On 3D Printing » ceramics

i.Materialise Launches 3D Printing Design Challenge for Ceramics

on3dprinting — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 02:03:53 +0000

3D Printing Design Ceramics Challenge from i.Materialise

3D printing marketplace i.Materialise has launched its latest 3D printing design challenge. This challenge asks for innovative ideas for ceramics.

Running April 8 to May 23, 2013, the competition asks entrants to submit a design on i.Materialise and the winner will get a free 3D print of their design.

Here are more details about the i.Materialise 3D Printing Ceramics Challenge.

Spring is finally entering our doors and we are in desperate need for more colors in our lives! So we’re ready to launch our first ceramics challenge where you can choose between nine vibrant colors. Are you ready?

THE CHALLENGE
For this competition, your challenge is to use 3D printing to create a product in ceramics. We give you carte blanche, so you can design anything you want: from tiles to vases, from jewelry to kitchen ware.

Surprise us by your creativity!

PRIZES
On the 23th of May the jury will select 1 winning design. The winner will receive his or her 3D print.

WHO CAN ENTER
This challenge is open to all designers, professional and amateur, regardless of sex, age or nationality.

CHALLENGE PERIOD
Submissions will be accepted up to 23:59 May 23th Central European Time, 2013.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE
There is no limit on the number of entries per contestant. To enter, you need to upload your design(s) here and provide a clear explanation (under ‘desciption’) in at least 50 words.

JURY
The i.materialise team will vote upon the entries.

MATERIAL & BOUNDING BOX
Participants need to upload their file here. You can find more information about the file formats in our FAQs under ‘website’. The material for this challenge is ceramics.

There are limits on the size of the design:

Bounding box ceramics: 15 cm x 15 cm x 15 cm

i.Materialise is also hosting an Accessories Challenge, looking for accessories that are inspired by birds.

Open-Source 3D Printer Pwdr Takes on MakerBot, Offers New Materials

on3dprinting — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 14:03:26 +0000

There’s a new open-source 3D printer in town, and its name is Pwdr.

In a change from the technique used by MakerBot 3D printers of extruding plastic onto a platform layer by layer, Pwdr operates like the expensive industrial powder printers. This opens new doors for the consumer 3D printing market.

A whole new range of materials become available for experimenting with open-source rapid-prototyping; for example, when using the 3DP process: gypsum, ceramics, concrete, sugar, etc. And when the SLS process is fully supported, plastic materials like ABS, PP, Nylon and metals become available as building material.A Hewlett Packard inkjet cartridge is used for the deposition of binder. The cartridge can be refilled with custom binders using a syringe. A custom binder of 20% alcohol and 80% water has been proven to work.

How do you get it? You can make it yourself.

The Pwdr Model 0.1 consists of chassis, tool head and electronics. The printer entirely consists of off-the-shelf components. It has a simple design and can be built within a couple of hours. The machine is easy and affordable to build and modify. Building a Pwdr Model 0.1 machine costs about €1000.

Here’s a video of the Pwdr 3D printer in action.

Top 3D Printing Headlines Last Week: Stocks, Cloud, Virality, Children’s Books, Olympics

on3dprinting — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 15:25:43 +0000

A roundup of the top news On 3D Printing brought you from July 9 to July 15.

Monday, July 9

Shapeways Friday Finds: Anvil Cufflinks, Ceramic Ducks

Tuesday, July 10

Wednesday, July 11

Enter the 3D4D Challenge to Win $100K and Change the World

Thursday, July 12

3D Printing Presents Long-Term Threat to Otherwise Healthy Toy Stocks

Friday, July 13

Saturday, July 14

Sunday, July 15

Fab Lab of the Week: Fablab Amsterdam in the Netherlands

Video: 3D Printing in Glazed Ceramics, Best Practices and Cost

on3dprinting — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 19:05:40 +0000

Earlier we posted about a 3D printed coffee cup that went viral. This innovative design was 3D printed in glazed ceramics.

Want to learn more about 3D printing in ceramics? Watch the video below from Shapeways’ tutorial.

Glazed Ceramics are food safe, recyclable and heat resistant. The glaze is heatable up to 600 degrees celsius, at which point the glaze will start to damage. The pricing for Glazed Ceramics is calculated by surface area, not volume of material used. Minimum wall thickness is 3mm, interlocking parts (ie chains) are not possible currently.

We offer glazed ceramics in a few different glazes.

Gloss White Glaze is $0.18/cm2

Gloss Black Glaze, Satin Black is $0.19/cm2

Eggshell Blue, Avocado Green, and Pastel Yellow is $0.20/cm2

3D Printed Rocket Fuel Espresso Cup Goes Viral, Boosts Sales

on3dprinting — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 14:53:41 +0000

The emergence of 3D printing technology and 3D printing marketplaces, like Shapeways, is enabling designers to publish innovative products that are ready for commercial use. One such product is this Rocket Espresso Cup by Isohedral which is 3D printed in glazed ceramics.

For a great design to catch the eye of consumers, it needs to be photographed in context. These warm, artistic photos truly tell the story of that morning espresso – a.k.a. rocket fuel. The photos were posted to Flickr, Tumblr, and other social networks, where they went viral and were reposted over 6,000 times.

The outcome of this social media exposure was captured on the Shapeways blog:

A spike in traffic to the Rocket Espresso product page that has lasted over a week,

X number of sales of the cup to people all around the world

Traffic increase across the entire site

Increased sales to individual shops across the Shapeways site

An inspiring story of the little rocket that could…

All this from a great design, beautifully photographed and shared into the social web….

This experience should help other designers with ideas for promoting their own products in the future.