As 3D printing technology advances, it increases in complexity, as processes and applications for the technology grow and unfold in ways that are still difficult for many of us to wrap our minds around. Luckily, new advancements and breakthroughs also make it simpler in many ways, at least in the consumer desktop printing sector. Those who own 3D printers now don’t necessarily even need to know anything about 3D design; there is enough ready-to-print content out there on file-sharing platforms and elsewhere on the Internet to keep anyone busy for months.
While there are an innumerable number of 3D file-sharing platforms out there in Internet-land, only a few of them have become household names. One of those is MyMiniFactory. Not only does it have pretty much every type of item you could ever think to print (and many you’d never think of), but the site’s creators go above and beyond to make the platform as simple and accessible as possible.
To that end, MyMiniFactory has already been integrated into several slicing software programs, such as HyVision’s Cubicreator and CEL Robox’s Automaker. Now, though, the company has gone a step further and integrated the platform directly into a 3D printer for the first time ever. Owners of the Zeus 3D printer from AIO Robotics can now access the MMF library straight from their printer via touchscreen.
“We’re excited to be able to offer our users access to the MyMiniFactory platform directly from the Zeus,” said Jens Windau, founder and CEO of AIO Robotics. “The fact that every digital object is guaranteed to print means that the experience for our customers will be hassle free. This sense of quality aligns perfectly with the way our printer was designed and is intended to be used.”
The Zeus was introduced a couple of years ago as an all-in-one 3D printer, scanner, copier and fax machine. Using it is about as easy as pressing a button, and now, so is printing a model from MyMiniFactory. All users have to do is pull up the site on their printer’s touchscreen, search for a file, download it, and press print. It’s about as hands-off as 3D printing gets.
“It’s great to see MyMiniFactory embedded directly into a desktop 3D printer for the first time,” said Romain Kidd, CEO of MyMiniFactory. “It’s exciting to know that all Zeus users will be able to access directly from their machine more than 15,000 quality 3D printable objects. We look forward to integrating into even more machines in the future so that more and more people can discover the talents of the amazing designers sharing on MyMiniFactory.”
Zeus is also connected to Thingiverse in the same way. While it is the first 3D printer to have the MyMiniFactory site incorporated into it, MMF does not intend for it to be the last. 3D printer and software manufacturers, if you’d like to incorporate MMF into your printer or software, send them an email at info@myminifactory.com, or go here. Discuss in the MyMiniFactory Integrates with 3D Printer forum over at 3DPB.com.
Below, you can see a quick demo of how the Zeus/MMF interface works:
