3D Printing: The Stories We Didn’t Cover This Week — July 18, 2015

This week’s news includes several new 3D printers on the market: there’s the world’s first portable 3D printer, Freaks3D, and Sharebot announces an SLS 3D printer, SnowWhite. There is also a 3D printed “maquette” from the Peabody Essex Museum, a Bad JuJu Rifle from the video game Destiny, and a new company, TOYZEROPLUS, that uses SCANIFY to scan and then 3D print your head. Finally, Redstock is using an Ultimaker 2 to 3D print Australia’s Golden Tripod awards for the upcoming Spatial Information Day.

Redstack 3D Prints the new Golden Tripod Award

South Australia’s Redstack will 3D print the new Golden Tripod Award for the Spatial Information Day (SID) in Adelaide, Friday August 14th.   Over 400 geospatial, surveying and mapping professionals attend Spatial Information Day; it is the premier event concluding with the South Australian Spatial Excellence Awards. As proud sponsors of Spatial Information Day, Redstack generously offered to 3D print the new Golden Tripod Award on their Ultimaker 2 3D printer. The attendees will have the opportunity to see the Ultimaker in action where Redstack will demonstrate 3D printing scanning/modelling, UAV, and aerial services.

3D Printed Maquette from Peabody Essex Museum

The Peabody Essex Museum was founded in 1992 in Salem, Massachusetts and carries more than 1.2 million pieces in its exhibits. Last month, a new exhibit went up featuring the cinematic style of Thomas Hart Benton — an artist working in the early 20th century movie industry. Benton’s work included paintings, murals, books, and drawings. The collection includes a maquette, which is a clay model that depicts perspective, color, and light in each painting. Since the maquette could not travel due to fragility, a 3D printed version of it was made, taking a full day. It relied on projecting a grid over the maquette and then processing these scans into a 3D printable digital model that did justice to the original piece. This model was then 3D printed using SLS 3D printing technology, and consciously left white, though the original was colored.

Bad Juju Rifle Created from Destiny MMO Shooter

Destiny is a hugely popular MMO shooter from the makers of Halo. It has been a hit since its release in last September, particularly among makers in the 3D modeling and printing community. Lael Lee is a Blender designer with a large model collection, and we’ve seen Nimi Becza before, when he created this Game of Thrones-inspired 3D printed dagger. While Becza hasn’t been 3D printing since February, he has been cosplaying and making props for more than three years now. He used a Makergear M2 to 3D print all of the 30+ components for a Bad Juju Rifle. Optimized for PLA printing, the parts were printed with various infill rates ranging from 15-25%. The leather straps (made from upholstery leather) and some screws are the only non-3D printed parts here. If you are into Destiny, this might be just what you are looking for.

Indiegogo Campaign for PowdrKeg3D Printer

An Indiegogo campaign has been established to raise $25,000 by August 13th. The project? An SLS/SLM 3D printer that uses a CO₂ laser instead of a semiconductor laser, opening up a large variety of materials and colors. So far, all SLS 3D printers are based on a semiconductor/diode laser. But the available power of a CO₂ laser is about 10 times faster than the competition–making the PowdrKeg3D printer special, as most SLS 3D printers on the market use diode lasers. Check out the 3D printer here for its specifications and to support the Indiegogo fund. The printer will likely be released at around a $4K price mark when it’s ready for market.

TOYZEROPLUS Uses SCANIFY to Create 3D Printed Heads

Guess what! Now you can get your own head 3D printed! The company TOYZEROPLUS–which makes realistic 3D printed custom action figures–manufactures a head with very realistic details using the SCANIFY 3D scanner and data image collecting. Their approach encompasses the best of traditional manufacturing practices, including hand-painting  the final realistic product with heads of all sizes. The SCANIFY 3D scanner captures image data of a client’s face, with which they will create a 3D model and alter it with 3D software, adding and sculpting head parts. This is necessary because certain physical characteristics, like hair, are made from a 2D scan of images. After the 3D model of the client’s face is ready, TOYZEROPLUS 3D prints it from an SLA 3D printer in resin, and the in-house craftsmen hand-paint the heads! Freaky!

Indiegogo Campaign for the World’s First Portable 3D Printer

And speaking of freaks, an Indiegogo campaign already raising $81,818 (as of the time of writing) for the word’s first portable 3D printer has exceeded its funding goals–over 400% funded already just three days in, the campaign still runs through August 16th. The Freaks3D weighs 2.945kg, is battery compatible and completely portable, even featuring customizable handles. The Freaks3D uses a v-slot slider system to provide precise seamless positioning to provide quality desktop prints. It also has high-speed detailed layer resolution and an all-metal nozzle head that allows a rainbow of PLA/TPU filaments. No pre-heating is needed here. You just feed the filament into the entrance path and the printer will do the rest! And it’s portable!

Sharebot Announces Pro-Orders for SLS 3D Printer “SnowWhite

In a short amount of time, a small startup has been able to produce a new type of printer. Sharebot’s CEO, Arturo Donghi, announced the SnowWhite is now available for pre-order for €17,500, with delivery time scheduled for September. SnowWhite weighs 60 Kg and has the size of a cube measuring almost a half meter on each side. It has a build volume of 100 x 100 x 100 mm in a non-modified atmosphere and up to 200°C chamber temperature.  The SnowWhite has a 14 watt CO₂ laser that can achieve a printing speed of 10 seconds per layer. Users can regulate several parameters, including: layer height, temperature, scanning rate speed, pre-heating settings, laser power, powder loading offset settings, and more. This looks like a good option for people seeking fast speed printing at an affordable price.

Let us know what you think of this week’s mentions in the Stories We Missed forum thread over at 3DPB.com.