It's Time to Specialize!

We are at a momentous time in the progress of 3D printing development.

With the advent of Cubify and the Cube 3D printer, for the first time we have a 3D printing product clearly aimed at the general consumer population.

While consumer 3D printers have always been my hope and goal.  And, will probably occupy the greater focus of my energy, I do not want that focus to cause confusion or neglect of the other great 3D printing products new emerging.

So I have decided to divide the coverage of 3D printing developments into two different blogs.

CubifyFans.blogspot.com will concentrate specifically on the Cubify and Cube user community.  It will deal with everything at a consumer interest level.

This site will be devoted to what I will call the "Light Industrial" machines, otherwise known as RepRap machines.  I don't define these by price.  To some extent, they are defined by the fact that they can be customized by the user in profound ways.  Sure, consumers can purchase and use them.  But, most of those consumers are not going to be attracted to the Cube.  They will be more hands-on individuals.

The Cube will not be entirely neglected here.  Any time I have important new posts, I will add a link and a short description here to the article on the Cubify Fans blog.  But, I want this blog to focus on a hugely creative bunch of people improving and expanding the capabilities of RepRap machines.

In the meantime, you might like this video of what NOT to design for your 3D printer!!!

What comes to mind is that we really need to grapple with the liability issues of putting up our homemade designs for others to build.  But, that is a whole different topic for another time.

To be fair, as long as you don't have to answer your iPhone, the shoes are pretty cool!

No matter what your interest in 3D printing, we hope to try to keep up with developments as quickly as possible.  And, we also promise NOT to simply throw up press releases!

At Long Last! 3D Printing for the Rest of Us!

If you look to the right on this page you will see that this blog began many years ago as it became evident that 3D creation and 3D printing were destined to be invited into the homes of consumers. While it didn't happen as quickly as I had hoped, I am extremely excited to be able to say that the longed for days are finally here with the introduction of Cubify.com and the Cube desktop 3D printer by 3D Systems.



Cubify.com and the Cube were rolled out at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week. If you'd like to see the Cube in action here is a link to the first C/Net CES report by Brian Tong.

But, of course, we also need to acknowledge the creative work of those pioneers in the RepRap community upon which this achievement was built.


RepRap from Adrian Bowyer on Vimeo.
What is different about the Cube 3D Printer is that it is not a kit and its design and packaging are consumer friendly.
Is it where home 3D printing is still destined to go? No. The surfaces it produces are not going to be perfectly smooth. But, it's going to be more than good enough to encourage our creative juices to flow freely in a way few inventions have done before. And, believe it or not, I am convinced that it is going to encourage our children and grandchildren to see opportunitees in the world around them in a whole new way!
In the coming days, weeks and months our knowledge and experience with the Cube will grow. But, for now, I'm just going to congratulate 3D Systems and say "Thank you!"

Picking Up And Moving Forward!

This blog was created in 2007. Even back then it was evident that 3D printing was going to be inevitable. The only question was how soon and how costly.

It was started in May of that year. And, it continued until December of that same year when, with the sale of Desktop Factory to 3D Systems, the maker of the V-Flash, it became apparent that it was going to be a while before 3D printers would be affordable to consumers and artists... the groups of most interest to me.

Fortunately, Cathy Lewis, the CEO of Desktop Factory, who is now Vice President, Global Marketing, for 3D Systems, never turned her back on the quest for an affordable 3D printer. And, neither have her superiors. In fact, 3D Systems, a maker of high-end systems, has embraced the low end marketplace by acquiring and marketing the Rapman, 3DTouch and BotMill products!

Equally fortunately, some creative and innovative individuals have also worked hard to bring the costs and complexities of owning a 3D printer down to well under $1,000. One of the more intriquing products in terms of both cost and simplicity to build is the Printrbot, by Brook Drumm.



So, the time has come to pick up the dream, dust it off and begin anew to explore a budding industry that may be surprisingly near to that tipping point where it will become as common as color laser printers in homes and businesses.

