Toy printer: A new online service allows you to e-mail your digital design and receive a rendering--such as this figurine--made in a 3-D printer that sprays successive layers of polymers. The service’s software can tweak designs to make the object printable.
Shapeways
A rapid-prototyping service opens up technology to hobbyists and designers.
A new online service aims to bring customized manufacturing to the masses by allowing consumers to submit digital designs of products that are then printed, using 3-D printers, and shipped back.
Currently, such 3-D printers--in which successive layers of different polymers are sprayed gradually, building up a 3-D object--are very expensive, says Peter Weijmarshausen, CEO of Shapeways, a spinout from Philips Research, in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
But the new service, launched last week, makes this technology accessible to anyone: budding artists, architects, product designers, and general hobbyists. A small design company might want to make samples to show a client, or an artist might want to make copies of the same sculpture created digitally, for example.
"From a technology viewpoint, Shapeways is not that new," says Weijmarshausen. "Rapid prototyping has been used by the aircraft and automotive industries for years, but now we're making it accessible to consumers."
Users submit their design in digital form, after which Shapeways's software checks it over to ensure that it can be made. Shapeways then passes the design to its production line of polymer printers, delivering the tangible object within 10 days of ordering, with prices typically between $50 and $150.
Making this kind of technology accessible enables people to be more creative, says Hod Lipson, an engineer at Cornell University, in Ithaca, NY, and founder of Fab@Home, a 3-D printing community that helps people learn how to build their own cheap printers. "People might have an idea of something they want to create, but don't have the skills or resources to make it," he says.
The 3-D printers that Shapeways is using are commercially available, made by Israeli firm Objet and Stratsys in Eden Prairie, MN. The company also aims to increase the range of plastic materials that can be printed, and eventually move on to metals and ceramics. But currently, these tend to require laser sintering and thus are considerably more expensive and time consuming, says Weijmarshausen.
Some services, such as Ponoko, based in New Zealand, already let people create customized parts and objects--anything from jewelry to fully functional tables, says Derek Elley, Ponoko's chief strategy officer. But this is achieved using two-dimensional laser cutters; 3-D objects need to be assembled afterward.
According to Weijmarshausen, Shapeways's use of 3-D printers takes this concept further. Objects are built in one piece and can include moving parts. "You can even make a working clock," Weijmarshausen says.
The technology could be used to make parts that perform better and cost less.
With different types of color polymers, and numerous techniques to create colors, when will we see 3-D prototype color printers?
Re: Let There Be Color, And ...
The is one company that has a range of color 3D printers, Z Corp.
Once one has a prototype, then the question is what's are the next steps in the supply chain. There is a business opportunity for this 3-D Printing firm to sell education & advertising appropriate for later phases of commercialization.
I might be considered a hobbyist. I have been using a 3D design program (Alibre Design, they have a free version of the program that has many of the bells and whisles turned off, I bought their standard edition which is very inexpensive considering the competition) for the last four months designing some items to be used in one of my hobbies. Additionally, I have been very interested in 3D printing for a number of years. I really would like to have a 3D Printer but for a hobbyist the cost of the machine is out of the question. I found a company Redeye RPM (a division of Stratasys mentioned in the article) that I can get my designs printed in one to three business days at a very reasonable cost (as low as $20 for a design so long as I meet the minimum order value of $150). Redeye RPM has an add in to Alibre Design that will allow me to get a quote for the design directly in the 3D design program, a really great feature. The design program and the 3D printing service have really made it for the masses.
.. CNC cutting made available for the masses. Of course, printing little figurines is nice, but for the real DIY people, be it designing or the actual crafting of stuff, I reckon they'd rather be able to purchase a self designed crank shaft, or self drawn boards for a cabinet, etc. The versatility in getting designer parts from wood, steel, plastic etc allow for more constructional freedom than a printer can ever provide.
Uhhhh. I think you guys are a bit behind on the times
There are already a number of places that do this. www.quickparts.com does good work with plastics. A variety of other options exist, including www.approto.com and www.redeyerpm.com. Several will even do parts made of metal (through selective laser sintering or rapid investment casting.
Re: Uhhhh. I think you guys are a bit behind on the times
For Europe, you can try the online service <b>OnSite</b> of <b>Materialise</b>.
This service has been around since 1997.
WiM
Getting the most inexpensive prototype, is like getting the least expensive used Yugo you can find.
You have to define your needs BEFORE you pick your prototyping method.
If all you want to do is look at something, maybe "cheap" is the way.
If you have to fit two parts together, now it starts to get interesting, and potentially critical on tolerances, surface finish and material properties if it has any snap fits.
If you need high strength, watertight parts, or high flexibility, then cheap is not the order of the day.
I think the writer was doing more of a manufacturer inspired article than one which really elucidates the nature of the game.
Good job shop 3D prototyping firms have good websites that go over a lot of the details in these choices, and there is at least one magazine which covers the subject; Time Compression Technology magazine:
http://www.tctmagazine.com/x/default.html
This article is pretty much a run of the mill white paper that needs lots of corrections to get the story straight. I'm here to do just that. For one, Stratasys, Eden Prairie, MN does not and never has manufactured the Eden PolyJet printer. These printers have always been manufactured by Objet Geometries, Rehovot, Israel. Objet had only signed a North American Sales distribution agreement with Stratasys that lasted for less than 3 years. No R&D or Manufacturing was ever performed by Stratasys. Also, RedEye RPM and Quickparts.com both do not have a service like this spelled out in this article. They are only service bureaus and not very good quality services at that. The service spelled out in this article is an idea who's time is coming and neither RedEye or Quickparts developed anything like it.
Ok, first thing...nowhere does it say that Stratasys produces the Objet printer. It simply says that they(Shapeways) use printers that use Objet technology and Stratasys technology. I guarantee that they mean that they have both Objet Edens and Stratasys Dimension machines. Secondly, how can you say that RedeyeRPM is just a Service Bureau like QuickParts when they are a division of Stratasys, and Stratasys manufactures the machines that they use? Also, I don't know of any place that has the shear number of machines that Redeye employs. The number of material types available also surpasses anything that I have seen out there, so if you know of somebody with more material types and machines available, please let me know.
The only difference in Services that I see here is that Shapeways can receive a different file type from the customer. Both QuickParts and RedeyeRPM accept .stl files and can convert some of the more popular file types to .stl. Shapeways has to do the same thing, as the only input file accepted on for Edens and Stratasys FDM machines is the .stl file format. One last thing, the article says that the parts can be received in approx. 10 days, when I know that Redeye and QuickParts both send parts at an average of 3-5 business days, depending on size and geometry.
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kitk
76 Comments
Great Fun!
This service could be a lot of fun for artists, designers, hobbyists and just anyone who wants s custom,,, thingie,, object de art, velociraptor resonating cavity,,, whatever. Does anyone know how to get a coupon for joining the beta testers, or how to actually sign up with them? It seems to me their web site is not yet fully functional. Does anyone know if a familiar 3D program such as Poser could be used for creating an object that Shapeways could build?
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vzach
1 Comment
Re: Great Fun!
They say they accept models in X3D and Collada format; i don't know whether Poser can export either of these. However, the newly free TrueSpace Software by Microsoft can export in Collada format; also the professional version ($500) of Googles SketchUp (and the Wikipedia page about the Collada format points to a way to create Collada files with the free SketchUp version, this page also list many other programs that could be used to create Collada files).
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Orinoco
1 Comment
Re: Great Fun!
The program the modeling was done in, for both examples shown in the article, was Blender. It's open source, and available from Blender.org.
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