Editor’s note: John Hauer is a sales, marketing and technology innovator with a 20+ career of working in print and related industries. He manages a blog which evangelizes 3D printing for traditional 2D printers, and can be found at 3D4printers.com.
I recently read an article on TechCrunch by Jon Evans entitled 3D Printers Are Not Like 2D Printers. While I would agree with the title (obviously… → Read More
3D systems has filed a lawsuit against both Formlabs and Kickstarter for patent infringement. Formlabs is the manufacturer of a low-cost 3D printer called the Form 1. Thanks to the stereolithography printing technique, the Form 1 can achieve professional grade 3D printing in a small hobbyist printer. It quickly became a Kickstarter success. Yet, in 1997 3D Systems patented stereolithography… → Read More
The last time I wrote about 3D printers, an appalling number of people in the comments – including VCs who really, really should know better – kept writing things like: “Nearly identical comments were made about personal computers, desktop printers, color printers, laser printers…” and “just like printing at home” and “Let’s use the traditional paper printer as an example” and “it will follow… → Read More
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is planning for a future when 3D printing, thanks to “creative” patents, could no longer be free. Because the technology is so nascent, patenting parts of the process or renewing expiring patents could prevent incremental improvement of the technology out of fear or patent infringement. The EFF wants to head this off at the pass. → Read More
If you’ve followed the news, a collective of hackers recently rented a 3D printer to build a real, working gun. The group, Defense Distributed ,began the project but once the renter, Stratasys, discovered what they were building, they took the printer back.
Writes the Danger Room:
Cody Wilson planned in the coming weeks to make and test a 3-D printed pistol. Now those plans have been put on… → Read More
3D printing is coming into its own. No longer relegated to the professional sector, anyone who has the cash can essentially join in the fun with a Makerbot or a RepRap.
But FormLabs has found a way to bring the high-end performance of top-notch machines down to the price of a Makerbot. Yesterday, they launched the Form 1, an affordable, professional 3D printer, on Kickstarter with the goal of… → Read More
If ultrasonic baby pictures aren’t enough, how about a resin-cast 3D model of your live fetus floating in clear lucite? An Ebisu health clinic, Hiro-o Ladies, is working with a 3D printer called Fasotec to create Tenshi no Katachi – Shape Of An Angel – so the entire family can see what that squirt is doing in your womb. → Read More
A UK startup called MiniatureMoments has created a fairly unique keepsake for you and yours. These things are 3D-printed negatives that appear when you hold them up to the light. They are translucent and are about as big as a passport photo and custom-designed with your own portrait. → Read More
There’s an interesting back-and-forth going on at Thingiverse, a site founded by Makerbot to share 3D projects. Two designers have made two parts for the AR-15 rifle platform. The first part is a standard rifle magazine complete with spring but the second part is AR-15 lower receiver.
Why are these parts important? Well, the magazine is just on the edge of Thinigverse’s implied (but not… → Read More
As predicted in “Mimsy Were the Borogoves,” toys will change the world. Our kids, growing up with computers, game consoles, and endless visual delights, will have different minds than previous generations and their children will be even more unique. After all, our kids are about get get toy 3D printers and there’s no telling what could come next.
Origo is a concept product right now but it… → Read More
Minecraft.Print() is a Python script that will convert any in-game object into a printable object. By placing identifier blocks at the corners of the object you can select a certain part of the the environment and then run the script to output it to a 3D printer. → Read More
I’m not one of these guys who creates functioning computers or scale models of the Vatican in Minecraft, but occasionally I’ll put together a sweet little tower and house that could just possibly be worth saving. Unfortunately, I can’t take these little structures into the real world! At least, I couldn’t before now. → Read More
Good news, everybody! My head, scanned at Makerbot Industries by artist Jon Monaghan with a high-resolution laser scanner, is now a Thing, available for everyone to own, covet, and place into terrible places.
That’s right: I’m now 3D-printable. → Read More
BlablabLab and 3D Systems (along with some help from Sonos) set up an amazing exhibit at Techcrunch Disrupt. Essentially, it’s a 3D scanner/printer that grabs a 3D copy of your body and then prints it out into a 3-inch high figurine. It is, in short, magical. → Read More
This wild printable clock doesn’t have a working escapement yet (that’s in the works) but it does prove that you can build complex mechanical objects using MakerBots. → Read More
This is the result of what happens when you mix engineers with a culinary school. Using 3D printers, the New York City-based French Culinary Institute, teamed with the computational synthesis laboratory at Cornell University, have constructed edible objects using pureed foods in place of ink. → Read More
This crazy guitar is handmade – in a way. Designed on a computer and 3D printed by Bård S D, the guitar works quite well and looks like something Starchild would use to blow up an alien invasion force. → Read More
This is a guest post by Joris Peels, the Community Manager of i.materialise, a 3D printing service for designers, inventors and consumers. They are part of Materialise, a company with over 20 years experience in 3D printing and the market leader in 3D printing services and software.
Making predictions is a sure fire path towards getting ridiculed. But, I’ll be brave and go right ahead and make… → Read More
3D printing has been gaining a lot of popularity in the last couple of years. There’s even a DIY 3D printer community at RepRap. Since most of the parts used in these 3D printers are fairly simple, it’s possible for a 3D printer to print the parts necessary to make new 3D printers — it’s even possible to print a new 3D printer more advanced than the one doing the printing! Skynet, take note: I… → Read More
3D printing has always been something for the well-off and not for weekend hobbyists or small businesses. That’s about to change if the 3D printer from Bits from Bytes makes it to market. The BFB 3000 3D printer will be officially unveiled next month and is said to have a £2,000 ($3,000 USD) price tag. Just think of all the fun that can be had for $3K. → Read More
Goodbye, Desktop Factory, we hardly knew ye. This company was supposed to offer a sub-$5,000 desktop 3D printer. Alas, they are no more and they’ve sold their IP and assets to an unnamed buyer. But a funny thing happened as we launched our effort to sell Desktop Factory. We found interested parties who do understand the exciting potential for this breakthrough technology. We found companies… → Read More
You hear about 3D printing here and there, but for the most part it’s a bit irrelevant to the average person because fabrication is messy, difficult, and prohibitively expensive. Even dedicated DIYers have to get their stuff custom made. Hopefully that will all change with Shapeways, a new service which bills itself as a sort of Etsy for 3D models. → Read More
Shots made using the Dynacube3D method (viewed from the left, front and right) A group of Japanese researchers from Dai Nippon Printing and the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology developed a printing technology that supposedly makes it possible to view high-quality 3D images by the naked eye. The new printing technique makes it possible that perceived images are changing when the… → Read More
Mcor Technologies, an Irish company founded in 2004, is rolling out their Matrix 3D printer. What makes this 3D printer special, though, is that it uses plain old sheets of A4 paper to print your 3D models. “Loosely based on the LOM (Laminated Object Manufacture) method of rapid prototyping, A4 pages are glued together to form a 3D part”. → Read More
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