The other week we wrote of eMAKER’s crowdsourced fundraising initiative to kick start their production of a low-priced entry-level 3D printer kit. They hoped to raise up to USD$30,000 by July 1st. They kinda did that. And more. They closed out at USD$158,685. That’s 5.2895 times their target! We’re amazed at the level… Continue reading eMAKER Hits The Jackpot
Event
More Money For 3D Printing?
Last Friday US President Obama announced a new initiative to increase US competitiveness in manufacturing: the Advanced Manufacturing Process Partnership, or AMP. The goal is to create lots of high value manufacturing jobs. A good idea, but what does it involve? It’s a bit of a money shuffle between various existing programs, but in… Continue reading More Money For 3D Printing?
End Of The Beginning for MakerBot?
MakerBot sold their very last CupCake 3D printer kit and now offer only parts for that classic 3D printer. We think the CupCake was a very special device as it was really the first popular consumer 3D printer. In spite of the limitations and peculiarities of the original CupCake, including smallish build size, the… Continue reading End Of The Beginning for MakerBot?
The Iris van Herpen Exhibition
One of Netherland’s most talented Dutch fashion designers, Iris van Herpen, will display her work at centraal museum utrecht from 29 June to 9 October this year. The exhibition will include not only some of her amazing 3D printed fashions, but there will also be a 3D printer (a Dimension) on site demonstrating the process… Continue reading The Iris van Herpen Exhibition
The Mercury Centre At Sheffield U
Thanks to a huge GBP 5M grant from the European Regional Development Fund, Sheffield University’s Mercury Centre is set to expand by adding five new 3D printing machines and paying for operating costs until 2013. The Mercury Centre is already deep into 3D printing, as it produces medical prints and even small parts for… Continue reading The Mercury Centre At Sheffield U
HP 3D Printing Update
At the recent Plastics Design and Moulding show in London, Fabbaloo caught up with Eric Erickson, HP’s Product Manager for their Designjet 3D printers. It’s been over a year since it was announced HP would market 3D printers through an agreement with Stratasys. How well has business been over that period? Has HP found this… Continue reading HP 3D Printing Update
Mass Customization is On The List
The Churchill Club is “Silicon Valley’s premier business and technology forum”, with some 6,500 members including many notable tech CEOs. Each year they host a discussion in which panelists attempt to predict the top tech trends for the next few years. This year’s event, apparently the 13th annual, included panelists: Curt Carlson, President and… Continue reading Mass Customization is On The List
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
Open Design Now Released
Today a new book has been released: “Open Design Now: Why Design Cannot Remain Exclusive”. The book, a collaboration from Creative Commons Netherlands, the Premsela Dutch design and fashion institute, and Waag Society, focuses on the new design movement in which (theoretically) everyone can become a designer. Contributors to the tome include Marleen Stikker, Bre… Continue reading Open Design Now Released
Melonia Shoes at The Design Museum
During our recent visit to London and The Design Museum, we came across a very cool 3D printed shoe design: The Melonia Shoe. Designed by fashion designer Naim Josefi and industrial designer Souzan Youssouf, the shoe is the product of software that is capable of adjusting the size of the shoes on demand. Their vision:… Continue reading Melonia Shoes at The Design Museum
Objet Displays Amazing New Materials
At the recent Plastics Design and Moulding show in London we met with Tim Smith of Tri-Tech, who demonstrated some of Objet’s amazing new materials. One of the materials is “Clear”. That’s right, you can actually see through the material when it’s printed. In fact, the specs you see above were entirely produced on an… Continue reading Objet Displays Amazing New Materials
BFB at PDM
We had the opportunity to spend some time with the BFB gang at London’s Plastics Design and Moulding show. They were demonstrating their flagship product, the BFB 3000 3D printer, as well as a 3D Systems V-Flash from their parent company. We spoke at length with BFB CTO and Founder Ian Adkins (above), who… Continue reading BFB at PDM
Augmented Human Contest
One is always amazed at the imagination of 3D designers who produce unusual objects and applications using 3D printing technology. Now i.Materialise has gone further and started a contest with the most unusual theme yet: Human Augmentation. In other words, they’ll give a prize to the designer who invents the most interesting item that can… Continue reading Augmented Human Contest
StrataSys Goes Acquiring
It seems the big guys have their corporate acquisition shopping carts in motion recently. While 3D Systems was scooping up other companies last week, this week it’s Stratasys’ turn. They’ve announced the acquisition of Solidscape for USD$38M. What is Solidscape? They are a niche 3D printer manufacturer that specializes in high-precision devices for producing… Continue reading StrataSys Goes Acquiring
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!
