3 Dimensional Engineer

GrabCAD iOS Mobile App Review

2013-05-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

GrabCAD offers a way for engineers to collaborate by providing easy storage and access to a huge library of 3D computer aided design files. I have written on their blog, and occasionally poke around their library for models of various uses. One feature it is good to see them focusing on is the mobile app. Viewing on a mobile app is important for companies that are looking to the future. Editing from a mobile device is still limited, they lack the software and processing power to run most existing programs, but maybe GrabCAD will be the ones to change that. Until then you can use their app for handy viewing of all their files (or your own, if you are logged in and sharing).

I was able to easily download the GrabCAD app from the Apple app store. Once opened you can immediatly browse the library of 3D files in the libraries, each uploaded by various other users. All public files are also downloadable to a embedded viewer that allows for simple zooming and turning of the model. The viewer can not hide parts, do section views, or edit the file but for a simple display it does the job nicely.

Signing in provides individual access to private files or those shared on a corporate account or with limited groups of others. The app does occasionally crash and could use additional features for commenting, marking up, and editing the models but overall it serves the need of having an easy and free way to share 3D files with a large group of people.

3D Printing Machines Image Gallery

2013-05-23T06:20:00.000-07:00

This is a collection of 3D Printing Machines currently available (or in production). For more information and articles on 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing keep reading on 3DEngr.com.

3D Printers

6 Cool Ways To 3D Print Yourself

2013-05-03T07:36:00.002-07:00

There are lots of ways to use 3D printing, but one of the more fun and flashy ones is getting a 3D print of yourself. A few companies and retail stores have already begun offering consumers the opportunity to see themselves created in miniature form. Below are just a few of the ways to print yourself

Printed in Carbonite (Disney Parks - Star Wars):

The new Star Wars owner, Disney, started using the iconic Han Solo in Carbonite as reference to personalize your own piece of memorabilia. Guests could step into a 3D photo booth and be scanned in a moment of agony – just like Han. A technician handled the software processing and positioning and ultimately created a replica carbonite block.

Cubify 3DMe by 3D Systems:

The largest 3D printing player, 3D Systems, recently started leveraging their Cubify creation system to open a new service, 3DMe. Everything from cake toppers, to graduation busts, to sports bodies are available. Just upload a few images and order.

Fabcafe Shibuya Tokyo Shop:

Not to be outdone by action figure bodies and likenesses a shop in the popular Shibuya district of Tokyo has taken printing to a delicious new level. After getting a full body scan a plastic tray is made with a 3D printer, but that is not the end product. The tray works as a mold in which you can make delicious gummy versions of yourself. Using 3D printing as a step to create a fixture shows a bit more how versatile this technology is and hints at the impact it will have on manufacturing in general.

D-Tech Me Disney Princesses:

The D-Tech me offering from Disney, mentioned previously for it’s Star Wars Carbonite prints, also extends into classic girls properties. Using the same scanning technique a girl can have her own likeness made into a figurine of one of the classic Disney Princesses, complete with their gorgeous gowns.

Shapeways Pop Up Shop in New York:

Shapeways, the online marketplace and service center for 3D models and printing, also got into the business of printing people. Though it was only a brief stint at a NY pop up shop the offerings included charms, figures, ceramic cups and even some more adult oriented items. The video from Mashable explains things.

Makerbot Retail Store NYC:

The MakerBot retail store in NYC has a 3D photo booth that will output a digital file directly to their cloud software Thingiverse. While in town a few weeks ago for the Inside 3D Printing Expo at Javits I stopped by and got this taken. Now all it takes is logging on to Thingiverse and ordering a print for $20-$50. Sure the blue color is not all that flattering, but the process was super easy.

Conjoined Twins and Instant Shoes: Medicine, Fashion and More From Inside 3D Printing Expo

2013-04-25T07:01:00.000-07:00

View from the Inside 3D Printing Expo

Just got back from a few fun days at the first ever Inside 3D Printing Expo held at the Javits Center in New York City. The two day event announced they had more than 3000 people registered, and anyone who tried to elbow their way through the exhibitor hall will believe that number.

Read more »

3D Printing Helping Deployed Soldiers

2013-04-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

Photo Credit Flickr : 621st Contingency Response Wing

The new industrial revolution of 3D printing is already making itself a reality for some professionals. US soldiers around the world have used additive manufacturing and 3D printing to develop immediate solutions to problems that traditionally would have taken years. Contracts for new parts or upgraded devices can take years to work their way through the vast bureaucracy that controls defense spending. The Army’s Expeditionary Lab Mobile (ELM) can skip that process with their mobile engineering and production.

An article in the National Defense Magazine talks about one use of the ELM tech that solved a seemingly basic problem. Flashlights issued to soldiers had a power button that was prone to accidental activation. This is a problem that could give away a position or more commonly drain batteries leaving the user without any light. ELM designed and fabricated “a plastic guard that clips over the end of the flashlight, preventing accidental activation of the power switch”.

