This is almost too cool, too beautiful for words. It’s not 3D printing in the traditional sense, but if we can call the handheld extruder (the 3Doodler) a 3D printer, then we’ll call this 3D printing as well.

Reminding me of a cross between the 3Doodler and Dirk Vander Kooij’s wild, robotic 3D furniture printer, the Mataerial 3D printer uses a robotic arm to “draw” 3D shapes in the air. Imagine the 3Doodler, but instead of your shaky hand doing the drawing, a robotic arm gracefully and steadily does the work.

Normal 3D printers lay down a layer, move up the Z axis and lay down another layer, over and over until the object is printed. The Mataerial instead prints in open space, with no support structures required, with a technique the designers have patented and are calling “anti-gravity object modeling.” Basically, the extruded plastic hardens as quickly as it comes out of the nozzle, creating “rods” of plastic in the form of hanging curves.

As one of Mataerial’s designers explained, “One of the key innovations of anti-gravity object modelling is the use of thermosetting polymers instead of thermoplastics that are used in existing 3D printers.”

The speed at which you see the printer going in the embedded video is not the actual speed; it’s been sped up three times. The speed of a print is dependent upon the thickness of the material. At the thickness you see in the video, Mataerial will print a meter of length in about three minutes.

Mataerial is the result of the collaborative research between Petr Novikov, Saša Jokić from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) and Joris Laarman Studio.

h/t: Dezeen via Shapeways

MakerBot reps claim that 1 in 10 3D printers in the market today are MakerBots, and considering how easy to use and attractive the Replicator 2 is, that may very well be true. Since MakerBot is also one of the only personal 3D printer manufacturers with a physical store, in New York nonetheless, the company is truly a powerhouse of 3D printing. Another company that’s making huge waves in the 3D printing sector, despite producing no printers, is Autodesk. By supplying powerful and intuitive modeling programs at every price point (including free), Autodesk enables users to create what they want to print. In order to further the 3D printing trend, MakerBot and Autodesk have teamed up.

With their powers combined, the duo can offer 3D printers and modeling software memberships at discounted prices. The deals pair the 123D suit memberships with special edition Replicator 2s. The suite has been growing too, now including Catch, Creature, Design, Make, and Sculpt. They’re all free to use so far, and a few online in a browser, such as Design and Catch. The memberships get you extras though; all premium memberships come with a free 3D print every year, 10 premium models per month, a one-year (two-year if two-year membership) Instuctables Pro subscription, expanded capabilities in 123D Design (create 2D layouts), and a discount on the special edition Replicator 2. The premium membership bundle comes with a special edition Replicator 2 and extra filament. The Replicator 2 retails for $2,199, and the two-year bundle is only $100 more than that, so it’s a damn good deal considering it comes with 3 spools of filament plus all the aforementioned.

Autodesk and MakerBot will be demonstrating at the same booth (120) for the Bay Area Maker Faire on the 18th and 19th. Their working together is good for the maker community, as it’s already lead to 3D print functionality and optimization in the 123D suite. If you’re at the Faire, go have a look.

Source: Makerbot

The International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) video channel IMTSTV publishes iSpy, a fun behind the scenes look at what’s cool and innovative in manufacturing today. In a recent episode, Jake Ervin announced his top ten coolest 3D printed parts exhibited at the AMUG (Additive Manufacturing Users Group) Conference in Jacksonville, Florida this year.

His picks:

h/t: Stratasys

Be sure to check out Christopher Barnatt’s new book, 3D Printing: The Next Industrial Revolution.

For personal fabrication to enter the mainstream, 3D printers need to become standard consumer appliances that can be purchased in physical stores in everyday locations. Over the past few months, this has also started to happen. Not least, in November 2012 MakerBot Industries opened the first physical 3D printer store in New York, while earlier this month Staples began to stock Cube 3D printers from 3D Systems in some of its physical outlets.

