Tag: 3d Printer

Technology has made it easier for prospective parents to see what their child looks like, even before he or she is born. There’s ultrasound (to get a rough outline), 3D imaging, and even 4D ultrasound so you can clearly see your unborn baby’s face and physical features in real time.

Even though 3D printing is still a young technology, customers already have a lot of brands and types of 3D printers to choose from. The founders of Deltaprintr hope to set their device apart by coming up with a great balance of simplicity, efficiency, quality and affordability.

You can use a 3D printer to create replicas of items made in Minecraft. YouTuber ItsJustJumby did the opposite: he built a virtual 3D printer using Minecraft.  Actually he built a 3D modeling program, a computer and a 3D printer inside the game.

We’ve seen a variety of 3D printers designed to make food, but most of them either make only one kind of food or are designed for professional use, like serving astronauts in space. A company called Natural Machines is working on a food printer that will be easy enough for ordinary people to use and will be able to make a variety of dishes.

Using a robotic mechanism that works sort of like a giant 3D printer, artist Jonathan Schipper has created a device which fills a room with tiny sculptures made from grains of salt.

Earlier this year word got out that NASA is funding mechanical engineer Anjan Contractor to develop a food printer, which the space agency hopes can be used to feed astronauts during long distance space travel, such as on a trip to Mars.

Crowdfunding sites are flush with 3D printer projects these days, so it’s getting increasingly difficult to tell which printer you should buy or if you should just wait for the market to shake out in a few years.

With few exceptions, 3D printers can’t be used to print edible things, but wouldn’t it be extremely cool if we could one day print whatever food we can imagine using 3D printers? That’s the idea behind the Atomium.

As expected, 3D printing technology is getting more and more accessible. While there are numerous printers on the market in the $1000-$2000 price range, there are only a couple which dip significantly below that pricepoint. While I broke down and ordered a bargain-priced Buccaneer for myself – that project has already closed on Kickstarter.

Just a couple of weeks ago I thought that this versatile 3D printer was the 21st century printer, copier, scanner and fax machine. I was wrong. AIO Robotics’ Zeus 3D printer is that machine. It prints, scans, copies and faxes 3d objects.

Meet the descendant of the all-in-one scanner, copier, printer and fax machine. The FABtotum Personal Fabricator lets you print, scan and mill objects in just one compact device. Think of it as the Dremel tool for the 21st century. 

The color of 3D printed objects is usually limited to the color of the filament that they’re made of. But the Iris 3D printer by Mcor Technologies can print objects in practically any color, allowing for more realistic replicas or sophisticated products and prototypes.

Remember the 3Doodler, which raised $2.3 million on Kickstarter last March? It’s basically a 3D printing pen that lets users create art and sketches in three dimensions. That, and the fact that you can use it for minor repairs using plastic, are what appealed most to backers.

One of the things that I have yet to purchase – awaiting both product refinement and for the cost to come down – is a proper desktop 3D printer. And while interest has certainly caused numerous 3D printers to be announced and released onto the market, I have still yet to take the plunge.

3D printing is a fantastic way to rapidly prototype something that you’re trying to design or develop for business or personal use. The problem is that 3D printers can be pretty expensive, and you can’t just walk into most retailers and buy one.

3D printing has really taken off these last couple of years. We’re seeing not just affordable 3D printers but ones in all shapes and sizes as well. Last month we featured the 3Doodler, a pen-shaped 3D printer.