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 »
UP! 3D Printer from China: Viable Competitor to US 3D Printer Makers
Forest Higgs, a self-proclaimed “technocratic anarchist”, has written a detailed review of the UP! 3D printer, a compact desktop 3D printer from China.
Forest explains how he first was introduced to the UP! 3D printer.
Some months ago, a long term technology friend of mine acquired an UP! While Peggy has been a inspired developer of educational technology for years, she did not, to the best of my knowledge, have any prior knowledge of the ins and outs of 3D printing on personal printers. In spite of that, Peggy whipped her UP! printer out of the box and did a brilliant print first time out. That really caught my attention. I’d been working on the Reprap project for years and still, when I bought a Rapman, a greatly enhanced Darwin-derivative, several years ago it had taken me the better part of a month to get used to the quirks of printing on it to the point that I could get reliably good prints.
Later he walks through specific features and functionality, with detailed photos and comparisons to other printers in the market.
Out of the box, one thing that immediately struck me was the tiny size of the UP! The 140x140x135mm print volume reminded me a lot of the old Makerbot Cupcake. It took me about half an hour to get out of the box and set up, ready for operation. While the manuals indicated that I might have to level the print surface, this was not necessary. Calibrating the printhead height took about ten minutes. When I ordered the UP, I was very worried about print adhesion to the print surface. Delta Micro offered three solutions; perforated printed circuit board, painted glass and Kaplon tape covered glass. I had had so much drama with prints peeling off of the print table with the Rapman over the years that I ordered all three options.
Forest concludes: the UP! is a meaningful competitor from China.
Finally, it appears that Delta Micro is going for the throat of the manufacturers of Repraps in the US and elsewhere. They are now offering a slightly smaller printer, the UP! Mini! with a 120x120x120 enclosed print volume which uses standard 1.75 mm filament for less than $1,000. The UP! Mini appears to be a serious challenge to both the Reprap variations and to the 3D Systems Cube system. It strikes me that unless the quality and ease of use of UP! competitors makes a rather quick quantum leap they could easily find themselves to be a historical footnote in the history of 3D printing rather than a new paradigm of virally diffused technology.
Read the full review by Forest Higgs, who says on his blog, “If I wasn’t supposed to take it apart, it wouldn’t have screws in it.”
UP! 3D printer photo by donjd2 used under Creative Commons license.
Stratasys CEO Named Top 20 Most Influential People in Rapid Technology
Scott Crump is the CEO of Stratasys and the inventor of Fused Deposition Modeling. He now has another title: industry influencer.
Scott Crump, chief executive officer and chairman of Stratasys has been voted one of the top 20 most influential people in the rapid technologies industry by TCT Magazine. Scott Crump is the inventor of the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) method of 3D printing, the most widely used additive manufacturing process.
TCT Magazine is published by Rapid New Communication Group in the UK and is read by design and manufacturing professionals with a specific interest in rapid product development. To create the list, TCT asked readers to nominate those individuals who they believed most positively influenced the sector. Those who received the most nominations made the list.
“It’s an honor to be recognized by the readers of TCT Magazine,” says Scott Crump. “It means a lot to be selected by this group of professional design and manufacturing engineers and manufacturing management working across a range of sectors. The credit goes to the entire Stratasys team. Together we’ve been able to serve the additive manufacturing industry well enough to be recognized this way.”
“Scott’s commitment to additive manufacturing has been instrumental in shaping the industry and making it what it is today,” says James Woodcock, Group Editor at TCT magazine and www.prsnlz.me . “This is an exciting time for the industry, and the vote demonstrates not only who is influential, but also how the industry is evolving.”
In the video below from May 2012, Stratasys VP of Global Marketing Jon Cobb and Scott Crump, Stratasys founder and inventor of FDM Technology, give resellers a sneak preview of the Mojo 3D Print Pack at the company’s 2012 global sales conference. Mojo is the first professional 3D-printer to be offered in a complete system for less than $10,000 with no hidden costs.
Via MarketWatch.
Facebook Investor Peter Thiel Backs 3D Printing Entrepreneur
Peter Thiel, the entrepreneur-investor who co-founded PayPal and was an early investor in Facebook, today announced the 2012 class of Thiel Fellows. This set of 20 young entrepreneurs are under 20 years old and embarking on ambitious technical and scientific projects. Thiel will be awarding them with $100,000 each as well as mentorship from his network of investors, entrepreneurs, scientists and innovators.