A similar watershed event was the opening of the iMakr store in London on 30th April 2013. iMakr is the first physical 3D printer store in the United Kingdom, and claims to be the largest such store in the world. Intrigued, I decided to pay iMakr a visit to see just what is on offer. The video report of my visit is below:

iMakr is located in Farringdon in the heart of the city, and — unlike Staples and the MakerBot store — sells 3D printers from a wide range of manufacturers. These include the Cube and CubeX Trio from 3D Systems, the Up! Plus and Up! Mini from PP3DP, the MakerBot Replicator 2, Solidoodles, the iRapid Compact, and the Leapfrog Dual Extruder Creatr. To step into the store from a main London street and to see all of these 3D printers on display and on sale really was quite astonishing. It is one thing to believe that a 3D Printing Revolution is on the cards, but another entirely for it to be physically manifested before your eyes.

iMakr’s founder and director is Sylvain Preumont, who told me that the ‘time is now right’ for 3D printing to be brought to the general public. As he put it, thirty years ago 3D printing was purely an industrial technology. Ten years later it started to become accessible to enthusiasts and geeks, and ‘nowadays it is for everybody’. Sylvain’s intention in founding iMakr is subsequently to provide a wide opportunity for people ‘to engage with 3D printing technology’, and in particular to ‘see the printers printing’ and to touch 3D printouts.

In addition to 3D printers and filament, iMakr sells 3D scanners and a range of 3D printed objects. Some of the latter items are designed and created in-store, while others are from well-known 3D printing artists like Bathsheba Grossman. iMakr also provides a print-on-demand (POD) service, and can scan visitors to turn them into a 3D printed model of themselves. Two training courses are also on offer, each lasting a couple of hours and costing £49 (about $75). The first course is for complete beginners who can arrive with no knowledge and leave the store with a printout of their first design. The second course alternatively helps those with existing CAD skills to best apply their screen-based 3D design knowledge to 3D printing.

As the range of products and services on offer serves to demonstrate, iMakr is not just a 3D printer store, but a focal point for 3D printing’s development as a mainstream consumer technology. As Sylvain put it, his intention is to empower people to ‘think in 3D and design in 3D’, and to capture the public’s imagination by turning 3D printing into a tangible, everyday activity.

Right now, for most people, 3D printing is still a distant and magical technology that they only ever experience second-hand on television or via the web. To change this will undoubtedly require more physical 3D printer stores, and more pioneers like Sylvain Preumont. On the day I visited iMakr, three 3D printers (a Cube, an Up! and a Solidoodle) were quietly fabricating things in the window, and I saw more than one passer-by walk past, double-take, and return for a closer look. Few people are likely to forget the first time they see a 3D printer in action, or the first 3D printed object that they hold in their hand. And, in addition to selling printers, it is this kind of mind-changing experience that iMakr is all about.

(Apparently people don’t get sarcasm, so I’m going to have to ruin the fun and tell those of you with no sense of humor, that no, I don’t back this program, I’m making fun of it. NO NOT BUY IT. Jeez.)

If you’re reading this blog, you already know 3D printing is hot. But did you know you can get rich from it, quickly, even if you don’t know anything about creating models, even if you don’t have a 3D printer, and hell, even if you are complete idiot? Yes, a fortune awaits you, any of you, and all you need is Sam Frlan’s magical instruction program called 3D Printer Profits!

I stumbled across 3D Printer Profits as I was looking through some 3D printing videos on Youtube today, and stumbled upon the testimonials video below. After laughing through that, I clicked a link on the page to the actual program it was promoting. Experienced in internet marketing, I immediately recognized the long “sales page” format of the website, which is used by marketers to sell usually thin, informational products they hype up, through hundreds of affiliate promoters. So I knew right off that I would be in for more laughs if I could stomach watching the sales video on his site. For you, my dear reader, I sat through the entire 20 minutes of Sam telling me how I, too, can be rich like him.

Sam Frlan must be a pretty nice guy. After all, he made $521,802.42 in one year from 3D printing, and yet he is so incredibly generous that he is willing to share his secret with me, and you, and everyone. And he says he’s not doing it for the money. He doesn’t need your money — like he says, “I can’t drive more than one car at a time or vacation in more than one place at the same time.” No, the real reason he is practically giving away his system is because he “wants to give back.” What a guy.

Does it work? Does it ever!! The system is “fool-proof,” it “works every time,” and “people will beg you to take their money.” With it, you’ll make thousands of dollars a month, even up to $100,000 a month. Cha-ching!

He says his accountant thinks he’s crazy, because while he could easily get $2,000 for it, he’s selling it for only $47! What a giver. I’ll take ten.

But wait, there’s more!

Not only will you get the complete system, but you are also going to learn about the 57 niches in which you can make money with 3D printing. Yes, every one of those niches is profitable. Money in the bank for you!

