Tag Archives: Shapeways
Shapeways Introduces Gold Plated Brass to 3D Printing
Shapeways Brings the Bling to 3D Printing
3D printing marketplace Shapeways announced a new 3D printable material, gold plated brass.
“Gold Plated Brass is a rich, highly polished material that’s perfect for jewelry and precious objects. The base is solid brass, and the gold plating gives it a smooth, beautiful finish,” says Savannah from Shapeways Marketing team.
3D printing in gold plated brass is actually a 5-step process
First, the model is printed in a wax using a specialized, high-resolution 3D printer. It is then put in a container where liquid plaster is poured in around it. Once the plaster sets, the wax is melted out in a furnace, and the remaining plaster becomes the mold. Molten brass is poured into this mold and allowed to harden. The plaster is broken away, and the brass piece is cleaned and polished. Finally, this piece is electroplated with a thin layer of nickel for durability and an outer layer of high quality 24K gold. The result is a smooth gloss finish comparable to a solid gold item.
Gold Plated Brass at a Glance:
Price per cm3: $35.00
Minimum Wall: 0.8mm
Max Bounding Box: 100 x 100 x 30 mm
Here is a photo gallery of what you can create with gold plated brass.
Read more at the Shapeways blog.
3D Printed Fashion: From Fantasy Gowns to Accessible Couture – Inside 3D Printing Chicago
3D Printed Fashion Stuns in Chicago
As part of our coverage of this week’s Inside 3D Printing Conference in Chicago, On 3D Printing brings you an industry perspective on the latest developments in 3D printing for fashion and retail. In addition to providing an in depth review of their successful collaboration with Shapeways in creating the first fully-articulated 3D printed gown, designers Michael Schmidt and Francis Bitonti encouraged the 3D printing industry to continue its pursuit of applications in the fashion industry.
Schmidt and Bitonti’s articulated gown was custom designed and famously worn by burlesque star and style icon Dita Von Teese, and unveiled this past March during a showcase event at the Ace Hotel in New York City. Describing the dress as a “flight of fantasy” inspired by Fibonacci’s golden ratio, Schmidt welcomed the opportunity to work with 3D printing technology.
Schmidt and Bitonti emphasized printing process and material selection as critical to their success. Having ruled out a range of the available 3D printing technologies as incompatible with their design ends, they moved forward with laser sintering, which they felt would provide the necessary flexibility. While it took several months to develop the concept and code for the dress, the printing process itself took only four days. Because the dress applied the Fibonacci’s sequence throughout the design to create a truly custom fit to Ms. Von Teese, no two parts of the dress are alike.
All told, the dress is made of 3,000 printed nylon joints, which were printed in 17 sections using a selective laser sintering process, whereby layers of nylon powder are selectively fused together by a laser. While most custom gowns require at least several rounds of fitting to ensure a perfect fit, Schmidt and Bitonti were pleased to discover that “the dress fit really well right out of the box.”
Illustrating the importance of post-processing and hand finishing, Schmidt and Bitonti indicated that the printed pieces were expertly extracted at Shapeways to remove the nylon powder residue from within each joint in the dress. After the sections were printed and shipped to Schmidt’s studio, they were rip dyed, joined together by a hinged mechanism (also 3D printed) and hand encrusted with over 25,000 Swarovski crystals.
While Schmidt and Bitonti’s articulable dress stands as a testament to what’s possible, the designers also addressed the limitations of current technology. ”We are limited at the moment to these fantastical garments. We aren’t able to print in materials that have the qualities of a successful garment until we develop these materials to meet the needs of the body itself – that’s the holy grail,” Schmidt said.
One of the biggest issues in Schmidt and Bitonti’s view is the need to build fluidity of movement into the printing process itself, as the current selective laser sintering process renders the nylon powder stiff. They also noted that current technology does not provide the option to print in organic materials like cotton or silk. Both designers are hopeful for the future of the technology, however, and are currently developing a line of jewelry.
Below is a video of the 3D printed dress being displayed at the Inside 3D Printing conference in Chicago.
Authored by On 3D Printing contributor Lisa M. Pérez, co-founder of Heart Design Inc.
3D Printing Startup Mixee Labs Expands Portfolio with Artisan Jewelry Launch and Platform
Mixee Labs Adds Customizable 3D Printed Jewelry and Has Plans for More
In November, 3D printing startup Mixee Labs launched Mixee Me, a platform where you can design and 3D print your own likeness in a figurine. We reviewed our 3D printed mini-me in December. Within the first month of launch, Mixee Me was a top 5 shop on Shapeways, and in Time Magazine’s Top 10 3D Printed Gifts of the year.
Now Mixee Labs is expanding with the launch of a web platform where designers can create interactive models of their products for consumers to customize. With each web app, or “creator,” anybody will be able to create unique objects without knowing how to model, and watch them come to life without needing to buy a 3D printer.
