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 »
Search Results for: 3d printer
Win an Ultimaker in MyMiniFactory 3D Printing Christmas Design Contest
iMakr Has Launched Its Second Design Contest for My Mini Factory as it Ramps Up Its Design Base
MyMiniFactory.com, a platform for free 3D printable designs, is hosting its second design contest. The winner will receive a Ultimaker 1 3D printer worth £1,690.
Launched in June 2013, My Mini Factory features a large range of free 3D printable objects that are original and unique, and all designs are test printed by the My Mini Factory team on affordable 3D Printers to ensure their quality.
“MyMiniFactory.com is the world’s 2nd largest platform of 3D printable files,” said Romain Kidd, Chief Marketing Officer, iMakr.com. “Downloads come from around the world. The designer base – both in-house and external – is in the several hundred, and very multinational as well.”
Looking to tap into this talented base, My Mini Factory has launched a Christmas Design Contest, calling on the worldwide community of 3D designers to upload their designs. Beautiful and functional printable objects will then be exposed to the large audience of enthusiasts who visit MyMiniFactory.com, and designers will can soon start earning money from downloads of their objects.
This is the site’s second design competition. We spoke with Romain Kidd, CMO iMakr.com about the results of the first contest.
“The Autumn contest was very successful,” Kidd told us in an interview. “We had close to 50 successful entrants. XYZ workshop (Australia) won first place with their ‘Micro Planter Chess Set‘, and the first place runner up was Billy Sides (USA) with his ‘Minion Chess Set‘. We are targeting more entrants this Christmas and the same quality of designs.”
The Autumn contest winner received an UP! Mini 3D Printer.
MyMiniFactory.com is owned by UK-based iMakr.VC, the same group that owns iMakr, the world’s largest 3D printing store. As a 3D printing value added re-seller, iMakr is solving the problem of “what should I 3D print?” with MyMiniFactory.com, similar to the relationship between MakerBot and Thingiverse.com.
Related: Video: iMakr 3D Printing Store Grand Opening in London
Christmas Design Contest Details
To enter the Christmas design contest applicants need to 3D model and upload a design to either (or both) of the submission design categories -
- Category 1 - a 3D printable decorative object with an ‘endangered species’ theme
- Category 2 – a 3D printable object for use during the seasonal festivities / with a seasonal theme
My Mini Factory will be accepting entries until November 20, after which entries will be posted on the website for a 3 week voting period.
The competition is open to applicants worldwide, they simply register with My Mini Factory and submit an entry through the upload system.
All the entries will be 3D printed by the company to assess their printably and functionality. If it successfully passes this print test it will be entered into the contest. Designers will be provided with feedback if there are any problems with their file/design.
During the voting period each entry will have it’s own personal page to receive downloads from.
The design with the most downloads will be the grand prize winner, and will receive an Ultimaker 1 3D printer worth £1,690 in time for Christmas!
Will 3D Systems Be Acquired by IBM? DDD Stock Jumps 6%
3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) has had quite a run as a public company this year. With a stock price up nearly 100% year to date, the company now has a market capitalization over $7 billion.
And today was a big day with a 6% gain thanks to rumors that IBM was looking to buy 3D Systems for a premium at $90 per share (DDD’s current price is $70 as of this writing).
Why Would IBM Buy 3D Systems?
First of all, 3D Systems is the leader in the 3D printing market. The company boasts the largest market capitalization and has proven it can expand its scope through acquisition and R&D.
Read: What is next for 3D printing giant 3D Systems?
The company has also expanded into the hot desktop 3D printing category.
3D Systems 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.
Related: Watch our video interview with 3D Systems CEO
A Defensive Move?
Perhaps IBM is concerned about the entry of other computing giants. HP CEO Meg Whitman said recently, “We want to lead this [3D printing] business. HP Labs is looking at it.” With over $13 billion in cash, would HP’s first move be an acquisition?
Amazon also has entered the 3D printing market with the launch of a 3D Printing category on Amazon.com. eBay has also entered with a mobile 3D printing strategy.
Time will tell if the IBM rumor is true, and if so, IBM could be the company to usher in the next technology revolution.
Related: IBM Sees Exponential Growth of 3D Printing Industry
3D Printing Week: Neiman Marcus, Materials Market, Etsy, Buccaneer
3D Printing News
Here is a roundup of the top 3D printing news from October 28 to November 3.
Netherlands-based startup Protocow launched STL Harvester, looking for help smaller 3D printing services in Europe. We interviewed Protocow’s co-founder.
Kickstarter star Buccaneer started accepting pre-orders for its $500 desktop 3D printer.
Online marketplace Etsy made some revisions to its handmade policy in favor of 3D printing.
The 3D printing materials market is forecasted to grow to $600 million, only if premium pricing holds.
And finally, Shapeways teamed up with Neiman Marcus for a holiday collection.