Other mentioned uses include the creation of thousands of adapters for USB charging devices. Given the remote location and inherent supply chain issues 3D printing was not only an elegant solution but arguably the most economical. These types of items are one of the reasons why President Obama made mention of 3D Printing and NAMII in his State Of The Union. No doubt this is only the beginning of what will become a whole new approach to manufacturing and development for an increasing number of parts and devices.

Gamification To Bring 3D Printing To The Masses

2013-04-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

New York City seems like the place to be for 3D Printing. Next week the Javits Center in Manhattan will host the first "Inside 3D Printing Conference", which isn't the first get together this month for additive manufacturing enthusiasts in the Big Apple. TechHive wrote about an April 6th hacking day, hosted by 3D printing company MakerBot, that was designed to encourage development of apps on top of the Makerbot Thingiverse library. Thingiverse is a place where users can upload, share, or acquire different 3D files that can be used for printing. One current limitation for Thingiverse is the sheer usability of it. Even with easy to use 3D design software popping up, 3D printing is still constrain by certain mechanical limitations that require at least a working knowledge of materials and supports to overcome.

Some of the attendees of the hacking day were dreaming big on how they could make it easier for users to take advantage of 3D printing. One such programmer explained:

“Basically, what I want to do is pull assets from Unity directly to STL format [the stereolithography file type used by 3D printers and upload it to Thingiverse," Brian explained. If it works out, Brian says he could use the same programming wrapper he put around the Thingiverse API to pull basically anything he wants from any Unity application, which could include characters models or any art asset from inside a Unity game.

Unity is the game engine behind a huge number of popular titles across a variety of platforms including Temple Run 2 and the Angry Birds follow up Bad Piggies. Other 3D printing enthusiasts are hypothesizing that this type of gaming overlay, and more specifically Minecraft as a design platform, may be what brings 3D printing into homes.

With the much anticipated new industrial revolution fast approaching it will be interesting to see which killer apps rise to the top.

Inside 3D Printing Next Week In New York City

2013-04-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

Just packed my bags for New York City and the Inside 3D Printing Conference & Expo, which is next wee April 22-23 at the Javits Center! This event is the first conference of its kind in this region and all of the industry’s heavy hitters will be present. 3DEngr readers can save 15% off your registration. Just enter the code CMA and register here.

This industry gathering is a chance to meet with professionals at all the major 3D printing companies including 3D Systems, Shapeways, MakerBot, Solidoodle, and many more. Leaders in the industry will be making presentations on.3D printing’s impact on a seriously long list of items (The official listing includes daily life, education, food, engineering, design, architecture, manufacturing, firearms, fashion, and business.) View the full program here.

Sessions include:

-How Professional Investors Are Playing the 3D Printing Boom

-Manufacturing The Future-Design Tools in the Age of 3D Printing

-3D Printing: A Blueprint for Greener Living?-3D Printing Firearms: Wither Gun Control?

If you're looking to expand on your industry knowledge and add valuable contacts to your network, this event is the place to be. 3D printers will be on exhibit hall during the day and nighttime will include drinks at a cocktail networking reception and after-party.

Enter our 15% off promo-code, CMA, and save. Register today.

Carbomorph: The Next Big Thing In 3D Printed Electronics

2013-04-12T06:30:00.000-07:00

There is a great research paper from University of Warwick that showcases what may just be the next big leap forward for 3D Printing, a new material called Carbomorph. The breakthrough comes from a formulated material that exhibits piezoresistive behavior. To the layman that means it is able to do become a sensor of all types of cool things. Touch sensors, simple motion sensors, volume sensors and more can all be created through unique applications of this type of material. Most notably the material is able to be used in existing 3D Printers.

This does not mean we will be able to print a full computer next year but it is a step in the right direction. A useful application for this may be as a part of a kit that has most of the other electronics but requires customization for various uses. Something along the lines of the educational tool Mo-Botby Barobo, which recently released all of their CAD files so that educators and students can print out their own pieces.

Mo-Bot: An educational robot kit that could be enhanced by printed electronic sensors

Such kits may include the opportunity to create customized intelligent everyday items. The researchers showed a few applications that may be useful including a cup that was able to tell how full it was.

Of course this is a simple application, and there are other ways to achieve the same result, but in the hands of designers and innovators this simple workflow may be turned into an amazing product no one has yet thought of. Ultimately these designers will have an easier time prototyping their new inventions. The excitement of this is captured in the paper presenting Carbomorph:

The printed sensors are simple to interface to and require no complicated electronic circuits or amplification, in-fact the sensors can be monitored using existing open-source electronics and freely available programming libraries. Standard print settings were used and no modifications to the printer were required. A significant advantage in using 3D printing to create electronic components such as these is that sockets for connecting to standard equipment such as interface boards and multimeters can be printed as part of the printed structure whereas a 2D printed electronics approach using a technology such as inkjet printing would require the use of conductive glues and paints. This approach will open up many new applications for 3DP where fully interactive devices can be printed, for instance, designers could understand how people tactilely interact with their products by monitoring sensors embedded inside.

