Tag Archives: MakerBot
3D Printing Retail Store Hosts Open House in Denver, CO
Denver, CO, is now one of the first cities to have a 3D printing retail store, joining the ranks of Manhattan where MakerBot held its grand opening in September 2012. Aleph Objects, a Loveland, CO startup founded in 2011 that makes the LulzBot 3D printer, joined forces with The 3D Printing Store and welcomed over 400 people to an open house on February 7.
The Store blogged about the 400 people who swarmed their open house:
People started showing up at 1 and didn’t leave until 7:45 pm. This is additional proof that there is a great deal of interest in how 3D printing works.
Principal Deb Wilcox said, “It was so gratifying to see kids that seemed to know about and people much older wanting to learn more….. whether they were hobbyists, inventors or architects, and we had all of these and more.” In fact, she continued “It was so crowded that some people couldn’t even get up to see any of the 6 printers we had in operation and are making an appointment to come back. We’ll have to do this again.”
At the 3D Printing Store in Denver, customers can select a digital design to print on site, or they can purchase a consumer 3D printer for about $1,725.
Aleph Objects was also recently featured in the Denver Post:
At its Loveland headquarters, Aleph has about 40 LulzBots, each printing parts that are used to build the 3-D printers themselves. The machines, which retail for $1,725, can create objects that are up to 8 inches in length and width and 4 inches in height.
Aleph’s next generation printer, dubbed the TK-0, will take those dimensions up to 12-by-12-by-11. It is an open-source machine, meaning anyone can download component designs to build their own 3-D printer.
A 5-pound spool of ABS plastic — which can create hundreds of objects — costs $100. Other printable materials include nylon, PLA plastic and wood.
Moe said broader adoption beyond hobbyists and tech geeks is not far away as the software to create digital designs gets easier to use and the price continues to drop.
“I think we’re getting really close to that price point,” he said, adding that the company has shipped printers and parts to 59 countries.
Read more about 3D printing goes big with help of Loveland’s Aleph and Denver store – The Denver Post
In the video below, Aleph Objects CEO Jeff Moe takes us on a tour of his company’s 3D printing capabilities.
RoBo 3D Printer Raises $500K on Kickstarter to Battle MakerBot
There’s a new Kickstarter champion in town: The RoBo 3D Printer. After setting up a Kickstarter campaign to raise $49,000, it looks likes the RoBo team will raise over $500K to build a a low-cost, open source, easy to use 3D printer.
What is RoBo 3D?
RoBo 3D is the ultimate 3D printer everyone has been waiting for. We combined the best minds from the open source community, the best hardware we believe can give the best prints, and our own ideas based on our experience working with 3D printers. The open-source design is made so people like us can go online and find all the documents that show the ins and outs of how to make a RoBo 3D. In true rep-rap fashion, RoBo 3D has been made so that it can print out its own parts. Once in your hands, print out another for a friend! Come experience it and together, lets create something great.
Who is RoBo 3D for?
Architects- print out model homes and buildings for clients. Change and print out again without hassle.
Designers- Have an idea that you want to bring to life? Print out your designs and see if they were everything you imagined. If not, change it and print out the next idea.
Hobbyists/DIY- Easily create your projects in the comfort of your own home.
Small Business owners- Manufacture your own products at the office!
Students- Senior engineering project coming up? Use RoBo 3D to proint the parts you need to get the job done done.
Home owners- Replace broken household items for next to nothing!
In their campaign, RoBo 3D provides a comparison matrix to the MakerBot. What jumps out the most is the price: $520 vs $2,199 for the MakerBot Replicator 2.
Below is their Kickstarter video. Congrats to the team for raising $500K!
Top 3D Printing Headlines Last Week: Filabot, Guns, CES, Nokia 3DK
A roundup of the top news On 3D Printing brought you from January 5 to January 20.
Saturday, January 5
Monday, January 7
Sunday, January 13
Monday, January 14
Friday, January 18
Filabot Reclaimer Turns Recyclable Plastic into 3D Printing Material
Introducing Filabot, a new device that lets you recycle plastic to use as filament in a 3D printer.
Originally conceived as a Kickstarter project by Tyler McNaney, a 20-year-old mechanical engineering student at Vermont Technical College, the startup raised over $32,000 to develop its first product.
Many 3D printers use commercial grade plastic filament to make objects. The MakerBot Replicator 2X, for example, uses requires thermoplastic ABS. This plastic isn’t cheap, and critics of 3D printing suggest that all of this plastic is not good for the environment.
Well, Filabot has the answer to make 3D printing a bit more eco-friendly. With a Filabot Reclaimer, one can deposit recyclable plastic into the machine and end up with 3D printing grade plastic filament.
Here is an overview from the Filabot shop.
The Filabot is the revolutionary system that can turn recyclable plastic into usable filament for 3D printing. This system creates a closed loop recycling environment. Filabot allows for the ultimate personal factory, giving greater control over what type of plastic material to use.
The Filabot Reclaimer, is our flagship system, that allows for the already innovative 3D printing movement, to become more self sufficient, experiment with new materials, and recycle bad prints.
The Filabot Reclaimer includes the grinding, extruding, and spooling systems. The Grinder will tear up bottles and can handle up to a good 3in by 3in chunk of plastic. Material from the grinder can either be stockpiled or fed directly into the extruder. From there the extruder will melt and pressurize the molten plastic to push it thought the interchangeable dies. There are two dies included with the Filabot Reclaimer, a 3mm and 1.75mm, depending on the filament size needed. The spool system will automatically roll the filament onto a spool after cooling and sizing.
And below is a video of the Filabot system.
Photo by Filabot/Whitney Trudo.
Video: Stephen Colbert 3D Printed Bust at MakerBot Thingiverse
Found something fun tonight! Over at MakerBot Thingiverse is a 3D printed bust of Stephen Colbert’s head. And below is a video of the bust being 3D printed.
Enjoy!
