Motorola Mobility, a Google company, is building a 3D printed modular phone, and has partnered with 3D Systems for commercial fulfillment. More »
The Captured Dimensions pop-up studio was located in the Smithsonian Castle and featured approximately 80 digital cameras all connected to 3D software. More »
Microsoft expanded their support for 3D printing by launching a Windows 8 app called 3D Builder. It includes a library of objects you can edit and 3D print. More »
3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) announced the availability of the Sense 3D scanner, the first 3D scanner designed for the consumer and optimized for 3D printing. More »
With rumors circling that 3D Systems will be purchased by IBM, the stock soars. We look at why IBM might be interested in the 3D printing giant. More »
Yearly Archives: 2012
Will Apple Make a Big Acquisition to Enter the 3D Printing Market?
Over at Seeking Alpha, Matt Cilderman thinks that Apple should make a move into 3D printing. Specifically, his target of choice is 3D Systems.
3D Systems has a market capitalization of $1.5 billion. For the first quarter of 2012, on a non-GAAP year over year basis, revenues increased 63%, gross profit grew 67%, and earnings per share rose 47%.
They expect full year 2012 revenue to be in the range of $330-360 million and non-GAAP EPS to be from $1.00 to $1.25 (see April 2012 Investor Presentation).
Why should Apple enter the 3D printing market? Cilderman shares 3 reasons:
- Jobs loved disruptive technologies and with the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, he changed the music, movie, telecommunications, and computer industries. 3-D printing may not be there yet, but this is the next, big disruptive technology.
- Apple has a ton of cash on their balance sheet. They could purchase 3D Systems (market capitalization of $1.5 billion) with their spare pocket change. Then, spend the time and money introducing them to Apple’s corporate culture, redesigning the software and hardware to fit Apple’s goals and style.
- 3-D printing and its future also fit right in with Apple’s business model.
Apple is often not the pioneer, but once they enter a market, they build products that are “insanely great” as compared to the competition. Apple has a marketplace for digital goods (music, movies, and apps); perhaps 3D printable designs would be a natural extension. Apple’s products can be used to generate 3D printable designs, as shown by the 123D Catch app.
Read the full editorial at Seeking Alpha.
Apple photo by aditza121 used under Creative Commons license.
Top 3D Printing Headlines Last Week: Leaders, Records Broken, Burritos
A roundup of the top news On 3D Printing brought you from June 18 to June 24.
Monday, June 18
- Profiling the Five Heavyweights Driving the 3D Printing Industry
- Fab Lab of the Week: Milwaukee Makerspace Adopts 3D Printing
Tuesday, June 19
- Objet Launches Versatile Objet30 Pro Desktop 3D Printer in Japan
- Shapeways Friday Finds: Cheshire Cat, Kaleidoscope Clock, Dragon Transformer
Wednesday, June 20
- 3D Printing Marketplace Shapeways Raises $6.2 Million Series B Funding
- Nano Rubik’s Cube: Shapeways Member 3D Prints Puzzles in Millimeters [Video]
Thursday, June 21
Friday, June 22
- Making 3D Printing Accessible: Interview with Tinkercad Founder
- Chipotle Beware: BurritoBot Will 3D Print Your Lunch to Order
Saturday, June 23
Fab Lab of the Week: Dickinson College Media Center Adopts 3D Printing
This week’s featured Fab Lab is the Dickinson College Media Center, located in Carlisle, PA.
In their own words:
The Media Center is your media mecca. We help you create multimedia projects from simple graphics to short films. Our equipment office is available for students, faculty and staff to check out cameras, mics, audio recorders, light kits, green screens, dollies & much much more. We help you along your way from novice to expert and the center helps not only students working on class projects but anyone who needs assistance starting a project.
Recently, the Media Center has added 3D printing equipment to their selection of tools that students can use. The first 3D printer to arrive was a MakerBot.