A Compelling Video Answer: Will 3D Printing Change The World?

2013-04-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

Convenience Device Or Mini-Factory: 3D Printing Vending Machines

2013-04-10T06:16:00.000-07:00

As patents have expired and open source 3D printers have grown in popularity engineers, designers, and business minded professionals are all searching for a way to capitalize off the next industrial revolution. Many believe that we are only years away from 3D printers being available in every home, and though that may be true, what are we to do in the mean time?

How About a 3D Printing Vending Machine?

That is the idea behind two separate projects, the DreamVendor and Dreambox (no correlation in projects that I can find, despite similar names.

Dreambox is a startup at a UC Berkely incubator. After realizing that the on campus 3D printers had a long wait time and off site services required up to a 2-4 week lead time the Dreambox team set out to solve that consumer pain. The initial device is a nearly 8 foot tall behemoth that houses a Makerbot printer inside and is hooked up to the cloud. Similar to other service 3D printing systems, Dreambox lets users upload a file remotely but instead of going to some clearing house facility in New York or else where the file is sent to the nearest vending machine.

This business model is very similar to that being tested by Mcor Technologies in partnership with Staples. In Dreambox’s case they plan to house and distribute the printers in number of locations. The first Dreambox is already up and running on Berkeley’s campus.

The other vending machine printer is the Dream Vendor. Produced by Virginia Tech faculty and students the concept is very similar. First you start with a 3D file although instead of loading it to the cloud you load it into a SD card (exact directions on how to save the right file type are included on the VT website).
The SD card is then inserted into the machine and it produces the file. Users can watch in the open build window as the item is then printed out. Personally I like the idea of being passed a “surprise” SD card and then loading it and watching as something cool is magically printed.

Both of these machines are in the infancy. As the technology gets better and the teams working on vending machine projects become more experienced it is likely we’ll see all sorts of developments including multiple materials, colors and more. Maybe one day retail stores stacked with endless rows of nearly identical knick knacks and gadgets will be a thing of the past and in their place will be left rows of 3D Printing Vending machine, mini factories just waiting to make dreams into reality.

The Current State 3D Printing As A Service

2013-04-09T07:24:00.000-07:00

A colleague recently forwarded me a Forbes article that talked about 3D Printing as a service. I agree with the author that while 3D printing machine prices make owning a machine out of the question for many consumers, there is a huge market for on-demand printing. The ability to take a file and digitally send it to a service house for creation allows even amateurs the opportunity to use these services, though to varying degrees. An ability to design the item that you want and to customize it will further allow consumers to engage with additive manufacturing as an emerging service market.

One of the companies mentioned in the article, Shapeways, specializes in printing as a service. They have the ability to print things in a wide variety of materials (each materials has it's own pricing). It is a service designed for all. The variety of materials allows them to create custom everything from jewelry to toools, to simple gadgets. In an interview, Co-Founder Peter Weijmarshausen (who is a speaker at the upcoming Inside 3D Printing Conference) said

"If you are a maker, a designer, a creative problem solver, you can design in 3d software anything you want, you can upload it to Shapeways and then we can turn that design into a real product.

If you are not a designer or problem solver you can go to our website and you can find hundreds of thousands of products that others have designed and you can buy them and customize them."

Other sites exist that allow for similar customization. Sculpteo is a marketplace where designers can upload custom files and earn money when their designs are sold. This works to the benefit of both the consumer and the creator. An average user does not have to learn how to do high end CAD modeling, instead they simply plug in a few words or graphics to personlize an item. Maybe surprisingly the cost of these models is competitive with real products. Things like iPhone cases vary from $12-$70+ on Sculpteo.

A library of existing parts helps to differentiate Sculpteo and Shapeways but these are not the only sites where you can get something printed for a price. It seems there is little barrier to entry in the printing services market. Anyone capable of running a machine and organizing a stable web based market place has the opportunity to open up shop. iMateralise uses the site as something of a front end for various CAD tools and modeling services. A portion of their page directs users to TinkerCad, Autodesk, and Sketchup all of which can be used to create or customize parts.

Another of the major service sites is Ponoko. Also designed to allow users to monetize their designs, Ponoko opens up more than just 3D printing and includes laser cutting, forming and more.

Currently a major barrier to 3D printing is not just access to the machines but the knowledge of how to create something useful for printing. As these tools continue to become more user friendly the market for services like this will only grow, but what about the professional market. Many industrial applications do not require the slick web design and one click purchases of consumer facing sites.

The previously mentioned sites help bring printing to a consumer market but there is as large (if not larger) a market for professionals who require prototyping services. Organizations both small and large spend a great deal of money fabricating items for research, testing, and presentations. For these professionals still other 3D Printing service companies exist.

