Category Archives: News
Top 10 Countdown: Most Popular 3D Printing Stories in August 2013
Here are the top 10 most popular stories On 3D Printing brought you in August 2013.
10. 3D Printing LIVE Tradeshow Announced for Santa Clara in November
IDTechEx has announced its inaugural event 3D Printing LIVE which will take place in Santa Clara, CA on November 20-21 2013.
9. MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner Goes On Sale for $1400, Video from Bre
MakerBot, the desktop 3D printer startup acquired by Stratasys, has launched MakerBot Digitizer, a desktop 3D scanner.
8. MIT Students Use 3D Printing to Duplicate Secure Schlage Keys
Two students at MIT have demonstrated how 3D printing can be used to duplicate some of the most secure keys in the industry.
7. 3D Printing On Demand – The UPS Store Launches Nationwide Test
The UPS Store announced it is the first nationwide retailer to test 3D printing services in-store.
6. 3D Printing Brings Classic Patents Back to Life
Mr. Galese has a very creative approach for sourcing his 3D printing designs; he finds them in detailed drawings from expired patents from the U.S. PTO.
5. 3D Scanning for 3D Printing: How Kickstarter is Changing the Game
Two 3D scanner concepts were launched on Kickstarter, looking to raise crowdfunding. 3D scanning technology is a must h
4. Top 9 Medical Applications for 3D Printing – Epic List
Here is a completely mind-blowing list of the top 9 ways 3D printing has already changed all the branches of the medicine and what to expect in the future.
3. World’s First Crowdsourced 3D Printed Sculpture to Debut in Calgary
PrintToPeer has partnered with artist Jeff de Boer to create “Linked,” the world’s first crowdsourced 3D printed sculpture.
2. College Kids Design Desktop 3D Printer to Be Crowdfunded and Sold For Under $500
Deltaprintr is a new desktop 3D printer concept that is targeting a retail price of under $500, and created by a team of college students.
1. MakerBot Announces Availability of Desktop 3D Scanner MakerBot Digitizer
3D printer company MakerBot, recently acquired by Stratasys for $403 million, has announced it will start selling its Digitizer desktop 3D scanner.
Thanks for reading in August!
When Will We See 3D Printers Make Their Way Into Our Homes?
3D printing has hype and controversy, but what about adoption?
This is a guest post by UK-based Laser Lines Ltd, whose bio is at the end of the article.
Earlier this year it was announced that Maplin Electronics would be the first UK retailer to stock a home 3D printer. With all the hype and controversy surrounding this technology, it’s left many wondering if 3D printers will be the next big gadget to make their way into every home.
3D printing is the process of printing layers of material, usually plastic, on-top of one another to build up a 3D object. The Velleman K8200, which retails at £700, allows customers to 3D print any object they want from the comfort of their home, from a chess piece to mobile phone case. The plastics come in red, black, white, orange, green, yellow and pink, costing £30 for 1kg of the resin. Certainly an interesting addition to any home office but isn’t this a rather expensive way of reproducing items that would ordinarily cost just a few pounds?
The idea of everyday consumers being able to access 3D printers has already caused controversy in the US following the announcement of printable handgun blueprints online. The handgun, which would have been made from plastic if successfully produced in this way, could have gone undetected by standard security scanner.
Another widespread concern about 3D printers in the home is the likelihood of copyright infringement through the reproduction of products. Users would potentially be able to produce a 3D scan of a product and then using this scan blueprint re-create the object precisely at home.
Outside of the home however, 3D printing technology has been having far greater success. Manufacturers are able to benefit from quick prototype production, enabling sketched concepts to be swiftly tried and tested. The aerospace industry has already started producing fully functional parts via 3D print technology too, with NASA known for their frequent use of the procedure to make lightweight engine and shuttle parts. 3D printing has the potential to completely transform production supply chains, particularly when it comes to producing small parts that would have usually been shipped from one manufacturer to another.
There are incredible medical implications of this printing process too. Professionals believe that, ultimately, 3D printers could be produced to print living materials in place of plastics. Layering cells alongside a medical scaffolding substance called hydrogel, it should be possible to print the basis of human organs such as a liver or kidney, before leaving them to grown into the fully formed structure. Soon it will also be possible to print sophisticated human tissue specifically for pharmaceutical testing – which means risk free clinical testing and trials (though again a hugely controversial idea).
In conclusion, perhaps 3D printers will see their way into the homes of those who can afford such a novelty, but for the time being the real advantages will be found in manufacturing on professional scale machines. Even then 3D printing has a long way to go before it’s embraced by everyone.
About the author: This article is written by UK-based Laser Lines Ltd, a bespoke 3D printing company that have been providing 3D printing solutions for over 20 years. Visit their website to browse through their collection.
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Take a Photo, Get a 3D Model – This Could Change 3D Printing Design
3-Sweep Is Simply Amazing
Rarely, if ever, do you see an academic video get over 1 million views on YouTube. Well, the research team behind 3-Sweep may have created technology that could push 3D printing forward in a major way.
With a few mouse clicks and keyboard strokes, the software lets a user to create a 3D model from a single photo.
The team from Israel’s IDC Herzliya, comprised of Tao Chen, Zhe Zhu, Ariel Shamir, Shi-Min Hu, and Daniel Cohen-Or, first plans to present their new technology at SIGGRAPH Asia 2013.
Meanwhile, MakerBot is selling hardware for $1,400 to digitally scan real-world objects and other companies are raising money on Kickstarter to sell 3D scanner devices for under $1,000.
