Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Formlabs’ Maxim Lobovsky (update: video embedded)

We’ve already had a handful of 3D printing companies swing by our stage this year, but what sets Formlabs apart from the increasing competition is a focus on bringing professional level printing to the consumer. We’ll be speaking with one of the company’s founders, Maxim Lobovsky about Formalabs’ vision.

January 11, 2013 1:30 PM EST

Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here!

Update: video embedded

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3D Systems second-gen Cube 3D printer boasts faster prints and more materials

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Everybody loves a sequel, right? And what better place to launch a followup than in shiny Las Vegas? Exactly a year after launch the first generation of its consumer-friendly 3D printer, the Cube, 3D Systems is getting ready to unleash its successor on the world. The second-gen Cube offers a number of enhancements over last year’s model, including the ability to print up to 1.5 times faster and printing in both ABS and recyclable PLA plastics. The printer maintains the earlier version’s easily-loaded cartridges (which can be sent back empty for a discount), touchscreen controls and WiFi connectivity.

They’ll start shipping on the 21st of this month to interested makers who pre-order one now for $1,399.

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Solidoodle 3 is an $800 3D printer that you can stand on, we go hands (and feet) on (video)

Solidoodle 3 is an $800 3D printer that you can stand on, we go hands and feet on

Companies will go to fascinating lengths to demonstrate their belief in a product, but there was still something refreshing in watching Solidoodle founder Sam Cervantes climbed atop his company’s latest creation, beaming. After all, the announcement of a $500 printer back in April left us wondering what sorts of corners the company would have to cut to offer a product at a fraction the cost of what Cervantes’ former employer, MakerBot, has brought to the market. Asked whether Solidoodle had to make any compromises to hit such an impressive price point, the one-time aerospace engineer stood by his product’s build quality. And then he stood on it.

Announced in November and due out next month, the company’s latest product doesn’t quite hit that price point. Solidoodle had to drive cost up a fair amount to double the last generation’s build platform to 512 cubic inches. Still, $799 seems like chump change for entrance into the nascent world of home 3D printing, particularly for a device that is built as solidly as Cervantes claims. The team popped by our New York offices to drop off and stand on the Solidoodle 3. Cervantes was quick to point out that the printer is still firmly in prototype mode (in fact, it’s the first prototype to leave the confines of the company’s headquarters), with his team doing its damnedest to get the product in the hands of customers by early next month. A quick glance at the rear of the printer confirms this — there’s a fair amount of exposed wiring back there and the spool of plastic hangs on an exposed PVC pipe.

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WSU can print 3D parts from moon rock to help astronauts in a jam (video)

WSU can print 3D parts from moon rock to help astronauts in a jam video

It was only a matter of time before 3D printers went to other worlds, really. Following a NASA line of questioning, Washington State University has determined that it’s possible to print 3D objects from moon rock. Researchers learned that simulated moon material behaves like silica and can be shaped into 3D objects by melting it with a laser, whether it’s to form new objects (like the ugly cylinders above) or to patch objects together. Would-be assemblers could also introduce additive materials to vary the composition on demand. No, the results aren’t as pretty as certain 3D creations, but they could be vital for future missions to Mars or the Moon: astronauts could fix equipment, or build new parts, without either an elaborate process or waiting for supplies from Earth. Now all we need are the extraterrestrial missions to take advantage of WSU’s ideas.

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Via: Gizmag, NBCNews

Source: WSU, Emerald

Staples to offer ‘Easy 3D’ printing service, put an end to hackneyed hockey masks

Staples to offer 'Easy 3D' printing service, put an end to hackneyed hockey masks

Just one more robbery and then we can happily retire. But there’s this nagging feeling that our criminal swan song should be more than just another Class B felony — it should be art. That’s why we’re heading over to Staples to collect a 3D printed mask that, for once, reflects how we actually feel inside. It’s easily done: you upload your design files and Staples prints them out using a full-color 506dpi Mcor IRIS printer, ready for you to collect in-store or have delivered. The “Easy 3D” service will handle architectural designs, maps, medical models, replica weapons and anything else that can be made with fragments of paper arranged in 0.1mm layers up to a maximum height of six inches. The only downside is that the service — which is due to start early next year — will initially only be available in Belgium and the Netherlands. But they have banks too, right?

