Tag Archives: MakerBot
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.
$200 MakiBox 3D Printer Competes at the Low End Market
$200 MakiBox 3D Printer is the Cheapest on the Market
The MakiBox 3D printer is the creation of 37-year-old Jon Buford, founder of Hong Kong-based startup Makible. Buford launched the company with $50,000 in seed funding and a round of pre-orders from a crowdfunding campaign. Makible’s 2013 goal is to hit $2 to $3 million in revenue.
Targeting Cost over Scale
MakiBox is attacking the low end of the market. While leading desktop 3D printers from MakerBot and 3D Systems range from $1,700 to $2,200, there has been a price war at the low end among dozens of Kickstarter projects and RepRap innovations. Makible is possibly the lowest priced 3D printer in the market.
To reduce the cost, the MakiBox is a smaller 3D printer. But it can still print objects as large as 14 iPhone 5s stacked in two columns.
A Visit to Makible in Hong Kong
Our friends at Hack Things are traveling in China this week, and paid a visit to the team building the MakiBox, a $200 3D printer.
Yesterday we dropped in on Elliot and Jon of Makible at their lab in Kwai Hing, Hong Kong, where a team is hard at work making what will likely be the world’s most affordable 3D Printer, the MakiBox. It will launch later this year for just $200 (as a kit).
Why does price matter? To get an idea of cost, at the moment Shapeways charges roughly $3 per cubic centimeter when the plastic itself costs less than $0.05. It wouldn’t take much printing before the Makibox pays itself off. However when you factor in shipping and turnaround time, you see the real advantage of having a desktop printer nearby. Not only that, but low cost itself enables new applications and markets such as in education and makes small batch production more affordable (e.g. it’s more practical to run a farm of 3D printers if the fixed costs are low.)
The video below shows a profile of Buford and Makible.
CC Image by cloneofsnake
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
MakerBot Store in NYC Visit: 3D Printers, Digital Scanners, and More
MakerBot Store in NYC Drives 3D Printer Sales
This past week at the Inside 3D Printing conference, the On 3D Printing team was invited to a special event at the MakerBot Store in NYC, along with other industry press.
We asked MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis what’s the next big thing he’s working on? He answered immediately, “3D scanners.” MakerBot announced its Digitizer product at SXSW and has a booth where you can digitize your own head. We gave it a try and our 3D printed profile is on order. See the photo below of one of the visitors scanning his head in the booth.
MakerBot’s motivation to open the store is to give potential customers a chance to see 3D printing in action. Does it increase sales of printers? “Absolutely,” one of the MakerBot employees told us. There is a certain magic to seeing a 3D printed robot or digitized head. You can immediately imagine what you might 3D print yourself.
We met some great entrepreneurs at the event as well, including the founder of Square Helper who prints his products on MakerBot 3D printers.
Below is a photo gallery from our visit.
Demo Exhibits Open-Source Complexity: 3D Printing Conference (Part 4)
3D Printing Conference: Complexity is Free, or Costly?
Brian Evans, Metropolitan State University of Denver professor and 3D printing educator, struggled to get a 3D printing demo to work at today’s Inside 3D Printing Conference in New York City. Showing conference attendees the multitude of open-source 3D CAD and slicing software available, he also exposed the complexity facing those choosing to go the low-cost, open-source route to consumer 3D printing.
“Fail early and fail often,” he sheepishly said to the crowd when his part failed to begin printing. “This is the challenge of using open-source,” he admitted. Mr. Evans also praised higher end consumer 3D printer MakerBot for its easy-to-use user experience.
When asked which slicing software he recommended for slicing 3D files for 3D printing, he responded, “It depends on how dedicated you are. If you really like to tinker, I’d go with Slic3r.” Otherwise he recommends finding another program that takes some of the complexity out.
Authored by Brian H. Jaffe, founder of Mission St. Manufacturing and contributor to On 3D Printing.