Mixee Labs has extended its production partnership with Shapeways, using 3D printing to manufacture these personalized objects on-demand and ship directly to the customers.
As part of the launch, Mixee Labs is featuring Quark Jewelry by Stijn van der Linden, of the studio Virtox. Quark Jewelry’s innovative design draws on the intricate movements of subatomic particles. Stijn has been a leading figure in the 3D printing community. His designs have been featured in the Wired Store and the Today Show.
Below is a gallery of images for Quark Jewelry.
Here is a testimonial by designer Stijn van der Linden.
Ever since I first learned about subatomic particles and their spiral movements in magnetic fields, I could not help but be inspired. The different charges, masses and speeds determine the trajectories and create these astounding images in bubble chambers.
With the arrival of accessible 3d printing, I got to work to capture this beauty in jewelry.
I wrote a piece of software that would trace possible (and impossible) orbits and trajectories in 3 dimensions.
But I had a hard time choosing which models to actually try and print as the variations were endless.
Then a few months ago I got the urge to bring this project back to life and in search for a solution I stumbled upon Mixeelabs.Mixeelabs was working on an online platform that allows designers to easily create web apps which are able to generate 3d printable models! We joined forces and are very proud to present “Quark Jewelry”.
Want to try it out? Here are some links.
Quark Jewelry (3D printed sub-atomic designed jewelry creator)
Mixee Me (3D printed figurine creator)
3D Printed Lightclip Lets You Signal Batman With Your iPhone and More
3D Printed Lightclip Turns Your iPhone into a Batman Signal, or a Ninja Ghost, and More
This is a review of Lightclip, one of the coolest and most elegantly-designed 3D printed products we’ve come across. We also interview the designer.
(For full disclosure, the designers behind Lightclip sent us a complimentary product to try out.)
The Lightclip is a 3D printed accessory for the iPhone that becomes illuminated when you turn on a flashlight app. A variety of designs were created by Lab02 and are available for sale at Shapeways for $12 to $17 each.
Our Impression of Lightclip
The design is quite a step up from what you would normally expect from 3D printing. Instead of rigid ABS plastic, the Lightclips are 3D printed in White Strong and Flexible (Nylon). As Shapeways said in their own review:
This material is very strong (obviously), affordable and an excellent light diffuser. The Lightclip emits a beautiful ambient light, which is evenly distributed and very easy on the eyes. Use it as a nightlight, at a camping trip or when in need of a superhero!
We loved the different types of Lightclips. Included in the Shapeways store are a traditional light bulb, a ghost, a ninja ghost, and a Batman spotlight. Each one fit perfectly to capture all of the light from the iPhone flash; no leakage. See the gallery below for examples.
Fun for kids. Though not a toy, kids were very attracted to the Lightclip, turning the flashlight on and off repeatedly to see the Lightclip glow.
In summary, the Lightclip is really more about fun and fashion than function, but it’s worth the $15 price point as a conversation piece and perhaps a night light on occasion.
Interview with the Designer of Lightclip
We interviewed Dinos Costanti, the designer of Lightclip. The transcript of our interview is below.
On 3D Printing: Tell us about your organization and your history in 3D printing.
Costanti: My name is Dinos Costanti and i’m a software developer and 3D modeler. Vangelis Hadjiloizou is a painter and the ex Creative Director of the largest advertising agency in Cyprus. We started working together as freelance industrial designers in 2011. Right from the beginning we wanted a way to prototype our designs. We had access to a nice CNC machine locally, but we needed something better. That’s how we started using Shapeways and i.materialise.
We were very impressed with the capabilities of the modern 3D printers, especially with the EOS SLS machines. We even used them for a small production run of 110 small mushrooms that we designed as a giveaway for one of our customers. That was the final proof for us that 3D printers can be used for small scale manufacturing.
So we launched Lab02.org as a place to show and promote our personal designs. That is probably the dream of every designer; A way to make and sell the products that no one is willing to fund and manufacture! And as 3D printing becomes more popular, we’d love to feature the designs of other Cypriot designers.
Over the past 3 years we’ve gained a lot from the 3D printing community. And it is thanks to it that we can now afford our own 3D printer. As our way of giving something back we’ve made the Lightclip available under a Creative Commons license. This way anyone can download, modify, and print his or her own for free!
On 3D Printing: The designs you have made are very intricate and probably more elegant than what most people would expect when they think of 3D printing. Was it difficult to design?
Costanti: Not at all! The Lightclip went from initial idea to sketching, modeling and prototyping in about 10 working days. That included 5 days for Shapeways to print and ship the prototype.