RedEye Production Floor

Redeye is owned by Stratasys, a valuable 3D Printing company. The service offering for them creates a number of advantages. Customers who require printing services are likely to use it more than once and for those using it for prototyping it is possible they will one day need larger manufacturing capabilities. In that case Redeye serves as the first interaction with what could potentially be a huge account for Stratasys.

Not to be outdone 3D Systems, the other major player in 3D printing machines, has their own service arm. Quickparts works in much the same way but expands the offer beyond just 3D printed parts into true injection molded components. This allows them to take slightly larger orders that would require multiple prints. Likely one day there will be a printer large enough to churn out 1000 piece orders but until then 3D Systems continues to engage with the engineers and designers who have use for such things.

Even more printing service companies exist today and more are likely to pop up in the coming years. As printer owners find new uses for idle machine time and CAD vendors create tools consumers can use these service houses could spring up practically anywhere. And with talk of a chocolate printer hitting the market this year who knows what bakery or office supply store may become the new print center.

Discussing The Future Of Additive Manufacturing: Inside 3D Printing Conference And Expo In New York City

2013-04-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

Just got tickets to New York for April 22-23rd to attend the first ever Inside 3D Printing Conference. As a longtime enthusiast of the industry, a user of 3D printing services, an engineer, and a consumer this will be a great chance to talk with others about the future of 3D printing and additive manufacturing.

The conference will be packed with industry professionals including speakers from some of the major players in additive manufacturing and 3D printing. You can hear keynote presentations by leaders - Avi Reichental, President and CEO of3D Systems,Peter Weijmarshausen, CEO and Co-Founder of Shapeways, and Terry Wohlers,Principal Consultant and President of Wohlers Associates, Inc.

Of all the events I am particularly interested in hearing from VP of Marketing for Solid Concepts, Scott McGowan:

Learn from leading 3D printing practitioners about state of the art industrial additive manufacturing technologies – the pros and cons. Overview of 3D printing technologies in polymers, production plastics and metals: Streolithography (SLA), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS), and other 3D Printing technologies. See what industries are using additive manufacturing technologies and how they’re being used.

Interested in attending the event? Check out the full Agenda

To 3D Print You Must 3D Design: A Review Of Solid Edge ST 5

2013-04-07T18:07:00.001-07:00

The rise of 3D printing and rapid prototyping has many people thinking about one day replicating something in their home. Service companies, like Shapeways, Thingiverse and RedEye, exist to get models into the hands of printer owners but there is another way... create it yourself. To take an idea from napkin sketch to 3D part file ready for printing some type of CAD (Computer aided design) software is needed. Many programs exist for this, one of which is Solid Edge ST.

When I was asked to review Solid Edge ST 5 I was excited to see how the learning’s of 7+ years with Solidworks would transfer to Synchronous Technology (ST). I did not expect to become an expert in Solid Edge immediately, it is of course a powerful and robust piece of software, but after a few weeks using the software I was surprised how easy it was to work with. To get up to speed I ran through some of the built in tutorials and then had a hands on training trip with 3 Siemens employees. (Portions of this article appear on CADDigest.com who helped organize the review and training). In the end I found I could use ST 5 for everything I needed and in some instances it surpassed my expectations.

Installation of Solid Edge

Figure 1 - Installing Solid Edge

Although not quite as easy as getting an app onto a phone, installation of Solid Edge was very smooth on Windows 8. I was able to download and install Solid Edge with only a handful of clicks on a Confirm button. ST 5 is stable and there is no indication new builds will be anything but. Over a month long review I never managed to bring my computer to a grinding halt, that’s not something I can say for every CAD package.

Layout and User Interface

Given the MCAD systems are so complicated the layout and user interface are critical. With Solid Edge many of the toolbars and menu buttons are something of an industry standard and though first time users will have some clicking around to do things are generally intuitive. Here is a quick look at the primary toolbar in Solid Edge compared to Solidworks.
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Interview With Moedls Founder John Fehr: 3D Scanning From A Mobile Device

2013-03-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

I posted here recently about a new mobile 3D scanner that appeared on KickStarter as well as at Engadget’s Expand. Moedls was one of the finalists of the Engadget Insert Coin competition and after meeting at the show I had a chance to trade a few emails with the Founder, John Fehr. John is busy perfecting the software of the scanner to ensure full water tight scan outputs, a primary request from the current backs and a necessity for passing a great scan directly to a 3D printer. Being the good natured guy that he is (I say that from a brief meeting at Engadget and the obvious tongue and cheek nature of his Kickstarter video) John was nice enough to answer a few questions I had for him about his history with scanning and the thoughts behind Moedls. Below is the transcript of our conversation.

Flattened 3D Scan from Moedls - Updated to Approach Near Water Tight

3DEngr: What experience do you have with others scanners? When did you first encounter them and why the desire to create your own?

