With the continual introduction of new 3D printer filament materials, it’s become hard to keep track of them all. Until you see this terrific chart. The chart was produced by UK-based ThreeDotZero Studios, who provide “support service to fast-growing technology-based businesses.” Currently, they offer services in VR/AR, Home Automation, UAVs/Drones, Maker Market, Gaming Hardware, MVNO/MVNE…

The Hangprinter is one of the most unusual 3D printer concepts yet seen, and it actually works. The Hangprinter is a project by Torbjørn Ludvigsen, based in the city of Umeå in the northern end of Sweden. Ludvigsen, who goes by the handle “Tobben”. It’s a RepRap variant designed by Ludvigsen apparently in 2014, but…

Formlabs has executed a very interesting experiment in hydrographics using their 3D printing equipment. Hydrographics, if you’re not aware, is the process of applying a color texture to a surface of a non-flat 3D object. The idea is to have paint or a texture floating on the surface of a fluid. The object is carefully…

Netherlands-based 3D4Makers seems to have broken through a major barrier to producing unusual 3D print filaments in engineering materials with a new production system. The secret to their venture is a new filament extrusion system that differs significantly from typical filament production operations. But let’s see how most filament production is done. Most filament production…

In a big surprise, at least for me, German RepRap showed off a demonstrator 3D printer able to produce very strong silicone prints. There are few 3D printers able to print in silicone. The sloppy material requires extrusion mechanics far different from typical hard plastic filaments, but some companies have developed syringe-based systems that can…

Everyone’s getting into the resin 3D printer business. Now Flashforge, a long-time manufacturer of inexpensive and popular desktop 3D printers using plastic extrusion, has shown a resin-based unit they call the “Hunter”. The Hunter follows the style of many comparable units, with a UV-protective translucent cover on the top, so you may observe the 3D…

I found it interesting to see some long term patterns appearing in the 3D Hubs monthly trends report. The company operates as a kind of “community 3D print service”, in which willing 3D printing operations, small or large, can participate and thus make up a powerful 3D printing option for those who don’t otherwise have…

Last week 3D print service Sculpteo announced a series of AI-based tools to simplify use of their system. But what’s driving them to this? We spoke with Sculpteo CEO Clément Moreau at CES to find out. Moreau explained that their firm really wanted to get into 3D metal printing, because that is the best market…

Monoprice has become very well known for their low-cost 3D printer options, but things are about to change significantly. We managed to get a peek at their new set of equipment to be released soon. Currently the company offers a small selection of basic filament-powered desktop 3D printers, one of which, the Select Mini Desktop…

A wonderful story has been submitted to Fabbaloo describing how a traditional ceramics craftsman was able to vastly simplify his work using 3D print technology. Nicolas Tokotuu of 3D Printing Science directed us to France-based craftsman Alain Canard, who has spent 27 years reproducing ceramic objects using very traditional techniques. Over that period of time,…

You’ve likely been hearing a lot about something called “Machine Learning” lately, but could this affect 3D printing? Most definitely so! The concept of machine learning is simply the application of advanced algorithms against previously collected data to develop predications, classifications and decisions about future events. From the outside view it more or less mimics…

Ultimaker just launched a new Ultimaker 3 app to complement their new Ultimaker 3 desktop 3D printer, and it includes the ability to do remote 3D printing. Remote 3D printing has been a function available by third party accessory for some years now. Typically these standalone boxes would attach to the “dumb” 3D printer’s USB…

3YOURMIND is a fascinating Berlin-based 3D printing startup that has recently announced a couple of interesting developments. The company acts as a kind of meta-service that sits above 3D printing services in a way to add value. The problem they’re solving is the difficulty in choosing an 3D print service provider that’s most suitable for…

Nestor Llanos is a 3D designer who has done a great deal pushing the envelope of 3D printing forward, but now he’s helping start others on the same path, with a book called “The Little Designer”. Llanos was the Lead Design Engineer for the “Strati” 3D printed car developed by Local Motors, one of the…

