Tag Archives: MakerBot
Top 3D Printing News Last Week: MakerBot Digitizer, Fuel3D 3D Scanner
3D Printing News
A roundup of the top 3D printing news from August 12 to August 18:
Tuesday, August 13
Wednesday, August 14
Thursday, August 15
Friday, August 16
Saturday, August 17
Stratasys and MakerBot Complete Merger
Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS) and MakerBot announced the completion of their $403 million merger first announced on June 19th.
Stratasys is a pioneer in 3D printing for prototyping and production, and for more than 25 years has enabled designers and engineers to bring their ideas to life. MakerBot, founded in 2009, helped develop the desktop 3D printing market and has built the largest installed base of 3D printers in the category by making 3D printers highly accessible. MakerBot has sold more than 22,000 3D printers since 2009.
“Stratasys and MakerBot share a vision about the potential for 3D printing to transform design and manufacturing,” said David Reis, Stratasys CEO. “Our goal now is to maximize the benefits this merger creates for our shareholders, our customers and our employees.”
Bre Pettis, CEO of MakerBot added, “We are excited for the future – full speed ahead!”
Transaction Information
Consistent with the terms of the merger, Stratasys will issue up to 4.7 million of its shares in exchange for 100% of the outstanding capital stock of MakerBot. MakerBot stakeholders also qualify for performance-based earn-outs that provide for the issue of up to an additional 2.36 million shares through the end of 2014. Those earn-outs, if earned, will be made in Stratasys shares or cash (in an amount reflecting the value of the Stratasys shares that would have otherwise been issued at the relevant earn-out determination date), or a combination thereof, at Stratasys’ discretion.
Read more at MarketPitch.
MakerBot Announces Availability of Desktop 3D Scanner MakerBot Digitizer
MakerBot Seeks Real-World Copy and Paste with Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner
3D scanners seem to be all the rage this month. First, not one but two 3D scanner Kickstarter campaigns were launched, and now desktop 3D printer company MakerBot, recently acquired by Stratasys for $403 million, has announced it will start selling its Digitizer desktop 3D scanner next week.
We first covered the MakerBot Digitizer in March when CEO Bre Pettis kicked off South by Southwest (SXSW) with a big announcement that his company was developing real-world copy and paste.
In April, we visited the MakerBot store in New York and asked Pettis what’s the next big thing he’s working on? He answered immediately, “3D scanners.”
In June, MakerBot was acquired by 3D printing giant Stratasys for $403 million. Well, Pettis isn’t letting the innovation stop just because he has cashed out.
Next week, the MakerBot Digitizer goes on sale. Here are some of the key features:
- Simple, yet sophisticated software creates clean, watertight 3D models with just two clicks.
- Get a 3D digital design file in just minutes.
- No design skills, 3D modeling or CAD expertise required to get started.
- Outputs standard 3D design file formats that can be modified and improved in third-party 3D modeling programs, like Autodesk’s free software MeshMixer.
- Easily upload your unique scans directly to Thingiverse.com.
Stay tuned for more news about the Digitizer or visit MakerBot’s store for more details.
3D Scanning for 3D Printing: How Kickstarter is Changing the Game
3D Scanning Makes 3D Printing Possible
Last week, two 3D scanning projects were launched on Kickstarter, looking to raise crowdfunding.
- Fuel3D, which bills itself as “a handheld 3D scanner for less than $1000″ rocketed past its target of $75,000 and is now over $200,000 raised with 23 days to go.
- Volumental’s 3D Scan-to-Print Web App, on the other hand, is still short of its $20,000 goal (they’ve raised about $12,000 so far).
Let’s take a deeper look.
First, why is 3D scanning important?
While the popularity around 3D printing continues to rise, sourcing good designs to print remains a challenge. Sure, you can buy a MakerBot 3D printer and download some 3D designs from Thingiverse, but what if you wanted to capture something in your home or office? That’s where 3D scanning technology comes in.
New entrants to 3D scanning
On the high end, there is expensive software and equipment used by professionals. Fuel3D is directly competing in this area of the market with a much more affordable solution.
Hardware innovation blog HackThings wrote, “Fuel3D is a handheld 3D scanner that’s capable of capturing extremely high resolution mesh (250 microns) and color information of objects in 3D, for around $1000. According to the creators, that’s an order of magnitude less than today’s commercial solutions of comparable resolution.”
On the low end, there is free software such as Autodesk 123D Catch. And MakerBot has announced plans for real-world copy and paste technology. This is the area that Volumental is competing. The web-based software connects to a depth camera, like a Kinect, and builds a model on the fly.
HackThings wrote about this solution, “It works as a combination of inexpensive sensor hardware and sophisticated cloud-based software. Log in to their web service, plug in a $300 depth sensor via USB, walk around the object you want to scan, wait for processing and then click “print” to get a clone either via an online printing service or on your own 3D printer.”
Kickstarter campaigns comparison
It might seem surprising that the higher priced solution has raised more money to date on Kickstarter, but this side-by-side comparison gives us some insight into the mentality of crowdfunding. Supporters don’t want to fund things that are perceived to be free; instead, they want to pledge to campaigns that are changing the market. Fuel3D is reducing the cost of high end 3D scanners by an order of magnitude, while Volumental is competing with free.
If you want to back either campaign, or both, here are videos and links to each project.
Fuel3D: A handheld 3D scanner for less than $1000
The 3D Scan-to-Print Web App by Volumental
Study Shows 3D Printing Emits Ultrafine Particles; What This Actually Means
Should You Use Your 3D Printer Indoors? Study Asks, We Explain
A recent study published in the journal Atmospheric Environment shows evidence that desktop 3D printers emit ultrafine particles (UFP) to a degree that should cause concern, if you operate your 3D printer in a telephone booth.
The report focuses on emissions by FDM (fused deposition modeling) printers that use ABS or PLA material, a configuration used by MakerBot and other popular desktop 3D printer companies.
Ultrafine particles are small particles, technically on the nanoscale, that can be inhaled and cause health effects ranging from innocuous to major, including lung disease.
The report claims that observed emissions of UFPs from desktop 3D printers were significant and therefore caution should be used when operating in a unventilated area.
Estimates of emission rates of total UFPs were large, ranging from ∼2.0 × 1010 # min−1 for a 3D printer utilizing a polylactic acid (PLA) feedstock to ∼1.9 × 1011 # min−1 for the same type of 3D printer utilizing a higher temperature acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) thermoplastic feedstock. Because most of these devices are currently sold as standalone devices without any exhaust ventilation or filtration accessories, results herein suggest caution should be used when operating in inadequately ventilated or unfiltered indoor environments.
At first glance, this sounds like a big problem for 3D printing, an industry in rapid growth and adoption. But the reality is that the level of emission observed is similar to that of laser printers, candles, and cooking on a stove at home – all activities consumers are not going to give up any time soon.
The same 3D printer utilizing a higher temperature ABS feedstock had an emission rate estimate (1.8–2.0 × 1011 # min−1) similar to that reported during grilling food on gas or electric stoves at low power (1.2–2.9 × 1011 # min−1), but approximately an order of magnitude lower than gas or electric stoves operating at high power (1.2–3.4 × 1012 # min−1). Regardless, the desktop 3D printers measured herein can all be classified as “high emitters” with UFP emission rates greater than 1010 particles per min, according to criteria set forth in He et al. (2007).
In summary, don’t use your 3D printer in a dark corner of your basement without opening the window.
Embedded is the full report.
CC image by pennstatenews