My only real experience is with the David Laser Scanner. It works pretty well but I found the setup to be a bit tedious, and tended to leave a lot of extra points to clean up. Having to manually rotate it, take new scans, and merge the mesh's together made it too complex for me to use. You can get nice scans out of it though!

3DEngr: How do you envision people using the Moedls System? Is this for hobbyists looking for some fun or for those in the manufacturing field who will utilize it professionally?

Like the scanner Makerbot showed recently, the best scans will come from cylindrical objects, since the laser works on rotation. I targeted the price more towards the hobbyists, since they have a much more limited budget than the manufacturers.

Moedls Original Output - Some Holes Present

You mentioned in your Kickstarter feedback that higher resolution and better output came from more capable hardware (cameras and desktop machines), how important is the mobile portion of the scanner as compared to the quality of the scan? Will Moedls work for both mobile and PC and be customizable by end users based on their needs or are you looking to create a closed system?

I definitely want the user to be able to get the best possible scan out of the hardware, and having the software on multiple OS's with different characteristics (mobility, memory, sensor quality, etc) is very important for that, so that's what I'm moving towards. I want to keep the 'mobility' part as much as possible, but obviously if the software works on a laptop, it'll work on a desktop as well.

3DEngr: Your prototype at expand looked like it was cut on a CNC laser cutter. How did you create the working prototype?

I bought a number of rotating platforms to test stability/rotation speed before I decided I'd have to build my own to get the characteristics I want. The prototype at expand was based on a platform I bought on amazon for about $135. It's plastic, and originally had a mirror top, which of course would not work with the lasers, because of reflections. I replaced the top with 3 layers of 1/8" MDF (to get it as flat as possible) cut in circles, plus a custom bottom that fit into the original fitting for the original mirror top. It was by far the most stable platform I found on the market, but its still not as stable as is needed. The final version (being build now) is made of anodyzed aluminum with extra bearings and a more stable drive system to make the rotation silky smooth.

The MDF was cut out with a Versalser.

3DEngr: What about software, do you design the components and device in 3D before mocking it up, if so which CAD package do you use?

I designed the prototypes with Sketchup, and use the SVG exporter to create an SVG file that the versalaser software can import.

3DEngr: Looks like you have a few different Kickstarter campaigns, how has your experience been in the past and did you always know you would be putting moedls there? It has a much higher funding goal, were the others done before you conceived of the moedls project?

Kickstarter has been great! I haven't made a ton of money (I think most of them barely broke even in terms of how much I spent and how much income I got) but the feedback and suggestions from Kickstarters are always helpful, and improved all of my projects. All of them eventually made it (or are making it) onto the online market.

Moedls took about a year to develop, on and off, and during that time I was constantly looking for better lasers and rotating platform, and I think about halfway through, I knew I'd be eventually putting it on kickstarter, because I couldn't find decent hardware. I knew the funding goal would be much higher too, since all of my other projects have been built by myself (other then the magnets, which what the funding goals for those were based on). With the Moedls hardware, there are at least 4 sets of molds to be made, totally almost $20k. After I got pricing back for the molds, prototypes, and Minimum Order Quantities, I came up with a figure that was based on 'worst case' backer configuration. (Believe it or not, worst case is everyone buying the Pro version. Those powell lenses are quite expensive. I wanted to make sure the backers had the option of getting the absolute best possible scan though, so its worth it.)

3DEngr: Do you have other projects in mind after moedls? What's next?

Wow... Right now I've got my head very much wrapped around Moedls... The hardware is pretty much finalized (pending any little tweaks once I get the final prototype) although a stretch goal might be to add an Arduino board with usb/bluetooth to control via your mobile device and/or laptop. I'm really concentrating more on getting the final holes closed so it can be sent straight to a 3d printer.

3DEngr: Best of luck to you John. As a backer I am excited for all the kinks to be worked out so I can play with my new Moedls scanner.

Update:: John's latest Kickstarter update says the hole filling portion of the software is complete, now on to the challenges that originally got the project started - a smooth rotating platform.

Why Are 3D Printing Companies So Valuable

2013-03-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

All the recent news coverage and developments in additive manufacturing have been a huge boon to the investors in the leading companies. I have written here before about some of this growth but now there is a new player entering the space. ExOne is set to release their first earnings report this Thursday so I decided to take a look at some of the financials of two primary, and publicly traded, competitors. Not only is there an unprecedented amount of projected growth for their primary devices, 3D printers, but these companies are also setup to capitalize on the consumables business created by those printers.

First is Stratasys who has done well over the past few years by making additive manufacturing systems to replace traditional manufacturing methods. From their recent annual report (Page 28): “32% growth due primarily to growth in systems and consumables sales, with service revenue increasing by 12%”.

Printer Unit sales were up less than 2%, but they had a huge shift toward higher priced printers. This sales mix shift is not something you would expect to see if there was a focus on the consumer market, unless the industrial market is growing more rapidly. Stratasys found a customer base that understands the technology and needs feature rich machines. The last paragraph of the same section of their financial report: “As our installed base of systems has increased, the capacity to derive an increasing amount of revenue from sales of consumables, maintenance contracts, and other services has also increased”.

