Category Archives: News
Nokia’s 3D Printing Kit Lets Customers to Personalize Lumia Phone
Finnish telecom firm Nokia is embracing 3D printing for to enable mass personalization of its marquee phone, the Lumia Series. The company has launched a 3D printing development kit, or 3DK, and is encouraging people to “hack their phone.”
Nokia published an interview with John Kneeland, a Nokia Community & Developer Marketing Manager based in Silicon Valley, who says, “You want a waterproof, glow-in-the-dark phone with a bottle-opener and a solar charger? Someone can build it for you—or you can print it yourself!”
John, what exactly is the Lumia 820 3D printing community project and what makes it so special?
Nokia’s 3D printing community project is a simple concept with exciting potential. Our Lumia 820 has a removable shell that users can replace with Nokia-made shells in different colors, special ruggedized shells with extra shock and dust protection, and shells that add wireless charging capabilities found in the high-end Lumia 920 to the mid-range 820.
Those are fantastic cases, and a great option for the vast majority of Nokia’s Lumia 820 customers. But in addition to that, we are going to release 3D templates, case specs, recommended materials and best practices—everything someone versed in 3D printing needs to print their own custom Lumia 820 case. We refer to these files and documents collectively as a 3D-printing Development Kit, or 3DK for short. (Editor’s note: They can be found here, here and here.)
In doing this, Nokia has become the first major phone company to begin embracing the 3D printing community and its incredible potential, and continue to be the leading phone company in this exciting field.
I view this as the spiritual successor to the great granddaddy of customizable phones, the Nokia 5110 and its rainbow collection of removable faceplates. To think, it’s been 15 years since the 5110 launched! I still remember using and loving its American cousin, the 5120.
How else is Nokia making use of 3D printing and what opportunities do you specifically see for mobile technology, both now and in the future?
Internally it helps us with rapid prototyping as we, to borrow Stephen Elop’s words, “increase the clock speed of Nokia.” In the future, I envision wildly more modular and customizable phones. Perhaps in addition to our own beautifully-designed phones, we could sell some kind of phone template, and entrepreneurs the world over could build a local business on building phones precisely tailored to the needs of his or her local community. You want a waterproof, glow-in-the-dark phone with a bottle-opener and a solar charger? Someone can build it for you—or you can print it yourself!
Kneeland closes with his thoughts on the 3D printing industry when asked if he believes the hype.
My own view is that the hype is justified, and that 3D printing is indeed A Very Big Deal. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to call it the sequel to the Industrial Revolution. However, it’s going to take somewhat longer to arrive than some people anticipate, and that may disappoint people. For now, it’s a bleeding-edge technology for bleeding-edge early adopters—which is exactly where Nokia is aiming its 3D printing community efforts.
Read the full interview at the Nokia community site.
National Gun Control Debate Threatens 3D Printing With Regulation
As the country recovers from the recent mass school shooting in Newtown, CT, and at the same time engages in a national debate around gun control, an unlikely topic is coming under fire: 3D printing.
Basically, there are some fringe gun activists who are exploiting the national attention to gun rights to get some publicity for their new ideas. One of these, Defense Distributed has been publishing their plans for a “Wiki Weapon.”
Those who read on3dprinting.com know the potentially massive positive contributions that 3D printing can make for our global society. Unfortunately, however, some legislators are now discussing regulations on 3D printing because they are afraid people will print high-capacity gun clips.
In the release below, Representative Steve Israel (D-NY) writes about his intentions to regulate 3D printing.
Rep. Israel to Introduce Legislation to Prohibit Homemade 3-D Printed Magazines Along with Plastic Guns
As Debate Stirs Around High-Capacity Gun Clips, Homemade Gun Enthusiasts Show Clip Can be Made At Home with 3-D Printer
Woodbury, NY—Today, Congressman Steve Israel (D-Huntington) called for a renewal of a revamped Undetectable Firearms Act that includes the ban of homemade, 3-D printed, plastic high-capacity magazines. The existing ban on plastic guns expires this year and does not clearly cover magazines. This past weekend, Defense Distributed, a group of homemade gun enthusiasts used a 3-D printer to print and test an ammunition magazine for an AR semi-automatic rifle, loading and reportedly firing 86 rounds from the 30-round clip. A video of them firing the weapon can be seen here.
Rep. Israel said, “Background checks and gun regulations will do little good if criminals can print high-capacity magazines at home. 3-D printing is a new technology that shows great promise, but also requires new guidelines. Law enforcement officials should have the power to stop keep homemade high-capacity magazines from proliferating with a Google search.”
Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said, “With every advancement in technology, there will be those who attempt to exploit it for unintended purposes. And in those situations, it is incumbent upon our elected officials and law enforcement agencies to take necessary action to protect the public. This common sense legislation closes a dangerous loophole in the law, and I strongly support Congressman Israel’s efforts in seeing these dangerous magazines banned.”
3-D printers work by printing layer upon layer of a material, usually thermoplastic, on top of each other in order to form a 3-D object. The revamped Undetectable Firearms Act that Rep. Israel wrote makes it illegal to manufacture, own, transport, buy, or sell any firearm or magazine that is homemade and not detectable by metal detector and/or does not present an accurate image when put through an x-ray machine. The reauthorization would extend the life of the bill for another 10 years from the date of enactment.
