The Shapeways Blog: 3D Printing News & Innovation
Entries from September 2012
Sunday, September 30. 2012
Saturday, September 29. 2012
A Sneak Peek at the Latest Shapeways 3D Printer in NYC
Just in time for Maker Faire in New York, we have our latest 3D Printer up and running in NYC.
This is the first of an army of Selective Laser Sintering machines we are installing in our "factory of the future" we are currently building in New York City (Long Island City to be precise). We are using this EOS machine to laser sinter your Nylon plastic parts. This is the second printer we've installed in our temporary space after starting with UV cured acrylic this summer. We have some more exciting news coming up over the next few weeks as we continue to expand our materials and processes in NYC, so stay tuned.
If you are in New York this weekend, be sure to come and visit us in the 3D Printer Pavilion, zone D at the New York Hall of Science in Queens, take a look at some cool 3D Prints and meet the Shapeways team.
Friday, September 28. 2012
Friday Finds: 3D Printed Designs From the Shapeways Community
Happy Friday all! For this week's Friday finds we have some really awesome forum finds.
Borderlands USB powered ClapTrap by PyschoBob. How cute is this little guy?
Kittens Heart by vaclac.mazany. Awwwe-inspiring.
SpringBit Screen Organizer by Innovo. Efficient and beautifully designed.
Don't forget to stop by our booth at Maker Faire this weekend!
Meet up with the Shapeways team tonight!
Hey Shapies! We're wondering if you could all share anything you've designed using Solidworks and printed with Shapeways. Respond to this post or on our Facebook page. Thank you!
Oh and- don't forget about our meetup tonight! 6:30pm at Mason Jar Bar, can't wait to see everyone.
3D Printing Goes Rustic With Wood
Ron Swanson doesn't often use 3D printing technology. But when he does, you can bet that he would want to do it in wood, not some fancy plastic or ceramic. Fortunately for Ron, LAYWOO-D3 is a new FDM filament for RepRap printers that is made of 40% recycled wood material, with the rest made up of polymer binders. More like plywood than a nice hardwood.
The material smells and looks like wood, albeit more of a plywood than a nice hardwood. Once an item is printed out, you can sand, paint, saw, and do just about anything else you would do to the real thing. Imagine printing out your own set of Lincoln Logs or a wooden iPhone case for your outdoors-loving father.
Invented by German Thingiverse member Kaipa, the filament can even simulate tree rings. Heating it to 190 C gives the material a light color, while increasing the temperature to 230 C makes it darker, giving the appearance of rings. The filament is non-warping, can be printed with rough or smooth surfaces, and limited quantities are currently only available in 3mm, although 1.7mm is planned.
Recycling wood and using a renewable resource for 3D printing is admirable on it's own, not to mention the undeniable aesthetic appeal of wood. LAYOO-D3 is an exciting addition to the growing number of materials that can be printed, looking forward to seeing what designers can do with it.
If you want to check it out and get rustic with your printing, you can order some here (supplies appear to be limited), or find some on eBay.
via Techabob
Thursday, September 27. 2012
Countdown to Maker Faire!
We're really excited to share that both Susan Kosor and David Lobser of HiLobster will be joining us at our Maker Faire booth! Stop by to chat with these awesome designers and see their designs in the flesh.
Colleen Jordan and Metta Metalworks will also be showcasing in the Bust Craftacular section of Maker Faire, so be sure to check out their booths as well.
If you want to learn about Shapeways, there's no better way than by hearing the community's stories and seeing their awesome work in person. Looking forward to seeing you there!
Formlabs Enters the Desktop 3D Printer Market
Formlabs has just rolled out their FORM 1 3d printer on Kickstarter. They have become fully funded in just 2.5 hours ($100,000 goal)! There are some exceptional differences in this machine compared to the typical FDM & DLP printers out there. This is SL based technology (stereolithography) using a $10 Blu-Ray laser (same as in hi-def DVD players) for photo exposure versus a $10,000 laser typically found in SLA machines. FORM 1 boasts build resolutions of 25 micron (.001") in Z & 300 micron (.012") feature details. Build envelop is listed at 125 x 125 x 160mm (4.9 x 4.9 x 6.5 inches). This is a substantial improvement over other desktop printers in its class. Although this price tier is sold out (higher priced tiers remain at time of this writing) the starting price for the machine was placed at $2,299. This project is exceptionally well put together & the machine looks to be at a considerably mature design stage. Formlabs states that they have built 7 generations of prototypes & a production run of alpha machines. They have developed their own software package for build setups & support generation which does not look to be opensource. No mention of future software/hardware support but the project is already a go so we'll see how the company & product develops. Exciting stuff, Love it!
Wednesday, September 26. 2012
Shapeways at Maker Faire and Meetup in New York City!
We're heading to Maker Faire this weekend!! Shapeways will be spreading the 3D printed love at World Maker Faire New York and hosting a meetup beforehand as well.
Maker Faire will sprawl the grounds at the New York Hall of Science in Queens, NY and you can find Shapeways in the 3D Printer Pavilion, zone D. Swing by, say hello and check out some of the cool 3D printed products that we will have on display from the Shapeways community.
We will also be hosting a meetup on Friday September 28th at 6:30pm at Mason Jar Bar. Come mingle with community members and and have a beer on us at 43 East 30th Street, New York, NY 10016. RSVP via our Meetup page.
We hope to see you there!
Designer Spotlight: David Lobser
What intrigues you about 3D printing?