Stratasys Trading at 200+ P/E Ratio

Redeye offers a place where engineers and designers can go to upload a part file and have Stratasys manufacturing it for them for a fee. Of course this manufacturing is done on their 3D printers, using proprietary material both of which are available at wholesale costs. Interestingly this model may allow them huge growth in the future.

Many contract manufacturers offer machining and prototyping services to acquire customers in the pre-production stages. The goal to convert into a production house once the customer requires scale where larger and more stable revenues can be generated. For Statasys this model, as carried out through Redeye, offers a dual path. Either the customer moves into production and Redeye continues to make the parts on a piece cost basis, or the customer can acquire a machine. Of course either of these opportunities leaves Stratasys to provide the materials for the components. The key difference for Statasys is that the materials business is likely their most profitable revenue stream, unlike traditional manufacturing where production orders typically generate the lowest gross margins (when compared to the upfront machining and prototyping services). That is of course if materials are the most profitable cost center, for that I needed to cross reference another financial statement.

3D Systems Stock Performance

3D Systems stock has a similar trend to Stratasys over the past 24 months. In looking at their fanacial statements Page 36 – Table 6 shows gross profit and profit margins for their three published divisions. Maybe because of their crazy pace of acquisitions, or just good management, they have been able to deliver huge growth in both gross profits and profit margins across the company.

3DS Sales and Profit Mix

Looking specifically at their material divisions it is crazy to see they have moved profit margins by from 61.1% to 68.8% over the past three years. Even with the materials division falling from first to last in terms of gross sales (now at 29% of gross sales) the division still maintains the number one spot when it comes to gross profits (38.9% of corporate profits).

ExOne offers machines with a much broader scope of materials including a number of metals and engineering plastics. Each of these materials commands a higher cost on the open market and if ExOne is able to command the type of margins on their materials that 3D Systems can on their lower end plastics it could be a huge benefit to investors. Of course there total installed user base is much smaller, one analyst states they could be on pace to sell 56 total printers in 2013, and the price of the systems is much higher so it may be some time before their materials division really begins to take hold. It’ll be interesting to see how things are shaping up for sure, who knows this could be the beginning of huge growth for ExOne.

A Growing Ecosystem Of 3D Printers

2013-03-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

The ecosystem of 3D printers is poised to grow as each printer finds its niche market. To do this advances must be made in the modeling and design software so that novice users can create things for 3D printing. Desktop printing benefited from the rise of word processing and desktop publishing software. Most mid-sized and large offices contain multiple paper printers, each with it’s own use. It is not uncommon to find a large scale Xerox machine with stapling and binding abilities in a small office. Add in personal printers for one off documents, high definition printers capable of making product mocks up, and label printers in many shipping departments and there is an opportunity for a whole Eco-system of printers in every office.

Smaller offices, and even most mid-sized offices, still outsource hundreds of print jobs. Take business cards for example. Even though these get reprinted when titles change, new employees start, or branding for an organization is redone, it’s rare that anyone actually brings this in house. Of course there are even larger jobs that still make sense to move outside. Companies like Plastek Cards Inc. exist to service all sorts of membership and gift cards. This type of specialized service company will ultimately exist for 3D printers as well. Even if home use additive manufacturing machines appear in the next few years it is unlikely they will have the power and precision of those used for industrial applications.

As personalized fabrication becomes more prevalent the 3D printing market will deliver growth but it is important to consider what related markets will do. CAD software companies and to a great extent gaming software companies are poised to grow along with the 3D printing market. These software companies that regularly develop 3D worlds and products capable of creating 3D worlds are only going to grow in popularity. The skills required to utilize this software will need to trickle down, but this could happen very quickly. Just as a generation of millennials grew up learning typing skills through Oregon Trail and math blaster soon a new generation will rise with skills and knowledge of 3D modeling.

With newly acquired skills in CAD design and 3D modeling this new generation is sure to invent entirely unique business models. Currently companies like Shapeways and Thingiverse are creating new markets for models, either for personal use or for remote printing for a fee. The future of these systems is still unclear but it will be exciting to be a part of these new developments.

This post is endorsed by Plastek Cards Inc.

Engadget Expand: Review Of The New Event For Tech Fans

2013-03-20T07:20:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend Engadget first ever "Engadget Expand" conference. Billed as event "designed from the ground up for technology fans" it seemed like a perfect fit. Before the event I went through all of the videos for the included Insert Coin competition, read up on the various speakers and exhibitors, and generally got excited for my first foray into the consumer tech conference world.

Exhibitors:

Overall the event was a nice mix of items and had an authentic feel to it. Certainly it did not compare to the mega shows, like CES, for scale and polish but that also meant exhibitors were ready and eager to engage with all attendees and the branded sponsorship's were more subtle and well integrated. Lenovo had a fun display for a large touch screen that doubled as a coffee table (with an additive version of air hockey).