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Transforming RC robot reaches production form packing heat and a WiFi camera (video)

Transforming RC robot car reaches production form packing heat and a WiFi camera video

If you’re like us, seeing that transforming RC robot in the spring was a mild form of torture without any clues as to when (and if) we could try it for ourselves. Kenji Ishida has clearly been busy assuaging our fears since then, as he just took the wraps from what should be the finished version of his brainchild. The now Brave Robotics-branded machine is more polished, with a 3D-printed shell, but it’s the technical upgrades that will have more of us scrambling for the product page: the production model is toting a missile launcher in each arm as well as a WiFi camera to follow its exploits in both car and robot modes. Anyone who wants the robot as quickly as possible will have to contact Ishida-san, if it’s not too late; there are just 10 units in the initial batch, and pricing is only available on request. A one-month wait for shipping will scuttle any hopes of getting one as a timely gift, too. That said, we can only imagine that any robotics fan would be ecstatic to get an IOU under the tree for Brave Robotics’ project.

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Via: Hobby Media

Source: Brave Robotics (translated)

Hybrid 3D printer could fast-track cartilage implants

Hybrid 3D printer could fasttrack implantable cartilage

Most of the attention surrounding 3D printers in medicine has focused on patching up our outsides, whether it’s making skin to heal wounds or restoring the use of limbs. The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine has just detailed a technique that could go considerably deeper. By mixing natural gel put through an inkjet printer with thin and porous polymer threads coming from an electrospinner, researchers have generated constructs that could be ideal for cartilage implants: they encourage cell growth in and around an implant while remaining durable enough to survive real-world abuse. Early tests have been confined to the lab, but the institute pictures a day when doctors can scan a body part to produce an implant that’s a good match. If the method is ultimately refined for hospital use, patients could recover from joint injuries faster or more completely — and 3D printers could become that much more integral to health care.

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Via: Gizmag

Source: Institute of Physics

Solidoodle 3 goes up for pre-orders with 512 cubic inches of 3D printing prowess

Solidoodle 3 arrives with 512 cubic inches of 3D printing prowess

The potential for home 3D printing has regularly been limited by size; even MakerBot’s Replicator 2 can only go so far in matching our ambitions. Solidoodle sees that deficit as a chance to make its name in a still very young industry. Its new Solidoodle 3 printer covers an extra two inches in every dimension than the Solidoodle 2, doubling the printable area to an extra-large 512 cubic inches. The 8-inch by 8-inch by 8-inch space isn’t as long as what’s inside the MakerBot challenger, but it’s larger overall and improves on Solidoodle-built ancestors with a newer spool that cuts back on tangles in the plastic filament. Should any projects be too big for existing 3D printers’ britches, the Solidoodle 3 is up for pre-order today at a size-appropriate $799. Do brace for a long wait, however: at 8-10 weeks before shipping, the company doesn’t expect any deliveries until January.

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Source: Solidoodle

Voxeljet 3D printer used to produce Skyfall’s Aston Martin stunt double

DNP 3D printer used to produce Skyfall's Ashton Martin stunt double

Spoiler alert: a reoccurring cast member bids farewell in the latest James Bond flick. When the production of Skyfall called for the complete decimation of a classic 1960s era Aston Martin DB5, filmmakers opted for something a little more lifelike than computer graphics. The movie studio contracted the services of Augsburg-based 3D printing company Voxeljet to make replicas of the vintage ride. Skipping over the residential-friendly MakerBot Replicator, the company used a beastly industrial VX4000 3D printer to craft three 1:3 scale models of the car with a plot to blow them to smithereens. The 18 piece miniatures were shipped off to Propshop Modelmakers in London to be assembled, painted, chromed and outfitted with fake bullet holes. The final product was used in the film during a high-octane action sequence, which resulted in the meticulously crafted prop receiving a Wile E. Coyote-like sendoff. Now, rest easy knowing that no real Aston Martins were harmed during the making of this film. Head past the break to get a look at a completed model prior to its untimely demise.

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Voxeljet 3D printer used to produce Skyfall’s Aston Martin stunt double originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Nov 2012 22:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NASA building Space Launch System with laser melting, adapts 3D printing for the skies (video)

NASA building Space Launch System with precise laser melting to speed design, ratchet up the cool factor

As we know it, 3D printing is usually confined to small-scale projects like headphones. NASA is ever so slightly more ambitious. It’s using a closely related technique from Concept Laser, selective laser melting, to build elements of its Space Launch System on a pace that wouldn’t be feasible with traditional methods. By firing brief, exact laser pulses at metal powder, Concept Laser’s CAD system creates solid metal parts that are geometrically complex but don’t need to be welded together. The technique saves the money and time that would normally be spent on building many smaller pieces, but it could be even more vital for safety: having monolithic components reduces the points of failure that could bring the rocket down. We’ll have a first inkling of how well laser melting works for NASA when the SLS’ upper-stage J-2X engine goes through testing before the end of 2012, and the printed parts should receive their ultimate seal of approval with a first flight in 2017.

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NASA building Space Launch System with laser melting, adapts 3D printing for the skies (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Nov 2012 19:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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