3D printing presents an array of issues to consider from a design standpoint. For starters, what is the necessity of it? Most of my sculptures could in theory be produced in other ways, so the only real necessity is that I want an object but don't want the hassle and expense of mass manufacturing. It's good for prototyping of course, but I'm interested in figuring out what 3D printing will always be able to do better than standard manufacturing processes. The structural possibilities blow away casting techniques, the ability to print something inside of something else is huge in terms of expressive potential. Aside from that I really think that the ability to customize objects is really where 3D printing will shine. The models in my shop represent a large investment of time, so over the course of a year I'll only be able to add so many different works. If I can come up with a tool that would allow users to alter my work then it would become a collaboration. This is the most exciting aspect of printing to me right now and I'm presently immersing myself in code so I can learn how to make that happen. With tools like processing or open frameworks and the libraries available within them it seems like not such a huge stretch to get to that point.
Tuesday, September 25. 2012
First 3D Printed iPhone 5 on Shapeways
It Arrived!!!
The first 3D Printed iPhone 5 has landed at Shapeways and along with it an update to the design for the iPhone 5 case templates for the contest we are running at Shapeways where you can win $500 worth of 3D Printing by designing an accessory for the iPhone 5.
There are already over 30 3D Printed products already available on Shapeways to fit the iPhone 5, enter your design in the contest to win.
We have updated the downloadable files for customization now that we have been able to test the fit, especially around the corners for the iPhone 5, the case can be downloaded here, and the bumper here.
Urban Planning with 3D Printing in Louisville, Kentucky
This is urban planning for people who thought the best part of Monopoly was playing with the little houses and hotels. At Louisville, Kentucky's Ideas festival, community members got the chance to rearrange the city and try out new ideas for future development, all with the help of 1/1000 scale 3D printed models of existing city buildings.
The buildings were printed out live at the event by local hackerspace LVL1, who had collaborated with University of Kentucky architecture students to develop the models. Attendees were not only able to move the 3D printed buildings around the huge map of the city, but the building's designs could be modified via Google SketchUp and printed live on one of the five 3D printers that LVL1 provided. Sort of a real-life D&D tabletop game, although with no dice or goblins, and more discussions of traffic patterns and zoning designations.
The interactive event was used to kick-off Vision Louisville, a planning initiative to shape the next 25 years of the city's development. The city plans to hold on to the 3D printed building models and record the ideas that were developed on the map for future use. Louisville is not the first city to get the 3D printing treatment, Chicago was rendered in 3D in 2009 as part of an exhibit by the Chicago Architectural Foundation.
Sound like a lot of fun (maybe even more than Monopoly), and if you want to get going on arranging your own city, maybe check out these sweet buildings from Shapeways' own pfeiffer stylez.
Via The Atlantic Cities Image Geoff Oliver Bugbee via Flickr
Monday, September 24. 2012
Teenage Engineering Make CAD Files Available to 3D Print Replacement Parts
Teenage Engineering not only make one of the sexiest synthesizers but also get the prize for being the first electronics company to offer their replacement parts as downloadable 3D Printed files.
This is the first company that I have seen so far that offer replacement parts to be 3D Printed by their consumers. This is an incredibly smart move as it takes away the need for them to warehouse and distribute replacement parts. It also means that their fans have an opportunity to modify and customize aspects of their synthesizers.
We work hard to make our OP-1 users happy with free OS updates and added functionality. But sometimes we fail. As some have noted, the shipping cost of the OP-1 accessories is very high. This is because we can't find a good delivery service for small items. Meanwhile, we have decided to put all CAD files of the parts in our library section for you to download. The files are provided in both STEP and STL format. Just download the files and 3D print as many as you want. Next fail is the OP-1 manual update. We are almost there...we promise it will be ready sometime next week. Thank you all for your patience, we promise to work even harder in the future to make you happy.
Teenage OP-1 "fail" Team
The parts are now available on Shapeways if you need to 3D Print replacement parts for your OP-1 synthesizer.
Teenage Engineering, we LOVE you....
Renders vs Photographs, Concepts vs Reality, Ikea vs Kickstarter
As Ikea starts to use more 3d renders of products in it's catalogues Kickstarter has changed it's guidelines on new product and hardware projects stating the product renderings are prohibited and that product images must be photos of the prototype as it currently exists.
This is interesting from a number of angles:
- Ikea is using 3D Renders as it is faster and cheaper than photographing an object in different settings, it also means they can prepare the catalogue artwork before the product is in production. Ikea as a brand is reliable enough that we understand the basic quality of product we will receive if we purchase from the catalogue.
- Kickstarter is moving away from 3D renders so backers can better understand the quality of the product they will receive. The projects on Kickstarter are not (often) from a reliable brand, so people are taking a risk that they can actually deliver the product they promise, to an acceptable quality, in a timely manner.
- 3D Printing your Kickstarter project with Shapeways, either as a prototype like the Glif, or as the final product as Joshua Harker has done gives you the opportunity to show that you have a better chance of delivering a viable product.
- Shapeways renders your 3D model as soon as you upload it so you can preview your design before you 3D Print it for yourself. We recommend that you do 3D Print and photograph any product you would like to sell so that your customers can see exactly what they will get. Like Ikea, uploading photorealistic renders is often faster and cheaper than taking photographs but like Kickstarter potential buyers of your designs are relying on these images to determine the look, feel and scale of the design as proof that your design will work. This is the reason we only promote products that have photographs, not renders to ensure that your customers have a better understanding of what they will receive.
We would love to get your thoughts, are there any scenarios where you think a render is suitable?
via Solidsmack Image Cunicode