Here is that video I told you I came upon — testimonials of several people who were smart enough to buy 3D Printer Profits. I’m sure we’ll be seeing them on the pages of Forbes magazine very soon.

Remember, you don’t need any experience whatsoever — even if you don’t know shit about 3D printing, or anything else, you too can be rich.

In January, Scott Harmon, Vice President, Corporate Development, at 3D Systems, discussed the partnership between StarTrek.com and 3D Systems that would allow users to have 3D printed Star Trek figurines with their faces sent to them from Cubify. When I reported on the 3DMe service launch, I lamented that the Star Trek version had yet to arrive. Obviously someone at 3D Systems reads this site, because the Star Trek 3DMe app is finally here.

By uploading a couple photos of your face, you can join the Enterprise crew in 5.5 inches of full-color glory. Your figurine will be printed on a Projet 660Pro, so it will have a ceramic like feel.

There are several poses to choose from, and you also select rank and whether you’ll be wearing Command gold, Science blue, or Operations red. Currently all the outfits are from The Original Series, but The Next Generation uniforms will likely be available soon. Hopefully customizable ships, phasers, and tricorders will come along eventually.

At $69.99, they’re more affordable than a lot of Star Trek merchandise and way more personalized, so they’ll make great gifts for your Trekkie friends. You can even add a message on the bottom like “3D print and prosper.”

Living in America you can’t help but feel that we’re right smack in the center of the new Additive Manufacturing revolution. The top publicly traded companies, Stratasys and 3D Systems, are headquartered here. The Big Apple is a 3D printing mecca with companies like Makerbot and Shapeways based there. President Obama not only mentioned 3D printing in his latest State of the Union Address, but is also seeking to build 15 AM-based, Innovation Centers across the country. And hobby-level 3D printers are showing up in every American city.

America is dominating the 3D printing revolution, right? Well, not so fast, says a recent report by industry analyst Terry Wolhers. He warns that America’s dominance in additive manufacturing could be flagging.

Engineering.com reports that in anticipation of the annual Wohlers Report, the firm as released some data from the upcoming report that seems to show that the U.S. could be being passed up by the rest of the world when it comes to making professional grade 3D printers.

Of the 25 commercial/industrial printer manufacturers today, only five are headquartered in the U.S. Two are in Japan, five in China, and seven in Europe. Contrast that with the numbers from 10 years ago when 10 of twenty manufacturers were U.S.-based.

Of particular concern to Wohlers is America’s competitive disadvantage when it comes to printing in metal: “What’s more, all of the metal powder bed fusion systems are manufactured outside the U.S. Seven manufacturers of these systems are in Europe and two are in China. Together, China, Singapore, many countries in Europe, and even South Africa, have committed hundreds of millions of dollars in AM development and commercialization over the next few years.”

I’m not sure that the number of companies in each country serves as a great indicator of where the U.S. is competitively, as American companies Stratasys and 3D Systems are the largest 3D printing companies in the world, which multiple and diverse product and service divisions, serving countries all over the world.

But the point on printing metal is well-taken. Plastics and other non-metal materials have served the current uses of 3D printing well, and that is mainly prototyping. But the move to manufacturing industrial end-user parts will require the printing of metal materials.

Additive manufacturing is supposed to ignite an American manufacturing comeback, where we make our goods at home rather than import them from China and other countries. Let’s make sure that the AM technology we use in this resurgence is also Made in America.

The Forme library is unique in that it holds 3D scans. The designs are very detailed, and instead of being in .stl format, they all come in .obj format. This means you can modify them as you please. The References section includes some models that would serve as great decoration pieces. The Shells get fairly intricate.

Longspine Murex Indivia shell

The Bones can be useful for education or adding a touch of macabre to a studio.

Fox Skull

The Sea Creatures can creep out your siblings.

Whole Crab

h/t: Faballoo

3D printers are becoming so affordable that they cost less than the popular 3D modeling programs used to create printable files. As such, a lot of people use free 3D modeling software like Blender to feed their printers files. There are other free modeling programs, but people go to Blender because it’s also powerful and intuitive. It’s open source too, and the developers have taken notice of the 3D printing crowd’s use of the software. In the first Release Candidate of Blender 2.67, there’s a new 3D Printing Toolbox.

