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Cloud 3D Printing Software 3D PrinterOS Powers Duke Innovation CoLab’s 60+ 3D Printer Farm 3D Printer Hardware

by Technologies

At the 3DPrintingBusiness.Directory we pride ourselves in working with some of the most fascinating and potentially disruptive companies in the industry. One of these is cloud 3D printing software 3DPrinterOS, a startup which offers what is likely to be the most advanced and complete cloud 3D printer networking system. We’ve known its founder John Dogru since the very beginning of his venture into 3D printing cloud software – and have seen his company come a long way – but don’t just take our word for it. Take renowned Duke University’s Innovation CoLab’s. The Innovation Co-Lab is a creativity incubator, focused on exploring how new and emerging technologies can fundamentally reshape the research, academic, and service missions of the university. Working with innovation-minded people around Duke’s campus, the lab is building a model program that will elevate and inspire Duke students who are solving problems, big and small, through ever-changing technological environments. Duke students of all backgrounds, interests, and skill-sets are encouraged to participate. To help the students find solutions to real everyday problems, the Innovation CoLab offers an impressive array of over 60 3D printers including literally a ton of Ultimakers, a few other interesting thermoplastic extrusion systems (MakerBot, Printrbot and a large format Gigabot), some Formlab desktop SLA systems and even a new full color mcor ARKe (find the full list here). All these 3D printers are connected to and managed by 3DprinterOS. The open platformed is licensed by OIT for all of Duke. Any member of the Duke community can use this software to manage their print jobs, even remote printing is possible. Stop into the lab to get an access code and a quick run down about how to use the system. To get started with 3D printing at Duke, there is a full online course available at Duke Extend. The course gets students up and running on the 3DPrinterOS system. Definitely worth checking it out

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EnvisionTEC Partner Viridis3D Shows Off New 3D Printing Tech 3D Printer Hardware

by Technologies

Viridis3D, a supplier of additive manufacturing technology for making sand molds and cores for foundry applications, has teamed up with Palmer Manufacturing and Trident Alloys to provide live demonstrations of its new robotic 3D printing technology. Customers from the United States, Canada and Mexico attended the first demonstration events held in June and August, and were shown the speed and flexibility that the RAM123 printers bring to the foundry industry. Three more events will be held on Sept. 14, Oct. 6, and Nov. 8. Each session will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Attendees will receive an hour-long live machine demonstration, a foundry tour, and an offsite Q&A at a nearby conference center. Trident Alloys, a jobbing foundry in Springfield, Mass., purchased a Viridis3D RAM123 printer in 2015, and has added 3D printed sand molds as a quick turn service for making production sand castings. The company has produced castings for existing customers, ranging from prototype, production, and legacy spare parts. Jim Galaska, owner of Trident Alloys, said he was “surprised at the new business that we are getting through word of mouth, before we even started advertising.” Will Shambley, Co-founder of Viridis3D, and Jack Palmer, President of Palmer Manufacturing & Supply, will lead the live demonstrations showing how the company makes cores and molds with the robotic 3D printing technology and discuss how Trident Alloys is using the technology in everyday production. “These demonstrations show just how revolutionary and disruptive 3D printing technology is for the foundry industry,” Shambley said. “We have a great product that is already making production sand castings.” Palmer added, “The Viridis3D technology is amazingly simple, rugged, and affordable. Its ability to achieve excellent surface finish with accurate tolerances sets itself apart from anything else on the market today.” Space is limited in each session. For more details and to register, visit www.palmermfg.com/reservation.html. About Viridis3D Founded in 2010, Viridis3D is an all-inclusive supplier of additive manufacturing technology for industrial applications. The company sells complete systems of materials, 3D printing machines, robots, software, and the training needed to successfully deploy functional solutions for metal casting, ceramics, and composites applications. Viridis3D is backed by an exclusive strategic partnership with EnvisionTEC. For more information, please visit Viridis3d.com. About Palmer Manufacturing & Supply Palmer Manufacturing and Supply, a manufacturer of foundry equipment from Springfield, OH, is the official sales partner for the Viridis3D sand casting systems in North and South America. More information at www.palmermfg.com. About EnvisionTEC EnvisionTEC is a leading global provider of professional-grade 3D printing solutions. Founded in 2002 with its pioneering commercial DLP printing technology, EnvisionTEC now sells 40 printers based on six distinct technologies that build objects from digital design files. The company’s premium printers serve a wide variety of medical, professional and industrial markets, and are valued for precision, surface quality, functionality and speed. EnvisionTEC’s intellectual property includes more than 100 patents and 70 proprietary materials. Headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, and Gladbeck, Germany, EnvisionTEC is privately owned by its founder, who is passionate about advancing the field of additive manufacturing. Learn more at EnvisionTEC.com.

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LUMEX presents larger LUMEX Avance-60 to UK market 3D Printer Hardware

by Technologies

Matsuura just announced the UK launch of the LUMEX Avance-60, the larger sister model to the unique hybrid (SLM additive and CNC subtractive) LUMEX Avance-25. Since the Avance-25 has been present on the market – and has been the Matsuura reference system (and the only hybrid system) for about a decade – this is quite a significant step. Especially since the new machine is truly impressive for its size.