Anderson Joins Ponoko
Wired editor in chief Chris Anderson has joined the advisory board of Ponoko. This is a very interesting development as it indicates growing and high-profile interest in personal manufacturing. Ponoko already has some interesting characters on their advisory board, including TreeHugger’s Graham Hill, CafePress’ Fred Durham and DesignLedFutures’ Ross Stevens. Anderson has for a… Continue reading Anderson Joins Ponoko
A Really Big Unboxing
We thought we experienced a large unboxing when we uncrated a BFB 3000, but we were clearly outdone by i.Materialise. The 3D print service recently received a brand spanking new Fortus 900mc FDM large-scale production system from Stratasys. While we used a box cutter, i.Materialise had to use not only a crew of burly guys… Continue reading A Really Big Unboxing
Jewelry Design Challenge
3D print service i.Materialise is running a new contest for “new concepts, techniques and ideas in jewelry design”. Given the startling designs already present in 3D printed jewelry, we’re extremely interested in seeing what kinds of items are generated in this contest. i.Materialise thinks so too, because: Ten winners will be selected and their… Continue reading Jewelry Design Challenge
3DDC Results
On April 28th the key players in 3D printing from around the world went to Washington DC to try to influence policy makers on the best future for our technology, organized by Public Knowledge. The fear is that 3D printing could be severely hampered if restrictive regulations and digital property rights are misapplied to 3D… Continue reading 3DDC Results
OurBricks’ $250 Modern Life Contest
3D Model online sharing service OurBricks has launched a design contest where the prize is fame (and USD$250) and the theme is simply “Modern Life”. If that sounds perhaps slightly ambiguous, you’d be right. According to OurBricks representative Henrik Bennetsen: OurBricks is hosting a design competition for 3D artists. The theme is “Modern Life.”… Continue reading OurBricks’ $250 Modern Life Contest
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 . . .
Extreme Redesign Challenge Winners 2011
The winners of this year’s Extreme Redesign Challenge have been announced by Dimension Printing. The annual contest permits students from several levels to enter their designs in five categories: College Engineering; Art and Architecture; Middle School/High School Engineering; Puzzle and Game Design; Building or Bridge Redesign. This year’s winners include: College Engineering: Jeremy… Continue reading Extreme Redesign Challenge Winners 2011
thingmakers Postponed!
Don’t worry – it’s all good. The thingmakers conference, originally scheduled for May 4th, has been postponed until October of this year. Organizer Ivan Pope says: With huge apologies at such a late date – for various reasons, mostly good ones, we’ve postponed the conference until October this year. It will be bigger and… Continue reading thingmakers Postponed!
SYCODE Added to 3D Systems Empire
In an interesting move this week, 3D printing giant 3D Systems acquired SYCODE – a software company. Recently 3DS has been swallowing up hardware makers and service companies, but now they turn to the software world. What exactly does the Goa, India-based SYCODE company make? They offer a very wide breadth of plugin modules… Continue reading SYCODE Added to 3D Systems Empire
No Screw Ups After 3D/DC!
For several years now we’ve written about the legal and ethical complications that might occur when 3D printing tech enters the consumer realm. There is no shortage of pathological situations that might arise, be they related to copyright, patents or other regulatory regimes – all of which were designed for prior eras that didn’t include… Continue reading No Screw Ups After 3D/DC!
