One of the easiest items to 3D print are models of buildings. Their shapes are often straightforward for successful printing and yet quite recognizable. It’s a great feeling when you print a building, give it to someone and they immediately recognize what it is without being told. But the question is, where do you… Continue reading More Great Printable Buildings
All
LiveCAD’s iPad 3D Modeler
We’re checking out new software from LiveCAD: Home Design 3D iPad. This sweet package lets you design an apartment or house floor by merely dragging, dropping and positioning walls and common objects onto a 2D view. Then you hit the 3D button and see your new kitchen, bedroom or bathroom in glorious finger-scrolling 3D. … Continue reading LiveCAD’s iPad 3D Modeler
FigurePrints Revisited
Quite some time ago we reported on a unique service: FigurePrints. It’s a totally niche 3D print service, but what’s the niche? They print custom figurines of your World of Warcraft character. We thought we’d take another look at them. How does it work? It’s pretty simple, really. You specify your character’s name, Realm… Continue reading FigurePrints Revisited
The Economist on 3D Printing
Is this the big time for 3D Printing? If it’s the cover story on The Economist, perhaps so. The article describes the history and concept of 3D printing, but then goes on to suggest that 3D printing is now being used for finished parts rather than simply prototypes. This could lead, they say, to… Continue reading The Economist on 3D Printing
Natural 3D Printing
Ponoko posted of a wonderful story about Sydney-based lighting company SandFlora’s experience designing a beautiful lamp. The interesting part was the inspiration: nature. In fact, this line of lamp was inspired by the intricate Waratah flower, native to Australia. The lamp was of course 3D printed and looks amazing. Our interest, as was… Continue reading Natural 3D Printing
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
3DTin’s Buzz
We heard the huge chatter across the 3D world recently about 3DTin, an impressive web-based 3D modelling tool. What? 3D modelling in a browser? Yes. True. There are tons of limitations, however. Essentially, 3DTin uses a simple building block approach, much like assembling a structure out of Lego blocks. In this way rudimentary models… Continue reading 3DTin’s Buzz
MCOR 3D Paper Printer Available Across Europe
One way to reduce the cost of 3D printing is to use inexpensive material for printing – and that’s precisely what the MCOR Matrix 300 does. It uses plain sheet paper as its print medium, leading to perhaps the lowest operational cost of a commercial 3D printer. The Matrix 300 has been available in… Continue reading MCOR 3D Paper Printer Available Across Europe
Wearable 3D Printed Plants
Some may wear a red rose in their lapel, but why not a green plant? The notion of wearing plants is a little strange, but Etsy maker Colleen Jordan has figured out how to do it – with some help from a 3D printer. The concept is simple: a miniature flower pot is suspended… Continue reading Wearable 3D Printed Plants
The Ultimate Scanner?
University of Southampton researchers have a new tool available: a high-energy 3D scanner. The design of this scanner is fascinating: it’s actually five different scanners in one, each capable of handling different resolution levels. When combined in this integrated system, the scanner is capable of scanning down to an astonishing 200 nanometers. All this within… Continue reading The Ultimate Scanner?
