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 »
3D Printing Week: Viral Toothbrush, Crowdfunding, Staples Challenge
3D Printing News
Here is a roundup of the top 3D printing news from September 30 to October 6.
We get a view into the distribution of 3D printers courtesy of 3D Hubs; MakerBot and Ultimaker are top of the list.
A lot of action in crowdfunding this past week. FABtotum is a 3D printer, CNC machine and 3D scanner in one. The Open Hand Project looks to close the gap to build its 3D printed robotic prosthetic.
Staples partners with CGTrader for a 3D printing design challenge, specifically for the Mcor paper 3D printers.
And a 3D printed toothbrush goes viral!
Tuesday, October 1
Wednesday, October 2
Thursday, October 3
Friday, October 4
Saturday, October 5
3D Printed Toothbrush Goes Viral with 6-Second Promise
Clean Your Teeth in 6 Second with 3D Printed Toothbrush
Has there ever been a YouTube video about a toothbrush with over 850,000 views? Well, there is one now thanks to the Blizzident 3D printed toothbrush.
The Blizzident toothbrush is a brush that is designed for your mouth. Using a 3D scan of your teeth, Blizzident bristles are tailored to your own teeth, placed on the surface of your teeth in a 45 degree angle. They are also aligned exactly along your gum line in a 45 degree angle. Additionally there are interdental bristles between all your teeth.
All teeth are perfectly cleaned within just 6 seconds, in perfectly applied Bass-technique, by just biting and chewing a little. It even includes flossing and a tongue-cleaner. The Blizzident toothbrush is tailored to all dentures/teeth individually.
Learn more or order your own for $300 at blizzident.com.
3D Printed Robotic Hand Organization Hoping to Close Crowdfunding
The Open Hand Project Aims to Use 3D Printing to Help Amputees
Joel Gibbard is an engineer based in Bristol, UK and founded the Open Hand Project, which aims to make prosthetic hands dramatically cheaper and more accessible to amputees by way of 3D printing.
“The vision of the project is to make robotic prosthetic hands more accessible to amputees,” said Gibbard. “I plan to continue the development for a further year, and for the prostheses to be in use after that. After the devices are in use I plan to move the development forward into further lowering the cost, further advancing the technology and making it more accessible to children and partial hand amputees.”
Link: visit the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign
The Open Hand Project is a non-profit organization and not affiliated with any other institutions.
Its first product, the Dextrus hand, is a working prototype resulting from this open source hardware initiative. It is a fully-functional robotic hand, with features and capabilities similar to leading advanced prosthetics, but at up to 1/100th of the cost.
The Dextrus hand works much like a human hand. It uses electric motors instead of muscles and steel cables instead of tendons. 3D printed plastic parts work like bones and a rubber coating acts as the skin. All of these parts are controlled by electronics to give it a natural movement that can handle all sorts of different objects.
It uses existing artificial limb attachment hardware and mounts to keep costs down and stick-on electrodes to read signals from the remaining muscles, which can control the hand, telling it to open or close.
3D printing was instrumental to the design and development of the Dextrus hand. “If I didn’t have my 3D printer the development to get this far would have taken at least a year and would have cost 10 times as much,” explained Gibbard. “I’ve only had the 3D printer around 4 months and it was about 3 months between printing my first part, to having the hand you see now.
Support the Crowdfunding Campaign
Mr. Gibbard launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to raise £39,000 to fund the project for an entire year. The campaign ends on October 9th and he just over halfway to his goal.
Watch this video for the campaign, which includes footage of Chef Liam Corbett, an amputee himself, using the Dextrus hand and explaining its benefits. ”I would be proud to wear this, it would make me feel more confident,” said Corbett.
We asked Mr. Gibbard to share his thoughts on why people should donate to his campaign. Here’s what he said:
People should get on board because we need their support. We have plenty of time to achieve the goal and momentum has really been picking up around the project. Here are 5 reasons that people should donate:
1. One day, you could need this! It’s worth a £15 donation just for the peace of mind to know that it will be available when you might need it.
2. It’s an “all or nothing” campaign. If the funds aren’t raised, you get all of your money back.
3. You can get a great perk in exchange for your pledge. Winter is coming here in the Northern Hemisphere and we could all do with a pair of warm gloves!
4. You’re giving money to a fantastic cause, this could help thousands of people around the world.
5. Every donation helps, even £1 really helps to keep the campaign moving and build awareness. You can keep the amount anonymous if you want to!
You can support their Indiegogo campaign or learn more about the organization at www.openhandproject.org.
3D Hubs Opens the Kimono on 3D Printer Usage, MakerBot and Ultimaker on Top
3D Printing Network Shares 3D Printer Usage Across 200 Cities
3D Hubs, the world’s largest network of 3D printers with over 1,100 printing locations across 200 cities, has publicly shared a report of how 3D printing is being used and which 3D printers, materials and colors are most popular.
“3D printing is a disruptive technology that people are beginning to embrace, and given our unique position within the sector, we thought it would be interesting to highlight emerging trends we’ve started to see on the 3D Hubs network,” said Brian Garret, CTO and co-founder of 3D Hubs.