It was also tough to tell the exhibitors from full on sponsors. One company, Intuitive Surgical, had setup a few machines that likely cost more than a house (OK, maybe not a house in San Fran). They were letting pretty much everyone sit down and practice putting rubber bands on tiny objects using a robotic system usually found in high end surgical centers.

No tech convention would be complete though without something for all the non-geeks. Enter the ZBoard, a powered skateboard which showed up with tons of demo boards for attendees to sample. Nothing like watching "tech enthusiasts" try to maneuver a souped up skateboard through a crowded convention hall.

Speakers:

Kickstarter Co-Founder Yancey Strickler

The speaking agenda, held on a single main stage, kick off with a presentation from Yancey Strickler or Kickstarter. He spoke about the growth and development of his crowd funding platform, how different hardware devices had become successful on the site and delivered some simple but impactful stats about the site (all pulled from a cool page on their site Kickstarter Stats)

None of Yancey's information was about new product launches, though he did field one question noting that Kickstarter plans to expand to new markets just as soon as they can figure out the legal issues. Instead he used the time to showcase how the new platform had been leveraged by innovative thinkers. To showcase the impact Kickstarter has had on the (albeit tech forward) community of San Francisco he pulled up slides of campaigns which he encountered on the street. One of them was a restaurant I happened to be at the night before, AQ, which is easily the most delicious Kickstarter campaign I have encountered and is now one of my favorite San Francisco restaurants.

3D Printing Goes Mainstream:

After the presentation by Yancey one of Engadget's editors, Brian Heater, took the stage to moderate a discussion on 3D Printing. The three panelists, Hod Lipson of Cornell, Max Lobovsky of FormLabs, and Avi Reichental of 3D Systems, bantered about the future of 3D printing and how it may (or may not) make it's way into every home. Here are a few notes from each of the speakers:

Avi remarked that there has been huge growth in B2B sales of 3D printing, one of the great examples of that is Invisiline who produces hundreds of totally unique prints every day. This has transformed their ability to do business and provided created a scale-able business model. Since printers have become so much more accessible now the work to be done is on the UX and what can printing do for me and what new business will do with them. As for mainstream printing in the home the question "are these toys or are home printers more than that" still needs to be answered. The idea of a desktop printing is not enough what can it really be used for. He did note that 3D Systems plans to offer a chocolate printer by the end of 2013. A few rhetorical questions Avi asked that have yet to be answered (and will be addressed separately in later posts)

What can I do with a 3D printer for an 8 year old?
What new business models can be created?
What developments in materials will this delivery?
How will they change the retail experience?

Max Lobovsky, a researcher who is part of the team that just launched the most funded 3D printer on Kickstarter, said he is not convinced we're headed for home printing, that everyone needs it. He also seemed to agree that much work needs to be done on materials and his company is positioned well to help with this since the founding group includes chemical and material experts.

Hod, who has helped support the Fab@Home project noted that Fab@Home was closed as they had essentially completed their goal. Now with so many open source files available to create your own printer there were more pressing topics for his team to research. One area was multi-material printers which he calims he is working on.

The second big area Hod discussed was that home printing was only a piece of the eco system of 3d printers that will bring additive manufacturing the mainstream. Some printers will live at a machine shop, at a bakery, at a car repair center, in the home and on factory floors. Each of these printers will have unique features and requirements. This of course is good news for any 3D printing companies since it means they will have a whole product line to support.

Overview:

Engadget put on an interesting and engaging first conference. As the kinks are worked out, word spreads, and the conference grows, Expand promises to offer a fun and accessible conference for consumers and fans of new technologies. I would not be surprised if in a few years Expand is a place to reveal amazing new devices, engage in social/physical platforms, and network with leaders in technology and development.

iPhone 3D Scanner on Kickstarter

2013-03-19T07:36:00.000-07:00

A lot of the recent posts here deal with 3D printing but that is only half of the new industrial revolution. The other half is creating models for printing. What if creating a cool model was as easy as taking a picture with an iPhone? That is the goal of a new Kickstarter campaign Moedls.

The system is relatively straight forward and most of the funds are going to physically producing the compoents, including lasers and mounting hardware. Programming of the app is already done, though there are certainly still tweaks and improvements to be made. A working prototype was on display last weekend at Engadgets Expand in San Francisco and it was working just as described in the video.

On the first day of the campaign Moedls raised more than 10% of it's goal (Full Disclosure: I'm a backer, if it is even necessary to say that). That's good news considering that 81% of campaigns that reach 20% funding are eventually successfully funded.

3D Printing and 3D Scanning At Engadget Expand

2013-03-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

I have attended lots of conferences before, for the Manufacturing, Toy, and CAD industries but never a pure tech conference. This weekend Engadget is putting on their first ever "Engadget Expand" that I was lucky enough to grab a pass to. The San Francisco setting allows the trip will be parlayed into a quick excursion to Napa so we'll only be there for the morning but it kicks off nicely with two of my favorite current topics Kickstarter and 3D Printing.

