United States government invests $15 million towards the development of the next generation of metal 3D printing technology and 3D Systems is joining forces for the ambitious metal 3D printing project. Largest Metal 3D Printer This remarkable $15 million contract is officially targeted at work “to create the world’s largest, fastest, most precise metal 3D…

We had a closer look at Velo3D’s amazing metal 3D printing process. In a word, it’s delicious. No Support 3D Printing The company, which operated in complete stealth until just under a year ago, had been secretly developing a powerful metal 3D printing process. Now, we’ve seen up close some of the prints that were…

nTopology announced a revolutionary new tool for product design, nTop Platform. Generative Design for 3D Printing The tool is a bit challenging to describe, as it is a hyper-mix of functions that are today often found in separate tools and products. But let me try to do so! In the old world, product design followed…

When it comes to makeup, an extensive color pallet is what the pros are always looking for. Getting hues to match the outfit or creating contrasting and complementing shades to match the mood, are always a challenge. Mink hopes to solve the problem, and brings you the opportunity to 3D print the exact color you…

Anisoprint announced a new 3D print material that we have never heard of previously, Composite Basalt Fiber. CONTINUOUS FIBER 3D PRINTING The company is very well-known for their continuous carbon fiber 3D printer, where you are able to insert continuous long strands of very strong carbon fiber into 3D prints. This is very different from…

Polymaker has announced a series of new materials, and showcased some dramatic demonstrations of their capabilities. Polymaker Engineering Materials The China-based company has been one of the leaders in the 3D printing industry and in developing engineering-grade high-quality 3D printing filaments. They have also come out with some highly unusual 3D printing materials, and now…

3D Platform has produced a rather large 3D printer, the WorkCenter 500 – and the build volume on this beast is substantial, at 1400 x 2800 x 700 mm (55″ x 110″ x 27″), or 2.7 cubic meters (95 cubic feet) of volume. It should be able to accommodate the needs of many large part-makers.…

You likely have not heard of Fortify, but you certainly will be hearing a lot more from them in the future. The Boston-based startup, founded by Joshua Martin in 2016 based on his academic thesis, has developed a highly unusual technique to 3D print strongly reinforced objects using magnetic fields in an ingenious manner. They’re…

Don’t freak out, but we’ve just learned of a new venture that looks at simplifying access to 3D printed bones: The ADAM Project. Led by Vlad Usov, the founder and CEO of Kwambio – a company specializing in ceramic 3D printing and has developed and produced several powerful 3D printers, which create high-quality ceramic objects.…

Markforged has introduced its latest Onyx material, the flame-retardant Onyx FR. The Boston-based company first made its name with high-strength polymer 3D printing. As with the 3D printing industry in general, though, it seems like lately more spotlight attention has been focused on their metal offerings. Certainly metal is exciting, and Markforged is demonstrably working…

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon and the Missouri University of Science and Technology have developed a method of 3D printing battery components to dramatically increase capacity. There’s great interest in improving battery technology in recent years, due to the ongoing switch from oil to electric power, particularly in vehicle design. Many researchers are investigating a number…

Researchers have developed an incredibly ingenious new method of 3D printing very strong structures using techniques analogous to nature. Researchers at the University of Southern California were inspired by the material called “nacre”. You haven’t heard of nacre? You probably have, as it is simply the scientific name for “mother of pearl”–the substance mollusks use…

We haven’t heard much from MakerOS over the past couple of years, but they have big news today. If you have not encountered MakerOS, they are a Michigan-based service that provides a number of powerful management functions to design and making communities and industries. Their tagline is: “MakerOS is an end-to-end management platform for your…

A Girls 3D Print Club in Cincinnati, Ohio helps highlight STEM opportunities for students. GE Additive’s dedication to education is helping students of all ages gain access to 3D printing. Jessica Hughes of Hyde Park School is a teacher who is herself dedicated to that same mission. One of the early participants in the Additive…

Researchers at MIT have developed yet another unusual metamaterial, and this one is simply hair. We’ve seen some experiments in 3D printed hair previously, but those were essentially for fun and artistic merit. Those experiments used extrusion movements to pull strands from the nozzle, leaving thin and flexible hair-like structures that could be rearranged at…

AstroPrint announced a spectacular arrangement with Stanley Black & Decker. According to the press release, Stanley Black & Decker will use AstroPrint’s Enterprise Cloud “to connect, control, and optimize their fleet of 3D printers across multiple facilities.” AstroPrint is a popular cloud–based solution for managing groups of 3D printers. We first wrote about them in…

The technology of 3D printing has opened an entirely new, nearly limitless medium for instrument makers and artists. Traditional instruments are being reborn as futuristic masterpieces, and entirely new instruments have also been created. This medium gives the maker total control over how the instrument looks and sounds, and is allowing us to analyze and…

There have been a few developments recently that have brought me to the view that STL file format will slide away quietly. STL has always been a highly problematic format, but at the same time has been used almost ubiquitously in 3D printing. Now there seems to be a crack in that standard that ultimately…

There’s something very interesting going down at Velo3D. The previously mysterious California-based metal 3D printing startup made a splash last fall with their new Sapphire metal 3D printer, which has the incredible ability to 3D print extreme overhangs without the need for support structures. Today we learned quite a bit more about the company and…

A report suggests that upcoming Apple iPhone designs may include powerful 3D scanning capabilities. According to a report on Bloomberg, it seems that Apple is expanding its 3D camera technology in a way that might enable some extremely interesting 3D scanning applications — not just applications the company is pursuing. Let’s review what Apple does…

E3D-Online has nearly completed its beta test of an unusual tool-changing 3D printer. The UK-based company is most well known for their powerful and reliable hot ends and extruders, which are used in countless 3D printers made by dozens of manufacturers worldwide. But they’re also working on an advanced 3D printer. Their “tool-changing” 3D printer…

Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed an extremely interesting process that is quite different from current approaches to 3D printing with photopolymer resin. The researchers sought to eliminate one of the most pervasive problems when 3D printing photopolymer resin: window adhesion. Window adhesion occurs when the light engine solidifies liquid material at the…

Formlabs is introducing two new resins this week at CES while showcasing end-to-end workflow with 3D printing. There will be plenty of 3D printing at CES this year, but it may not always be so obvious as in years past when rockstars came to big-name 3D printer manufacturers’ booths to talk up consumer usage. In…

I’m looking at a 3D printing startup that recently emerged from stealth mode, Origin. The San Francisco-based company apparently began in 2015 when two entrepreneurs became frustrated with existing 3D print solutions they were using for their small 3D print service. They had been using inexpensive desktop equipment to produce items for clients, but encountered…

Materialise published a series of trends and we have some thoughts. Materialise is one of the larger and more notable 3D print services in the industry, and they’re one of the oldest as well. They work with global businesses to help produce 3D prints in many ways, including software and services. Recently they published a…

I’m reading a detailed post by Ars Technica on automated theft of AutoCAD designs, but is this also applicable to 3D print designs? The post explains that multiple nefarious characters have long been using scripts as a means of industrial espionage. These scripts are secretly installed on Autodesk AutoCAD instances, and then silently relay encountered…

We hadn’t heard much from Kodak on their new 3D printer for quite a while, but now they’re back in action. We first saw their machine earlier this year at CES, where they showed their Portrait 3D printer. At that time we noted that the machine included a number of fascinating features that were designed…

The world is in full color, and now so is functional 3D printing with Rize’s latest introduction. Today Rize announces a significant portfolio enhancement, unveiling the full-color XRIZE desktop additive manufacturing system and expanding the materials capabilities of the Rize One 3D printer. Let’s start with what’s new with the Rize One. Since its market…

I’m looking at some material from Robotfactory and noticed that print quality challenges are quite different. Robotfactory is an Italian 3D printing startup that produces the Sliding-3D desktop device, which we wrote about earlier this year. This is a highly unusual 3D printer that can print continuously. And by “continuously”, I mean literally continuously: the…

RS has announced the availability of a new BETA version of DesignSpark Mechanical. This 3D CAD tool is available at no charge from RS, so long as you register an account with their system. It’s a comprehensive 3D CAD development tool that works only on the Windows platform, in both 32 and 64 bit modes.…

One of the hardest tasks in 3D printing is the production of highly complex figurines in color material. 3D printing of figurines has long been a popular activity among desktop 3D printing enthusiasts, and particularly among gamers. Very often you will see game pieces being 3D printed, either original or stock designs. The first problem…

Ultimaker has released Cura version 3.5. The Netherlands-based 3D printer manufacturer has been supplying the open source 3D print slicing and printer management system for many years, providing periodic updates that add functionality and quality to both the software and the prints generated with it. Now they’ve released version 3.5 and it includes a number…

Autodesk is making very significant changes to their Fusion 360 product offerings. Fusion 360 is Autodesk’s flagship 3D design tool that is offered in a cloud-based subscription service. The system provides not only CAD, but also CAM, simulations and even generative components. It’s proven quite popular in certain circles. As of October 7th, they will no…

A group of self-described “anarchist biohackers” has designed a lab reactor that people can make at home out of 3D-printed pieces and off-the-shelf parts, which could potentially enable people to synthesize their own medications. The Four Thieves Vinegar Collective was founded by mathematics professor Michael Laufer in 2015, on a platform of ensuring that people…

