3D printing ramblings
Posted by admin on Jan 29, 2009
Often we are “heads down” on a project or operational issue, so focused that we lose sight of what’s going on around us. Therefore, it is critically important to make an effort to look up and, more importantly, look ahead. The print technology trends presentation that Don Dixon and I made at last year’s Print and Imaging Summit gave our audience a flavor of important developments to monitor. One such development was “3-D Printing,” which Gartner recognizes as one of the most disruptive emerging IT technologies.
Now, you may be asking yourself why 3-D printing is important to your high volume transaction output (HVTO) operation. The question Read the rest of this entry »
3D printers reshape the world of copying
Posted by admin on Jan 29, 2009
Toby Ringdahl, a computer-aided-design specialist at shoemaker Timberland Co., recently bought a color 3D printer from Z Corp. that allows footwear designers to see their constructions overnight rather than waiting a week for model-makers to carve them. The printer cost $50,000, but he says it was worth it. “People get pretty amazed when they see a full-color, prototype shoe on the table,” Mr. Ringdahl says.
Computer printing is going three-dimensional. In the past four years, designers of a variety of products, including shoes and cellphones, have been buying specialized office printers costing $20,000 to $50,000 that can quickly produce a plastic model using Read the rest of this entry »
What is the difference bewteen a Rapid Prototyping(RP) machine and a 3D printer?
Posted by admin on Jan 29, 2009
The flippant answer is: “about $45,000″.
3D printers are really just lower-cost, somewhat less-capable, rapid prototyping machines. These days they sell at prices in the $15,000 to $25,000 range rather than the $60,000 (and up – way up) associated with their big brothers. With recent price cuts, it’s possible to buy an InVision LD for less than $15,000, or a Dimension, FDM-based system for less than $19,000. 3D printers have some additional, generally-agreed-upon defining characteristics:
They can be used in an office environment.
3D printers are generally small and in some cases can sit on a desktop. RP machines are much larger, invariably free-standing, and often have large appetites for electric Read the rest of this entry »
3D printing
Posted by admin on Jan 29, 2009
Imagine a machine the size of a photocopier which fills up with a fine white powder. Once it’s finished, you fish around in the powder and pull out a solid plastic model of whatever was on your computer screen, in full colour. Three-dimensional printing is gradually, and rather expensively, approaching the mainstream.
The real thing: If you’ve got $40,000, you can buy a Z Corp Z450 colour 3D printer, which is the real deal, straight out of Star Trek. It lays down layers of starch-based powder, zaps it into shapes and paints them different colours. It takes a few hours to make impossible-looking plastic Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome!
Posted by admin on Sep 27, 2008
3DPrintersWorld.com is a website dedicated to everything realted to 3D printing and the involved technologies. Here you will be able to find information about different models of 3D printers, the companies that manufacture these, various types of software used for creating 3D models, as well as industry news that will let you stay up-to-date. Reviews of newly released printers will let you know the strong and weak points of each model and compare them. Right now the site is a bit empty, but more info is soon to come!