Name Your Price at Model Labs
We’ve found another 3D print service that should be added to the list. Model Labs, a Laguna Beach, California-based operation provides rapid prototyping services: they’ll accept a STL format file and 3D print it for you on their equipment. They offer a variety of 3D print services, including FDM and SLA. There are many… Continue reading Name Your Price at Model Labs
More On Copy Protecting Objects
Last week we wrote on how a Thingiverse user had submitted a set of pieces suitable for playing The Settlers of Catan game, and contemplated the legality of this move. Another view comes from website Public Knowledge, who have taken the time to analyze this a bit deeper. Their approach was to examine each of… Continue reading More On Copy Protecting Objects
3D Print Spaceships From 2001: A Space Odyssey
It’s one of our all-time favourite motion pictures, perhaps yours too. The 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey still feels “real” and “plausible”, some 43 years after it was made and an even more astonishing ten years since the events in the film were to take place. But now you can relive your 2001… Continue reading 3D Print Spaceships From 2001: A Space Odyssey
Ultimaker Breaks the Speed Limit
One of the annoying things about 3D printing is the length of time it takes to produce objects. Unlike a printed 2D page, which is created in a single sweep of the inkjet, 3D objects have many layers that sometimes take hours to print. Clearly, a way of speeding things up would be desirable. … Continue reading Ultimaker Breaks the Speed Limit
Share That Model With OurBricks
You’ve cooked up an amazing 3D model and you’d like to show it off. . . to your mum who doesn’t have a 3D modelling tool install or have any hope of getting one. What do you do? You use OurBricks – a new beta service that lets you share your 3D models online.… Continue reading Share That Model With OurBricks
Essential Calibration
You’ve assembled your 3D printer after great effort and are anxiously awaiting your first printout. It will be amazing. It will shock everyone watching. Printing an actual object! But it turns out to be a sullen lump of misshapen plastic. This is the dilemma of many who assemble their own 3D printer. The… Continue reading Essential Calibration
The Different Flavors of Home 3D Printers
We’ve been reading a long thread on the MakerBot Operator’s Google Group initiated by Shawn M, who is considering purchasing a MakerBot Thing-O-Matic 3D printer. He asks about the level of effort required to produce high-quality parts with this particular device. As is often the case, a simple question led to some insights. A… Continue reading The Different Flavors of Home 3D Printers
An Ode To Digital Fabrication
It’s not every day you’re contacted by a Finnish professor working for an American university in Doha, Qatar who explains that he’s written a poem about Digital Fabrication. But it happened today. Dr. Thomas Modeen, whom we’ve written about previously and normally focuses on physical matters such as architecture and design, has indeed written… Continue reading An Ode To Digital Fabrication
Copy Protecting Objects?
A piece by i.Materialise got us thinking about object copy protection. In their post, Joris Peels tells the tale of how a Thingiverse user posted a set of game pieces suitable for printing. The catch was that these pieces were, for all intents, a replacement set for the popular Settlers of Catan board game! It’s… Continue reading Copy Protecting Objects?
Self-Made Biodegradable Plastic?
We’re reading a post on LifeHacker talking about making your own biodegradable plastic. Evidently the recipe is straightforward: Grab some milk or cream, and some lemon juice or vinegar. Put the cream in a saucepan and heat it, using the lowest setting on the stove and stirring constantly to keep it from burning. When… Continue reading Self-Made Biodegradable Plastic?
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
getitmade!
You’ve designed something ultracool for your 3D printer and want to sell it. But how? One way you might consider is getitmade, a site kicking off new ideas: getitmade is a new kind of marketplace where anyone with a product idea can test the market and use social networking to generate pre-sales and get… Continue reading getitmade!
Color 3D Printing At Home
It’s possible to buy a color 3D printer, but they’re currently very expensive, such as those from ZCorp. Meanwhile, typical home 3D printers are monochrome, at least until you change the input plastic filament. The good news is that the selection of filament colors continues to increase and now includes quite a variety beyond simple… Continue reading Color 3D Printing At Home
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 Print a Kindle!
Not exactly, but it’s surprisingly close to printing a Kindle. Maker Stergios Stergiou has designed a combination case and magnifier that blows up an iPhone 4 screen to 6 inches in size – approximately the same size as an actual Kindle. This makes it much easier to read eBooks, for example. The device, called… Continue reading 3D Print a Kindle!