Objects in Blender are manipulated as meshes, which makes them ideal for 3D printing. The Toolbox makes creating printable objects even easier by adding five functions that are catered to printing. Here’s a basic rundown of the functions:

Statistics
This tool includes a volume calculator (in Blender units and cm³) and a surface area calculator.

Error Checking
Solid: Objects are confirmed to be solid/manifold i.e., they have an inside and outside.

Intersection: This check looks for intersecting faces because some may not print well.

Distorted faces: Non-flat faces don’t always print correctly, so this tool looks for them.

Thickness: 3D printers have minimum wall thickness requirements and this checks that all walls are thick enough.

Sharpness: Areas that are especially pointy may also be too thin to print.

Overhang: Without support materials, most 3D printers have trouble printing objects with overhangs greater than 45 degrees, so that’s what this tool looks for.

All: This button conveniently runs all the checks.

Clean
Isolated and distorted faces are removed.

Re-scale
Not only does this tool allow objects to be scaled to specified length, but also to volume. Such a tool ensures projects don’t go over budget.

Export
“This section is included for convenience so you can store an output directory for your model and export it without having to go to the file selector each time.”

All of these tools should make your prints more consistent, which will save you time and money. And for not a lot of money, you can get the training DVD (see promo video below) with over three hours of content created by Dolf Veenvliet. It’s intended for users that are new to both Blender and 3D printing. It’s good to see the go-to free modeling software keeping up with the make community.

On the very day that Shapeways announced its latest round of $30 million in funding, an afternoon panel discussion at the Inside 3D Printing Conference in New York tackled the practical business questions of 3D Printing.

In the opening overview presentation before the panel, Jack Schildhorn, Vice President and Director of Operations at LUX Capital, brought the conference back from far-out fashion and Star Trek Replicator dreams to state, “Cool technology alone does not make a business”. Other industries have had to navigate the opportunities and accompanying challenges of emerging breakthrough technologies and 3D Printing is now at that crossroads.

Here are some key trends that were mentioned:

Growth Drivers

The hot market for personal 3D Printers is getting most of the media hype since industrial applications tend to be boring to the masses. Stories about reduced weight in airplanes due to 3D Printed seat fixtures are not nearly as likely to “sell papers” as the latest gun or robotic hand application. But the panel seemed to concur that production applications are driving industry growth. 3D Systems CEO Avi Reichental had already stated that medical applications were the top reasons for the industry leader’s growth. Many of these were medical device applications such as the Invisalign customized dental brace product which use production machines from 3D Systems.

Production Needs

3D Printing is ideal when a customized one-off part is needed. But when volume increases, production costs using 3D Printing are prohibitive and companies must fall back upon traditional manufacturing. Shapeways Co-founder and CEO Peter Weijmarshausen had earlier described the problems with current batch processing. If something goes awry, the entire batch is ruined. To scale up, 3D Printing needs to provide continuous manufacturing processes.

Materials

A hot topic throughout the conference centered on materials. Not only is there expanding need for 3D printing additional materials, characterization and certification of existing material properties is required for any applications with safety implications, including medical, aerospace and automotive.

In addition, current materials often require time-intensive and expensive pre- and post-processing. For example, producing silver parts is expensive as extensive manual processing is required post-production.

Machine Prices

3D printer patent expirations opened the way for small start-ups to develop home units. Many of the machines – and the companies that produce them – did not exist 5 years ago. The market entry cost was lowered from $50,000 to less than $1,000. Of course, these machines are not the answer for all aspects of the industry but they have opened new markets and increased media attention.

New Business Models

Perhaps the most conspicuously successful business in 3D Printing is Shapeways. The Dutch innovator created an entirely new business model that incorporates 3D printing services with a marketplace encouraging growth of designers. Distributed manufacturing – centers locally based – is on the horizon in Shapeways business plan, and the New York facility is just one expansion to bring production closer to the consumer.

Investing

So what does this all mean for investors?

Well, if you’re looking for business investments with strong growth and higher than average returns, these professionals recommend looking into:

• Companies with Industrial Applications of 3D Printing
• Inventors creating new materials and new ways to produce standard materials
• New business models

While cool new applications like 3D printed chocolate or high-profile personal 3D printers may capture the imagination, the panel essentially suggested investing in areas where sustainability is more likely. Though perhaps less newsworthy, these firms will lead to higher stockholder value and growing returns.