Shapeways, the mail-order 3D printing shop, will now print your objects in glass. That’s right: no longer will you need to walk to a tacky strip-mall store to buy a hideous butterfly-shaped trinket for grandma’s birthday. Now you can make your own.
Shapeways works like this: You design an object using a web-based tool and upload it to Shapeways, where it will be printed in their factory in your choice of material (stainless steel, ABS, acrylic, trippy colored sandstone, and others). The cost depends on how much material you use, and the object is mailed direct to you.
The new glass material won’t let you print a new window for your car – it is white, not see-through – but for small sculptures it is ideal. Recycled glass powder is laid down a layer at a time by a printer and mixed with a binder where the object will be. It is then baked to harden up the binder and the rest of the powder is carefully removed. Then the object goes into the kiln, just like a clay pot, and is fired at 750º Celsius, whereupon the binder evaporates and the glass fuses into, well, glass.
The resulting objects are brittle, and slightly rougher than the glass you’re used to, but the results can be beautiful, as you see at the end of the video. Prices start at $6 per cubic centimeter, which is a small price to spend on your loving grandma.
You Can Now 3D Print in Glass With Shapeways [Shapeways. Thanks, Stephanie!]
See Also:
- Shapeways: 3D Printing for Everyone (but Not for Little Kids …
- Shapeways Now Lets You Create Cool Light Sculptures with Just a …
- Print Your Own 3D Styluses
- 3D Printing, Now in Stainless Steel
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