KIOSK By Unfold
There are many designers doing interesting things with 3D printing, but one of the more interesting groups is Antwerp-based Unfold Design Studio. For some years they’ve been designing interesting creations, some of which are for sale at their online store. Recently they’ve been working with 3D printer manufacturer Bits From Bytes on ceramic 3D… Continue reading KIOSK By Unfold
Stratasys is Certified
Stratasys recently announced that they’ve achieved ISO 9001:2008 certification. For those of you unfamiliar with the intricacies of ISO manufacturing certifications, this particular cert deals with policies and procedures used to develop manufactured products. While the actual ISO documentation is extensive, Wikipedia summarizes this standard using “informal language”: The quality policy is a formal… Continue reading Stratasys is Certified
FABRICATE Conference
There seems to be no shortage of conferences related to 3D printing and digital design and manufacturing these days. One that’s coming up soon is the FABRICATE International Peer Reviewed Conference and Publication, taking place in London, UK on April 15th and 16th. According to FABRICATE: Discussing the progressive integration of digital design with… Continue reading FABRICATE Conference
3D Printing April Fool’s Round Up 2011
Ok, you may have been fooled by Freedom of Creation’s amazing wooden 3D printing post yesterday, but it wasn’t the only fib told in the 3D printing blogosphere on this year’s April Fool’s day. Here’s a compendium of notable tall tales: Freedom of Creation described a quite elaborate secret project to 3D print using… Continue reading 3D Printing April Fool’s Round Up 2011
Attend The thingmakers Conference – For Free!
London, May 4, 2011 is the date for the new thingmakers conference, where many of the creators of 3D printing technology will join with users in an “intense one day conference on the best of 3D printing and customized manufacturing”. According to organizer Ivan Pope: We’re trying to evangelize 3D printing and associated… Continue reading Attend The thingmakers Conference – For Free!
A Visit to 3D Systems HQ
Last week Fabbaloo had a rare opportunity for an onsite visit to the not-quite secret headquarters of 3D Printing leader 3D Systems to speak directly with those in charge of engineering, sales and marketing. Located in the obscure city of Rock Hill, South Carolina, this is a place where 21st century magic truly occurs. … Continue reading A Visit to 3D Systems HQ
Calling Makers: Emergency Dome Needed!
We wondered what Effalo’s next project might be, and now we know for certain: It’s a much larger geodesic dome, apparently to be used in a music video. Unfortunately, according to Michael Felix, principal of MakerFactory, they have less than two weeks to produce the dome and their extruder is broken! They’ve posted a series… Continue reading Calling Makers: Emergency Dome Needed!
Wanted: Micro-Robotic Fabrication Swarms
No kidding – the US Navy has put out a small business technology transfer solicitation (or STTR as they acronymize it) for proposals to “Develop a swarm of micro-robotic fabrication machines that will enable the manufacture of new materials and components”. Astonishing! More details: This topic focuses on a particular approach of using… Continue reading Wanted: Micro-Robotic Fabrication Swarms
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
STL 2.0 / AMF Advances
The 1980’s era STL file format most commonly used for 3D printing has been quite successful, but it does have issues, some of which will become more acute in the future when 3D printing technology advances. To rectify the situation, discussions have been underway for some months to develop a new standard, initially referred to… Continue reading STL 2.0 / AMF Advances
BfB Prints Clay!
Following up on last week’s amazing feat of printing mashed potatoes, the scientists at Bits From Bytes in Bristol have modified a RapMan 3D printer to use porcelain clay. In the brief experiment, they successfully printed a model head. While clay seems like an obvious choice for an unusual 3D printing material, we’re wondering… Continue reading BfB Prints Clay!
Furniture Fair Contest at Shapeways
Shapeways is running an interesting contest in which the winners will be given a spot at the 23d annual International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York City this May. Why would you want to enter this contest? Because the ICFF is: North America’s singular showcase for contemporary design, the ICFF draws the most intrepid… Continue reading Furniture Fair Contest at Shapeways
ZCorp Ships 6,000th 3D Printer
We don’t know a lot about 3D printer manufacturer ZCorp’s financial results, as they are not publicly traded. But there is evidence they’re having as much success as the two public 3D printer manufacturers. ZCorp announced they’ve shipped their 6,000th 3D printer, an incredible milestone. But that’s not all – they also announced record… Continue reading ZCorp Ships 6,000th 3D Printer
MCOR Expands in Europe
MCOR, makers of the world’s only paper-based 3D printer, has just spread their wings across Europe by announcing relationships with two key equipment resellers. Germany-based mStore will sell MCOR’s product in Germany (obviously) as well as Austria and Switzerland. Meanwhile, Netherlands-based 3D Worknet will service Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy. Luxembourg, Norway, Russia… Continue reading MCOR Expands in Europe
