I officially own the coolest thing ever, ever. I just got a stainless steel 3D printed moebius strip.

It is the model Moebius Ants by Andre Bois. This model has long been one of my favorites on Shapeways. A while back when we were offering our community the chance to make Stainless Steel Ringpoems we did a small trial with our Shop owners. We gave them the chance to order models 3D printed in metal. Their own designs, 3D printed in metal. Whereas 3D printing is ten years old or so(some say 20) 3D printing in metal is a process that is very new. This stuff is going straight out of the lab and into the hands of the Shapeways community. Often with metal 3D printing there are a lot of production issues. The error rate tends to be too high, the finishing is rough or uneven and there are limitations to what you can design. This is why we asked our Shop owners to submit models, so we could field test producing them. I thought it was a great chance to try something out and so I absolutely totally had to get the Moebius ants.

I recieved it just half an hour ago, I’ve been in a complete rush ever since. It is like I’m 12 and I just got the big red bike. So apologies for any spelling mistakes and such. This thing comes is made in one piece, it comes out of the machine in one piece. Its absolutely wonderful and as of right now I officially own and have the coolest thing ever! 

The level of detail and finishing is really good. I didn’t expect it to work this well. The model feels heavy, cold, substantial, smooth. The clinking sound as the ants go round the strip is amazing and somehow I can still not get my head around the whole: the ant’s head is up, I make it go round the strip and now the ant’s head is down. Watch the video of me playing with my ants below. It cost me a $129 and its the best money I’ve ever spent. So, do you guys hope we get this 3D printing in metal sorted? Or not really?