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 »
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3DLT Launches at TechCrunch Disrupt After Challenging Past
3DLT Launches 3D Printing Marketplace
3DLT, a 3D printing marketplace that was accused of stealing designs and subsequently issued a mea culpa, has rebounded and officially launched. Wearing a tuxedo, founder and CEO Pablo Arellano, Jr. pitched on stage during the battlefield round at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York.
3DLT describes itself as a marketplace where industrial designers, companies, and makers can sell 3D printable designs, direct to consumers.
“The 3D printing market needs a retail marketplace where consumers can buy print-ready designs,” said 3DLT’s Founder and CEO, Pablo Arellano, Jr. “With all of the interest in 3D printing, and the sheer number of 3D printers being sold, there will soon be a huge demand for content, and that’s what 3DLT provides.”
Lux Research predicts 3D printing will be an $8.4 billion industry by 2025, up from under $1 billion in 2012. Research firm Gartner believes that enterprise-class printers priced below $2,000 will be available in the market from as early as 2016, and some low-end printers, including the MakiBox, are already available for less than $200.
3DLT provides files – the blueprints for 3D printable products. Consumers can visit 3DLT.com and browse through multiple, well-curated categories of 3D printable designs. Once purchased, they can download and print-ready files on their own 3D printer. They can also send the designs they buy to 3DLT’s network of 3D print shops for local pickup or drop shipment directly to their door.
3DLT’s business model has the potential to change the way we shop,” Mr. Arellano said. Walmart made shopping easier by putting millions of products, all under one roof, closer to the consumer. Amazon took the next step of delivering to your doorstep. 3DLT goes even further by allowing you to choose, when, where, and how the items you buy are manufactured.”
Watch Arellano pitch at TechCrunch Disrupt in the video below.
Video: iMakr 3D Printing Store Grand Opening in London
iMakr 3D Printing Store
In the video below, the iMakr 3D printing store opens in London. With 2,500 square feet of 3D printers and 3D printing fun, there was quite a crowd to see the grand opening.
Exhibits from Solidoodle, UP!, MakerBot, Cubify, Leapfrog and all the big names of desktop 3D printing were on site, plus models from 3D artists.
Here is the official press release from Solidoodle about the retail debut:
Solidoodle Makes Retail Debut at World’s Largest 3D Printer Store in UK
Brooklyn, NY — April 30, 2013 — Solidoodle, maker of the most affordable fully assembled 3D printers, is proud to announce its printers will be sold at iMakr, the world’s largest 3D printing retail store, located at 79 Clerkenwell Road in Central London.
iMakr announced its 3D printer lineup to include the Solidoodle 3rd Generation model at its grand opening event today. Solidoodle CEO Sam Cervantes was in attendance for the opening.
“3D printers are a rapidly expanding segment in the consumer electronics market,” says Cervantes. “iMakr is making a big splash in a major international city and we are glad to be a part of it. Working with distributor and retail partners will definitely help us satisfy the growing demand we’re seeing from the international public.”
Located in Farringdon, the heart of the designer district of London, iMakr is featuring some of the most popular brands of 3D printers, supplies and accessories and will cater to the needs of designers, architects, early adopters, hobbyists, jewelers and schools.
Solidoodle also announced, in late February, its plans for dedicated Solidoodle retail locations in Eastern Europe to open later this year.
Image via SolidSmack.
Top 3D Printing News Last Week: 3D Printing Conference, GE, MakerBot
3D Printing News
A roundup of the top 3D printing news from April 22 to April 28:
(Note: last week we attended the Inside 3D Printing conference in NYC)
Monday, April 22
- 3D Printing’s Apple 1 Moment: 3D Printing Conference (Part 1)
- Keynote Declares “Complexity is Free”: 3D Printing Conference (Part 2)
- 3D Systems: Geomagic Design to Advance CAD and 3D Printing
- Invest in Bioprinting to Get a 3D Printed Ear or New Hip: 3D Printing Conference (Part 3)
- Demo Exhibits Open-Source Complexity: 3D Printing Conference (Part 4)
Tuesday, April 23
- Inside 3D Printing Conference: Day 1 Top Stories
- Topology Optimization in Additive Manufacturing: 3D Printing Conference (Part 5)
- Shapeways Funding: $30 Million from Andreessen Horowitz, Chris Dixon to Join Board
- Sculpteo Cloud 3D Printing, iPhone Cases, and More – 3D Printing Conference (Part 6)
- 3D Printing in K-12 Education: Virginia Leads the Way – 3D Printing Conference (Part 7)
- Shapeways CEO: Become a Creator of the Products You Care About – 3D Printing Conference (Part 8)
Wednesday, April 24
Thursday, April 25
Saturday, April 27
Sunday, April 28
Inside 3D Printing Conference in New York – A Retrospective
Inside 3D Printing Conference
In a context that felt a bit like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, this week 3D printing went to New York for the first ever Inside 3D Printing Conference. Over two full days at the Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, a broad array of industry leaders, innovators, academics and analysts gave keynotes, led seminars, and showed off their latest products to over 3,000 conference attendees. For many in the crowd, this was a crash course on a technology that has been exploding in the public consciousness over the past two years, and for others it was a chance to network, hear from big names in the industry, and get a sense for where 3D printing will go next.
