Tag Archives: MakerBot

MakerBot Has Glow-in-the-Dark 3D Printer Filament for Halloween

Get Your 3D Printed Ghosts Ready for Halloween

Desktop 3D printer company MakerBot has launched glow-in-the-dark filament just in time for Halloween.

Made with a special dye, MakerBot Glow-in-the-Dark PLA Filament glows a ghostly green in the dark. You don’t need sunlight to power up your glow-in-the-dark 3D print: any light source will do the trick in just two to three minutes.

To get your filament, go to the MakerBot store and stock up.

MakerBot Halloween Glow in the Dark 3D Printer Filament

3D Hubs Opens the Kimono on 3D Printer Usage, MakerBot and Ultimaker on Top

3D Printing Network Shares 3D Printer Usage Across 200 Cities

3D Hubs, the world’s largest network of 3D printers with over 1,100 printing locations across 200 cities, has publicly shared a report of how 3D printing is being used and which 3D printers, materials and colors are most popular.

“3D printing is a disruptive technology that people are beginning to embrace, and given our unique position within the sector, we thought it would be interesting to highlight emerging trends we’ve started to see on the 3D Hubs network,” said Brian Garret, CTO and co-founder of 3D Hubs.

Out of 1,100 printers in the 3D Hubs network, Ultimaker and MakerBot are the brands signed up most. Ultimaker is taking the lead in Europe and MakerBot in the USA. They are mainly used to make prototypes and all kinds of gadgets, such as customized smartphone and camera cases. White is the preferred color, followed by blue, red and green.

3D Hubs Report Printer Model Distribution

Highlights of the 3D Hubs Trend Report

Sourcing from their actual order data, 3D Hubs has given the market insight into actual 3D printing activity. Here are some highlights:

  • 3D printer brands: Ultimaker and MakerBot currently account for a combined 40.4 percent of the more than 1,100 3D printers on the 3D Hubs network, followed by RepRap (11 percent) and Prusa Mendel (7.3 percent) amongst others. MakerBot leads in the United States and Ultimaker leads in Europe.
  • Prototypes: The number one use case is still prototypes, however more and more end products have begun to be printed. Gadgets, phone accessories, gifts, toys and fashion items like jewelry currently make up more than half of the platforms’ print jobs.
  • Colors and materials: Given that desktop printers represent 90 percent of the 3D Hubs network, it is not surprising that plastics like ABS and PLA make up about 80 percent of the 3D printer materials available. Other popular materials include nylon, wood and flexible rubber-like materials. Customers can order these materials in a variety of different colors, however, white is currently the most offered color (15.7 percent), followed by blue (14.5 percent), red (14.1 percent), and green (12.9 percent). More exotic colors are also being offered including gold, silver and glow-in-the-dark colors.

You can quickly browse through the charts in the report below, or read the full 3D Hubs Trend Report at http://www.3dhubs.com/trends.

How 3D Hubs Works

The majority of 3D printer owners use their device less than 10 hours a week, and 3D Hubs harnesses the remaining 95 percent idle time. Printer owners earn money when their 3D printer is not in use, and simultaneously establish social connections within their local 3D maker community.

3D printer owners simply join the Hubs listing in their city to offer 3D printing services in their neighborhood. Each Hub decides how much money it wants to earn, and sets its own start-up price for a 3D print, plus additional fee charges for each cubic centimeter of material used.

3D Hubs printed objects

3D Hubs performs a 3D model repair check using Netfabb cloud software for each order to ensure the uploaded 3D-model is watertight, automatically repairs it if necessary, and once the 3D-model passes inspection, the order is processed and forwarded to the Hub. 3D Hubs adds a 15 percent commission (excluding any applicable taxes) on top of the price entered for each customer quote, processes the order, and collects the payment.

Customers use 3D Hubs to locate 3D printer owners in their neighborhood, and then order and pick up sustainable, locally printed objects in a matter of days instead of weeks – something that sets 3D Hubs apart from centralized 3D printing services.

Based in Amsterdam and founded in April 2013 by two former 3D Systems employees, 3D Hubs is a privately held company backed by Balderton Capital and Rockstart Accelerator.

3D Hubs team

Watch this video to learn more about how 3D Hubs works:

3D Systems: Will the 3D Printing Giant Continue to Thrive?

What is next for the $5 billion 3D printing company?

In a critical analysis published in the Wall Street Journal, Rolfe Winkler wrote, ”[3D Systems'] valuation and the insider selling are potentially worrisome signs that 3D hype may be outpacing reality.”

Winkler has a number of concerns, from adoption of consumer 3D printing to distribution risks to weak materials sales.

Let’s take a deeper look at how far this 3D printing giant has come.

Since May 2011, when the company transferred from the NASDAQ to the NYSE, its stock price has grown nearly 300%. Their stock is riding near its all-time high, shown in the chart below.

3D Systems Stock June11-Sep13

Expanding Revenue and Building a Consumer Business

The company expects to generate around $500 million of revenue this year, with the majority of sales in the industrial sector. But it has also expanded aggressively into the consumer business with the Cube and CubeX 3D printers, and expects prices of desktop 3D printers to come down from $1300 to below $500 over time.

