3D Printing: The Stories We Didn’t Cover This Week — July 11, 2015

This week’s news contains many cool 3D printed items, beginning with a surreal and funky Leapfrog printed Octomadness zoetrope. Then we move onto “artifacts” made by injecting resin into sand, and a new Amsterdam-based line of 3D printed eyewear. A Surface Pro 3 docking station design is available for 3D printing from Microsoft, and olloclip’s Kickstarter campaign to further enhance smartphone photography runs for three more weeks. This year’s Comic-Con San Diego features 3D Systems’ subsidiary Gentle Giant Ltd. — with many collectible figurines to choose from and access to 3D printers. Finally, the new marketplace for professional 3D printers, UZATA, has released a June report with some interesting information about the used 3D printing market.

Octomadness Zoetrope 3D Printed by Leapfrog

Through a collaboration with Leapfrog 3D printing, the Dutch designer Klaas-Harm de Boer has designed and 3D printed a brightly colored and surreal octopus zoetrope that kind of reminds me of The Beatles’ song “Octopus Garden.” The “Octomadness” zoetrope is a design of what was basically the first device ever used in animation. The object spins and gives off an image of greater motion. Nowadays, zoetropes serve as nostalgic reminders that technological progress isn’t everything. This crazy one that is topped off by a large pink octopus takes the cake for 3D printed zoetropes so far — from what I’ve seen.

New 3D Printed Eye-Catching Boulton Eyewear

3D printed eyewear is becoming more common and the demand is there to have pieces customized for perfect fit and durability. Amsterdam-based Boulton Eyewear is the first company to use photopolymer-based 3D printing for its own eyewear line — and this line is consumer ready and customized to your own specific size dimensions and style. All they need is some photos of your face, taken with an iPhone 5, Galaxy S4, or similar, to custom-fit the frames. The company uses EnvisionTEC 3D printers, and has just launched a Kickstarter campaign with a goal to raise €35,000 by July 31st. So if 3D printed customized eyewear is your thing, you can support Boulton’s campaign for 3D printed eye-catching glasses for a new look and fit.

3D Printable Surface Pro 3 Docking Station Design Shared by Microsoft

Microsoft is making available the 3D files for the design for a customized docking station for the Surface Pro 3 that may work better for taller people. This elongated station is the design work of a team of makers who like to hack hardware. The Surface tends to be replacing more and more people’s desktop and laptop computers, and so Microsoft has actively sought new customized designs to ease this transition. If you think this idea could possibly work for you, check out the video about the station here.

New iPhone Mobile Photo Rig

Smartphone photography is in high demand and people appear to not only be using this technology more, but they keep coming up with new things to enhance this photographic experience. This includes olloclip’s new clip-on lens system that extends the smartphone’s capacity to control shots and their effects. From viewing the company’s Kickstarter campaign information, you can see that there are already many backers for this project. olloclip launched a Kickstarter campaign four years ago that got them off the ground. Now, its new Kickstarter campaign is just $20,000 shy of raising its $100,000 goal, as the campaign runs through August 1st. The system is the combination of an all-new, more protective case incorporating a (patent pending) integrated mounting solution with mobile photography accessories. The case and accessories work together so your focus remains on capturing memories and not on figuring your rig out!

San Diego Comic Con Gets Pop-Up 3D Systems Station

From July 8-12, 3D Systems is hosting a pop-up shop at the San Diego Comic-Con. Patrons will be able to test 3D printers out, as well as get their own Star Wars, Marvel Comics, Walking Dead, Alien, The Hobbit and GI Joe collectibles. This is made possible due to a 3D Systems subsidiary, Gentle Giant Ltd, which has an extensive line of collectible figurines that is highly compatible with the Comi-Con patronage. If you are reading this today, and are close to San Diego, head on over to the con and check out 3D Systems’ printers and collectibles supply.

UZATA Releases Report for Used Professional 3D Printers

Finally, we have more hardware news. UZATA’s idea is to streamline and simplify the process of purchasing a used 3D printer online. Now the company has released its first report on used professional 3D printers from data gathered in June 2015. The upshot is the most popular used professional 3D printers are also the ones from the largest companies, such as Z-Corp, Stratasys and 3D Systems. Other useful information includes that the majority of used printers are being purchased in North America. This monthly report will help people understand the state of 3D printing from a different angle, and UZATA plans to continue its number crunching so we can all access the data and understand what the buying and selling trends are for used professional 3D printers.

Let us know what you think of these goings-on in this week’s Stories We Missed forum thread over at 3DPB.com.