While I plan to pick up one or more 3D printers, this blog will not focus on any particular brand. At the core, it will be about 3D printing, not 3D printers. Of course, we will talk about the 3D printers we use because that will be our primary experience. All we can promise is that we'll just do the best we can to explain anything and everything that we discover as we trot off on our own 3D printing adventures.

We'll also do our best to encourage developers to come up with new 3D design programs that create printable objects with user interfaces that are a LOT easier than those on the market now. For 3D printing to thrive, we have to have intuitive 3D software tools. Again, there are some promising developments in this arena, too. But, those products that seem most promising also seem to have limitations when it comes to producing a mesh that lens itself to object printing. But, this WILL change. And, we will try to follow the progress of bringing the hardware and software requirements to a successful synergy for consumers and artists.

Our background is video and photography. So, we will try to capture as many videos and high quality stills that we can to explain what we are seeing and experiencing. When things go wrong, we will try to visually document what, why and how fix it.

Finally, we will try to search out and identify as many resources on the web as we can find. In fact, while we wait for our first 3D printer to arrive, that will be our first task. It's amazing how many wonderful and enthusiastic 3D printing resources have come to exist in just 4 years.

This is going to be fun! A LOT of fun!!

Gamer Alert - Wall Street Journal Article

Here is a link to an excellent article published in the Wall Street Journal that discusses the rapid rise in the number of companies dedicated to proving physical models of virtual world through 3D printing.

Writer Robert Guth has done a great job of researching a wide variety of companies that promise to turn virtual web world models into physical models sitting on your desk. There is even a company dedicated to providing terrain models of actual world features for under $100! Want to climb Mt. McKinley? Print the model.

Electronic Arts is even getting into the 3D printing game. Check out the article at:

How 3-D Printing Figures To Turn Web Worlds Real

It just keeps getting better!

The Mobile Fab Lab is on the Road!

Ready, just in time for the Fab 4 Forum and Symposium the Mobil Fab Lab hit the road! Designed to demonstrate the power of personal fabrication, it began its first tour. Here is a link to a blog that talks about the portable Fab Lab.

www.thegoldenageofwireless.com

We'll try to follow the progress of the Mobile Fab Lab and keep you posted.

3D Software for 3D Printing Forums

We're very thankful to JANDSCREATIONS.COM for providing a forum where we can discuss 3D Modeling as it relates to Desktop 3D Printing. Visit the forums.

If Desktop 3D Printing is to become as popular as 2D printing, then a much wider range of users will need to feel comfortable with 3D modeling. The good news is that 3D modeling, for the first round of Desktop 3D Printers, can be created in much smaller packages than those required by gaming enthusiasts and 3D artists. Color materials, for instance won't be required until color 3D printers drop down to consumer level prices. Right now, the lowest cost color printer is just under $20K, so that will be a while.

More importantly, the technical skills requirements for designing in 3D will have to be greatly lowered before there can be wide acceptance of 3D printing in homes. There are many people looking at this problem and some very promising technologies are beginning to surface. The image at the top of this article, for instance, shows FiberMesh, a collaborative research project between TU Berlin and The University of Tokyo.

The forums are 'Application Neutral' in that we want to explore easier technologies that can be applied across the application spectrum. So, if you have an interest in 3D printing, we urge you to join us in exploring some ideas to make it far easier for the general population enjoy 3D modeling

New Images on Desktop Factory Web Site

As the beta testing continues, Desktop Factory has added some new photos of the output of their desktop 3D printer. The latest images show some real improvements in the surface and success at printing more intricate designs. Layer alignment seems greatly improved in these new images.

Notice the size of the Maze and how smoothly the sides printed. Earlier samples showed some slight misalignment from layer to layer so these images represent some great news.

Here are some additional new images.

Drive Train Housing


Flexible Spring



As new images become available from Desktop Factory, we'll post them. In the meantime, you can see all of the available images by clinking on the "To see more samples, visit the Photo Gallery." link on the Product Page.