3D Printing Stock Companies Doing Well. Really Well
After looking through the recent financial statements from the two publicly traded 3D printing companies, 3D Systems and Stratasys, we’re very impressed. Both companies are flying high. 3D Systems, for example, had revenue rise from a mere USD$112M in 2009 to a massive USD$160M in 2010, with profit rising from USD$1M to USD$20M. Stratasys was… Continue reading 3D Printing Stock Companies Doing Well. Really Well
Shapeways Gets Own 3D Printer
For some reason we thought Shapeways was a 3D print service. Well, it is – but now they *really* are because they now have their very own 3D printer on site. Previously all of their work was outsourced to a variety of partners. Outsourcing printing isn’t that surprising, given the massive selection of materials they… Continue reading Shapeways Gets Own 3D Printer
3D World Gets DMCA’d
This was totally inevitable. Earlier this week a new object posted to Thingiverse was widely discussed. It was a great object – apparently able to visually simulate an impossible object: The Penrose Triangle, except in reality. And the design succeeds, at least when viewed from the correct angle. But then the fun started. Ulrich… Continue reading 3D World Gets DMCA’d
MCOR Nominated For Award
MCOR, manufacturers of the paper-based Matrix 300 3D Printer have been nominated for the Irish Technology Leadership Group (ITLG)/Irish Times technology company award. This will be the fourth annual award of this type, which honours Irish technology companies. The ITLG is a group of senior Irish-American tech execs from the US, who organized a “Silicon… Continue reading MCOR Nominated For Award
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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Ponoko Personal Factory is 3D
Personal fabrication is an amazing feat: being able to press a button and then hold a completed item in your hand a short while later. Typically Fabbaloo focuses on 3D printers as the device of choice to do that, but the reality is that such devices are limited to producing only certain types of objects.… Continue reading Ponoko Personal Factory is 3D
Battle at EuroMold
EuroMold is a massive trade conference held in Frankfurt each year, billed as “World Fair for Moldmaking and Tooling, Design and Application Development”. According to European Plastics News, this year poses to be a showdown among low-cost 3D Printer manufacturers. We add that it’s actually just the *commercial* 3D printer manufacturers, as we could not… Continue reading Battle at EuroMold
Stratasys 3Q2010 Results
We like to take a peek at Stratasys’ financial results, because as one of the very few dedicated 3D printing companies that is publicly traded, we get a glimpse into the state of the industry, at least from their standpoint. So what happened during the third quarter of 2010 for Stratasys? Their revenue hit… Continue reading Stratasys 3Q2010 Results
MCOR’s Talents
Here’s a new challenge specific to a particular 3D Printer: the Freedom of Creations (FOC) Talents design brief Quarter 4 2010 requests “end product application and design for Paper Rapid Prototyping (PRP)“. In other words, “what’s a commercially interesting object to print on the MCOR Matrix 300 paper 3D printer?” FOC has been running… Continue reading MCOR’s Talents
The Digital Manufacturing Analysis, Correlation and Estimation Challenge
One of the hugest proponents of innovation challenges has been the US military, and we’ve just uncovered a challenge sponsored by DARPA that’s underway right now. The prize: USD$50,000. The challenge: devise an algorithm to reliably predict the strength of digitally manufactured objects based on a series of input parameters. Here’s their description of the… Continue reading The Digital Manufacturing Analysis, Correlation and Estimation Challenge
Shapeways Stretches Their Envelope
Most low-cost 3D printers offer rather constrained build sizes, of less than 20-30cm per side, sometimes much smaller. Print services can be similar, unless they use SLS approaches, but Shapeways has broken through this barrier by now offering a gigantic build envelope of 70cm x 38cm x 58cm (27.6″ x 15″ x 22.9″). This is… Continue reading Shapeways Stretches Their Envelope
The Gada Prize
We’ve seen tremendous achievements in recent years through the excitement generated by a series of startling X-prize challenges. Now there’s one addressing 3D printing, specifically the RepRap project. The Gada prize, to be awarded to a winning team on January 1st, 2013, intends on dramatically improving the capability of open source 3D printing. Some USD$20,000… Continue reading The Gada Prize
3D Printing Demo in Silicon Valley
James Warmkessel, founder of the Bay Area MakeBot users group will deliver a public talk on 3D printing in Santa Clara California on November 8th. The talk, entitled, “Making 3D Printing Ideas Real: Demo and Talk” should provide an introduction to 3D printing concepts as well as a demonstration. From the event description: The… Continue reading 3D Printing Demo in Silicon Valley
Stratasys Prints A Car!