3D Printing Board Games
3D modeller Jeff Timothy is exploring the possibility of creating a new service focused on 3D printing board game pieces and equipment. This makes a lot of sense to us, as 3D printing would be a great way to create unique game pieces. And board game designers obviously need new pieces for their projects, don’t… Continue reading 3D Printing Board Games
The Painted Terminator
The Herald of Anguish is a “non-profit project aiming to make a 3D-animated clip of an intense fight between a squad of Blood Angels Terminators and hordes of genestealers onboard a Space Hulk” composed of four 3D graphics friends who enjoy that genre and wanted to pay tribute to the storyline. Click on the image… Continue reading The Painted Terminator
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
Decades-Old Custom Guitar Scanned
Imagine designing amazingly intricate, one-of-a-kind electric guitar bodies years ago – and now wishing you could document your work while you still can. Then Imagine trying to produce a detailed 3D model of the guitar shown in the image here – with conventional measuring tools. Yep, you’d be there a very long time, and… Continue reading Decades-Old Custom Guitar Scanned
Replicating The Volcano
Students at Clevedon School in North Somerset made a volcano. A tiny one – based on NASA 3D data they downloaded and converted into a 3D model. The model was then pushed through a Bits From Bytes RapMan, giving the students the opportunity to see and touch the shape of an actual volcano. In this… Continue reading Replicating The Volcano
3D Modelling Contract Work
You’re an experienced 3D modeller and have some time on your hands? Why not try doing some contract work for extra cash? One way to do this is at Projects For Freelancers, a site where the needy can post a job and the skilled can bid on a job. The site works as an… Continue reading 3D Modelling Contract Work
Hands on With Cheetah3D
Many 3D modeling tools exist for Windows, but what about OS/X? We’ve been testing a very useful 3D modeling tool for OS/X: Cheetah3D. This software isn’t a Maya, SolidWorks or Cinema 4D, but it actually includes a great many functions that you’d find in those much more highly priced tools. Cheetah3D includes all the… Continue reading Hands on With Cheetah3D
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
Scott Elliot Invents an Insert
Scott Elliot, owner of a very busy Solido SD300 plastic-sheet 3D printer has come up with yet another amazing design: shipping inserts to ensure safe travels for package contents. Since Scott uses the SD300, he is able to print items not possible with other extrusion-based devices. The plastic sheet approach can print objects with… Continue reading Scott Elliot Invents an Insert
3Data Expert
Finnish software company DeskArtes has released version 9.1 of their 3Data Expert product, which is a professional tool for “repair, conversion and manipulation of 3D CAD data for 3D printing, Rapid Prototyping, Rapid Manufacturing as well as for simulation.” It can import a variety of formats and prepare – and repair – accurate models. As… Continue reading 3Data Expert
Enter The Extreme Redesign Contest Now
Every year Dimension Printing sponsors a design contest for students, in which entrants try to redesign something they use every day in a unique way. Winning entries will be awarded scholarships and of course have their designs actually printed on Dimension 3D printing equipment. Who can enter? There are three categories: Middle /… Continue reading Enter The Extreme Redesign Contest Now
3D Printing In The News
This week saw not one, but two big media splashes for 3D Printing: First, a New York Times article introduced the topic to their readers, and secondly (perhaps triggered by the NYT article) MakerBot chief Bre Prettis was interviewed live on CNN in front of (presumably) millions. There was also a brief mention in Scientific… Continue reading 3D Printing In The News
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
Inventables – Materials for Inventors
We’re taking another look at maker material store Inventables, which we wrote about a year ago. At the Inventables hardware store, you won’t find very much that you could put through your 3D printer. Plastic filament is best purchased elsewhere. However, sheer amount of truly amazing materials available at Inventables is staggering. While we… Continue reading Inventables – Materials for Inventors
Modular Desktop CNC Machine Needs Your Help
AJ Quick’s new Kickstarter project is an inexpensive but highly capable desktop CNC machine. The device was designed by University of Minnesota Mechanical Engineering students specifically for use by home operators or perhaps even light business use. While the original prototype was quite successful, they want to take the concept to the next level. To… Continue reading Modular Desktop CNC Machine Needs Your Help
2011: The Year of 3D Printing?
Richard of Capolight Electronics Projects examines the popularity of 3D printing over time and asks the question, “How popular will it be this time next year?” His investigation involved use of Google Insight, a free service that shows the popularity of terms over time. By searching for typical 3D printing terminology, like “Extruder”, “RepRap”,… Continue reading 2011: The Year of 3D Printing?
