material, then you print support material, layer by layer, one extruder at a time. But now that’s changed. HYREL, notable for 3D printing clay, Sugru and other… Continue reading HYREL Achieves Multi-Part 3D Printing
Are You Ready To Mold 3D Prints?
Most 3D printers produce objects in a very limited set of materials, typically only one or two. But what if there was a way to make items from many kinds of materials? That’s exactly what you can do by combining your 3D printer with ComposiMold, a system for making molds. ComposiMold is a reusable… Continue reading Are You Ready To Mold 3D Prints?
Shapeways To Gain Even More Materials?
A posting on Shapeways blog solicits applications for a new position at the 3D print service. The position? Here’s what they say: We are looking for a someone to help us to find and introduce new 3D printing materials and processes to Shapeways. This can only indicate they mean to dramatically increase the… Continue reading Shapeways To Gain Even More Materials?
$2M Worth of 3D Printing Pens and a Big Implication
The amazing 3Doodler 3D printing pen seems to be rather popular: it’s Kickstarter fundraising campaign has now passed the USD$2M mark and it’s still rising. At this rate, the USD$75 handheld 3D printing device could potentially raise USD$4M or more. Now that’s a lot of 3D pens! More importantly, if there are suddenly… Continue reading $2M Worth of 3D Printing Pens and a Big Implication
Objet’s Flexy Materials
An interesting video from Objet shows off many of their latest materials. While many Fabbaloo readers have 3D printers capable of printing in hard plastic, the items in this video demonstrate what can be achieved when you are able to print in flexible material. Oh, did we say that Objet has an almost perfectly… Continue reading Objet’s Flexy Materials
Fabbster’s Flexy Experiment
We’ve just viewed an interesting video of what appears to be a 3D print of a very flexible material, evidently performed on a Fabbster. You’ll recall Fabbster; the personal 3D printer that accepts pre-made plastic “sticks” of different materials and colors. Apparently they’ve somehow made sticks out of a flexible plastic material and printed out… Continue reading Fabbster’s Flexy Experiment
EnvisionTEC Unveils New Materials
EnvisionTEC, Inc. will showcase the company’s expanded range of 3D printing materials at the IMTS exhibition in Chicago. EnvisionTEC announced the launch of its new AB Material resins, with the first two commercially available offerings: ABflex and ABStuff. Both are used with the company’s DLP 3D printers. Read More at Engineering.com
MakerBot’s New Colors
3D printer manufacturer MakerBot has announced the availability of no less than nine new colors of plastic filament, suitable for use in not only their 3D printers, but any others that use the same diameter of plastic filament. The new colors are pretty awesome: Slate Gray Stone Helsinki Sky (a very light blue)… Continue reading MakerBot’s New Colors
How to Pick a 3D Printer Material
I’ve written two blog posts about the importance of materials to the future of 3D printing. The bottom line is that without a material that performs as needed, speed, cost and quality are irrelevant. Read More at Engineering.com
Sculpteo Alumides!
3D print service Sculpteo announced the availability of a new 3D print material: Alumide. What is Alumide? It’s a mix of polyamide and aluminum powder yielding 3D prints that are stronger than just plastic but weaker than metal. Like plastic and some metals, it can actually bend slightly, making it useful for objects undergoing minor… Continue reading Sculpteo Alumides!
The Materials Project
We’re not sure how useful this is to most Fabbaloo readers, but it is very cool. The Materials Project is an online database of, well, materials. Once you register for free you can access the service by entering a chemical formula and the service returns you a wealth of information about the selected material. You… Continue reading The Materials Project
The End of 3mm Filament?
An increasing number of personal 3D printer manufacturers are switching their products from using standard 3mm plastic filament (either ABS or PLA plastic) to a smaller size: 1.75mm. One of the early converts was PP3DP’s Up! 3D printer, which came with a 1.75mm extruder and smaller nozzle to match. In those early days 1.75mm filament… Continue reading The End of 3mm Filament?
Imagined Shopping For 3D Printer Materials
Objet just announced another amazing material for their Connex and Eden 3D printers. This new material, called “High Temperature Material”, not surprisingly provides 3D prints that can withstand high temperature exposure. It can withstand a temperature of +65C (149F) right out of the printer, but if you post-process the object with a “short oven-based,… Continue reading Imagined Shopping For 3D Printer Materials