3D Systems Inside 3D Printing Chicago

3D Systems recently presented a full business update at the Citi 2013 Global Technology Conference; you can read the full transcript at Seeking Alpha.

The company has acquired 37 companies since 2009 and continues to look at M&A as a way to fill in the gaps of their business. Here are some key acquisitions:

  • Bespoke Innovations in May 2012 for 3D printed personalized prosthetics
  • FreshFiber in May 2012 for 3D printed electronics accessories
  • My Robot Nation in April 2012 for creative solutions to support 3D printing community Cubify for kids and adults
  • Paramount Industries in April 2012  to advance aerospace and medical device 3D printing

But the company missed their chance to acquire MakerBot, the leader in desktop 3D printing. MakerBot was acquired by Stratasys, 3D Systems’ competitor, for $403 million earlier this year.

Challenges and Opportunities Ahead

3D Systems has had its share of success. In fact, it was recently ranked #5 of the Fortune Magazine’s top 100 fastest growing companies. But will that success continue and what are it’s challenges?

Can the Cube 3D printer series beat out the Stratasys-MakerBot partnership? Can 3D Systems maintain its industrial 3D printer sales growth and continue to optimize its supply-chain and reseller network? Will its entry into the consumer market distract from its larger industrial business?

Perhaps only time will tell. With $350 million on the balance sheet and a $5 billion market cap, 3D Systems seems poised to be competitive as the 3D printing industry continues to accelerate.

 

College Kids Design Desktop 3D Printer to Be Crowdfunded and Sold For Under $500

Deltaprintr Desktop 3D Printer Coming Soon to Kickstarter and Maker Faire

“We designed the Deltaprintr to be simple without sacrificing anything.” — Deltaprintr team

Deltaprintr is a new desktop 3D printer concept that is targeting a retail price of under $500. Created by a team of college students, the savings come from a desire to simplify, not limit, capabilities.

Deltaprintr Desktop 3D Printer cover

“The project’s inception occurred when I had built a RepRap for our University due to limited availability of funds at the time,” said Shai Schechter, the tech guru behind Deltaprintr, in an interview with On 3D Printing. “After noticing 3D printing’s potential in the classroom and rising demand from fellow college friends, we decided to make our own 3D printer that not only those who can afford to spend more than $1,000 on their printer can buy, but college students as well.”

The team began working on their desktop 3D printer in May and are in the process of finalizing production costs. Schechter said proudly, “we are currently on track to sell at retail under $500.”

The Deltaprintr Team

The founding Deltaprintr team is composed of electrical and mechanical engineers, finance, and a graphic designer. But there is also a great response from the community, Schechter explained, “with a lot of positive feedback and a lot of anxious people waiting for us to launch.”

Desktop 3D printer leader MakerBot, sellers of the $2,200 Replicator 2 desktop 3D printer, was recently acquired by Stratasys for $403 million. Perhaps this team can strike gold with their more affordable design.

The company has launched teaser videos on YouTube and high quality images of its 3D printer. Below is an image gallery and their teaser video.

See Deltaprintr at Maker Faire and on Kickstarter

Deltaprintr will be exhibiting at the World Maker Faire this September 21-22 in NY.

Schechter tells us they are also planning on launching a Kickstarter campaign sometime in October or November. Stay tuned here for more news on Deltaprintr.

Learn more at Deltaprintr.com.

MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner Goes On Sale for $1400, Video from Bre

MakerBot Digitizer 3D Scanner Bre Pettis

MakerBot’s Desktop 3D Scanner Now Available for Sale

MakerBot, the New York-based desktop 3D printer startup that was recently acquired by Stratasys for $403 million, now officially has a new product line: desktop 3D scanners.

Their first product is called the MakerBot Digitizer, and is now available for sale. The price tag: $1400, plus an optional $150 for a MakerCare Service Plan. We covered the features of the 3D scanner last week, and here are more details.

“It’s a powerful and elegant tool for turning physical objects into digital designs,” said MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis.”You put something on the turntable, and it turns. Lasers shoot at it,” Pettis explained. “It’s a powerful tool that’s going to give you a whole new way of looking at things.”

MakerBot Digitizer 3D Scanner

Benefits of the MakerBot Digitizer

Professionals can create 3D models without having to start from scratch. Home users can explore the frontier of 3D scanning and then print them on a 3D printer or share on Thingiverse.

You can order the MakerBot Digitizer here.

Here’s a video from CEO Bre Pettis announcing the MakerBot Digitizer.

MakerCare Service Plan

In addition to purchasing the 3D scanner, MakerBot is offering a service option, called the MakerCare Service Plan for $150. MakerCare is designed to make your MakerBot Digitizer ownership experience as smooth as possible. The plan lasts a full year from the order ship date of your MakerBot Digitizer. If anything goes wrong with your MakerBot Digitizer during that time, you can contact the MakerBot Support team to identify the source of the trouble. The Support team will provide any replacement parts necessary, or arrange for you to ship your MakerBot Digitizer back to the company for repair.