Amazing iPhone 3D Scanner
Shapeways has uncovered a really intriguing iOS app: Trimensional. This simple app uses a four-way flash to roughly capture the shape of a face or other object held motionless as far as 20cm away from the front-facing camera. Since the front camera is used by the app, it’s only available for iPhone 4’s and the… Continue reading Amazing iPhone 3D Scanner
Fab-Enabled Fiction: Books That Print
Guest writer Andrew Monti proposes a unique way to use 3D printing in the publishing industry: Fabbed items from books. The idea is to include a QR code somewhere in a book that corresponds to a URL holding a 3D design. The design can then be printed. But how would it work in a book?… Continue reading Fab-Enabled Fiction: Books That Print
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
Crossing the 3D Printer Chasm
Following up on this post speculating on 10,000 MakerBots in 2011, we’re thinking of what steps MakerBot (or any other 3D Printer company) might consider to “Cross the Chasm”. The “Chasm” refers to a social scenario that often occurs as a business grows. At first their clients are enthusiastic early adopters, capable of accepting… Continue reading Crossing the 3D Printer Chasm
How To Assemble A BotMill Glider
What? You say the BotMill Glider 3D printer is already assembled? That’s correct, it is. We mean how does BotMill assemble them, not you! In order to save 3D printer operators a heck of a lot of work (and ensure consistency among all the Gliders) BotMill sells these units in fully assembled form. We… Continue reading How To Assemble A BotMill Glider
3D Printing Timelines
TeamTeamUSA prepared two very cool timelines on Dipty, the site that lets you create, well, timelines! The first (pictured) is “2010: The Year in DIY 3D Printing”, and includes many notable events that took place last year. The second is “2011: 3D Printing Predictions”, where speculative events are envisioned, including (at the time of this… Continue reading 3D Printing Timelines
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
10,000 MakerBots?
Joris Peels of i.Materialise guest-posted 11 provocative predictions for 3D printing on TechCrunch this week, and one of them caused us to ponder whether it could really happen. No, it’s not the “Bre Pettis will appear on the cover of Bloomberg Businessweek magazine in 2011” – that’s entirely unpredictable. We’re more interested in the “Makerbot… Continue reading 10,000 MakerBots?
3D Printed Couture Shoes
Designer Marloes ten Bhömer is well-known for her unorthodox shoe designs, and now she’s apply 3D printing technology to her craft. Pictured above is her latest creation, the Rapidprototypedshoe, showing at the Design Museum Holon in Israel until January 8th. The shoe was designed in Rhino and printed on an Objet Connex500. We believe… Continue reading 3D Printed Couture Shoes
Carbon Credits Required For 3D Makers?
We’re reading a piece on GearFuse that reviews a short video of folks designing and printing some very cool salt and pepper shakers – but they say some things we disagree with: But should we be at least slightly concerned about the way 3D printing seems to make plastic crap safe for hipsters? A… Continue reading Carbon Credits Required For 3D Makers?
Print A 3D Printer Today!
A surprising item showed up in Thingiverse the other day: an entire 3D printer! Thingiverse is one of the most widely used open source repositories for 3D models suitable for 3D printing, and you’ll see all kinds of interesting items appear. But today’s item was worth a post: user wacko posted a 3D model of… Continue reading Print A 3D Printer Today!