Below is a video with extensive demonstrations of how the 3-Sweep tech works.
We reached out to some of the 3D printing community. Nancy Yi Liang, co-founder of Mixee Labs, said “Wow. I’ve seen a lot of papers that deal with photo to 3d modeling, especially at SIGGRAPH, but this is one of the few presentations where I thought ‘I can use the interface’ AND ‘this could produce models I’d want!’ I hope they publish the paper and maybe even release some of the code behind the awesome.”
In the video above, when an object is extracted, the background is automatically rebuilt using the patch match algorithm.
Playing this forward, could this technology accelerate the vision of 3D printing in the real world?
3D Systems Continues Acquisition Trail with 3D Printing Startup The Sugar Lab
“The overlap of technology, food and art is so rich, and the potential for customization and innovation is limitless,” said Liz von Hasseln
Just days after we posted a deep analysis on 3D Systems and their M&A activity, the 3D printing giant acquired another company: The Sugar Lab.
The Sugar Lab is a start-up micro-design firm based in Los Angeles, California, dedicated to 3D printing customized, multi-dimensional, edible confections in real sugar. The Sugar Lab adopted 3D Systems’ Color Jet Printing (CJP) technology to print on a sugar bed using different flavored edible binders that meet all food safety requirements.
The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
3D Systems plans to immediately integrate The Sugar Lab 3D printing technique into its professional and consumer content-to-print platforms with a variety of production-quality applications as well as the ability to 3D print indulgences at home.
“The overlap of technology, food and art is so rich, and the potential for customization and innovation is limitless,” said Liz von Hasseln, cofounder of the Sugar Lab. Existing commercial applications for printable sugar include complex sculptural cakes for weddings and special events that are made possible only with 3D printing, and customizable confections for bake shops and restaurants. Continued von Hasseln, “We see our technology quickly evolving into a variety of flavors and foods, powered by real food printers for professionals and consumers alike and we could not think of a more qualified partner than 3D Systems to help make that a reality.”
“I believe there is a social covenant for indulgence that begins with desserts and The Sugar Lab will accelerate our ability to bring edible 3D printables to the masses while empowering chefs, restaurateurs and confectioners with never before explored digital creation tools for food,” said Avi Reichental, President and CEO of 3D Systems. “We are absolutely thrilled to partner with two kindred spirits; Liz and Kyle von Hasseln to quickly re-purpose our core 3D Systems print technology and jointly create delicious, custom confections.”
Below is a gallery of the sweet sugar 3D printed creations by The Sugar Lab:
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Leopoly Brings Fast, Easy, Crowd-Sculpting Design to 3D Printing
Design for 3D Printing on the Web or in Virtual Reality with Leopoly’s Creative Suite
Design for 3D printing is hard. You can go buy the MakerBot Digitizer for $1,400, or you can use some free software like Autodesk 123D Catch. But what if you want to design something creative, from scratch?
Leopoly may be your answer to the fastest and easiest way to make a novel design in minutes.
Leopoly is a web-based product that lets you sculpt in 3D. You literally start with a digital ball of clay, and push it and pull it until you have something you like. It was created by Leonar3Do International, a 3D tech startup company, founded in 2010 and based in Budapest, Hungary. The company has become a pioneer and award-winning provider of 3D solutions aimed at the educational, healthcare, gaming industry and general business market.
Here is a sophisticated design of an alien bust, created in Leopoly and ready to be 3D printed.
Leopoly has a key innovation: crowd-sculpting
“The idea behind the software is to give the easiest 3D sculpting tool and a community-based game experience to the makers of the 21st century,” said Daniel Andrassy from Leopoly. “This new way of virtual sculpting is but a part of evolutionary modeling, where all users can share creative designs and further shape ones pieces of art.”
To put this simply, you can start with a ball of clay, or you can start with someone else’s design and extend it. Community is at the heart of the online service.
“With Leopoly we break down boundaries. Leopoly narrows the gap between hardly reachable level of proficiency and novice enthusiasts in 3D design and printing” said Roland Mányai, Director of Sales and Marketing. “Our goal was to make this project on a web based platform, to open doors to anyone and make it reachable literally anywhere for a wider community of makers and to make 3D modeling fun.”
And here is a Shrek design that might need a few more iterations in the crowd.
Here is a video demo of the Leopoly web tool.
3D modeling in virtual reality
(Photo: The Verge’s Ellis Hamburger trying out the Bird in January 2013)
Leonar3Do also sells software with a 3D immersive mode that pairs with the Leonar3Do VR Hardware Kit. This lets users break out of the 2D approach and work in virtual space using head tracked goggles and the Bird, a 3D mouse which sells for $500 alone or $2000 bundled with software.
Watch the video below for a demo.
3D Printing Your Design
Leopoly doesn’t have it’s own 3D printing service, but you can directly 3D print the objects you create through Sculpteo‘s cloud 3D printing service.
Sculpteo will import your design, give you a choice of materials, and provide a cost and shipping estimate. Sculpteo announced this partnership on their blog last month, saying “All you need to do is to click on 3D print, and you’ll be able to order a print from Sculpteo. With Leopoly, 3D printing is just one click away.”
We gave this whole process a test drive. We were able to create a relatively complex model in just a few minutes on Leopoly, and then send it over to Sculpteo where we could choose from an array of materials. We chose white plastic for $10.57, shipping in 3 days.
If you’d like to learn more about Leopoly or Leonar3Do, visit www.leopoly.com and www.Leonar3Do.com
