Category Archives: News
SupplyBetter Launches 3D Printing Comparison Engine to Give Designers More Choice
SupplyBetter Launches Comparison Shopping for 3D Printing
Calling itself the “Kayak of 3D Printing”, SupplyBetter provides comparison shopping for 3D printing. With over 200 suppliers, SupplyBetter gives more choice to a designer or consumer looking for a 3D printed object. Sometimes you want to print high quality and sometimes you want low cost. SupplyBetter helps you find the right fit.
We spoke with SupplyBetter co-founder and CEO Matthew Du Pont.
On 3D Printing: Tell us what SupplyBetter does.
Matthew Du Pont: SupplyBetter does two main things.
1) We help buyers find better service bureaus for 3D printing – most companies online are trying to sell you their own printing services, even if they’re not the best fit. We have a database of hundreds of companies that provide 3D printing, which lets us match companies with the right supplier based on geography, material, price, speed, and application. It’s similar to Kayak – buyers come to us, upload a drawing and some information on what they want, and we pick the best suppliers and pull together quotes for the buyer.
2) We help buyers find better contract manufacturing beyond 3D printing. Our eventual goal is to be the best way of finding manufacturers for custom mechanical parts, so whether they need a small run of wood parts in the US or metal casting in China, we’re happy to help them out. We charge buyers if and only if they select a supplier we find for them, and have helped people with wood, plastic, and metal parts.
On 3D Printing: How did you get started?
Matthew Du Pont: Matt and Rob have been friends for seven years. They both have previous unpleasant experiences with procuring custom parts (Matt at a trucking company, Rob at a robotics company), and decided to build a better way to get things made. They’ve been working on SupplyBetter since early 2013.
SupplyBetter has helped buyers in North America and Europe, and quoted suppliers worldwide. Our customers so far have mainly been hardware startups and makers, seeking to prototype or bring prototypes to production.
On 3D Printing: Where can someone go to learn more?
Matthew Du Pont: Here are some links:
www.supplybetter.com - The main homepage, for people looking for quotes on 3D printing
www.supplybetter.com/
www.supplybetter.com/getting_
MakerBot Celebrates Dads and Grads with 3D Printing Deals
MakerBot Offers 3D Printing Deals for Dads and Grads
Every year, June marks Father’s Day and graduation season, or “Dads and Grads” as marketers call it. If you’re looking for something unique to celebrate the occasion, 3D printer company MakerBot has a few great gift ideas.
First, MakerBot is offering access to their 3D Photo Booth in their NYC store, free on June 9 from 12pm to 6pm.
We visited the store in April and checked out the scanner for ourselves. Here’s how it works:
- You sit in a booth and are surrounded by cameras.
- You line your head up so that it fits in the frame shown on the screen.
- Cameras take multiple photos from multiple angles.
- And that’s it! In a few hours, you have a digital head waiting for you on Thingiverse.
- You can buy a 3D printed version of your head for $20 to $60.
The second offer is for Grads:
We’ll also be celebrating graduates this June at the MakerBot Store. Any recent graduate that brings in a copy of his/her diploma or proof of graduation will receive a free MakerBot 2013 Graduation 3D printed lithopane. If you’ve seen our lithopanes on Thingiverse, you already know about the awesomeness in store. Graduation lithopanes will be available June 1 – 30, so be sure to stop in while supplies last.
Via MakerBot.
Top 3D Printing News Last Week: Maker Faire, Contest, Art, Kickstarter
3D Printing News
A roundup of the top 3D printing news from May 28 to June 1:
Tuesday, May 28
Wednesday, May 29
Friday, May 31
- ModelBox 3D: Artists Launch Kickstarter to Bring 2D Images to Life
- 3D Printing is Now – Perspective of a Dad Entrepreneur
Saturday, June 1
3D Printing is Now – Perspective of a Dad Entrepreneur
3D Printing is Now, Says Dad Entrepeneur
Australian entrepreneur, and dad, Steve Sammartino shared a great story on his startup blog about 3D printing a piece of jewelry for his 3-year-old daughter. The takeaway is that 3D printing will be ubiquitous in the future, so get started now on your 3D printing venture!
Steve was playing with his desktop 3D printer when his daughter entered the room, so he offered to 3D print her a piece of jewelry. When the 3D print was completed, Steve narrates: “She said “Thanks daddy” and then put it on her wrist and skipped away to get on with her 3 year old life.”
Steve’s insight:
3D printing to her is as ‘normal’ as cars, TV, airplanes, computers and microwave ovens. How can it not be, it was invented before she was born. It’s just another of the thousands of normal everyday thing she is seeing for the time. Nothing more or less special that the other technology in our lives.
But the really significant element is that by the time she is 13 years of age, yourself and every person we know will have a 3D printer. We’ll all be printing things in our homes on a daily basis. And if you think that isn’t possible, let me remind you that every social media channel you currently use today didn’t exist 10 years ago, and we already know how much that changed our social and economic landscape.
Via Start Up Blog.
CC image by jurvetson
ModelBox 3D: Artists Launch Kickstarter to Bring 2D Images to Life
ModelBox 3D Brings 2D Images to Life – Crowdfunding on Kickstarter
Here is a completely different take on 3D printing. And a great one.
Artists Laura Krause and Eric Sagotsky are based in LA and describe their profession as “we make art things.” One of their latest projects was a large-scale sliced sculpture. Through experimentation, they came up with a process to develop a physical 3D holograph out of about 28 2D printed images.
The team has turned to Kickstarter with a campaign to raise $30,000 and they are almost halfway there with 23 days to go.
Here’s how they describe the ModelBox 3D:
ModelBox 3D is a fast and affordable 3D display which allows anyone to bring 3D models and 2D designs to life regardless of their technical background. Using the printer that you already own, you can make a full color 3D image that appears to holographically float within an elegant acrylic box. What we provide is a combination of software and hardware. Each kit includes with a frame to hold 28 inkjet or laser printable transparencies and the software to turn your designs into a series of flat layers to print. Together they form a uniquely vibrant full 3D image that’s viewable from both the front and back. ModelBox 3D also comes with access to an online library of print-ready artwork so that anyone with access to a standard printer and a pair of scissors can build one. Whether you use it as fun art project or as an eye-catching functional display, ModelBox 3D is a new reason to dust off your printer and create something truly unique.
ModelBox 3D is completely new art form that gives your existing inkjet or laser printer a new life to create eye-catching 3D images. Whether you want to create a unique interchangeable lamp, show off a new product, or enhance your prototyping and creative development process, using ModelBox 3D does not require any complex technical knowledge to use. Our product finally brings 3D visualization to the masses at a truly affordable price.
Watch the video below to learn more about their Kickstarter campaign.
