Wirelessly Tag Your 3D Prints

By on February 28th, 2013 in Service, Usage

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Shapeways announced a very cool feature offered by their 3D print service: NFC tagging. If you haven’t heard of it, NFC stands for “Near Field Communication“, a short-range wireless technology.
 
NFC is used in key fobs or other security devices. It simply receives a signal and responds with its own unique digital number. With this technology you can positively identify a tag electronically and wirelessly. If the tag is attached to an object, you’ve identified that specific object. 
 
The big idea here is to stick a NFC tag on your 3D print, thus enabling such digital identification to take place. Of course, you’ll need a special reader and controls system, but you knew that already. 
 
The Shapeways NFC service is provided by partner company Flomio, who print your STL 3D model and place the NFC chip on it for a nominal price. 
 
We suspect the best use of this technique would be to create custom security fobs, perhaps in shapes unique to the service. Imagine a cartoony key that’s actually a digital key. 
 

By Kerry Stevenson

Kerry Stevenson, aka "General Fabb" has written over 8,000 stories on 3D printing at Fabbaloo since he launched the venture in 2007, with an intention to promote and grow the incredible technology of 3D printing across the world. So far, it seems to be working!