The Media Center’s newest member, The MakerBot Replicator, is finally available! After several weeks of troubleshooting and trials, it is now fine tuned and ready to print your designs! Here is a look at the phases of the tuning process, through the creation of a unique Media Center keychain designed in Google Sketchup 8.
The MakerBot uses an Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic, which is fed through the top of the extruder. The extruder is heated to ~220C or ~430F, which turns the ABS plastic into a viscous liquid. The extruder then positions itself just above the warm print surface and begins the expel the plastic in the formation designated by the 3D file. Each print begins with a “raft,” which is nothing more than a thick grid of ABS plastic, that allows for the MakerBot to ensure that the rest of the object is built upon a stable foundation. Below is a snapshot of the raft creation process.
It is great to see colleges embracing the future of 3D printing and giving their students a chance to innovate with the technology. Way to go Dickinson!
NPR Interview: 3D Printing Without Limits, Body Parts, Sharing Culture
NPR held a special radio feature on 3D printing during their Science Friday program. Ira Flatow interviewed industry consultant Terry Wohlers, MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis, and Cornell Associate Professor Hod Lipson.
What if you needed a new toothbrush and all you had to do was hit print? What if doctors could print out transplantable organs and pastry chefs turned to a printer, not a kitchen, for their next creation? Ira Flatow and a panel of guests discuss 3D printing technology, how far it’s come and what a 3D-printed-future could look like.
Topics ranged from basic background information to detailed questions. Read the highlights below and then listen to the full radio program.
What is 3D printing? What is the MakerBot?
Terry Wohlers and Bre Pettis gave a nice overview of what 3D printing is. Here is Bre’s explanation of what the MakerBot does.
The MakerBot replicator uses one of two plastics. You can either make things in ABS plastic, which is what LEGO is made out of, or you can use PLA, which is the plastic that’s made from corn. And then you get your plastic on spools, and it kind of looks like a big spool of spaghetti.
And the spaghetti goes into the machine, and it draws a picture in plastic, and then it goes up a little bit, and layer after layer, it creates your model, and you can really create anything.
All the tools for designing things are becoming democratized. So 3D printing is getting democratized, the tools that make things are getting easier. You can use things like Tinkercad, which is free and online, and you’re off to the races and making things.
Will everyone have a 3D printer?
Comparisons were made to inkjets and microwaves. When first introduced into the market, these products were expensive and unfamiliar, but now they are common home appliances.
Even if, in the future, everyone does not have a 3D printer in the home, the experts suggested that people will have access to a 3D printer and will buy parts manufactured locally by a nearby 3D printer.
Can body parts be 3D printed?
It will happen in our lifetime. We are already 3D printing a replacement knee meniscus and have prototyped bone and organs.
Are there any limits to 3D printing?
For the first time in human history, making something complex with details that cannot be manufacturing through traditional processes is as simple as making a paperweight.
Current consumer machines are limited in size. MakerBot can print objects up to the size of a loaf of bread. But there are professional printers that can make much larger objects.
Hod Lipson’s team has a goal to print a robot, batteries included, that can walk off the printer.
The experts agreed that 3D printing will let us think about new breakthroughs in product design.
Culture of Sharing
The 3D printing community is very collaborative and are building off of each other’s successes. This allows for continuous innovation through a culture of sharing.
Via NPR.
Science museum photo by chooyutshing used under Creative Commons license.
Chipotle Beware: BurritoBot Will 3D Print Your Lunch to Order
Marko Manriquez has two passions: digital fabrication and good food. Fulfilling both of these passions is his master’s thesis at the Tisch School of the Arts. It’s called the BurritoBot, and it 3D prints burritos.
Using an iPhone app to build your order, the BurritoBot will receive the data and start making your burrito.
We don’t know when the BurritoBot will be ready for commercial prime time, but you can follow Manriquez’s project on his burritob0t website. Watch out Chipotle Mexican Grill!
Below is a video from Mashable that showcases the BurritoBot.
