Jun 24
Shapeways seller OliveBird is slowly becoming the single best endorsement for 3D printers. First, they brilliantly upgraded the lowly button
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May 31
See that squeezable bunny up there? It was created in a material 3D printing mail-away company Shapeways calls Elasto Plastic. The substance is the latest medium offered up from the organization, currently available exclusively to makers to help test out its effectiveness. The resulting 3D printed objects can be squeezed, squished, twisted and can hold liquids. It does have some shortcomings, however, as it dislikes high temperatures, fire and isn’t so great for printing small objects. To see the material in action — and to hear a grown man utter the phrase “flexible squishy goodness,” check out the video after the break.
Filed under: Peripherals
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Shapeways
May 31
While the name “Elasto Plastic” sounds like an 80s punk band, it is, in fact, a new material from 3D printing company Shapeways. The plastic is elastic to a certain degree yet maintains its shape after stretching or squeezing. It will break when pulled too hard and is still in the experimental stage on the Shapeways website.
The material is off-white and has a “grainy finish.” It’s laser sintered and a bit jagged because of the layer-by-layer requirement to build the model. Shapeways writes that it is “not ready for broader use” but can be used for personal models and experimental projects.
We recently featured Shapeways in our TC Makers series and they’ve begin printing this material on their nylon sintering machines in their US factory. It takes about eight days to print and ship and could be an interesting hinge material for 3D-printed projects. Considering it already looks like cartilage, I’d be curious to see how makers take the material to the next level.
May 15
TC Makers: 3D Printing Wizards At Shapeways Show Us Their Brand New Queens Factory
Posted in: Today's Chili
It’s rare to see a company that is so established yet as cutting-edge as Shapeways. The company, founded in 2007 as a spin-off of Royal Philips Electronics, began as a one-off 3D printing service that offered basic plastic items for sale online. Over the years, however, the company has branched off into some amazing materials – steel, ceramic, and even sandstone – and they’ve already been able to support full color printing in 3D.
Now the company is opening a series of facilities in the US and they invited us to their first print shop in Long Island City, New York. In this massive, warehouse-like space, the company has set up a number of acrylic printers as well as a small customer service team. They plan on expanding further, adding more machines to an already impressive array. The goal is to offer 3D print shops close to major US metropolitan areas to reduce wait-times and to spread out the manufacturing process among different factories. The company will have 30 to 50 printers in the LIC location once it is complete.
I spoke with co-founder Peter Weijmarshausen about the Shapeways process, the printers, and what it takes to become a 3D-printing powerhouse in a nascent market. It’s great to see such a cool company expand and it’s even more fun to get to tour the facilities even before the machines, printers, and staff becomes fully operational. Enjoy the tour and tune in next time for another TechCrunch Makers!
TechCrunch Makers is a video series featuring people who make cool stuff. If you’d like to be featured, email us!.
Mar 14
Being afraid of the dark is nothing to be ashamed of (he keeps telling himself) and if you still need the reassurance of a nightlight to fall asleep, this clip-on ghost will let your iPhone tackle that duty as well. More »
Mar 07
Dita Von Teese Flaunts the First 3D-Printed Dress You Might Actually Own Someday
Posted in: Today's Chili
You’re looking at the first fully articulated 3D-printed dress. Printed off at Shapeways, the piece was designed by Michael Schmidt and Francis Bitoni specifically for burlesque star Dita Von Teese. In the future, this is the kind of clothing you might be able to get from a department store. More »
Mar 07
Shapeways Rolls Out Developer Portal And New API In A Bid For Better 3D Printing Apps
Posted in: Today's Chili
3D printing company Shapeways had a banner 2012 — it locked up a $6.2 million Series B last year in a round led by Lux Capital, and established a full-blown factory in Long Island City. And it’s hoping to make the process of designing and printing physical knickknacks even easier this year.
The plan? To inspire developers to create a slew of new design apps that hook into Shapeways’ printing and shipping workflow. To that end, the company officially released a new dev portal and REST-based API to developers and 3D-printing buffs earlier today.
For the uninitiated, Shapeways is essentially the cross between a 3D printing firm and a consumer-facing marketplace. Artists and designers who upload the digital blueprints for their wares to Shapeways can simply have them printed and shipped to them for their personal enjoyment, but they’re also able to set up shop and list the finished product(s) alongside a slew of others in hopes of making a sale.