Tuesday, October 29
Wednesday, October 30
Thursday, October 31
Friday, November 1
Sunday, November 3
Interview with Protocow Founder On Finding the Next Shapeways 3D Printing Service
Protocow Wants to Help Smaller 3D Printing Services with New Software
Earlier this week, Protocow launched an e-commerce platform that enables 3D printing services to offer online quotes and order fulfillment.
This allows smaller 3D printing services to automatically process their online orders and compete on service with the larger companies such as Shapeways, Materialise and Sculpteo. Protocow offers this service for a low monthly fee and per-order commission.
“Last year, $800 million was spent on objects that were 3D printed on a professional printer,” explained Protocow. “This market is growing 25% per year and 80% of this market is being produced by smaller 3D printing companies, including 500 such companies located in Europe. A lot of these companies handle their orders via email which is quite labor-intensive. Furthermore, it is discouraging for website visitors to order via personal contact such as email.”
Protocow’s solution is a plugin called the STL Harvester that can process 3D models and provide online pricing within 30 minutes. Watch the video below to see how the company describes its service.
Protocow is based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and was founded by Harold van der Hoeven, John Tillema, Dimer Schaefer and Raymond Muilwijk. They have deployed the platform in The Netherlands and Belgium and are looking for funding to expand.
Interview with Protocow Founder
We sat down with Protocow co-founder Harold van der Hoeven to learn more about his business.
On 3D Printing: Tell us about your inspiration for the STL Harvester.
Protocow: The inspiration for developing the Harvester had its origin with two of our team members, John Tillema and Dimer Schaefer. They are industrial designers by profession. On a regular basis they were facing the fact that Materialise and Shapeways could not fulfill their service- , budget- or delivery needs. And although smaller 3D print service are more flexible, they do not offer online quoting and ordering. Asking them why, they answered it is to expensive and complex to develop this software for themselves. So we decided to do that for them.
On 3D Printing: When did you start the company and what are the key milestones you have hit?
Protocow: We started the company almost a year ago (December 2012). We have worked on this beside our regular business in evenings and weekends and we love our wives for all the support we received.
We have hit a few milestones. First we did test the concept with several 3D print services. They helped us with several insights which we used to improve our formula, the contact options with options during the ordering process and the additional techniques we did not yet cover. We are proud that importers of 3D print machines embraced our online platform because it is good for the revenue of their customers (and therefor for them). We also found out that it is possible to calculate a fair price for a 3D print using different (more) variables then the larger companies who already have online quotation and ordering.
On 3D Printing: Who are your customers? Your video says “3D printing services”. Can you give us some examples or help provide some size estimates of the total number of companies that could benefit from your product?
Protocow: Our customers are professional 3D print services. We calculated that there are approximately 500 professional 3D print services in Europe who do not offer online quotation and ordering tot their website visitors.
Learn more at www.protocow.com.
3D Printing Materials Will Grow to $615M Thanks to Proprietary Pricing
Industry Report Forecasts Anti-Competitive Proprietary Pricing of 3D Printing Materials
Do you think you pay a lot for your inkjet cartridge refills? Well, 3D printing materials are following suit in premium pricing.
Research firm IDTechEx has published its forecast for the 3D printing materials market to reach $615 million by 2025.
In its new report entitled “3D Printing Materials 2014-2025: Status, Opportunities, Market Forecasts“, the firm provides analysis on pricing, competition, and scope of 3D printable materials. The report provides detailed market forecasts by value and mass, broken down by material types (inkjet material, metal powder, powder thermoplastic, solid thermoplastic and photopolymers).
Much of the growth in the materials market is projected to come from premium pricing. “Should a fully competitive market environment emerge then we forecast that the market value in 2025 will only be $244 million,” the firm stated.
Premium pricing is being maintained by some 3D printer manufacturers by the practice of locking end-users into their own materials supplies through key coding and RFID tagging under the guise of “quality control”. This anti-competitive behavior is preventing the development of an efficient, competitive market for 3D printing materials and is presenting very high barriers to entry for new suppliers, and perhaps hindering the development of new materials for 3D printing.
Related: Video interview with 3D Systems CEO discussing the future of 3D printing materials
Achieving the desired mechanical, thermal and chemical resistance properties of a 3D printed object is a complex interplay between process parameters and feedstock material properties for any 3D printing technology. End-users want to 3D print with the materials they are used to and want the final properties to match those possible with traditional manufacturing methods such as injection moulding. However this is no easy task.
The report details forecasts from 2013 to 2025 in the context of realistic adjustments to both prices and the breakdown of the installed base by technology type.
For more details see “3D Printing Materials 2014-2025: Status, Opportunities, Market Forecasts” (www.IDTechEx.com/3Dmats).
IDTechEx will be hosting 3D Printing LIVE, a business-focused conference and masterclass on the topic, in November.