You might be familiar with 3D Platform, a company dedicated to making large-format 3D printers. Now it seems they’re working on ways to make large prints much faster. Many of the currently available large format 3D printers are simply scaled up versions of RepRap-style extrusion machines. This style of machine works perfectly well at the…

In 2009, something happened that started a 3D printer boom. That’s going to happen once again. Why? Because there’s another round of patents set to begin expiring. In 2009 the original patents for plastic extrusion 3D printing technology finally expired, opening up a legal path for companies such as MakerBot, Ultimaker and projects like RepRap…

It seems software giant Microsoft is going deeper into 3D technology, and I’m wondering how this could tilt the 3D printing landscape. In their most recent OS, Windows 10, the company has just provided a series of interesting 3D software tools. You can see how some of them work in this video: https://youtu.be/Itc5ihHDAnY In the…

Remember a few months ago Netherlands-based Eric van Straaten sought funding to acquire a color 3D printer? There’s an interesting update to his story. The idea behind his quest was essentially a lack of sufficient quality from existing color 3D printers. He had been using standard 3D Systems’ ProJet powder-based color printers, which do produce…

I’m looking at a secretive Israeli company called Fleximatter that seems to be developing an unusual 3D printing technology. The company has a website, but shows very little if any information on their technology. However, based on some brief research, it appears that: They are developing a new 3D printer suitable for industrial use The…

Multi-color – or indeed multi-material – 3D printing just got a little bit easier with a new deal between Type A Machines and Mosaic Manufacturing. Type A Machines is a notable manufacturer of highly robust professional 3D printers capable of printing in a wide range of materials. Their equipment includes features designed for engineering use,…

In the past year MakerOS has grown significantly and upgraded their system. We detailed the MakerOS service about a year ago and explained how it works. To recap, it is a service that provides highly necessary management functions to a company (or individual) providing 3D print services to clients. Using MakerOS you can create and track…

Fuel3D announced a new “mirror” 3D scanner that could lead to advanced eyewear applications. The company has long been developing 3D scanning equipment based on an unusual high-speed structured light system. Initially they produced a very effective 3D face scanner, the Scanify, used for both 3D printing and in 3D gaming. Since their introduction in…

Surrey Nanosystems, producers of the amazing Vantablack dark material informed Fabbaloo they have successfully coated a 3D printed object with the world’s darkest material. But first a catchup: Vantablack is a very unusual material composed of extremely long nanofibres, all aligned in a single direction. These fibers tend to trap photons when projected toward a…

3D Platform has long been known as a producer of “huge” 3D printers, but the word “huge” will have to be replaced after this announcement. Their flagship product, the 3DP Workbench, was a well-received 1m-sized 3D printer, far less costly than most industrial alternatives. It was essentially a highly-tuned, scaled up version of a desktop…

Promoting a 3D printing company is more challenging today than ever before due to the huge number of companies in the space. What techniques can a company use to get their message to the 3D printing public? I’ve got seven approaches for you to consider: INFLUENTIAL MARKETING IS NOT A NEW CONCEPT, BUT IT HAS…

Among the small explosion of new 3D print materials is a substance you may not have considered: ASA. ASA, or Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate, is yet another thermoplastic sometimes used in 3D printing. The intention of using ASA is to improve on the deficient qualities of ABS plastic, a very commonly used substance in 3D printing.…

There have been many aborted attempts at producing recycled 3D printer filament, but Reflow’s approach appears to be successful. In the past I’ve seen many attempts at producing desktop machines that recycle plastic into 3D printer filament. Typically the concept is to collect leftover prints or plastic, grind it up into fragments and remelt them…

Some say 3D printing is not useful and is dying, but in fact our world is being slowly changed in fundamental ways behind the scenes. In factories around the world, designers and manufacturers are exploring the advantages of 3D print technology, trying to find ways to optimize their work. With the recent increase in awareness…

