Tag Archives: materials
Exclusive Video from CES: MakerBot’s Bre Pettis Announces New Printer and More
At CES 2013 this past week, MakerBot announced a new 3D printer called the Replicator 2X, updates to its Thingiverse library, new materials, and more. We were onsite to record MakerBot CEO’s special announcement in the exclusive, full video below.
Pettis called the Replicator 2X an experimental machine. MakerBot published more details about the new Replicator 2X on its blog:
We call the MakerBot Replicator 2X an Experimental Desktop 3D Printer for a couple reasons. Unlike the MakerBot Replicator 2, which is optimized for PLA filament, the MakerBot Replicator 2X is optimized for the more traditional thermoplastic ABS. So why is a traditional plastic “experimental”? Because it’s a tricky material. ABS requires careful calibration and control to get consistently nice things, and the user of the MakerBot Replicator 2X should be prepared for the challenge. We know that many of you still prefer ABS, so our engineers have worked long and hard to deliver a great tool for the job.
We want you ready for experiments coming in the future, too. The MakerBot Replicator 2X has side-by-side extruders so that you’re prepared for new developments in dual extrusion technology. Want to try making things in multiple colors? The Replicator 2X is ready for the test.
Here’s are a few of the great things in the Replicator 2X:
- High-tolerance aluminum build plate that’s machined for crucial flatness to make it resistant to warping or sagging that could affect the quality of your prints.
- New easy-load filament lever makes loading filament as easy as flipping a light switch.
- Re-designed filament feeding system dramatically reduces stripping, skipping, and jamming.
- Enclosed sides keep drafts at bay and stabilize the ABS cooling period for less cracking and peeling.
Infographic: 3D Printing and the Future of Manufacturing by Sculpteo
3D printing service Sculpteo published a great infographic called “3D printing is the future of manufacturing.”
Highlights:
- The Third Industrial Revolution
- What is 3D printing?
- Manufacture in one click
- The range of 3D printing materials
- What does it change for your VC or CEO?
- How to integrate 3D printing into your business today? Invest in 3D printing or integrate a cloud solution
- New markets have access to manufacturing
- New major players
- And your consumers
- A case study: 3DPCase
Via Sculpteo blog.
Paper-Based 3D Printing, Now in Color and Photo Realistic
3D printers today are capable of creating objects in a variety of materials, from sandstone to plastic to gold. Ireland-based Mcor Technologies has a 3D printer that prints on, wait for it, normal old copy paper.
Their innovation is that the printer glues each sheet of paper together, and only prints the visible part of the model per page.
Mcor has announced a new printer called IRIS that can create photo-realistic objects in full color.
Introducing the Mcor IRIS, the worlds first high resolution full 3D color 3D Printer. The Mcor IRIS joins Mcor’s family of paper 3D printers and the vision of producing high quality, low cost and eco-friendly 3D prints.
Now Mcor is taking their technology to the next level with a full color 3D printer using regular letter paper and specially developed Mcor inks.
The Mcor IRIS produces sharp vibrant prints; printing on to a pure white media produces better color authenticity and reproduction when compared with other color 3D technologies. The Iris prints photo-realistic 3D parts with the resolution you would expect from a high quality 2D color printer
The IRIS will open up a world of opportunity to engineering, education, AEC, GIS and entertainment. “Now full color 3D printing will be accessible to everyone with full 3D color needs”, said Dr MacCormack.
Watch the video below to see the IRIS in action.
Objet Showcases Exquisite 3D Printing Applications at the 3D Print Show
Objet Showcases Exquisite Examples of Professional 3D Printing Applications at the 3D Print Show
Two pieces from Neri Oxman’s ‘Imaginary Beings: Mythologies of the Not Yet‘ series, recently exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, take centre stage on the Objet stand (P19 Level 2, Porter Tun Room). Printed using Objet’s unique Connex multi-material 3D printing technology, Oxman explains why the process was significant in the development of the pieces, “Objet 3D printing technology was extremely important in dreaming up this project. It wasn’t about generating forms and then using 3D printing to print them. It was really about using multi-material technology as an opportunity to think about how to make these ‘contraptions’ or ‘wearable myths’ mythical, and how to actually make them work better as products or objects for the human body.”
Legacy Effects’ Jason Lopes, another Objet technology user, explains how 3D printing is used within the business in two seminars on Saturday 20th October 15:00-16:00 and Sunday 21st October 11:00-12:00. An award winning full service character design, make-up and animatronic studio, Legacy Effects’ work can be seen feature films such as Avatar, Iron Man II, Shutter Island, Alice in Wonderland, and Thor and has been nominated for an Academy Award® for Iron Man. With Objet Eden and Objet Connex multi-material 3D printers, Lopes’ team is able to react to short deadlines, cater for multiple projects and make changes and different versions easily with quick conversion from scan files: “The best thing about 3D printing for me and my team is that our customers and actors can interact and try out the fit of our concept designs. When we produce character suits, creature mock ups and make-up effects, the materials are so durable and workable they can really see how it’s going to work out for them on set.”
Designer Daniel Hilldrup will also feature Objet 3D printed work at the show. ‘Flux‘, appearing in the 3D Printshow’s art gallery, was produced on an Objet Connex multi-material 3D Printer.
Described by Hilldrup as “a statement on the transference of energy and its transition and total transformation from one physical state and form into another”, Flux depicts black candle wax melting into the liquid base of a candelabra, captured, like a fossil, at a specific moment in time.
“We’re delighted to count Objet among the exhibitors at the 3D Printshow,” says Kerry Hogarth, founder of the 3D Printshow. “As a leading player in the 3D printing community, providing professional equipment for rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing, Objet makes an excellent addition to the show.”
Below is a video of the Objet Connex in action.
Via Sacramento Bee.
Color Blending with Consumer 3D Printers Produces Amazing Results
Consumer 3D printers, like MakerBot and the Cube, cost over $1,300 and can only print in one or two colors. If you want multi-color printing, you need to use a commercial grade 3D printer that costs $20,000 or more.
Well, electrical engineer and hobbyist Richard Home, decided to branch out and design his own method of “color blending”, a technique that turns a basic 3D printer into something much more capable. He started with the open-source RepRap design and developed his own extruder design, which he coined “RichRap.”
As featured in Wired:
Here’s how it works: The RichRap has three extruder motors feeding into one nozzle, or hot end. Each motor spools plastic filament into the hot end where it is melted, then deposited on a build surface. An operator could load a RichRap with red, yellow, and blue plastics and generate green parts by mixing the yellow and blue, or purple by mixing red and blue.
Watch the videos below to see Richard discuss his design and show off some of his color prints.