Well, not exactly an *entire car* – but just its body. The Urbee was an entrant to Progressive Insurance’s Automotive X-Prize. The competition has now closed and Urbee ended up ranked “in the top 30 in the world” according to a recent press release. What’s so interesting about this to us? The car’s body, including… Continue reading Stratasys Prints A Car!
MakerBot FanDom
We heard about Botacon, a convention taking place in Boston on December 11th of this year. Great, we thought, people getting together celebrating robots. Robots, great! But what we’re hearing is that a great many MakerBots will be showing up… But wait a moment – a “Con”? A Con, for those of you… Continue reading MakerBot FanDom
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 Dome is Complete!
Some months ago we posted a request from maker Vernon Effalo who had commenced a project to crowdsource parts for his exterior dome project. Basically, he was paying USD$2 per icosahedron vertex connector, and he required 26 of them. We’re happy to announce that the project has now completed, and you can see Vernon… Continue reading The Dome is Complete!
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
An Olympic Finish at Shapeways
As we predicted in July, Shapeways 3D print service now offers Sterling Silver as a build material for 3D prints. At this point it’s only an experiment until November 7th, apparently for the tall foreheads at Shapeways to determine if it really works. Interestingly, the Sterling Silver is not actually 3D printed. Instead, they… Continue reading An Olympic Finish at Shapeways
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!
Commercial 3D Printer Price Drops?
Apparently Objet has reduced the price of their low-end Alaris 30 3D printer to less than USD$25,000. We say “low-end” but this is only a relative term: The Alaris 30 is a much more refined printer than the hobbyist kits we also blog about. Nevertheless, this is a significant development, as it shows how the… Continue reading Commercial 3D Printer Price Drops?
Stockbrokers Looking Into 3D Printing
With all the kerfuffle last week (Shapeways gets major investment, New MakerBot 3D printer shown at NYC MakerFaire, Massive New York Times article) it seems that at least a few stockbrokers are taking notice of the 3D print industry. The broker we spoke with actually “got it” and could not stop talking about how this… Continue reading Stockbrokers Looking Into 3D Printing
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!
US Government To Operate Fab Labs?
What? We think of Fab Labs as independent operations supplying a focus for local fabrication activities, channeling ideas, tools, techniques, parts and space together where Great Things Evolve. Typically they spring up out of grassroots ideas from strong proponents who just make it happen, sometimes with local academic or corporate sponsorship. But now we read… Continue reading US Government To Operate Fab Labs?
Cool Stuff Collective Covers 3D Printing
The Cool Stuff Collective is a new UK-based kids show, where, well, “cool stuff” is demonstrated to children by well-known presenter Sy Thomas. In their first episode of September 13th of this year, they demonstrated 3D printing, but in a followup on September 20th they showed a related technology: haptic design. We’ve covered haptics previously,… Continue reading Cool Stuff Collective Covers 3D Printing
Shapeways Takes A Big Step
Since they emerged in 2008, 3D print service Shapeways has continually enhanced their capabilities very regularly. In fact, it’s rare week that we don’t mention Shapeways in one way or another. As such, they’ve grown from nothing to what is probably the most visible 3D print service in the world. Now they’re making a big… Continue reading Shapeways Takes A Big Step
The Manufacturing Revolution Visualized
There’s a great animation made specifically for the FULL PRINT3D exhibition by DHUB http://www.dhub-bcn.cat/ that visualizes what we think might happen in the future when 3D printing becomes widespread. Two images in the animation resonate strongly with us: The scene of billions of mass-manufactured cups representing what must be behind virtually every object we… Continue reading The Manufacturing Revolution Visualized
The SculptCAD RAPID ARTISTS Project
Sponsored by TEDxSMU and SculptCAD, the Rapid Artists project borings together a dozen Texas artists who will attempt to use contemporary 3D printing tech to produce works of art in ways they’ve never tried before. They’re using 3D modelling software to create designs in a variety of materials. The artists were selected late in 2009… Continue reading The SculptCAD RAPID ARTISTS Project
Rethinking Education Through Technology
If you happen to be in the top end of the Italian peninsula this weekend, you might consider attending a seminar put on by the lettera27 Foundation at Festivaletteratura in Mantova entitled, “The disenchanted teacher. Rethinking education through technology”. The seminar: focuses on how context influences the expression of each person’s potential, and how… Continue reading Rethinking Education Through Technology
