On 3D Printing

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 »

How Legitimate and Game-Changing are 3D Printed Guns?

September 8, 2013 News

3D Printed Guns are Newsworthy but Are They Viable?

This is a guest post by Brian Prowse, whose bio is at the end of the article.

In a recent article online, Jeremy A. Kaplan wrote the following for Fox News, “While early models based on firearms designer Cody Wilson’s plans backfired or fired only once before breaking, the latest test appears to prove that homemade plastic guns are viable — and that the Internet may have dramatically changed how we look at regulating the trade in arms.”

Mr. Kaplan was writing about the recent controversial subculture of 3D printed firearms, and Cody Wilson, founder of a non-profit called Defense Distributed, is a central figure in that 3D printed gun controversy. Wilson’s Defense Distributed is a hyper-libertarian, “crypto-anarchist” organization committed to the distribution of open source firearm and firearm-mechanism plans, mainly plans that allow for the 3D printing of guns.

Like any other controversy, the 3D printed firearms debate has gone through periods of waxing and waning. Its water-cooler buzz peaked shortly after Cody Wilson produced public plans for the lower receiver of an AR-15 assault rifle- one of the AR-15’s most important and more-regulated segments- and for higher-capacity magazines. Wilson did so in response to the national consideration of assault rifle (and magazine capacity) bans or restrictions which followed the Sandy Hook school shooting.

That controversy waned, however, when virtually every one of the 3D printed weapons either exploded or failed during or after the first shot. In fact, a video (below) by Defense Distributed shows Wilson firing his ostentatiously-named Liberator once and turning dramatically toward the camera as likewise dramatic music swells. However, he only fired the Liberator once because small parts inside the printed pistol had been destroyed by the shot.

The crux of the Fox News story involved a Canadian man, identified only as “Matthew”, who purportedly fired fourteen .22 bullets through the 3D printed rifle he named “The Grizzly 2.0”. So, if the video (below) of Matthew firing The Grizzly 2.0 fourteen times is legitimate, and there’s no reason to believe it isn’t, has that “dramatically changed” the nature of the American arms trade?

As compelling as the story is that anyone can make guns at home, the 3D printed gun phenomenon won’t dramatically change the greater gun dynamic, for the moment at least.

For starters, it’s not so clear that the Grizzly 2.0 test does prove that plastic guns are “viable”.

It is no mean feat for most people to find a 3D printer and download the Defense Distributed gun design, and moreover, 3D printing the gun components is both time consuming and costly. With those components, building the gun presents its own challenges.

Keep in mind that it’s been months since 3D firearm plans were produced and released to the public. Since then, virtually all of the guns produced, even by those who specialize in their production, have been fragile or faulty enough that a rifle firing 14 shots of the lowest commonly available bullet-caliber has made news.

That’s not necessarily the fault of the 3D printers nor the 3D printer user. The fact is that fortified metal alloys is simply better suited for the stress of exploding bullets than plastic is. Gunsmiths, both licensed and illicit, have known this for years. That’s why the illicit gunsmiths who have produced hand-made guns, often called “zip guns”, virtually always did so with sturdier materials than plastic.

I mention the production of zip guns because there is absolutely nothing new or revolutionary about people building their own firearms. In fact, it’s still a thriving underground industry. So as it stands, the 3D printed gun and gun-part printing subculture will likely have little effect on the national firearm landscape.

With the easy access most Americans have to guns, the money, trouble and time dedicated to the production of a 3D printed firearm could be spent on simply buying a gun that’s tremendously more reliable.

About the author: Brian Prowse is a writer and self-proclaimed tech geek. When he’s not blogging for tech sites like 247inktoner.com, tinkering around with graphic design or traveling, Brian enjoys selflessly sacrificing his time to play with the coolest new gadgets on the market.

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3D Systems: Will the 3D Printing Giant Continue to Thrive?

September 6, 2013 News

What is next for the $5 billion 3D printing company?

In a critical analysis published in the Wall Street Journal, Rolfe Winkler wrote, ”[3D Systems'] valuation and the insider selling are potentially worrisome signs that 3D hype may be outpacing reality.”

