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 »
MIT Students Use 3D Printing to Duplicate Secure Schlage Keys
“Pirating keys is becoming like pirating movies.” — MIT Student David Lawrence
Two students at MIT have demonstrated how 3D printing can be used to duplicate some of the most secure keys in the industry. David Lawrence, 20, and Eric Van Albert, 21, demonstrated their technique in a presentation at security industry conference Defcon 21 in Las Vegas this past weekend.
The team used a flatbed scanner in combination with a 3D model template to develop an exact digital copy of a high security Schlage Primus key. This file, they explained, can be 3D printed in a material durable enough to open locks, for example, titanium from i.Materialise.
“If we show that mechanical locks are vulnerable to key duplication just by having a handful of numbers you can download off the internet, hopefully they ‘ll be phased out more quickly… Either that or make 3D printers illegal,” said Van Albert in an interview with Forbes.
Lawrence added, “In the past if you wanted a Primus key, you had to go through Schlage. Now you just need the information contained in the key, and somewhere to 3D-print it. You can take a high security ‘non-duplicatable’ key and basically take it to a virtual hardware store to get it copied.”
Read their full interview at Forbes.
Lawrence has also made available the 3D model templates on his website.
3D Printing Brings Classic Patents Back to Life
Finding Inspiration at the U.S. PTO
If you are looking for novel designs that can be 3D printed, New York-based intellectual property lawyer Martin Galese has lots of ideas, and none of them are his own.
Mr. Galese instead has a very creative approach for sourcing his designs; he finds them in detailed drawings from expired patents from the U.S. PTO.
Here, for example, is a cutting edge watch stand concept from 1979, U.S. Pat. No. 4,293,953, which claims, ”an improved watch stand so that a wrist watch can serve as a night table clock when no being worn on a wrist.”
And here is a self-measuring bottle from U.S. Pat. No. 836,466, dated 1906. It’s incredible that the original designer developed this concept without the support of CAD software, and now it can be brought to life through 3D printing.
Mr. Galese maintains the designs on his blog “Patent-able” and as a collection on Thingiverse.
His work was recently featured in the New York Times blog, including a chopstick holder from the 1960s and a portable chess set from the 1940s. He told the New York Times, “If you look at the figures in older patents, the 19th century patents are really beautiful. They’re really works of art.”
World’s First Crowdsourced 3D Printed Sculpture to Debut in Calgary
Internationally Known Artist Partners with Award-Winning Startup for Crowdsourced Sculpture
PrintToPeer is a software startup company which aims to make 3D printing accessible through a web-based printer remote control and monitoring app. For their launch, PrintToPeer has partnered with artist Jeff de Boer to create “Linked,” the world’s first crowdsourced 3D printed sculpture. Unique medallions 3D printed across the world will be assembled into a hanging mesh, which will form a mosaic as the intersection of art and engineering.
“We’re able to take our artist’s vision and allow anyone in the world with this technology to be the sculptor. We’re excited to demonstrate the endless possibilities and limitless creativity of the community,” says PrintToPeer co-founder, Tom Bielecki.
3D printer owners from around the world are asked to personalize an interconnecting medallion design, and ship their contribution to Calgary. Contributors are encouraged to show off their logo, equipment, materials, and 3D modelling skill, and are invited to submit as many different designs as they like.
Here’s how to get involved: PrintToPeer has built a unique online platform at http://www.printtopeer.com/
The sculpture has been titled “Linked” to represent the connection of engineering and art, as well as the literal connecting links sent from around the world. de Boer has developed the concept from his experience with chainmail, and has designed a common linkage system to hold the pieces together. Guest artists will be invited to arrange the links into mosaics and different physical arrangements.
Printer owners are asked to ship their contributions by September 7th. Linked will be assembled during Beakerhead (September 11-15th), a city-wide festival in Calgary which celebrates the convergence of art, science, and engineering. The completed sculpture will be on display at the Calgary Maker Faire (September 14th), a festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker movement. This will take place at the Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD) in Calgary.
Below is a photo gallery of the team and sculpture process.
About Jeff de Boer
Jeff de Boer is internationally known for his four distinct bodies of work: armour for cats and mice, armour for executives, exoforms, and space objects including rocket lamps. Jeff has continued to work and grow, developing new and fantastic ideas. He has also gone back to the Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD) where he studied Jewelry Design, this time as an instructor teaching a Jewellery Design and Presentation class. He currently has a studio in south-east Calgary, where he now works with his wife Debbie.
Here is what de Boer said about “Linked”
The distance between art and technology is beginning to not just close; it is beginning to merge. The emergence of the 3D printer has given individuals who would not normally consider themselves makers the power to create in three dimensions. Now that the masses can make anything, the big question will always be, “what is worth making?”
The 3D printer right now is a little bit like a television without content provided by a broadcast network. The truth is, it is no longer necessary to have a centralized network for content, as each individual can now create the content in an open source environment.
“Linked” will be the world’s first collaborative 3D sculpture ever produced. The idea is to demonstrate the collective power of individuals as links in an open source content generator.
I have designed a standardized linkage system on which individuals can apply their own content, print it out and send it to us so as to be linked to an ever-growing hanging sculpture. In the end, each link will be unique, creating a vast gallery of colors and images. The links’ wide range of colors will act like pixels and can be arranged by a guest artist to create an overall image.
This sculpture can be arranged over and over by different guest artists, each time generating a unique overall image. The sculpture comes together in an additive way, not unlike the process of 3D printing itself.
Top 3D Printing News Last Week: The UPS Store, Eyewear, Mixee Labs, More
3D Printing News
A roundup of the top 3D printing news from July 29 to August 4:
Monday, July 29
Wednesday, July 31
Thursday, August 1
Friday, August 2
Saturday, August 3
Protos Eyewear Creates 3D Printed Glasses, Turns to Crowdfunding
Protos Turns to Crowdfunding for Next Evolution in Eyewear 3D Printing
Protos is an eyewear company based in San Francisco that combines computer-aided personalized design with 3D printing to create the perfect pair of frames. We featured Protos last fall and recently caught up again with founder and CFO Richart Ruddie.
Protos is turning to crowdfunding to take the company to the next level. With 24 new designs and advancements in its 3D printing process, the company hopes to raise $25,000 in pre-orders for its custom frames.
Go check out the Protos campaign and pledge if you like their project.
Below is our interview with founder and CFO Richart Ruddie.
On 3D Printing: What’s new at Protos since we last spoke? How have you further developed your 3D printed eyewear?
Richart Ruddie: We have designed 24 new frames. We have taken on a new partner who is an expert in the eyewear industry. We have refined our material and finish to be smooth, comfortable, and strong. We are able to custom fit glasses to an individual user’s face in a semi-automated fashion.
On 3D Printing: Why are you turning to crowdfunding now?
Richart Ruddie: We have reached a point where we want to offer our custom fit service, but don’t have the funds to develop it into a web application to be put on our site. We have the back-end programming worked out for it; all we need to do is integrate it into an attractive and easy-to-use interface. To do that takes a lot of development time and a mild barrier to entry in terms of funds that need to be spent.
On 3D Printing: Any plans to expand beyond eyewear in the future?
Richart Ruddie: Yes. We hope to leverage the properties of this new manufacturing for many other products. Eyewear is just the beginning.
Below is a gallery of the design process at Protos.