In a role that seemed fitting given his company’s leadership in the industry and status as the conference’s primary sponsor, 3D Systems CEO Avi Reichental opened the conference with the declaration, “Complexity is free” in a 3D printed world. Never before, he underlined, has a manufacturing process been indifferent to geometric complexity, and to him this is the single biggest reason 3D printing will continue to grow and expand into sectors ranging from education to medical devices to automotive and aerospace.
Much of the conference’s focus was on these different segmentations of 3D printing, and breakout seminars throughout the two days took a deeper dive in a variety of subjects. Some of the more memorable seminars explored integrating 3D printers into K-12 education, topology optimization – a complex but very impressive design tool that appears to be a perfect match for 3D printing, consumer desktop and cloud 3D printing, and bioprinting human tissue for medical applications. Longtime industry analyst Terry Wohlers and Shapeways CEO Peter Weijmarshausen also gave keynote addresses highlighting their vision for the industry’s future.
3D Printed iPhone Case from Sculpteo
Outside the seminar room the conference also had a distinctly hands-on element. A bustling exhibit hall hosted dozens of booths showing off a variety of consumer and enterprise 3D printers along with more curious technologies like 3D scanners and novel CAD input devices. 3D printing service companies were also eager to engage with potential customers, showing high quality parts available for remote ordering online.
While many sides of the industry were highlighted at the inaugural Inside 3D Printing Conference this week, the underlying theme was very clear: while 3D printing technology may have existed in research labs and niche applications since the 1980s and ‘90s, it is only now beginning to truly change our lives in meaningful ways. And from the number of times speakers said “Nascent,” “Just the first inning,” or “Only scratching the surface” to describe the state of the industry, it is clear that insiders see the eventual impact that 3D printing will make on the world to be profound, far-reaching, and on a larger scale than most casual observers can imagine today.
Authored by Brian H. Jaffe, founder of Mission St. Manufacturing and contributor to On 3D Printing.
3D Printing in K-12 Education: Virginia Leads the Way – 3D Printing Conference (Part 7)
Innovating in K-12 Education with 3D Printing
3D printing has been around for three decades, but only recently has the cost of 3D printers been low enough to think about putting this technology in classrooms. Now a partnership between the Commonwealth of Virginia, Univeristy of Virginia and the City of Charlottesville has led to the creation of CED (Commonwealth Engineering and Design) Academy at Buford Middle School, a new type of school built specifically around project based learning with the help of new technologies such as 3D printing in K-12 education.
The new program, which opens this August after a $3 million renovation, will have one 3D printer for every 4 students in a classroom, but that is just the beginning. As Glen Bull, Gavin Garner, and Greg Lewin from the University of Virginia put it, “The challenge is to find a curriculum to go with it.” Speaking at this week’s Inside 3D Printing Conference in New York, the trio emphasized that, “You can’t just take a 3D printing lesson plan and drop it into a middle school and say, ‘here you go.’” And this is why the involvement of University of Virginia is so important.
Faculty and students from UVA’s Schools of Engineering and Education are working together to develop and test new curricula for critical STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education that makes use of 3D printing. One of their first successes was a project in which middle school students designed and built a fully functional speaker. Teams were broken into two halves – one to design and test a high frequency tweeter and another to design and test a low frequency woofer – and then at the end of the project the two teams were forced to integrate the two parts into one integrated speaker. In another project, currently still in a pilot stage, undergraduate engineering students are challenged to program a computer controlled pen that was made with a 3D printer.
Overall, the speakers were both optimistic about the future of 3D printing in the classroom, especially the availability of various funding sources, but also cautionary that curricula are difficult to develop and take a lot of time and testing. What is clear is that the Commonwealth of Virginia is taking 3D printing very seriously, and that they are leading the way in 3D printing education.
Authored by Brian H. Jaffe, founder of Mission St. Manufacturing and contributor to On 3D Printing.