Winkler has a number of concerns, from adoption of consumer 3D printing to distribution risks to weak materials sales.

Let’s take a deeper look at how far this 3D printing giant has come.

Since May 2011, when the company transferred from the NASDAQ to the NYSE, its stock price has grown nearly 300%. Their stock is riding near its all-time high, shown in the chart below.

Expanding Revenue and Building a Consumer Business

The company expects to generate around $500 million of revenue this year, with the majority of sales in the industrial sector. But it has also expanded aggressively into the consumer business with the Cube and CubeX 3D printers, and expects prices of desktop 3D printers to come down from $1300 to below $500 over time.

3D Systems recently presented a full business update at the Citi 2013 Global Technology Conference; you can read the full transcript at Seeking Alpha.

The company has acquired 37 companies since 2009 and continues to look at M&A as a way to fill in the gaps of their business. Here are some key acquisitions:

Bespoke Innovations in May 2012 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

But the company missed their chance to acquire MakerBot, the leader in desktop 3D printing. MakerBot was acquired by Stratasys, 3D Systems’ competitor, for $403 million earlier this year.

Challenges and Opportunities Ahead

3D Systems has had its share of success. In fact, it was recently ranked #5 of the Fortune Magazine’s top 100 fastest growing companies. But will that success continue and what are it’s challenges?

Can the Cube 3D printer series beat out the Stratasys-MakerBot partnership? Can 3D Systems maintain its industrial 3D printer sales growth and continue to optimize its supply-chain and reseller network? Will its entry into the consumer market distract from its larger industrial business?

Perhaps only time will tell. With $350 million on the balance sheet and a $5 billion market cap, 3D Systems seems poised to be competitive as the 3D printing industry continues to accelerate.

World’s First 3D Printed Skateboard from Design Competition Winner

September 4, 2013 News

Sam Abbott Wins 3D Printing Design Competition, Then 3D Prints Skateboard

Earlier this year, CGTrader and 3DPRINTUK hosted a 3D printing design competition. Sam Abbott won the competition with a portfolio of 3D printed designs, and in turn won an Ultimaker 3D printer.

Soon after, Sam took a more ambitious project, designing and producing the world’s first 3D printed twin tip skateboard.

“There were published more than 250 3D models prepared for 3D printing from the May through June 2013,” CGTrader said in an interview with On 3D Printing. “Sam’s models are various and easy printable. From phone covers, jewelery to statues and other objects. Sam was the winner of 3D Printable Portfolio – that means he had to upload more models than others and the quality very important. He met these two requirements and won his Ultimaker.”

3D Printing a Skateboard

Sam’s next project was a 3D printed skateboard. Here’s a video of his 3D printing and assembly process.

We also caught up with the designer himself, Sam Abbott, in an exclusive interview.

On 3D Printing: How did you come up with the idea for a 3D printed skateboard?

Sam Abbott: I created the Skateboard design out of curiosity after designing many small items for 3d printing things like phone covers, jewelery, light shades etc. I was interested in print costs, print time functionality of the materials for a large design in 3d printing. Also I always loved to skate and so it was just an obvious choice to me to do a skateboard file. The form and aesthetics of the design were inspired from my memories of graffiti and street art from a recent visit to Gent, Belgium. Its 3D Geometry constructed in a way to add grip for grabs and less surface contact for grinds/slides.

On 3D Printing: Tell us about your experience of entering, and winning, the CGTrader competition?

Sam Abbott: Entering any competition is exciting as its a great way to see what others are doing and producing! It has the excitement of a lottery especially when the prizes are as awesome as what was awarded in this one. It has been an unbelievable experience to win the competition held by CGTrader. The competition the members of staff the platform to sell my files from has just been awesome and extremely helpful!

On 3D Printing: What do you plan to do with your Ultimaker 3D printer?

Sam Abbott: I am trained in SLS printing that is my expertise and so there is lots of learning, experiments and fine tuning to be done with the Ultimaker, as it build’s a 3d file in a different method requiring a different design approach. However I have successfully printed many of my rings, a phone cover, some vases, some technical parts for the printer itself and a mini version of my skateboard the size of a usb stick. I am currently working on a design to say thank you to everyone at CGTrader!