There are tons of other speakers as well as a competition supporting unique new ideas that need some funding - the "Insert Coin" competition. My vote went to Moedls, a cool handheld 3D scanning app. Here's a video of their project, great use of technology. Hope to get a chance to see this in person and maybe even demo it.

10 Unique 3D Printers

2013-03-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

Additive manufacturing machines, or 3D printers, are being hailed as the next industrial revolution, but what are they? To understand the various types of AM machines and their capabilities take a closer look at some of the more popular models. Each of the devices below was developed by separate OEMs (although at least one has merged with another) and has its own unique features and aesthetic.

Here are 10 Uniuque 3D Printers
To read more about each just click the image to a short review.

1. Form 1 by Form Labs

Learn more about 3D printing with these other articles on 3DEngr.comd

Read about 3D printing in the latest State of the Union

Check out some cool uses of 3D printed items

An infographic of the users of 3D Printers

What is 3D Priting infographic

Checkout the latest on 3D Printing or Additive Manufacturing

2. Replicator2X by MakerBot

3. EOSINT M280 by EOS

4. ZPrinter by ZCorp/3D Systems

5. M-Lab by ExOne

6. Fortus by Stratasys

7. Iris by Mcor

8. 3Doodler by WobbleWorks

9. DeltaMaker by DeltaMaker

10. Cube by 3D Systems

Learn even more about 3D printing on 3DEngr.

Know of another 3D Printer that deserves some attention? Email me "chris at 3DEngr.com"

10 Unique 3D Printers: Form1 by Formlabs

2013-03-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

Formlabs was founded by a handful of top engineers who realized that additive manufacturing was an amazing technology that still was unattainable for so many people. To fix that problem they decided to drive down the barrier to entry and went with the relatively new funding technique of crowd sourcing through Kickstarter. When they launched they had an ambitious goal to raise $100k from the community but the community was much larger than that. After 30 days the final total came in at $2.9MM placing them as the most funded technology campaign (not to mention a revenue total that many small business work years to achieve).

10 Unique 3D Printers: Replicator 2X By MakerBot

2013-03-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

In early 2009 a handful of interested parties were creating kits that could be assembled into 3D printers. RepRap, the original organization, was a non-profit group that met to discuss and advance the interests of it’s members. Not unlike the groups in silicon valley that met to dicuss personal computing, the groups that ultimately led to Apple, a few RepRap members ultimately saw a great market opportunity. It was and is unlikely to think that there will be mainstream adoption of a home assembly kit. As time progressed the company, MakerBot, has become increasingly more sophisticated. Marketing material for MakerBot claims that they control 25% market share in the additive manufacturing/3D printing industry. That is certainly an enviable position if the technology does lead to a new industrial revolution and printers start showing up in homes.

10 Unique 3D Printers: M280 by EOS

2013-03-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

Admittedly I have never seen a functioning EOS machine but it has one feature that just seems like fun. Titanium. That’s right, 3D printing in one of the hardest manufacturing materials around. Billed as “for aerospace and engineering applications and biomedical implants” this is one of those features that will break new technological ground. One of the most exciting things about 3D printing is that designers and engineers are not limited in the geometry of the parts they can create, at least compared to standard machining. The parts that can be dreamed up by medical researchers are suddenly a reality and once these machines become more popular (read: less expensive) the developments it will lead too are nearly endless.

10 Unique 3D Printers: ZPrinter by ZCorp (3D Systems)

2013-03-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

ZCorp used to be one of the larger manufacturers of 3D printers and additive manufacturing machines and then they were bought by an even larger player in the space, 3D Systems. Once the acquisition of ZCorp went through 3D Systems began rolling most of the existing ZCorp line into their own. One of the primary differences of the ZCorp line is the use of color. By adding ink heads to the machine the ZCorp line is able to create multi-colored models in a single print. This eliminates the need to hand paint a print, which is typically a time consuming and costly secondary process. For organizations using 3D printers to create prototypes and models intended for display and sales purposes the use of color ensures that the true form of the model is conveyed.

10 Unique 3D Printers: M-Lab by ExOne

2013-03-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

Not to be outdone by printers that use chocolate or paper, ExOne’s M-Lab printer outputs materials in metal. Direct Metal Laser Sintering or DMLS works with under nearly the same principles as many of the printers that use plastic but instead can use proprietary materials to produce parts in stainless steel, bronze, tungsten or glass. Creative applications by researchers and academics (the key market identified in ExOne’s sales materials) will only serve to expand the capabilities of these machines. Consumers and evangelists who are waiting for in home use may have a few years to wait but the ability to layer such a variety of materials, each with unique and desirable physical properties, will be what leads to the true revolution. Even today these machines are capable of shortening the lead time for highly complex parts whose only alternative is costly and time consuming machining.