After watching a video of Prusa Research headquarters, it’s increasingly obvious that time is up for new 3D printer startups. The video, produced by 3D printing YouTube Channel 3DMN and appearing below, is an informal tour of the Prusa Research manufacturing site, where that company produces thousands of desktop 3D printers each and every month.…

Mosaic Manufacturing announced their latest 3D printing product, the Palette 2. If you’re not familiar with the original Palette and Palette+, you should be, as they are among the most unique 3D printer accessories one could consider using. They can literally change a single extruder desktop 3D printer into a multi-material machine – without altering…

If you are a user of Simplify3D, you want to read this. Simplify3D is a third party 3D print slicing and print operation software tool. The theory is that the default software tools usually provided by the 3D printer manufacturer are sometimes incomplete in function. Simplify3D attempts to fill the gaps with more sophisticated functions…

The FormBox is an inexpensive table-top vacuum former, and they say it’s “a perfect partner for your 3D printer”. What’s a vacuum former? A vacuum former a simple manufacturing system that uses molding principles to form 3D shapes. The idea is to heat a thin sheet of thermoplastic to the point where it is soft…

An interesting 3D camera has launched, the Wunder360 S1. This is a 360-degree camera, similar to one you may have or others you’ve likely seen: it captures visual activity happening all around you. It’s developed by Evomotion and a follow-up to their highly-rated Wunder360 C1 camera. But the S1 adds quite a bit more. It’s…

An anonymous tipster has provided the solution to last week’s Solidscape event. If you missed it, Stratasys unexpectedly sold their subsidiary, Solidscape, to Prodways for an undisclosed amount of cash. Solidscape produces high-end wax 3D printers mainly for the jewelry industry, whereas Prodways delivers large-scale production 3D printers for industry–quite a bit different. Our thought was that…

There’s a very interesting story that’s slowly being told, industry after industry. This is one of them. In Milan, Europe’s largest Opera House, La Scala, was to put on a performance of Don Pasquale. During one of the scenes, the production managers and set designers decided the soprano was to sing from within an automobile,…

Aerosint has received a large funding round to support their highly unusual 3D printer development. The company, based in Liges, Belgium, has produced a rather unusual 3D printing process that to my knowledge has not been used elsewhere. While we wrote about it in detail some time ago, I can summarize it as follows. Aerosint uses a…

Dassault Systèmes, producers of the popular SOLIDWORKS 3D modeling system, announced an educational partnership that may suggest something interesting. The company struck a deal with UMass Lowell to jointly open a “digital learning center” on campus to “let engineering students get hands-on experience in designing and creating products for the Experience Economy”. They explain further:…

The company launched their product not too long ago but is receiving a great deal of attention and one might say their venture is entirely successful. In today’s ultra-competitive professional 3D partner market it is often difficult for companies to stand out among the dozens of alternative machines. AON3D decided to focus on 3D printers…

I’m looking at a very interesting concept 3D printer from engineer Swaleh Owais. The “WorkHorse 3D” is a 3D printer able to do some functions few other machines can accomplish. First, it is one of several “continuous” 3D printers in that it can, by itself, automatically unload prints and commence 3D printing a subsequent object.…

Researchers from MIT have developed a new technique to enable highly detailed, multi-material 3D prints from 3D scanners. “By using voxel-printing methods, superfluous preparation overhead and loss in detail can be prevented. This approach enables one to directly translate volumetric property gradients to 3D printable material gradients. Hence, if preservation of the given data representation…

I’m reading a brief analysis by Gartner’s Pete Basiliere on how 3D printing could affect business models. Business models, of course, are critical devices for the successful operation of a business. They define how money is spent and collected based on the creation and distribution of value to clients. Companies without business models are not…

Researchers at CMU’s Morphing Matter Lab have developed a technique for 4D printing that could prove popular. 4D printing, if you are not familiar, is a variation of 3D printing in which the printed object is not static but somehow changes shape after normal 3D printing completes. There are a number of research projects underway…

Nike announced a new “3-D Printed” running shoe, but it seems a bit strange to me. The new shoe, released in time for the famous London Marathon, is made using their new “Flyprint” method. This is quite a competitive move, as their major nemesis, Adidas, has been 3D printing amazing midsoles using Carbon’s technology in recent…

M3D is well known for their inexpensive desktop 3D printers, but now they’ve added a very different machine to their product line. The new “Crane Quad” system is a full-color desktop 3D printer with a price said to be less than USD$500. Previously the company marketed single or dual extrusion machines that proved very popular,…