3D Print Wishes for 2011
We did it last year, so we must do it again this year. What would we wish to happen in 2011? A capable and assembled 3D printer for under USD$1500. The Up! 3D printer was initially priced at USD$1500, but that was an introductory price and it’s now well over USD$2600, far out of… Continue reading 3D Print Wishes for 2011
3D Printing in 2010
A year ago we posted our “wishes for 2010“. Did any of them come true? Let’s take a look: A consumer capable 3D printer: This didn’t happen, but clearly big steps were taken in that direction. Three events were key for us: MakerBot’s Thing-O-Matic, which automated much of the operation of a 3D printer… Continue reading 3D Printing in 2010
Announcing Fabbaloo’s 3D Resources
When we started blogging about 3D printing more than three years ago things were a lot simpler. We tried to promote the technology by including a list of appropriate links on the side of our pages, but in the past year there seems to have been a bit of an explosion. More companies, experiments, services… Continue reading Announcing Fabbaloo’s 3D Resources
3D Printed Food Futures
We’ve been thinking some more about 3D printed food after yesterday’s post, and wondered what the future might look like if reasonably capable food printers really existed. Here’s some thoughts: If they were low cost, we’d find them in most kitchens and restaurants. Why not? People pay huge sums for fancy ovens and other… Continue reading 3D Printed Food Futures
Printing Musical Instruments
Tipster Jb pointed us at a video of a rather startling project: Printing a complete musical instrument. In this case, MIT Media Lab researcher Amit Zoran attempted to print an entire and working flute in one operation. We’re not sure if printing an object of this complexity has ever been attempted before; we’ve seen some… Continue reading Printing Musical Instruments
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
BBC Investigates 3D Printed Food
We’re reading a big report from BBC news where they investigated the incredible notion of 3D printing food. We’ve covered this before, and sure, it’s obviously at an experimental stage right now – but readers will all know where this is heading. We want food printers! The Beeb article primarily focused on Jeffrey Lipton’s… Continue reading BBC Investigates 3D Printed Food
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
StudioMill
It’s not a 3D Printer, but it is a very capable 5-axis CNC machine; the StudioMill, sold by A1 Technologies. Directed at academic institutions, the device will enable students to get their hands on serious CNC technology: Studiomill is supplied as a complete educational CAD CAM solution with the purpose built PathingCNC software which… Continue reading StudioMill
Idea: What Can I Model For You?
We re-read last week’s post on the new “What Can I Make For You?” service and had an idea. If you recall, the WCIMFY service was quite simple: type what you want (in natural language) into a box and hit submit. The service then figures out how to match your desired “thing” with someone who… Continue reading Idea: What Can I Model For You?
Jeffrey Lipton Explains 3D Printing
3D Printing researcher Jeffrey Lipton delivers a 5 minute talk introducing 3D printing at Ignite Ithaca. Jeffrey works on the Fab@Home project, one of several open source 3D printer development initiatives. In the talk Lipton explains in a rather excited manner that the introduction of 3D printing technology will produce another manufacturing revolution, transitioning… Continue reading Jeffrey Lipton Explains 3D Printing
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
Hands On With the PP3DP Up! 3D Printer
Meet Phil Letourneau, an Up! 3D Printer Operator. This week Phil dropped by the Fabbaloo office to demonstrate the rarely seen Up! 3D Printer. We put this elusive device put through some basic tests to see how it works. The result? Overall, we’re pretty impressed – but there are some caveats. Here’s what we found:… Continue reading Hands On With the PP3DP Up! 3D Printer
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
Breaking: 3D Print Retail Store Opens
We’ve just learned that Materialise has opened a retail store dedicated to selling high-end 3D printed goods. This, we believe, is the first such store ever in existence, and follows on the earlier announcement of MakerBot selling their 3D printer in a retail setting. The new store, operated by Materialise’s .MGX venture, specializes in… Continue reading Breaking: 3D Print Retail Store Opens
Racing Prototypes
MCD Racing produces radio-controlled racing cars, 1/5 the size of real vehicles. These are not toys – they are highly sophisticated machines capable of winning world championships. These cars are capable of world record speeds of an unbelievable 260Kph (161mph)! Obviously they must be very carefully designed, perhaps with 1/5 the effort that goes into… Continue reading Racing Prototypes
PC Board Printed
We just noticed this development that was posted last July: a RepRap 3D printer was used to print a circuit board. Well, not completely – the 3D printer actually printed the etch resist, which protected the conductive bits from the acid bath. The resulting board was then cleaned up and had components mounted on it. … Continue reading PC Board Printed
My Head’s Going To Explode!