I think that the 3D design software companies are starting to realize the need to address the amateur or rather the non-engineering crowd. We mainly use Moi3D, a NURBS modeler created by Michael Gibson, the original developer of Rhino. This is probably the easiest and friendliest NURBS modeler on the market and a perfect fit for designing for 3D printing.
On 3D Printing: How do you see these types of 3D printed goods growing in adoption?
Costanti: The production of 3D printed goods is going to explode. As more 3D printers are becoming available, prices are being pushed down. And as 3D printing materials become cheaper we are coming to a point, maybe in a year or so, where 3D printing will be a viable and cost effective solution for small scale manufacturing. Especially so for the 100 – 3000 units production runs which, using traditional injection molding, are currently in kind of a “no man’s land”. That is mainly due to high molding costs which demand a major investment with traditional methods, but are not required at all with 3D printing.
That is going to have a profound impact on the variety and complexity of available products as more and more designers can simply self-publish their products using their own 3D printer or a 3D printing service.
On 3D Printing: How has your experience with Shapeways been?
Costanti: Our experience with Shapeways has been amazing right from the beginning. Their engineers are very knowledgeable and they were instrumental in our quest to master the basics of designing for 3D printing. Also, their printing times are constantly improving. They will usually ship a lot sooner than the date they quote!
There is little doubt in my mind that these 3D printing services are the prototypes for the factories of the future.
On 3D Printing: Any other creative ideas your working on at the moment?
Costanti: We’ve had another very successful product with i.materialise, the Dragonbite grip which was designed for printing in stainless steel. It is currently the feature of a design competition at i.materialise.
We are also working on the initial sketches of our new project, a water pipe, designed to be printed in ceramic. This is the one material we haven’t used so far and we are very excited about it. I’m sure that it will present its own challenges but it is something we wanted to try for a long time. We hope it will be available in a month or so.
Thanks for sharing the Lightclip with us!
3D Printing Materials: From Plastic to Metal to Wood and Beyond
3D Printing Materials: What You Can Make
This is a guest post by Kyle Hurst, whose bio is at the end of the article.
If you look up 3D printing on the internet you’re likely to run into a variety of objects ranging from decorative knick-knacks to full blown prototype models of new inventions. While there’s a lot of emphasis on all of the cool ideas that concept designers have come up with, there is relatively little hype about the development of the various materials and techniques being developed and that are now floating around in the 3D printing community. Here is quick look at the variety of different materials available on the market today.
Hard Plastics
This is the most common material and you can find it all over the internet, or even make your own out of garbage plastic using a home extrusion machine. “Hard” is usually a relative term and depends heavily on the number of layers in your model. Being the first and most prolific material it’s used for lots of different ideas from sculptures, to graphic design, to mechanical models. Sometimes they’re even used to make functional parts and tools.
Flexible Plastics
This is a very significant advancement in printing technology because it allows people to print objects with flexible parts in them to build composite structures. That means that printed items don’t have to be stiff, greatly broadening the variety of functional objects that can be effectively produced. Because it’s a lot more rubbery in consistency it’s very useful not only for making flexible objects, but for any number of practical applications such as shoe soles, handgrips, or grips on the undersides of objects to prevent them from sliding around.
Metals
Selective Laser Sintering has been around for decades, but it hasn’t ever been put to this type of use, and it definitely hasn’t been affordable for a private person. The incorporation of laser sintering into 3D printing allows people to build much more durable and heavy objects. While that means producing machine parts that typically have to be cast or ground by machine tools, it could also be applied to make less glamorous everyday objects like a hammer, or a screwdriver.
Chocolate
While some people were out chasing the dream of home manufacturing, others got a bit more creative. Considering that at the end of the day we’re using a robot to dab droplets of sticky things strategically into predetermined shapes, it was only a matter of time before someone thought to use chocolate. Perhaps in the future we won’t be so lazy as to buy a box of chocolate hearts for valentines day, but instead design and customize chocolate sculptures as gifts? The idea might be a bit too romantic, but at least it’s tasty.
Wood Composite
Designed to appeal on aesthetically as well as economically, a German company found a way to create printable wood. It’s made of wood fibers and a lignin based polymer that behaves similarly to plastic. Depending on temperature it will print with different colors, allowing for the addition of artificial “tree-rings” in printed items. The material looks and feels essentially like wood, but more important is that it’s actually made of wood and natural ingredients. That means that we don’t need to rely on artificial non-renewable plastics for 3d printing purposes.
3D printing is becoming increasingly ready to make the jump from fun design toy to essential home-manufacturing tool. If we’re lucky then in 10 years we’ll be sitting in our homes with our own 3D printers building many of the items that we buy at the store today.
About the author: Kyle Hurst has a background in 3D modeling and B2B marketing. He’s currently pursuing his education further and writing about 3D plastic printing in his free time.
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Shapeways Materials Sample Kit photo by Shapeways used under Creative Commons license.
