Konica Minolta 3D Scanning Labs Expands its Services to Include 3D Printing

From the press release (via MarketWatch):

Konica Minolta 3D Scanning Labs announced today its new rapid prototyping service. The company is now offering 3D printing services with the addition of 3D Systems' Projet(TM) HD 3000 3D Production System. The Projet(TM) is ideal for a wide-range of applications including concept development, design validation, form and fit analysis, molding and casting patterns, investment casting of jewelry and other fine feature applications.

$2000 Replicator prints large objects, dual colors

The $10 million in venture capital for MakerBot is beginning to pay off I think. Sure, $2000 for the new MakerBot Replicator (CNET) is quite a steep price, but I think it fills a gap between the hobby crowd (read: Cube) and professional additive manufacturing, where printers usually cost in the tens of thousands. From the link:

One barrier to wider adoption might be price. The fully-featured Replicator, the model with dual extruders for printing two-color objects, costs $2,000. The monocolor Cube costs $1,300. Spools of ABS plastic, the printers' chief consumable, go for $50. Those figures aren't entirely out of reach, but they do put 3D printing out of Wal-mart.

I'm sure that in the not-too-distant future, we'll see the Replicator's price go below $1000. We're at a stage where the home computer was, say, 25 years ago.

3D Systems will soon have a new 3D printer available. Compared to Makerbot this seems a bit pricey... But I assume it's more oriented to the less DIY-inclined among us, which is good.

Sometime in the next few months, 3D Systems will start selling a new Cube 3D printer priced at $1299 that comes with a cartridge of plastic available in ten colors. The printer is 14-by-14-by-18 inches, weighs less than 9 pounds, and can print about ten to twelve "average size" parts, which Rajeev Kulkarni, 3D Systems VP and general manager of consumer solutions, says works out to be about $4 to $5 per part. When it’s time to reorder a new cartridge, the cost is $50.

One thing: after living through 20 years of inkjet cartridge fascism, I seriously hope the future of 3D printing comes without cartridges. Thank you very much.

MakerBot receives $10m in funding

MakerBot has some big news: 

Today, I’m excited to announce that MakerBot is taking $10 million in investment, with Foundry Group leading the round. 

(Via Boing Boing)

3D printed plane lowers cost, build time, complexity while increasing performance

3D printers don't just make funny shaped D&D dice. They're revolutionizing rapid design and manufacturing. According to New Scientist, a team from the University of Southampton has designed and built a fully functional UAV in one week and on a 5000-pound budget:

"With 3D printing we can go back to pure forms and explore the mathematics of airflow without being forced to put in straight lines to keep costs down," says Keane.

So Keane's team set out to see how quickly they could design a 1.5-metre-wingspan, super-low-drag UAV, print it and get it airborne. A UK-based 3D-printing firm, 3T RPD of Greenham Common, Berkshire, joined the venture, agreeing to print the UAV out of hard nylon.

"We designed in printable hinges that would let the ailerons move," says 3T RPD spokesman Stuart Offer. "And we decided where to split the fuselage so the nose could be snap-jointed to the fuselage easily."

It'll be a while though before you can go on holiday on a printed airplane.

White paper on the disruptive nature of 3D printing: It Will Be Awesome if They Don't Screw it Up

Just as the Gutenberg press changed the way written language was created and distributed, and eventually revolutionized society; just as the internet turned media distribution upside down; so could 3D printing start a revolution in manufacturing. However, as has been the case with the previous examples (Catholic Church, record and movie companies), key players have vested interests in keeping things as they were.

The white paper below "examines how intellectual property (IP) law impacts the rapidly maturing technology of 3D printing, and how incumbents who feel threatened by its growth might try to use IP law to stop it."

Very interesting!

It Will Be Awesome if They Don't Screw it Up: 3D Printing, Intellectual Property, and the Fight Over the Next Great Disruptive Technology

(via BoingBoing)

Random things you can make with a 3D printer, Part 1: rubber band-powered gearbox

Endless fun with the awesome energy storage potential of rubber bands!

From Make Magazine (via Boing Boing)