That’s what MakerBot Chief Bre Prettis says in this video report on low-cost 3D printing from Reuters. The well-known news agency put together this piece to explain the topic to the vast majority of people who simply don’t know that 3D printing is not only possible, but inexpensive. Bre’s comment in full: Our… Continue reading My Head’s Going To Explode!
What Can I Make For You?
There’s another option for makers to keep their fabbers running: What Can I Make For You? is a web service that links consumers to makers. The service solicits requests for, well, anything, from consumers. The service attempts to match the request against someone from their pool of makers. This small five person San Francisco-based… Continue reading What Can I Make For You?
Treating Clubfoot, One Print At A Time
According to Wikipedia, Clubfoot is a “congenital deformity involving one foot or both”. You might not realize this, but clubfoot occurs naturally in approximately one out of every one thousand births. Without treatment, sufferers are forced to painfully walk on the sides of their feet and face a lifetime of misery. In developed nations… Continue reading Treating Clubfoot, One Print At A Time
3D Printing For Girls: An Idea
If you read yesterday’s post, you’ll know about the controversy regarding BfB’s attempt to address the younger female market. We pondered this situation: how to get more children (including female) to learn about, experience, desire and grow into 3D makers as they get older? Discussing this with a friend who has both a 3D… Continue reading 3D Printing For Girls: An Idea
A Pink Controversy in 3D Printing
There are those of us who know about 3D printing, and those who don’t. We’ve all seen the looks of awe from those transitioning to “those who know”, and we want more people to come over and realize what can be done with this technology. Last week BfB made an attempt to bring 3D… Continue reading A Pink Controversy in 3D Printing
A 3D Print Giving Experience
We decided to give the gift of 3D printing. That is, we were too lazy to head out and shop, and instead decided to create a gift using a 3D printer. In this case we designed and printed a simple multi-denomination coin holder. As you can see in the image, it’s really crude, yet amusingly… Continue reading A 3D Print Giving Experience
Lowering Barriers To 3D Printing
We’re reading an interesting piece by Kevin Carson on OpenManufacturing who discusses the challenges of switching manufacturing from today’s highly centralized, mass produced, container shipped model to a more distributed, local and “home” based manufacturing world. Obviously there are challenges to providing appropriately capable equipment and software for such ventures, but in the piece… Continue reading Lowering Barriers To 3D Printing
Things Growing Out Of Your Head
Inspired by our previous post detailing MeshMixer, a fabulous 3D modelling tool that easily allows arbitrary 3D models to be pasted together, tipster Ken has found further examples of making things grow out of your head. And these have been printed! (Click for larger images) What causes people to want things protruding from their… Continue reading Things Growing Out Of Your Head
See The MCOR 3D Paper Printer In Action
There’s a new video on YouTube showing a glimpse of the MCOR Matrix 300, a 3D printer that prints using common paper as its build material. In the video we can see each layer, er, sheet of paper, being cut by the print head. The unused portions are not removed; instead full sheets remain until… Continue reading See The MCOR 3D Paper Printer In Action
3D Printed Bridge Holds 146X Its Own Weight
Students at the Rochester Institute of Technology Statics Lab were challenged to build a truss out of any non-metallic material, with the winning design being the one holding up the most weight. While other students opted for traditional materials such as bamboo or wood, student Kyle Manchester remembered there was a Dimension 3D printer… Continue reading 3D Printed Bridge Holds 146X Its Own Weight
Metal and Plastic Materials from EOS
It’s press release season at EuroMold, and here we see that laser sintering equipment manufacturer EOS has released some pretty amazing new materials, as you might notice in the image of a laser sintered automobile engine exhaust manifold made in nickel alloy. Here’s the new materials: A flame-retardant polyamide, PrimePart FR, that is especially… Continue reading Metal and Plastic Materials from EOS
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
The New 3D Systems ProJet HDplus 3D Printer
Every year the EuroMold conference seems to be the place where new commercial 3D printing products are announced, and no surprise, we haz a new printer from 3D Systems: The ProJet HD 3000plus, a big brother to the ProJet HD 3000. The “plus” obviously means “more” in this case, because the PJHD3K+ has an… Continue reading The New 3D Systems ProJet HDplus 3D Printer
Human Thermostat Used in 3D Printer
YouTube user Moonyjube posts a video in which they use a manual temperature control (a human with a switch) to moderate the warmth on their heated print bed. Why on earth would someone use manual feedback? Haven’t they installed the appropriate and commonly available hardware to do this automatically? The answer is found on the… Continue reading Human Thermostat Used in 3D Printer
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!
