The Shapeways Blog: 3D Printing News & Innovation
Shapeways Blog
Thursday, October 18. 2012
Launching New Polished Colors Today at 10% Off
We are very excited to share that we have improved our dying processes and quality and are launching new colors in our Strong & Flexible family!
Starting today, you will be able to order 3D prints in our dyed & polished red and purple, as well as two new colors: Royal Blue and Hot Pink. The new dyes are a potent mixture of pigment and dye which saturates both the surface and the interior of the nylon plastic. The results are vibrant and consistent, and means that the colors will last longer and appear brighter.
This is the first of many more colors we will be introducing. We chose to add blue and pink based on your feedback and we can't wait to see what you design for these colors.
New Colors: Properties and Design Guidelines
The design rules are slightly different as the models have to withstand polishing first. The bounding box for polished colors is slightly smaller at 150x150x150mm and the minimum for unsupported wires is 0.9mm.
For more details, please see the Product Detail page here and refer to the design rules for polished products. Remember, you can still order White and Black Strong and Flexible in unpolished.
Pricing
To celebrate this new addition and help you prepare your shop for the holiday season, all colored Strong & Flexible plastics will be 10% off until October 31st.
- White Strong Flexible - $1.50 startup, $1.40 per cc - no change
- Black Strong Flexible - no price change
- White Strong Flexible Polished - $2.00 startup, $1.50 per cc
- Colored Strong Flexible - $2.25 startup, $1.50 per cc
Your Shapeways Shop: What does this mean for you?
Shop Owners, as of today, you will have the ability to add these colors as a new material option with enough time to get some samples before the holiday season kicks off.
If you do not have colored products in your shop, you will have the opportunity to add these material options starting today, October 17th.
Wednesday, October 17. 2012
One Just One Launches On Kickstarter
Sivam Krish is a busy man. He co-founded Genometri, an early generative design firm which we profiled in 2010, and just last week launched a Kickstarter to fund One just One, his new 3D printed jewelry brand. There are 26 days left to go, so head over and check it out.
Generative design is a design process that uses advanced algorithms to explore potential design possibilities. The results mimic what happens in nature, no two items are the same, each is unique. One just One is initially working with a small group of designers to build collections of unique designs that were each generated from a single genetic base model, with the goal of eventually building a larger global community of technology-savvy and skilled designers.
As Sivam puts it, "Generative design is inspired by natural design processes where genetic structuring of design data enables the creation of variations. No two people are alike and now, no two products need be alike."
The One just One Kickstarter campaign offers pieces of original jewelry in exchange for pledges of support, starting at $20. And if that's not enough to get you excited, One just One orders are filled by the one and only Shapeways.
Monday, October 15. 2012
Design an iPhone 5 Accessory to win $500 Worth of 3D Printing at Shapeways
Only a few days left to get your entry in to win $500 worth of 3D Printing at Shapeways.
We have already received some very impressive entries so the bar has been set quite high but it is always worth entering because there is always room for more awesomeness and hey, if it does not win it still might sell if you have it for sale in your Shapeways shop....
To enter the contest:
- Upload a new design to Shapeways with the tag iPhone5_3D by 5pm EST Friday October 19th 2012.
- Upload a description of your design specifying the use/context.
- Make it awesome.
Terms and Conditions:
- Free prize draw, closing date, 5pm EST Friday October 19th 2012.
- Winner will receive $500 worth of 3D Printing from Shapeways.
- The winner be notified in writing by October 30th, 2012.
- No purchase necessary.
- Multiple entries allowed.
- Entry must be a new design uploaded after September 13th, 2012.
- Entry must be on display to public to be eligible
- All IP for all entires remain property of the designer as per standard Shapeways terms and conditions.
- All entries, images, renders and 3D prints may be used by Shapeways for promotional purposes
- By entering this competition, entrants will be deemed to have accepted and agreed to the conditions.
- No cash or other alternative prizes available.
- The prize draw is not open to Shapeways employees or their families.
- The promoters decision is final and no correspondance will be entered into.
- Promoter: Shapeways LLC, 419 Park Ave South, New York, NY 10016, USA
Tuesday, October 9. 2012
Keep Your Knife Happy With This Cool 3D Printed Sharpener
Ben Chapman, a designer on the Thingiverse, has come up with this great looking knife sharpener.
The 3D printed sharpener works by fitting onto the bottom of a standard size ceramic coffee mug. Chapman, in a moment of genius, realized that the bottom of a coffee mug usually has a ring of exposed unglazed ceramic. The knife blade fits in a slot at the proper angle to hone the blade on the ceramic as it is pulled across it.
