Print 3D for Rapid Tooling

Why do you want a 3D part? Why are you interested in 3D Printing? To make a product or spare part? How about to make a tool for making another part?

Watch how a 3D object (printed by ObJetGeometries) can be used to make a mold which is then used to make the target part .... in this case a flexible keypad.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ObjetGeometries#p/u/0/H-LNSrvan-M

Shapeways prints a chair in 3D

Shapeways - the Amazon of 3D Printing - surprises us again. They have brought a service to market that is capable of printing objects the size of a chair:

http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/624-Supersize-Your-3D-Prints.html

Shapeways raises $5M and opens HQ in New York

Shapeways recently raised $5 million from Union Square Ventures in New York and Index Ventures in London. This means that Shapeways is now an independent company with Philips, Union Square and Index Ventures as shareholders. The investment enables the company to grow the team, add more features even swifter and open new Headquarters in New York.

http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/595-Shapeways-raises-5M-and-opens-HQ-in-New-York.html

NYT covers 3D Printing - speaks about a manufacturing revolution

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/technology/14print.html

"A 3-D printer, which has nothing to do with paper printers, creates an object by stacking one layer of material — typically plastic or metal — on top of another, much the same way a pastry chef makes baklava with sheets of phyllo dough. ... These days it is giving rise to a string of never-before-possible businesses that are selling iPhone cases, lamps, doorknobs, jewelry, handbags, perfume bottles, clothing and architectural models. And while some wonder how successfully the technology will make the transition from manufacturing applications to producing consumer goods, its use is exploding."

3D Printing a World of Design

http://futurismic.com/2009/08/26/3d-printing-a-world-of-design/ "It’s 2017. I go in to the hairdresser to get dolled up for a night out. I bring a sample of the pale blue color of the dress I’m going to print for tonight and one of the taupe shoes I’ve already made this morning. The hairdresser uses a hand-held machine to scan my samples and my scalp, and then she sends a patented design for a hair band only available through her salon to the 3D printer in the back. Twenty minutes later, just as she’s finishing with her blow dryer, one of her assistants brings the hair band, which fits and looks perfect. After my night out, the hair band, shoes, and dress all go into the recycler to be sorted into raw material for my wardrobe the next night out. It’s 2019 ..."

Plastic, Sugar, Metal and now Paper .... what next?

250,000 Metal Droplets Per Second

Demo of ProMetal 3D Printing from Ex One