Steve Israel photo by Third Way used under Creative Commons license.
Filabot Reclaimer Turns Recyclable Plastic into 3D Printing Material
Introducing Filabot, a new device that lets you recycle plastic to use as filament in a 3D printer.
Originally conceived as a Kickstarter project by Tyler McNaney, a 20-year-old mechanical engineering student at Vermont Technical College, the startup raised over $32,000 to develop its first product.
Many 3D printers use commercial grade plastic filament to make objects. The MakerBot Replicator 2X, for example, uses requires thermoplastic ABS. This plastic isn’t cheap, and critics of 3D printing suggest that all of this plastic is not good for the environment.
Well, Filabot has the answer to make 3D printing a bit more eco-friendly. With a Filabot Reclaimer, one can deposit recyclable plastic into the machine and end up with 3D printing grade plastic filament.
Here is an overview from the Filabot shop.
The Filabot is the revolutionary system that can turn recyclable plastic into usable filament for 3D printing. This system creates a closed loop recycling environment. Filabot allows for the ultimate personal factory, giving greater control over what type of plastic material to use.
The Filabot Reclaimer, is our flagship system, that allows for the already innovative 3D printing movement, to become more self sufficient, experiment with new materials, and recycle bad prints.
The Filabot Reclaimer includes the grinding, extruding, and spooling systems. The Grinder will tear up bottles and can handle up to a good 3in by 3in chunk of plastic. Material from the grinder can either be stockpiled or fed directly into the extruder. From there the extruder will melt and pressurize the molten plastic to push it thought the interchangeable dies. There are two dies included with the Filabot Reclaimer, a 3mm and 1.75mm, depending on the filament size needed. The spool system will automatically roll the filament onto a spool after cooling and sizing.
And below is a video of the Filabot system.
Photo by Filabot/Whitney Trudo.
3D Printing at CES 2013 Roundup: MakerBot, Stratasys and More
CES 2013 was shaping up to the the year of 3D printing with 8 major exhibitors showing of 3D printers, 3D printing marketplaces, and more. We visited the booths, heard the announcements, and talked to the teams. Here is our recap.
MakerBot Has Several Major Announcements
Last year, MakerBot won Best of CES 2012 in the Emerging Tech category. We think MakerBot deserves an award this year again for the biggest announcements. In our exclusive footage of Bre Pettis, the MakerBot CEO revealed the new MakerBot Replicator 2X “experimental” 3D printer, announced changes to the Thingiverse API, and talked about the plans for “bot farms.”
Stratasys and Objet
Recently merged Stratasys and Objet were exhibiting at CES 2013, showing Mojo 3D printers in action.
3D Systems Wins Best Emerging Tech with New Cubify 3D Printer
3D Systems had announced that they would bring the next generation 3D printing showcase to CES, and they did by introducing two new printers.
Above photo courtesy of core77:
This year they pulled the sheets off of not one, but two machines: Their updated Cube 2, a faster and more accurate update to the original, and their larger CubeX, which can print “basketball size” (10.75″ x 10.75″ x 9.5″) in both ABS and PLA.
The Rest
- Afinia showed off its latest H-Series 3D printer.
- FormLabs announced that it would be shipping its Form1 3D printer soon to Kickstarter funders.
- Delta Micro Factory Corp showed off the UP! 3D printer.
- 3D printing marketplaces Kraftwurx and Sculpteo were at the show.
What else did you see at CES? Write your thoughts in the comments!
Exclusive Video from CES: MakerBot’s Bre Pettis Announces New Printer and More
At CES 2013 this past week, MakerBot announced a new 3D printer called the Replicator 2X, updates to its Thingiverse library, new materials, and more. We were onsite to record MakerBot CEO’s special announcement in the exclusive, full video below.
Pettis called the Replicator 2X an experimental machine. MakerBot published more details about the new Replicator 2X on its blog:
We call the MakerBot Replicator 2X an Experimental Desktop 3D Printer for a couple reasons. Unlike the MakerBot Replicator 2, which is optimized for PLA filament, the MakerBot Replicator 2X is optimized for the more traditional thermoplastic ABS. So why is a traditional plastic “experimental”? Because it’s a tricky material. ABS requires careful calibration and control to get consistently nice things, and the user of the MakerBot Replicator 2X should be prepared for the challenge. We know that many of you still prefer ABS, so our engineers have worked long and hard to deliver a great tool for the job.
We want you ready for experiments coming in the future, too. The MakerBot Replicator 2X has side-by-side extruders so that you’re prepared for new developments in dual extrusion technology. Want to try making things in multiple colors? The Replicator 2X is ready for the test.
Here’s are a few of the great things in the Replicator 2X:
- High-tolerance aluminum build plate that’s machined for crucial flatness to make it resistant to warping or sagging that could affect the quality of your prints.
- New easy-load filament lever makes loading filament as easy as flipping a light switch.
- Re-designed filament feeding system dramatically reduces stripping, skipping, and jamming.
- Enclosed sides keep drafts at bay and stabilize the ABS cooling period for less cracking and peeling.