“Pundits and hand-wringers love to claim that universities are the only path to a successful life. In truth, an inquisitive mind, rigorously applied to a deep-rooted problem can change the world as readily as the plushest academic lab,” said Thiel. “In 1665 when Cambridge University closed due to the plague, Isaac Newton used his time away to pursue self-directed learning and ended up inventing calculus. The drive to make a difference is what truly matters.”
Projects pursued by this class of fellows span numerous areas of cutting edge technology, including energy, robotics, 3D printing, biotechnology and medical breakthroughs, software and digital communication, education, public health, artificial intelligence, and open source ecology.
“We continue to be blown away by the quality of ideas coming from 20 Under 20 applicants,” said Jonathan Cain, president of the Thiel Foundation. “The mentors in the Thiel Network are very excited to work with the 2012 class as they explore new frontiers, experience the setbacks and successes of entrepreneurial pursuits, and begin changing the world one idea at a time.”
We were very excited to see 3D printing as a primary focus of one of the entrepreneurs, Chris Olah.
Chris Olah (19, Toronto, ON, Canada) wants to use 3D printing to reduce the scope of scarcity. His goal: empower anyone with a 3D printer to make educational aids, basic scientific equipment, and tools that improve their quality of life. He is currently working on a project called ImplicitCAD, which is a math-based attempt to reinvent computer-aided design and make it more affordable.
Chris, pictured below presented at Maker Faire NYC, was gracious on Twitter upon being accepted into Thiel’s program.
“I’m pleased to be one of this year’s Thiel Fellows. I’ll be working on crazy 3D printing, functional programming, language design, and math.”
Good luck to Chris and the rest of the class!
Via MarketWatch.
Peter Thiel photo by thekenyeung used under Creative Commons license.
The First 3D Printed Car Optimizes Design for Renewable Energy
How do you design the most efficient car on the road that can run on renewable energy? You prototype, a lot, with 3D printing.
That is what KOR EcoLogic did using Autodesk software and Stratasys’ digital manufacturing service. The car, called Urbee, gets 200 miles per gallon.
“The Urbee was designed from the ground up to be as efficient as possible, and to run on renewable energy,” said Jim Kor, president and chief technology officer of KOR EcoLogic. “From concept through rendering, Autodesk software helped us not only build an efficient and sustainable car, but also communicate our designs to a broader audience, including potential investors.”
Urbee is truly the first car to have its entire body 3D printed.
The KOR EcoLogic team began by developing a set of core principles and pinning them to their workshop wall. Among them, the Urbee was designed to use minimal energy and produce less pollution during its design, manufacturing, operation and recycling stages, while remaining affordable and visually appealing.
“Startup clean tech companies need technology enabling them to create professional, fully realized and tested designs, while benefiting from visually stunning imagery of their products,” said Robert “Buzz” Kross, senior vice president, Autodesk Manufacturing Industry Group. “KOR EcoLogic is a great example of the combined power of Digital Prototyping and sustainable design.”
The Urbee team used Autodesk Inventor software to design a 3D digital prototype of the car’s body and subject it to simulated road and wind conditions, test different body designs to minimize drag and reduce overall weight by eliminating excess parts. More than 80 percent of a product’s environmental impact can be determined during the design phase, making Inventor a critical component in establishing the Urbee’s high level of environmental responsibility. KOR EcoLogic used Autodesk Showcase 3D visualization software to create photorealistic renderings of the Urbee for marketing to potential investors, partners and the general public.
Below is a video of the Urbee on a test drive.
Via dexigner.
3D Systems to Raise $100 Million in Common Stock for Acquisitions
3D printer manufacturer 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) announced that it will raise $100 million by selling common stock.
[The company] intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to finance future acquisitions of other entities or their assets and for working capital and general corporate purposes.
The market did not respond well to this announcement, and shares dropped 6% in after hours trading. Their market capitalization this morning is $1.57 billion.
3D Systems has recently been on an acquisition bender:
- Bespoke Innovations in May for 3D printed personalized prosthetics
- FreshFiber in May 2012 for 3D printed electronics accessories
- My Robot Nation in April 2012 for creative solutions to support 3D printing community Cubify for kids and adults
- Paramount Industries in April 2012 to advance aerospace and medical device 3D printing
3D Systems also posted a healthy Q1 with record revenue and printer units sold. We reported how 3D printing stocks are hot, up 180% over 6 months and beating out the stock market indices.
Based on this announcement, it appears that more consolidation is on the roadmap for the 3D printing industry, and that 3D Systems is looking to take an early lead as juggernaut in the market.
