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 »
Inventor of 3D Printing Scott Crump: “My Dreams Started in a Garage”
Inside 3D Printing Conference Kicks Off in San Jose
Alan Meckler, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of WebMediaBrands, welcomed the packed crowd to the Inside 3D Printing San Jose. “3D printing is not a device, but an ecosystem,” Meckler said, preparing the audience for 2 days of 3D printing experts from across the value chain.
Conference attendees have come from 38 states and 10 countries are represented, Meckler said.
This success is leading Meckler to continue his 3D printing conference world tour in Singapore, Seoul and Shenzhen over the next year. (Related: read our recap from Inside 3D Printing Chicago)
Keynote by inventor of FDM, Scott Crump
Cornell professor Hod Lipson introduced Stratays’ co-founder S. Scott Crump, giving Mr. Crump credit for not only inventing key technology in 3D printing, but also seeing it through to build one of the biggest 3D printing companies in the industry.
Mr. Crump shared his personal story of inventing FDM (fused deposition modeling) in his garage with his wife Lisa in 1988, 25 years ago. His journey was initially a personal one. He wanted to create a toy froggy for his 2-year-old daughter. But he also had a broader vision of giving engineers the capability to create a physical object from a CAD file.
In 1992, Mr. Crump created the first operational 3D printer. He raised funding, developed a facility, and launched his company Stratasys.
Mr. Crump shared details about the scale of Stratasys. The company now has 24 different 3D printers, ranging from those designed for the home to prototyping to full production, and collectively those 3D printers use over 120 different output materials. These 3D printers range from $2,000 to over $600,000. Stratasys is always innovating, with over 560 patents pending or granted.
Stratasys, now combined with MakerBot, has sold over 50,000 3D printers (25,000 sold by MakerBot), and generated over $360 million in revenue last year.
Making a Difference
Perhaps the most passionate part of the presentation was Mr. Crump’s examples of how 3D printing is making a difference.
He shared the story of Emma, a toddler who was fitted with 3D printed magic arms to address a rare condition she was born with called arthrogryposis multiplex congenita. 3D printing literally gave Emma a second chance at life. (Related: read our article about Emma’s story)
In the long run, Mr. Crump said, everyone can benefit from 3D printing, whether you’re an engineer, jeweler, or investor. “My dreams started in the garage, where will yours start?” he concluded.
Top 3D Printing News Last Week: 3D Systems M&A, Design, Leopoly
3D Printing News
A roundup of the top 3D printing news from September 9 to September 15:
Tuesday, September 10
- Join Us Next Week at Inside 3D Printing San Jose – 15% Discount
- Home 3D Printing Can Save You $2000 Per Year (Infographic)
Wednesday, September 11
Thursday, September 12
Friday, September 13
Saturday, September 14
Sunday, September 15
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.
Related articles:
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?
