Tag Archives: 3d printers

Would You Buy A 3D Printer At $200?

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Where’s the price cutoff point at which 3D printers might hit critical mass? $400? $300? What about $200? Because that’s how much you would have had to pledge to get your hands on the Micro 3D (M3D) printer pictured above had you been an early bird; it’s $300 now. Currently well above its funding goals, this printer can construct a cup of tea, say, out of thin air in as little as one hour just by pressing a couple of on-screen buttons. Plug it through USB like a regular printer, browse through a library of objects, design a new one, or download some to the provided software and you’re more than halfway there. You’re free to use any type of plastic filament, whether ABS, PLA or Nylon, and your printed objects will have a 50-350 micron layer resolution.

[ Project Page ] VIA [ Engadget ]

The post Would You Buy A 3D Printer At $200? appeared first on OhGizmo!.

Hasbro Partners with 3DS to Build 3D Play Printers For Kids

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Hasbro, Inc. has agreed to co-develop and co-venture with 3D Systems in order to manufacture and commercialize innovative 3D play printers and platforms for kids and their families. These products of...

Full Color 3D Printer On The Horizon

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3D printing keeps maturing in leaps and bounds, and the latest innovation is full-color prints, with gradient transitions between tones. Some of the current crop of cheaper, extrusion-based printers do provide coloured prints, but they can only print one colour at a time and the transitions aren’t as smooth as the ones produced by the ProJet 4500 by 3D Systems. This particular machine uses a different technique, laser sintering, to achieve its results. This involves a laser focusing into a precise point in space, and hardening a special powder, point-by-point and layer-by-layer. In this fashion, a more precise and controlled mix of colours is possible, although the end result is somewhat unsaturated and washed out. However, the ProJet 4500 is meant to be used in rapid prototyping, where you’ll be able to save a manual painting step and get your part approved for final production that much quicker.

There’s no word on price, though the device appears to be available.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Gizmodo ]

LEGO Brick Ring Is Quirky, Not Altogether Useful

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It’s not that rings should be useful or anything; they’re adornments after all. But since the 2011-old LEGO Brick Ring does come with two LEGO-sized protrusions you’re going to be tempted to attach LEGO pieces to it. And that’s when you start “using” the ring, only there isn’t much you can actually do with it other than to perch bricks and Minifigs on it, to your heart’s content. That’s enough to sell us on it though, especially given the reasonable $41 price tag for a piece described as “bronze-infused stainless steel with visible print lines and a rough feel.” To be honest, it looks really nice and the pictures don’t do it justice, so hit the jump for a video to get a better idea what it looks like.

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[ Product Page ] VIA [ Geekologie ]

3D Printed Caffeine Coffee Mug

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This is a fancy ceramic mug made at Shapeways from a 3D printed mold. It’s a normal mug surrounded by a 3D representation of the molecule for Caffeine. True nerds will be delighted; also, true nerds will likely not buy this because it’s insanely expensive. $70! It is perhaps worth mentioning that since it’s made at Shapeways, who use industrial printers, it’s likely to be of higher quality than something you’d print with the current generation of home 3D printers. That being said, it’s still $70 being wrenched from your account for something you drink your morning sludge from. Worth it? Not sure, but below is the link anyway. It comes in a $30 espresso size as well.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Geekologie ]

3D Printed Microscopic Monkey Head Shows Off What Printers Are Capable Of

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We’re not exactly sure how small the monkey skull above is, but we’re fairly certain that each dot that makes up its surface (you can see some granularity on the image) is a little bigger than one quarter of one percent the width of a human hair. That’s small. It’s being shown to you to demonstrate what the machine that printed it is capable of. But then they’re not making monkey skulls to show off, scientists at The University of Texas at Austin are using the tech to print elaborate microscopic scaffolds which are then filled with specific kinds of bacteria, in order to determine the influence that their spacial distribution has on their pathogenecity, or their ability to infect. The structures are created with a laser, which focuses in a special jello-like resin that hardens with heat. At it’s smallest focal point, the laser beam is the size mentioned earlier, and so it creates the structure point by point, layer by layer. That right there is some cool tech, and we’re excited to hear that 3D printers are being used to make more than just fancy iPhone cases.

[ Phys.org ] VIA [ DVice ]

3D Printed Bow Tie Is Super Easy To Wear

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If you want to showcase your love for an emerging segment of the consumer electronics industry, while also letting the world know that you’re somewhat of a proud geek, you could do a lot worse than to don the above 3D printed bow tie. It’s easy to wear because you don’t tie it, you don’t buckle it, you simply slot it over the top button of your shirt and it holds in place. It’s light, distinguished and arguably elegant. What’s less exciting is the fact that you’ll have to pay $115 to own it if you don’t have a 3D printer of your own along with some CAD skills.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ LikeCool ]

3D Printed Shoes Feature iPhone Holster

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Given that the iPhone pictured is likely a 4S, you’ll correctly surmise that the above product isn’t exactly new. In fact, the iPhone Mashup Shoe by Alan Nguyen was created some time in 2012 and exhibited at the Milan Design Week in 2012 and the Maison et Objet show in Paris, again in 2012. But it doesn’t matter, since we’re pretty sure that a good number of you guys haven’t seen it and as impractical as the actual shoe is (who wants to bend down to their feet just to answer the phone?), we think it’s a great example of the kind of things 3D printers are capable of. The shoes were commissioned by Freedom Of Creation for FreshFiber, a company that makes “personalized 3D accessories.”

There isn’t whole lot more to say about them. We’re not sure you can even buy them, but you can hit the jump and look at two more pictures, and links.

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[ Alan's Portfolio ] VIA [ DamnGeeky ]

Pirate3D Brings 3D Printers’ Prices Lower Still

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Another day, another 3D printer, and that’s definitely a good thing. The more of these on the market, they cheaper they’ll get. Case in point is the Buccaneer by a company called Pirate3D, pictured above. If things go as planned, it should cost all of $347. That’s what people were paying for regular printers 10 years ago, and most definitely within the range a regular household might be willing to pay for what is still early adopter technology. Admittedly inspired from Apple products, the Pirate3D has an obvious Mac aesthetic and is made from stamped steel parts to keep manufacturing costs low. Its resolution is on par with similar printers, going as low as 100 microns, and with a top speed of 50 millimeters per second (approximately 2 in/s). It’s got an air filter to keep fumes at bay, and has a striking top-loading central cartridge to make loading and unloading the plastic filaments as easy as possible. On a desk, it takes up just a small space of 25 x 25cm (9.8 x 9.8 in), though its actual printing area covers 150 x 100 x 120 mm (5.8 x 3.9 x 4.7 in).

The company plans to start taking pre-orders soon and has applied to Kickstarter to be able to complete its funding. More pics and links, after the jump.

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[ Product Page ] VIA [ Gizmag ]

Gigabot 3D Printer Says Go Big Or Go Home

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The market for 3D printers is getting increasingly competitive, with entrants betting on various distinguishing features. Some aim for greater resolution while others go for low cost. The Gigabot from re:3D instead is betting that being able to print larger objects will be enough to get you to swallow its $2,750 price tag. For this sum you get a 24-cubic-inch (393 cc) build envelope (24 inches on each side, for those of you geometrically challenged), at a resolution of 100 microns, which is pretty standard. With a build envelope this large, you can print more small objects at once, or simply make bigger things than you could have with other machines.

The Kickstarter campaign is fully funded, and as a matter of fact, also appears to be sold out. We’re not sure when more will be made, but considering the delivery date on these ones is in November, you better be patient if you had big printing projects in mind.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Gizmag ]