Tag Archives: jewelry
Top 3D Printing Headlines Last Week: Apple, Google, Joe Biden, $300 Printer
A roundup of the top news On 3D Printing brought you from June 25 to July 1.
Monday, June 25
- Will Apple Make a Big Acquisition to Enter the 3D Printing Market?
- $300 3D Printer Printxel Shows at the Kansas City Maker Faire
Tuesday, June 26
Wednesday, June 27
- Broadway Shows Get New Mojo with 3D Printed Set Design
- Exclusive: Cubify by 3D Systems Prints at Google I/O and Launches API
Thursday, June 28
Friday, June 29
- Autodesk Shows off 123D Catch Software and 3D Printing at Google I/O
- 3D Systems Announces “Smarter 3D Printing” Seminars for Entrepreneurs
Saturday, June 30
Sunday, July 1
- Vice President Joe Biden Shares the Vision for 3D Printing
- Fab Lab of the Week: Massey University Centre Hosts New Zealand Event
Apple photo by aditza121 used under Creative Commons license.
3D Printing Silver Jewelry: Perfect Fit, Unique Designs, All Glamorous
We have featured silver jewelry designs before, but we are continually impressed with the new designs that can be 3D printed. On the Shapeways marketplace, 4 silver jewelry pieces were featured as part of a summer catalog.
Silver is one of the more expensive materials to use for 3D printing, so prices for a small piece might be $30 to $100, while a larger piece might be $175 or more. But is the price worth it knowing that you can customize a unique design?
See the full feature on the Shapeways blog.
3D Printing Will Empower Most Innovative Decade in History – Forbes
Forbes contributor Vivek Wadhwa explains why he believes this will be the most innovative decade in history. Wadhwa is Vice President of Academics and Innovation at Singularity University. Here is his general view:
Why am I so optimistic? Because of the wide assortment of technologies that are advancing at exponential rates and converging. They are enabling small teams to do what was once only possible for governments and large corporations. These exponential technologies will help us solve many of humanity’s grand challenges, including energy, education, water, food, and health.
Among the technologies he cites as game changing this decade, 3D printing has a main feature:
In an emerging field called digital manufacturing, 3D printers enable the production of physical mechanical devices, medical implants, jewelry, and even clothing. These printers use something like a toothpaste tube of plastic or other material held vertically in an X-Y plotter that squirts out thin layers of tiny dots of material that build up, layer by layer, to produce a 3D replica of the computer-generated design. The cheapest 3D printers, which print rudimentary objects, currently sell for between $500 and $1000. Soon, we will have printers for this price that can print toys and household goods. Within this decade, we will see 3D printers doing the small-scale production of previously labor-intensive crafts and goods. In the next decade, we can expect local manufacture of the majority of goods; 3D printing of buildings and electronics; and the rise of a creative class empowered by digital making.
Other technologies Wadhwa mentions include genome sequencing, nanotechnology, micro-electrical-mechanical systems, and artificial intelligence.
Read the full post at Forbes.
Vivek Wadhwa photo by BAIA used under Creative Commons license.
Shapeways Friday Finds: Cheshire Cat, Kaleidoscope Clock, Dragon Transformer
3D printing marketplace Shapeways featured beautiful designs in its weekly Friday Finds blog series.
Pictured above is a design familiar to fans of Alice in Wonderland: a Chershire Cat Ring by SG Designs. This ring is designed to be printed in silver and has an inscription on the inside that reads ”We’re all mad here.”
A Kaleidoscope Clock by Made by Wombat. Once you print the two parts, assemble them together and you will have an intricate 9″ hanging wall clock.
Finally, a dragon that can collapse into a cube shape: Dragon Die by Reaper Media. Watch the video below to see how it unfolds.
Via Shapeways blog.
3D Printing is a Game Changer: Feature Published by The Atlantic
American iconic magazine The Atlantic invited Hugh Evans, vice president at T. Rowe Price Associates to publish an article about a technology or trend changing the markets. His topic: 3D Printing is a Game Changer.
From my vantage point, 3D printing is right up there as one of the most exciting innovations I’ve seen in the 20 years I’ve been around here. I think it’s going to change the way goods are manufactured across many industries.
Evans starts with the back story on 3D printing, how the technology evolved from producing wax-like prototypes to durable goods.
The revolution took place when companies like 3D Systems started designing radically new materials. They came up with nanocomposites, different blends of plastics, and different blends of powdered metals. They were then able to create a part that, if you held it in your hand, you’d think it was steel. You can throw it down on the ground against cement, and it looks and acts just like steel.
Later Evans mentions various industries that are embracing 3D printing.
These new materials allow this 3D printing to be adopted by aerospace, automotive. Jaguar is using the technology for rapid product development. So is the Bell Helicopter division of Textron.
It’s pretty intuitive to apply this technology to the automotive and aerospace industries, and jewelry has always been a big market. But one of the most exciting areas is actually dental fabrication.
One company I’m excited about is using 3D printing to make prostheses. It’s a venture-backed company in San Francisco called Bespoke Innovations. There are a large number of amputees in America and around the world–I believe something like two million people have some sort of prosthetic limb or device.
Finally, Evans talks about falling 3D printer prices, enabling consumer adoption.
Six years ago the cheapest machine out there was $30,000, but most were $100,000. Today you can get a capable 3D printer for around $1,299, which launched at the Consumer Electronics Show this year.
That’s why 3D printing is so interesting. It’s not just tied up in the engineering world anymore. It’s impacting a large number of industries, and becoming more relevant to consumers. I’m seeing that even high schools now have 3D printers. I just ran into a high school teacher the other day who teaches software classes, and he was telling me, “Oh, I just bought my first 3D printer.”
It’s exciting to see this technology begin to reach its full potential. A few years ago it was a little ahead of its time, but not anymore. It’s here today.
Read the full article at The Atlantic.
Deck of cards photo by aftab used under Creative Commons license.