We can’t wait to see the next design from Sam.

Radiant Fabrication Wants to Be the iTunes of 3D Printing

September 3, 2013 News

Radiant Fabrication Announces Lionhead, an All-In-One 3D Scanner and 3D Printer, Coming to Market in October

What Apple’s iTunes did for music, Wisconsin-based Radiant Fabrication is hoping to do for 3D printing. In 2001, Apple debuted it’s “Rip. Mix. Burn.” ad campaign which featured a young man asking famous musicians from a broad array of genres if they could perform for his mixed CD. With it’s new CD-RW hardware and iTunes software, Apple made it easy for anyone to rip a library of CDs, then select a variety of tracks and burn a new mix. Below is Apple’s 2001 ad.

Fast forward to 2013, when copy-and-paste of real-world objects is slowly becoming a reality thanks to technology like the MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner and Fuel3D Handheld 3D Scanner. But there is still a problem: getting a design from 3D scanner to 3D printer.

Introducing Lionhead All-In-One 3D Scanner and 3D Printer

Today, Radiant Fabrication announced Lionhead™, the first consumer-level 3D printer to incorporate printing and 3D scanning into a single device packaged with Radiant Li™, an intuitive and powerful 3D modeling software.

“We created the Lionhead and Li to streamline the 3D printing experience, allowing consumers to model, edit, print, and scan from one piece of software and hardware,” said Nathan Patterson, Radiant’s co-founder and president. “Together, it means that consumers spend less time and money learning complex software packages and maintaining their printer, and more time using and refining their ideas.”

The Lionhead is designed to be reliable, easy to use, and faster by automating common tasks and printing with multiple printheads simultaneously. The included Radiant Li editor uses controls similar to popular video games, like Minecraft, to make creating and modifying models simple and intuitive. For the first time, an integrated scanner and Li software simplifies recreating and modifying real world objects. Users can press the Scan button, place an object on the Lionhead printing platform, and close the doors. In a few minutes, a copy of the object will be ready in Li for any improvements to be made and one click of the Print button starts the printing process.

“While the market for 3D printing is estimated to triple by 2018, 3D printing adoption has been limited to engineers, designers, and hobbyists due to a steep learning curve,” a company spokesperson said. “Users have needed strong technical knowledge and skills to model objects using complex software such as Maya or SolidWorks and then print and maintain their 3D printers. Today, Radiant Fabrication is making 3D fabrication accessible by providing a complete and seamless 3D printing, scanning, and modeling workflow.”

If successful, the Lionhead’s simplified approach could broaden adoption of 3D technology, giving a large base of non-technical consumers a way to access the world of 3D printing, much in the way that Apple created an onramp for non-technical users to build digital libraries of music.

Here’s a photo gallery of the Lionhead Bunny, with front doors both open and closed.

Going to the Bank of Kickstarter

Like other companies before it, Radiant Fabrication is going to the bank of Kickstarter, i.e., crowdfunding, to raise money for bringing its initial systems to market.

The company will launch its Kickstarter campaign this month to introduce its printer/scanner to the SMB and consumer markets, gather user feedback, and raise funds to expedite delivery of enhanced full production systems. Upon reaching its Kickstarter goal, Radiant Fabrication will start shipping Lionhead Bunny (beta) systems in October 2013.

Follow @On3DPrinting on Twitter or Like Us on Facebook for the latest news on Radiant Fabrication’s Kickstarter campaign when it launches.

Radiant Fabrication will offer their four printhead Lionhead Bunny (beta) printer/scanners for $1,649.

3D Scanning and 3D Design

In the video below, company president Nathan Patterson demonstrates how 3D design works in their voxel-based software Radiant Li, available for Mac and Windows.

And in this next video, Patterson shows off the 3D scanner baked into Lionhead.

The product uses silhouette scanning, which takes photos at different angles and compares to a calibration photo to build the 3D model. Voxels are created at 0.5mm resolution. The scan literally takes less than 1 minute as shown in the video.