Gift Giving? How About Gift Making!
It seems that some of the popular media are starting to catch on to 3D Printing, with the notion that gifts can be made rather than purchased. Perhaps this is a reaction against the fear of oppressive crowds at the shops, but we think it’s a natural conclusion to 3D printing capability, which can produce… Continue reading Gift Giving? How About Gift Making!
Aluminum Bronze Casting Succeeds
Open3DP’s experimentation with metalcasting molds has paid off: one of their experimental hydroperm molds was used in traditional metalcasting (in this case poured aluminum bronze) at the Port Townsend Foundry and the successful results are apparent in the image above. According to Laura West and Dave Feathers: The mold was placed in a greensand… Continue reading Aluminum Bronze Casting Succeeds
Reality Mixed Up By MeshMixer
Once in a while we bump into a truly amazing product and today its MeshMixer. This software permits easy manipulation of 3D mesh objects – that is to say, cut/paste/resize/move about, etc. The creation of unreal models such as the fellow with the unusual nose above is almost trivial using MeshMixer. Here’s some highlights: … Continue reading Reality Mixed Up By MeshMixer
MCOR’s 3D Paper Printers On Sale
MCOR produces the world’s only 3D printer that uses paper as its print material. This makes it among the least expensive devices to operate, since the print material (paper sheets) can be found at practically any store worldwide – and in any color you choose, too. The printer is also one of the most ecologically… Continue reading MCOR’s 3D Paper Printers On Sale
Printing Rockets
You may be under the impression that 3D printers produce flimsy models, suitable for show – but not for action. This is generally true, but it’s changing as 3D printing ventures into metal or concrete printing. One project we’re watching is taking place at ZCorp, manufacturers of high-end commercial 3D printers. Mark Cook, ZCorp’s VP… Continue reading Printing Rockets
Get Your 3D Printer At The Store Today
No, you can’t buy them at Best Buy yet, but we’re hoping you will within a few years. Meanwhile, you actually CAN buy a 3D printer at a corner store right off the shelf, if you happen to live in a particular Brooklyn, NY neighborhood. That’s right, MakerBot Industries has opened a Retail… Continue reading Get Your 3D Printer At The Store Today
Ponoko/Google Sketchup Contest Underway
Ponoko’s promoting their recent launch of Personal Factory version 4 by joining forces with Google Sketchup on a new contest: The Ponoko 3D Printing Challenge. As far as we can tell, there are very few rules, other than: produce a piece of instructional content that’s equal parts enlightening and entertaining. Each entry must be… Continue reading Ponoko/Google Sketchup Contest Underway
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
Additive Memories
Laura West is a sculpture artist based in California. You may have heard of her successful work collaborating with the folks at the University of Washington on formulating a way to 3D print molds for metalcasting. But in addition to the lab work, Laura is also an amazing artist, who is currently running an… Continue reading Additive Memories
Lunar Spin-Offs for 3D Printing?
We’ve been reading a discussion on OpenManufacturing about the discovery of various elements on the lunar surface by NASA’s LCROSS project. LCROSS was a pretty daring expedition to determine if water is present in ice form within permanently shaded polar craters: Place a spacecraft into Lunar orbit Separate into two spacecraft, orbiting on similar… Continue reading Lunar Spin-Offs for 3D Printing?