The protruding stand on the side allows the sharper to be used with the mug tipped at an angle and the blade moving vertically through the slot, or with the mug resting on its top lip, for sharpening at a more horizontal angle.
Awesome design, and inspired use of an existing household item to complete the sharpener. Now, maybe we can convince Mr. Chapman to get the design up on Shapeways?
Via: core77 Image: Ben Chapman
Monday, October 8. 2012
Smooth vs Standard Nylon 3D Printing
We introduced Polished White Strong & Flexible Nylon 3D Printing back in May 2011 and have seen your prints coming out looking much more smooth and professional feeling. Those making twisty puzzles now assemble their designs without the need for sanding prior to assembly and those painting their 3D Prints can do so with less preparation time and effort.
One downside is the size of 3D Print that can currently be polished is limited to 150x150x150mm so not all Nylon 3D Prints can be post-processed in this way. To polish your 3D Prints we place them in a giant vibratory tumbler with an abrasive medium that smooths the surface. The tumbling process can be a little rough on really fine 3D Printed wires so the minimum thickness for these kind of features in your design must be at least 0.9mm, over 1mm is preferred.
We do not currently offer smooth color 3D Printing but it is something we may offer in the near future. The current dying process does not react well to polishing but if we were to introduce polished colors we may need to limit the size from the current 230x180x130mm to 150x150x150mm. The result is there may be a few models that cannot be printed in color, but all color models would be nice and smooth, less stepping, less rough edges.
Let us know what you think? would you like ALL of your 3D prints to one day arrive at your doorstep silky smooth, is there any other post processing you would like to see? Let us know your thoughts...
Friday, September 28. 2012
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.
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....
Thursday, September 20. 2012
3D Printing Food in the Future, Pffft, 3D Printed Cutlery is Now
Who wants 3D Printed food when you can dine in elegantly decayed style with the range of cutlery in 3D Printed sterling silver designed by Eragatory.
Cutlery refers to any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food. Aside of the functional aspect of tableware, silverware has always been and will perpetually be an ornamental figure. Conceived to pleasure the eye while fulfilling one of our most primary needs of food consumption and or squander. Cutlery is unique in its ability to sustain time and carries a remarkable family heritage. Sets of knifes, spoons, forks have been passed on from generation to generation all over the globe, traveling the whole world as a piece of personal history. Key elements while designing this set was the notion of decay/processing, ornamental and aesthetic excess as in former rococo and barock times, moments of collapse/disequilibrium and a balance in between etiquette dining and painful torture tools. By subverting the logic of perfection and beauty, non-perfect images coming from controlled methodologies were generated. What used to be about mastering the result of a non-perfect process is now about the production of monstrosity and the grotesque throughout very accurate mechanisms, like 3d printing. Which creates an unlimited range of possibilities concerning material usage, design approaches/aesthetics and form production.
Tuesday, September 18. 2012
Design for iPhone 5 Contest Update : Download Files for 3D Printing (UPDATED)
UPDATE: These files may not be 100% correct, I will double check ASAP...
UPDATE 2: THE CORRECT FILES ARE NOW AVAILABLE, PLEASE SEE DETAILS HERE.
We announced the contest to win $500 worth of Shapeways 3D Printing last week and have already seen a few designs for the iPhone 5 trickle in but we wanted to make it a little easier for you with a few 3D files to download that might help.
We have used the specifications provided by Apple to 3D model a dummy iPhone 5 suitable for 3D Printing in Nylon and one for Full Color 3D Printing, along with a basic case for the iPhone 5 and a basic bumper.
Please note we are waiting for the 3D Prints to come back and of course we have not yet tested them on an iPhone 5 yet.....
You can download the STL files to modify in your 3D software of choice as long as it supports STL import, we have also uploaded the case to TinkerCad along with the bumper and the dummy iPhone 5 so you can start customizing the design even if you do not have any 3D CAD skills, yet...
Friday, September 14. 2012
3D Print Contest for iPhone 5 Accessories
UPDATE: THE CORRECT 3D FILES ARE NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD, PLEASE SEE HERE.
The iPhone 5 has now been announced and about go on sale on in the U.S. so we want to see what innovative new designs you come up with to 3D Print for the latest iteration of the iPhone to hit the market.
We are running a contest to find the coolest possible 3D Printed accessory for the iPhone 5, be it a case, mount, amplifier, magnifier, connector, stand, spinner, launcher, disguise, necklace, shoe, bottle opener, ping pong paddle, helmet, destroyer, anything.
Upload your NEW design for the iPhone 5 with the tag iPhone5_3D by Friday October 19th for your chance to win $500 worth of Shapeways 3D Printing!
