Items tagged with 3D-printers
MakerBot announced a new line of 3D printers at CES that run the gamut from smallish and more affordable to large (and less affordable, for the average Joe). The latter is now shipping, and MakerBot believes that it’s more than just a big 3D printer. “This is a massive scale for a 3D printer and comparable to 3D printers that cost tens of thousands of dollars more,” said MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis in a press release. “We believe that the MakerBot Replicator Z18 is going to disrupt the industry in that it enables 3D printing of large-scale and complex prototypes and models that were previously out of range for the creative community.” MakerBot Z18 That community, he...
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For a lot of people, their first 3D printer may well be an HP printer. The company is readying a big announcement for June that will pertain to 3D printing technology, and although there’s not much else to go on in terms of details, the company has revealed to Reuters that it has figured out some of the technical issues that can make the 3D printing process slower and less accurate. Particularly, HP engineers have supposedly solved a problem with substrate quality that affects the quality and durability of prints. "It's like watching ice melt,” said HP CEO Meg Whitman on the speed of most 3D printers. “And the quality of today's 3D printing is not as good as it should be --...
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Makerbot’s making them both big and small these days. Just weeks after beginning orders for the Replicator Mini Compact 3D printer, Makerbot announced that the big brother of its new line of 3D printers, the Z18, is available for purchase. Whereas the Mini Compact offers a petite build volume of 10x10x12.5 inches, the Z18 can handle 2,592 cubic inches of build with dimensions of 12x12x18.5 inches. The Z18 is Makerbot’s largest 3D printer to date, and it comes with an optional Makerbot Cart ($1,250) for moving it around and Makerbot Filament Case ($750) that holds XL and XXL spools to ensure that you have enough PLA for each large print job. “We believe the MakerBot Replicator...
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Innovation in the 3D printing space is exploding. At CES alone, we saw printers that can create food and ceramics, and there’s also a new multimaterial 3D printer that gives you full-color prints. And the Mark One 3D printer from Mark Forg3d prints in carbon fiber. Carbon fiber, people. Mark Forg3d claims that its composite material printer “print parts, tooling, and fixtures with a higher strength-to-weight ratio than 6061-T6 Aluminum”, or 20 times stiffer and 5 times stronger than ABS plastic. “The incredible strength of carbon fiber comes from the long, continuous strands that carry load down the entire part. This is why space shuttles, rockets, and Formula 1 cars are...
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MakerBot brought the noise as well as the funk, as it were, to CES this year. The company, which is now a subsidiary of Stratasys, announced a trio of new 3D printers as well as new apps and a digital online store. With its 5th generation of 3D printers, MakerBot is bringing three machines to market with the MakerBot Replicator Mini Compact 3D Printer ($1,375), Replicator Desktop 3D Printer ($2,899), and Replicator Z18 3D Printer ($6,499). MakerBot 5th Generation 3D Printers All three use the new MakerBot Replicator 3D Printing Platform, which includes an easily swappable Smart Extruder, an onboard camera to monitor (and share) your progress, and a 3.5-inch full-color LCD display (except for...
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More and more 3D scanners are emerging to complement the many 3D printers on the market, and Robocular is hoping its 3D scanner will appeal to the masses. The company is raising funds on Kickstarter so it can basically just scale up production; the money will go toward acquiring injection molds and bulk quantities of components. The Robocular 3D Scanner is aiming at that sweet spot in any market that balances high-enough quality with low-enough cost. It’s designed to let users pop in an object, hit “scan”, and get a full-color 3D model that you can 3D print yourself or share with others with no fuss and no muss. The turntable offers 4,000 steps per revolution, and the average...
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Motorola is forging ahead with the concept of modular, customizable smartphones first put forth by designer Dave Hakkens with his Phonebloks. The company said recently that it was officially pursuing such an idea with Project Ara, and Motorola is already putting together important partnerships to make it happen. 3D Systems, a maker of 3D printers and other related products, has signed on to create a “continuous high-speed 3D printing production platform and fulfillment system” for it. In other words, 3D Systems is going to print parts for the project, and what’s more, the company has what appears to be an exclusive agreement to make all the enclosures and modules for Project...
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It was not very long ago that most people had never heard of 3D printing, but suddenly 3D printing retail locations are beginning to crop up on street corners here and there. It was just last year that MakerBot opened a retail location in New York City, and more stores are coming. For example, there’s Deezmaker 3D Printers & Hackersapce in Pasadena, CA; The 3D Printing Store in Denver, CO and Englewood, CO; GetPrinting3D in Evanston, IL and Dayton, OH; and HoneyBee3D in Oakland, CA. That’s not to mention iMakr and several locations of The Color Company in the UK and iGo3D in Germany. HoneyBee3D retail store (Credit: Makezine) Certainly, more and more of these stores will be opening...
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