Wednesday, November 19. 2008Creating hinges and moving partsThere were some questions on the forum lately about printing working hinges and what kind of tolerances you need to make them work. Some test objects were uploaded by pzich and we're currently printing those to see how they work. Another approach is to make a long, flat piece of plastic which can bend. The material here is about 0.5 mm thick as well: 2. Moving parts This 'GearCard' was printed as a single model in White Strong & Flexible. You can make moving parts by modeling air gaps between the gear and the axis. Although our minimum tolerance is about 0.1mm, we do suggest that you keep gaps above 0.25mm to be safe (these measures apply to White Strong & Flexible only). We'll get back to you once the new testparts are in! Monday, November 17. 2008How to make money with free software...Oh, and before you ask: no, we don't print money Tuesday, November 11. 2008Free easy to use 3d software: CB Model ProIt's a great tool for anyone who wants to get his feet wet in 3d design and it's great fun to play with. Having said that, it's unclear why the product is called 'PRO' because it's certainly lacking a number of pro-features (like having more control over your model and it's dimensions). Download CB Model Pro is available for both Windows and Mac OS X, and it's completely free (although after 15 days you'll have to register for a free key to continue using it).
Uploading to Shapeways Due to the nature of this modeler, it's hard to create non-manifold objects, and it contains an STL exporter - the basic ingredients for having your model printed are both in place. The exported STL files need a bit of cleaning up though - they trigger a 'non manifold' error after uploading to Shapeways (even though they're not!). This is easily solved though by downloading the open source package MeshLab, opening your STL with it and saving it as STL again. The default objects (cube, sphere etc) have a dimension of 1, so you should use 'inches' as the STL unit when uploading. Tutorials The website CB Model Pro Fans has published a number of nice video-tutorials and demonstrations that should get you started: Walking HouseFriday, October 31. 2008Painting your 3D printed modelsBart and I had some fun painting some of our models with arcylic paint. You can use arcylics to paint White, Strong & Flexible and we wanted to show you guys that. For the both of us the last painting training & practice we ever did before making this video was in kindergarten. But, we can not wait to see what you guys will do with paint & Shapeways Monday, October 27. 20083D printed cars
Wouter Scheublin was one of the designers on the Virtual Making stand at Dutch Design Week. He became interested in the mechanical possibilities
You can see the working gears and the spring clearly. These mechanisms as well as the axles work as soon as the support material is removed. The mechanism is intentionally exposed so that people can see what you can design and build with 3D printing. The entire car comes out of the machine When you pull the car back over the ground the wheels wind the gears that in turn wind the spring a Friday, October 24. 2008a wineglass doorbell
Peter van der Jagt made a wineglass doorbell for Droog Design at Dutch Design Week you could see the result on the more developmen
Thursday, October 16. 2008Shapeways member interviews: WhystlerWhystler aka Shawn Johnson is one of the nicest and most helpful Shapeways members out there. Besides this he, makes his living selling virtual goods and is a dreamer, a designer, a potter, a musician, a festival organiser, a Continue reading "Shapeways member interviews: Whystler" Monday, October 13. 2008Rapid Prototyping from BMW: high speed with high technologyWednesday, October 8. 2008club table, beautiful brailler and growing furniture
I must admit to not knowing what a brailler was before reading the Dexigner article. A brailler is a device that blind people can use to type in braille. An iconic and ancient one has recently be redesigned and I think it looks very robust and usuble. It also looks very friendly. It still amazes me how people can design a functional object that looks friendly.
A decidedly unfriendly object is James McAdam's Safe Bedside Table, a small table that doubles as a club and shield to defend yourself. Some people say that 3D printing is like 'growing' objects. I would dispute this, Tokujin Yushioka, he grows things. He grew a chair consisting of crystals. The production process seems to be a bit slow for Shapeways but we should consider it.
Tuesday, October 7. 2008How to photograph 3D printed objects
Friday, September 26. 2008Our biggest 3d print yet!They wrote: Cornelius has grown to massive proportions (+/- 20cm!!!) and we poured his feet in pedestal of concrete to prevent him from running away (VeroBlue is one of the new materials that we're considering - we still need your vote on which one to choose!) This sucker is heavy - they didn't even try to save on material by hollowing it out... Remember: do not try this at home. It'll blast a serious hole in your pocketmoney Friday, June 13. 2008TopMod3D - Give it a Try, Win a $50 Print
A few weeks ago I wrote about TopMod3D, a 'topological mesh modeling' tool that allows you to create really far-out and intricate models. I gave it a try and quickly came up with a simple design that I had printed. It's a crazy little thing, but if you put it on the table during a meeting, everyone will be playing with it all the time
To give you an idea, the model only cost $26 to print because it's just a wireframe and doesn't contain a lot of material. As my skills with this tool are obviously limited, I was wondering what someone with a bit more time and expertise would come up with. So: I challenge you to come up with a fun and intriguing design using TopMod3D. I'll hand out a $50 coupon to the designer of the best entry to have it printed. To participate, place the object in your Shapeways account and leave link in a comment below this post. We'll select the winner on Wednesday the 18th of June at 9am CEST (Amsterdam time). The winner will be announced later that day. If you don't have an account yet, register as a beta user and enter 'TopMod3D' in the 'How did you hear about us?' field. We'll keep a close eye on the entries and invite you as soon as we can. Be sure to read 'How Does Shapeways Work' after logging in for the first time. Have fun! Bart Wednesday, June 11. 2008Re-think Design: BMW's Shape-Shifting GINA
Every now and then you see a new idea that you just KNOW is going to change things. Here's one by BMW Design: a shape-shifting car covered with fabric. The shape of the car (the GINA - 'Geometry and functions In 'N' Adaptions') can be changed by a system of electric and hydraulic actuators, allowing the driver to, say, the size of the spoiler or the fenders. By stepping away from the existing design restrictions, BMW could suddenly achieve amazing new possibilities like the changing shape, but also the use of transparent material for the taillights. Similarly, when using 3D printing techniques you'll also find that you can cast off your existing design restrictions (and gain a few new ones!), and design things that you couldn't produce otherwise. We're entering uncharted territory and I love it. Read the full article on Wired. VideoFriday, May 30. 2008Creating Chocolate MonkeysLast week I met Chris Want of the University of Alberta, Canada. Chris has access to a 3d printer on his job at the university and he combined it with his great hobby: making chocolates. Using the 3d printer and silicon he created a mold that he then used to pour chocolate monkeys. The process forced him to think carefully about the shapes of the chocolates: they couldn't have an undercut as that would make it impossible to pull them from the mold without breaking them. The entire thing (dripping super glue on the models to cure them, pouring the silicon and working with the chocolate) must have made a tremendous mess of his kitchen, but unfortunately he doesn't show that If you want to make your own: Chris explains the entire process in detail on his website, including the gotchas he ran in to. Have fun, and don't forget to send us a couple of chocolates when you're done!
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