The Shapeways team will choose a winner based on the design we deem to be most awesome...
You can download the dimensions of the new iPhone 5 from Apple now to make your design perfectly fit the new device and check out their Case Guidelines to ensure your design does not impede the performance of the iPhone 5.
Read More »
Tuesday, September 11. 2012
SolidWorks Tutorial: Validating your Design with SimulationXpress (VIDEO)
Continuing our series of Solidworks 3D modeling tutorials for 3D Printing by SolidWize, this week they explain Validating your Design with SimulationXpress:
You just received your bright new 3D printed part and the unthinkable happens; it breaks. With the right model prep, this can be avoided. Last week I did a post on creating a one handed bottle opener modeled after the Kebo from Rush Design. The last thing you would want to happen is to have your brand new bottle opener break the first time you use it. That's why in this week's tutorial by SolidWize, I'll be talking about validating your design using SolidWorks SimulationXpress. The most suitable Shapeways material for this use case would be Stainless Steel.
SimulationXpress is a fairly simple tool to use, and can allow you to quickly verify that your model will have adequate strength.
Watch the full tutorial below. If you'd like to follow along, you can download the SolidWorks file from my GrabCad Profile.
simulation xpress from Rohit Mitra on Vimeo.
About the author: Rohit Mitra is the founder of SolidWize.com, a membership based online training system for SolidWorks users.
Friday, September 7. 2012
3D Printing the Stairway to Heaven and/or Star Wars Theme (VIDEO)
Can't decide whether to 3D Print Stairway to Heaven or the Star Wars Theme for you Fisher Price turntable? No Problem, you can simply order the Double Sided Disc hot from the Shapeways 3D Printer.
You do not need to settle for this double disc of 70's nostalgia when you can design your own thanks to an Instructables by our latest hero Fred Murphy aka Fred27 aka Fred27.
You can download the files you need to get started here, rock on, and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE share your videos with us...."Attached you'll find the new version of my Fisher Price music editing software. It's included as an executable and (if you don't trust randomly downloaded software from the internet) the C# source code is there too. Feel free to take a nose around in the source code and compile it with the free version of Visual C# 2010 Express.
You'll also need a copy of OpenSCAD. This amazing software allows the scripting of 3D CAD objects and is what turns the idea of what you want into the STL file that a 3D printer accepts.
Wow - all this software and no need to pay a penny for any of it.
If this all sounds like too much trouble, then you can just open one of the pre-generated STL files. Your jukebox comprises of Stairway to Heaven, the Star Wars theme and You are my Sunshine. If none of those float your boat then don't complain... get editing. I'd love to hear what you can do."
Thursday, September 6. 2012
SolidWorks Tutorial: Creating a 3D Model Using Sketch Pictures (VIDEO)
From time to time, you'll likely come across an image of something you want to create a 3D model from. With SolidWorks, you can use the sketch picture tool to import an image to build from. This Kebo bottle opener by Rush Product Design Studio makes for a great example, and we'll use it in this weeks tutorial from SolidWize.
By bringing the picture into a sketch, you can quickly reproduce the desired geometry inside of SolidWorks using just a few lines, arcs, and the fully define sketch tool.
Watch the full tutorial below. If you right click and save the picture of the Kebo, you'll be able to follow along. You can also download the completed model from the Solidwize Shapeways page.
Kebo Bottle Opener Upload 2 from Rohit Mitra on Vimeo.
Next week's video will cover using Simulation Xpress to validate and optimize your design for a Shapeways Stainless print.
About the author: Rohit Mitra is the founder of SolidWize.com, a membership based online training system for SolidWorks users.
UPDATE: Solidwize is holding a webinar on creating beautiful renders using Photoview 360 next Wednesday, September 12th. Check out http://solidwize.com/webinars for more information.
Wednesday, August 29. 2012
You Can Now Import 3D STL Files into Tinkercad : Let The 3D Modifications and Mash-Ups Begin
Tinkecad has been turning up the awesome dial on their WebGL browser based 3D modeling application over the past year but they just made it even better with the ability to import 3D STL files....
This will make it SUPER easy to customize an existing 3D model to 3D Print at Shapeways, whether it be your own file you have created in another software, or a downloadable file from Shapeways, or other 3D model repositories like Thingiverse and GrabCad. You can also grab multiples STL files and mash them together, add text, geometry, anything.... AWESOME.
One limitation is the STL import is currently limited to 25,000 triangles so don't go throwing zBrush madness at it just yet, and of course, make sure you have permission to use the 3D files, and if you modify them, be sure to adhere to the terms by which the original 3D model was shared..
Thanks to the Tinkercad crew for such a fantastic move.