Out of 1,100 printers in the 3D Hubs network, Ultimaker and MakerBot are the brands signed up most. Ultimaker is taking the lead in Europe and MakerBot in the USA. They are mainly used to make prototypes and all kinds of gadgets, such as customized smartphone and camera cases. White is the preferred color, followed by blue, red and green.
Highlights of the 3D Hubs Trend Report
Sourcing from their actual order data, 3D Hubs has given the market insight into actual 3D printing activity. Here are some highlights:
- 3D printer brands: Ultimaker and MakerBot currently account for a combined 40.4 percent of the more than 1,100 3D printers on the 3D Hubs network, followed by RepRap (11 percent) and Prusa Mendel (7.3 percent) amongst others. MakerBot leads in the United States and Ultimaker leads in Europe.
- Prototypes: The number one use case is still prototypes, however more and more end products have begun to be printed. Gadgets, phone accessories, gifts, toys and fashion items like jewelry currently make up more than half of the platforms’ print jobs.
- Colors and materials: Given that desktop printers represent 90 percent of the 3D Hubs network, it is not surprising that plastics like ABS and PLA make up about 80 percent of the 3D printer materials available. Other popular materials include nylon, wood and flexible rubber-like materials. Customers can order these materials in a variety of different colors, however, white is currently the most offered color (15.7 percent), followed by blue (14.5 percent), red (14.1 percent), and green (12.9 percent). More exotic colors are also being offered including gold, silver and glow-in-the-dark colors.
You can quickly browse through the charts in the report below, or read the full 3D Hubs Trend Report at http://www.3dhubs.com/trends.
How 3D Hubs Works
The majority of 3D printer owners use their device less than 10 hours a week, and 3D Hubs harnesses the remaining 95 percent idle time. Printer owners earn money when their 3D printer is not in use, and simultaneously establish social connections within their local 3D maker community.
3D printer owners simply join the Hubs listing in their city to offer 3D printing services in their neighborhood. Each Hub decides how much money it wants to earn, and sets its own start-up price for a 3D print, plus additional fee charges for each cubic centimeter of material used.
3D Hubs performs a 3D model repair check using Netfabb cloud software for each order to ensure the uploaded 3D-model is watertight, automatically repairs it if necessary, and once the 3D-model passes inspection, the order is processed and forwarded to the Hub. 3D Hubs adds a 15 percent commission (excluding any applicable taxes) on top of the price entered for each customer quote, processes the order, and collects the payment.
Customers use 3D Hubs to locate 3D printer owners in their neighborhood, and then order and pick up sustainable, locally printed objects in a matter of days instead of weeks – something that sets 3D Hubs apart from centralized 3D printing services.
Based in Amsterdam and founded in April 2013 by two former 3D Systems employees, 3D Hubs is a privately held company backed by Balderton Capital and Rockstart Accelerator.
Watch this video to learn more about how 3D Hubs works:
3D Printer, CNC, Scanner FABtotum Soars in Crowdfunding Campaign
Personal Fabricator FABtotum Combines Scanner, 3D Printer, and CNC in One
3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is incredible technology. But milling and CNC, or subtractive manufacturing, are also very useful tools in prototyping and production. And 3D scanning is becoming both more accessible and more in demand for digital replication of physical objects.
So how many machines do I need in my lab? FABtotum thinks you need just one.
FABtotum is a multi-purpose tool, calling itself the world’s first low-cost desktop personal fabrication device. You can scan, cut, mill, and 3D print, all with one machine.
“It’s like having a fab lab in a box,” said Marco Rizzuto, co-founder of the Italian startup that has created the FABtotum. His team is currently in the business incubator at Politecnico di Milano University, Milan.
Related: Read our Fab Lab series.
Rizzuto explained that the FABtotum is intended for designers, makers, and professionals alike.
“The FABtotum personal fabricator can appeal to everyone that dreamed about making things and exploit his creativity but never had the tools or the knowledge to do so,” said Rizzuto. “Common 3D printers allows only one direction: from digital to physical, with FABtotum not only you can go from digital to physical and back,but you can do so in many materials.”
Leading on Price
There are over 1,000 3D printers available on the market today. Some of the most popular devices, such as the MakerBot Replicator series and the Ultimaker, cost over $2,000.
The FABtotum is pricing a fully-assembled personal fabricator at $1,099 on crowdfunding site Indiegogo.
We asked the FABtotum team how they are able to price an all-in-one device at half that of the market’s leading 3D printer. They explained, “We have spent much time working with manufactures to get the the lowest price possible. FABtotum will, however, be facing fixed costs during production such as rent, machinery and personnel. Maintaining this low pricing policy depends on how those costs will compare with sales, which is looking very optimistic!”
Related: Peachy 3D Printing to Sell for $100 on Kickstarter
Closing in on $400,000 Crowdfunding
Like many other companies in this space, FABtotum has turned to crowdfunding to overcome the hurdle of initial production. With an initial target of $50,000, the campaign is now close to reaching $400,000 with 5 days left.
What exciting things can the team do with these extra funds?
“For each stretch goal that has been achieved, FABtotum is adding more and more cool features,” said a FABtotum spokesperson. They have added more colors, additive sub-systems, i/o capabilities such as USB, SD, and Wi-Fi, and a CMOS sensor.
Watch the video below to learn more about FABtotum and visit their Indiegogo campaign to pledge.