The new API features some much-needed modifications like finer-grain controls when uploading models and the ability to generate real-time prices for models regardless of the materials and finishes desired, but the release speaks to a greater focus on apps as a means of creation.
“Apps are now a first-class entity on Shapeways,” said representative Elisa Richardson, who also noted that the company has plans to better showcase those apps going forward.
While the new API was only formally released this morning, Shapeways teamed up with a handful of developers during a private beta period to get a feel for what was possible using the API. The early results are rather nifty — a web app called MixeeMe allows users to design tiny Mii-esque avatars that can be printed and shipped, while TinkerCad acts as a full in-browser object-design tool that hooks into the API to pass along completed designs for printing.
With the API (and the apps that will eventually tap into it) Shapeways is clearly pushing to bring 3D printing to the mainstream. Part of its approach is to play up its consumer-facing side — Richardson also noted that the team is dedicated to showcasing the company’s “marketplace and manufacturing platform” with this launch. Not a bad move, especially considering that Shapeways has been treating some of its sellers rather well.
Shapeways notes on its official blog that the platform’s 8,000 shop owners made “nearly $500,000 in profits” last year, and CEO Peter Weijmarshausen told Forbes recently that he expects to see the first Shapeways millionaire some time next year. That said, Shapeways isn’t without competition — players like Cubify have marketplaces of their own (though arguably Cubify’s main focus is on selling its own 3D printers), and upstarts like Azavy are gearing up to throw hats into the 3D-printing ring.
Mar 05
TARDIS Cube: Doctor Rubik
Posted in: Today's ChiliOver the years, I’ve seen my fair share of unusual Rubik’s Cubes, as well as plenty of TARDIS goodies. But I can honestly say this is the first time I’ve seen a TARDIS Rubik’s Cube.
Ok, it’s not official Rubik’s-branded merch, nor is it a cube, but it’s still a TARDIS and it is a puzzle game. At the end of the day, it’s not even a very complicated puzzle, with a grid of just 2 x 2 x 4 blocks. Though when you start moving all of the pieces around, it does seem to get bigger on the inside, so it’s got that going for it.
This Tardis Cube was designed by Shapeways contributor Gus, and is available as a 3D printed model for about $51 (USD). Though it doesn’t come in color – you have to order it in white and then dye it and apply some labels yourself. Maybe someday Gus will design a full-color version, now that 3D printing tech is fully capable of doing that. On the other hand, you could use this model to make your own TARDIS in any color you’d like. How about a golden TARDIS? Or a hot pink one? You could even decorate the cubes in the colors of a traditional Rubik’s Cube.
Nov 18
Visualized: Keepon family reunion
Posted in: Today's Chili 
Oh, the many faces of Keepon — well, one face, really, in a variety of different shades and textures. Various iterations of the beloved dancing robot smiled (or whatever the closest approximation is for their mouthless sort) for the camera on our recent visit to BeatBots in San Francisco. Pictured above are the original Keepon Pro, the retail My Keepon, a special blue Keepon commissioned for a German facility, a stuffed doll created by a friend of the company, a moveable wooden model designed by Keepon co-creator Hideki Kozima as a gift and two 3D printed models made by Shapeways (large) and MakerBot (small). And check out Keepon posed next to Zingy below, a sibling created by BeatBots for a UK-based power company. The family resemblance is uncanny.
Continue reading Visualized: Keepon family reunion
Filed under: Robots
Visualized: Keepon family reunion originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Nov 2012 14:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Nov 13
I’m itching like many to have a 3D printer at home so that I can print out stuff like this iPhone 5 case, which won a competition at Shapeways. It was one of five hundred entries, and what’s unique about this case is that looks more like it was knit than 3D printed.
The winning case was designed by ArtizanWork. It comes in four different colors and doesn’t look like an ordinary iPhone case. It looks like a mix of something hand-knit and some chainmail. The edges of the case are sturdy but the space in between is more flexible. It can actually move around a bit when prodded.
What’s really cool is that stitched bits can move separately from each other, creating a tactile feeling that unlike any other case. They also act like mini shock absorbers that protect your phone. The case is available directly from ArtizanWork for $75(USD).
[via core77]
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