Ponoko’s Electronics
Distributed manufacturing service Ponoko has added some new materials to their shelf. Actually a *lot* of new items, and they are electronic! No, you’re not printing or extruding electronics, but instead they are selectable components that can become part of your creations. The list of components is astonishingly long, ranging from fourteen different styles of… Continue reading Ponoko’s Electronics
Sketchup & i.Materialise Pose a Challenge
Joris didn’t take long to get things going in his new role at Materialise – he’s announced a new 3D design contest sponsored by i.Materialise and Google Sketchup. The challenge is to create the most beautiful 3D printed lamp, which we think will certainly generate some very interesting entries, because illuminated 3D models always look… Continue reading Sketchup & i.Materialise Pose a Challenge
BfB Captures RepRap Designer
In a surprising move, 3D vendor Bits From Bytes has snared a key worker for their future: Ed Sells, one of the folks who designed portions of the original RepRap machine. What will Ed be doing at BfB? Ed will now allow be involved in developing the technology further to make 3D printers common… Continue reading BfB Captures RepRap Designer
The 100% Design Contest
There’s yet another 3D printing contest brewing (and haven’t there been a lot lately?) This one involves a team effort between Shapeways and Despoke as part of the 100% Design event in London (“The UK’s leading design & architecture event”). The prize: Finalists in The 2010 Shapeways Despoke 100% Design Contest will get their… Continue reading The 100% Design Contest
Stratasys Roars Back
Stratasys, the folks behind the popular Dimension series of 3D printers has released their quarterly results. We like to follow their announcements, because by extrapolation we like to pretend we can see what’s going on in the entire 3D print industry. This quarter Stratasys reports their revenue is up quite a bit: 22% over… Continue reading Stratasys Roars Back
3D Print an ATM Skimmer!
Attention Criminals: you’d better buy your own 3D printer; DO NOT use a 3D printing service to build parts for your bank job, or you’ll be apprehended. That’s exactly what happened at 3D printing service i.Materialise, whose sharp-eyed operators managed to catch what appeared to be the card slot of an ATM being printed!… Continue reading 3D Print an ATM Skimmer!
Creaform Gets Certified
Handheld 3D laser scanner manufacturer Creaform has just achieved an interesting milestone: they’ve been certified by the Chinese National Institute of Metrology after extensive testing at NIM’s Beijing facility. What? You’ve never heard of NIM? Here’s what they are about: Founded in 1955, the National Institute of Metrology (NIM) is China’s national metrological institute… Continue reading Creaform Gets Certified
World’s Fastest Motorcycle: Scanned
John Morewood managed to get his NextEngine 3D Scanner HD near the world’s fastest motorcycle (360.913 mph / 580.83 kph, holy cow!), the ACK Attack Streamliner, and grab a scan. Hopefully, the beast was not at speed during the scan. This was not just a routine scan, as John says: The size of the… Continue reading World’s Fastest Motorcycle: Scanned
Scanning Submarines
When you’re capturing a 3D scan of an object, you are typically limited by the size of the scanner, if the scanner requires you to put the scanned object inside it. But there’s also hand-held scanners that can overcome even that limitation. But how big an object can you scan? Creaform is going to… Continue reading Scanning Submarines
MakerFaire Video
Take a look at a great video from the recent MakerFaire where: Bre Prettis of MakerBot provides a brief explanation of their hobby 3D printer Jeffrey Lipton of the Fab at Home project explains the unique features of their printer, which is capable of printing electronics or even batteries. Max Freeman of Alibre – demonstrates… Continue reading MakerFaire Video
Images From DHUB
There’s a fascinating exhibition taking place at the Disseny Hub in Barcelona, also known as “DHUB”. From the exhibition’s description: FABRICATION LABORATORY consists of not one but a series of activities (exhibitions, real-time fabrication laboratories, workshops, lectures, etc.) that offer a comprehensive overview of 3D digital manufacturing technologies. Flickr user LaN_Luis has published… Continue reading Images From DHUB
The Future of Objects Exhibition
Two contrasting exhibitions open in Pasadena California this month: a historical examination of “The Curious World of Patent Models”, and the more contemporary “Future of Objects”. The former looks at physical models constructed for patent application, as was the custom before 1880. Fortunately for inventors, this is no longer a requirement – but imagine if… Continue reading The Future of Objects Exhibition