Now on Kickstarter, the Metal Delta 3D printer from Blue Eagle Labs offers some very interesting features at a very low price. Blue Eagle Labs previously sold the Kossel Clear delta 3D printer on Kickstarter in 2013, which was wildly successful, reaching almost 27X their funding target. It took them a year to make and…

I haven’t heard much from 3DPrinterOS for a while, but now the reason for this is clear: they’ve been working on powerful integrations. 3DPrinterOS is a cloud-based system for integration with common 3D printers, which tend to be rather dumb. 3DPrinterOS makes them a lot smarter by hooking them up to a cloud network where…

A newly invented process could enable large-scale use of nano-printed metal materials. 3D printing is most often done at a visible scale, but for many years researchers have sought methods of printing materials at a nano scale to take advantages of molecular effects and microscopic structures. While many of these experiments have been successful, the…

Creative Commons recently held a workshop to identify ways to move forward in providing better ways to license 3D content. While “CC” licenses have long been used to protect digital assets such as software, images and video, the usage for 3D models has been less widespread. Some printable 3D model repositories offer the ability to…

There’s a peculiar startup offering a secure method of handling 3D design files called, Make it LEO. “LEO” stands for “Limited Edition Object”, and Make it LEO enables you to produce LEO files that contain the 3D design. But they also contain information about how it can be used. They explain: In a LEO (Limited…

There’s been speculation for years now about whether giant Apple would ever sell a 3D printer. Turns out they have been for a while. There have been some tantalizing hints that the consumer giant would eventually market some kind of advanced 3D printer for consumers, and even some patents clearly in the 3D print technology…

An experiment by researchers at the University of Copenhagen attempted to persuade an A.I. to create a 3D model from scratch. It did. It’s a peculiar approach that was used in this experiment, and is very similar to “genetic algorithms” in A.I. research. Here’s how it worked: The A.I. creates a random shape Images of…

I’m reading a piece in Newsweek describing how the 3D printing bubble has “burst”, and wonder how such a thing could be true. The story describes the story familiar to Fabbaloo readers in which, after the initial 3D printing patents expired, several companies raced to produce and capitalize on low-cost 3D printers, largely through a…

Monocolor 3D prints are so dull-looking; that’s why many people paint or finish them. But what if you could do so with the world’s darkest material?

There’s an interesting option available for those requiring a large-format desktop 3D printer: the T-Rex from FORMBOT. The open-style cartesian 3D printer appears to have a simple design, but there are some very interesting features beyond the basics of 3D printing. The most important feature, of course, is the huge build volume, which is measured…

Earlier we published a story on the massive CoLiDo Mega 3D printer, but some believed the print was faked.It does look a bit surreal in the image, however. For those accustomed to printing smaller items on smaller 3D printers, the sight of a giant print may seem, well, impossible.

UK-based Laykanics is an interesting service that offers monthly 3D print-based project kits that I think could be very suitable for educators looking to expose students to 3D printing.

The folks at E3D are most well-known for their very popular hot-ends, which are installed on many desktop 3D printers. Now they’ve taken a step out of bounds to produce a pretty amazing filament.

There have been multiple attempts to develop a feasible method of 3D printing buildings, and Branch Technology is trying another method.

I’m viewing a very curious video from Tokyo-based ENOMOTO, who seem to have developed a 3D printer that can print in many directions.

A new filament from Avante demonstrates how much more advances in 3D printing filament chemistry can achieve. The new FilaOne GRAY filament from Avante Technology is one of very few materials specifically designed for 3D printing engineering applications. Avante explains: FilaOneTM GRAY provides very high flexural modulus, yet can bend and recover without crack- ing…

It’s critical to make your company distinct, especially in the world of 3D design and digital fabrication. Manufacturers often boast about the capabilities and features of their 3D printers, such as printing with more than one material, fabricating at lightning speed or having a high resolution. While those claims are often true, few compares to…