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Open Camera Project Helps You 3D Print Your Own Affordable DSLR and GoPro Rigs AM Software

by Design

Jenny Chen of 3DHeals, on the Women in 3D Printing Blog, recently said that it is not the technology itself, as much as the people using it, that are driving innovation in 3D printing. That is absolutely true: the paradox is that while so many of us focus on the limits of desktop (and industrial) machines, the true limits are in our heads (and in materials). The Open Camera Project by YouTuber, blogger and 3D Printer Chat FB group administrator Anton Månsson shows exactly that we are just beginning to understand how we can fully exploit the capabilities of even a basic desktop 3D printer fed with PETG. “I’ve always loved filming and cameras,” Anton explains, “I love the idea of creating videos to educate and illustrate things going on. When combining this with a passion for gadgets i suddenly realized you have to cut corners to afford the “important” stuff. One of those things were to mount all the necessary parts around the camera. When moving from visual 3D-creation into more mechanical 3D-creation – he continues – I picked up on the fact that I have all these 3D printers at the Creative Tools office and wanted to create a 3D printable system that I could use instead of buying loads of expensive parts.” DSLR (and GoPro) camera accessories are extremely expensive. Even more so for rigs. And yet rigs are some of the products that can be 3D printed more efficiently. The biggest challenge – as is often the case -is designing them but through open source sharing, it may be enough for one person to begin and let everyone contribute to provide the community with several affordable designs. The most common systems use 15mm Diameter rods (aluminium or carbon fiber usually) that are offset by 60mm (center to center). The idea of a camera rig is to incorporate manually operated focus systems, as well as enabling one or more two persons to operate the camera easily. For low budget film and documentary use it’s common to use a shoulder rig that’s lets one operator rest the camera (and audio recording, light, batteries and more) on this shoulder and arms. This can be combined this with a “follow-focus system” (a knob that you twist to smoothly change focus, instead of turning the lens built-in focus ring). Given all the right tools, a camera operator is able to achieve a lot more with a smaller team (or even alone). “All of this gear is usually very expensive and my goal was to create a system that could be printed for under $100, to be open source, and to work with existing parts while being strong enough to handle a DSLR-camera.”, Anton says. The project is just beginning but it looks promising and there certainly are thousands of professionals out there – in the ever more competitive and low paying world of photography and videomaking – who can benefit a great deal from a significant cut to their accessories expenses list.

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Simone Fontana (AKA FNTSMN) Unboxes U2Go, Announces INSOMNIA Participation AM Software

by Technologies

3D Printing Media Network partner, professional 3D designer and and well know 3D printing Youtuber Simone Fontana just released a new video on his FNTSMN YouTube Channel. In the video – which you can see below – just ahead of talking the little Ultimaker out of his stylish portable box, Simone also announced that he will be participating – with his 3D Design studio 3DNA – to INSOMNIA58, the UK’s largest gaming festival. Simone, who has made a name for himself for his skills and intuitions in creating realistic 3D printed props from some of the biggest gaming IP’s around, including games from Bethesda and Blizzard, is participating to the event together with CoolerMaster UK. He will be at the PC accessories manufacturer’s stand designing and 3D printing live with his Ultimaker 2+ and the newly arrived Ultimaker 2Go. Sounds like a great way to combine two of 3D’s best applications: the virtual gaming world and the physical desktop additive manufacturing world. Simone was among the very first to see the value that 3D printing can being to videogames and videogame publishers, let’s hope the gaming giants will soon see it as well. Without further ado, check out the little Ultimaker at work in FNTSMN’s latest video

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A 3Design on New Zealand 3D Printer Hardware

by Technologies

As a 3D printing writer based in South Korea I frequently have the chance to test and review new machines from around East Asia. While most are pretty good, I had the opportunity a while back to test the Cubicon Style from HyVision and absolutely fell in love with it. I was excited to discover others, outside of Korea, who were likewise thrilled with it too. 3Design in New Zealand is one of them This led me one night to a lengthy discussion on Twitter with a gregarious Kiwi named Robert Reid. Robert, as things would have it, is the CEO of 3Design (@info_3design), a New Zealand 3D printing company who had recently started to import the Cubicon. As I learned, 3Design was the first company in NZ to stock, sell, and service 3D printers fulltime. Other general merchandise retailers were selling some machines, but as Robert tells it, once you bought the machine and took it home…you were on your own. Having taken the lead in mainstreaming 3D printing in New Zealand, their path was littered with challenges. Many of the tasks they faced came from the fact that New Zealand’s economy is currently in flux, as the nation transitions from a traditionally agrarian economy, to one based on high technology. This presented some unique problems, so the first thing Robert and his crew did was to focus on building a 3D printing team of experts to assist their customers with whatever challenges they experienced. Robert noted that, “many of the big stores just didn’t realize that 3D printing, with all of its quirks, is about service and knowledge…not numbers.” The team members were all trained in CAD, Solidworks, Magics, and Rino. They also developed and provide 3D training courses for customers of all skills; from beginner to advanced levels. And for customers who need extra help, 3Design offers 3D printing services in-house, on a file-by-file basis and turns customer files into solid objects. Past clients have included architects, engineers, product designers, and fashion designers.

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Hans Fouche Gets Serious with Cheetah 3D Printer at Decorex in Johannesburg 3D Printer Hardware

by Technologies

Hans Fouche’s Cheetah 3D Printer was on show at Decorex 2016 in Johannesburg South Africa for the first time. With it were some 3 meter tall pillars that were 3D printed in just 9 hours, along with some colorful and creative Bar Stools, with unique bottle shapes, hand painted by Sam, a talented artist from the I Make Makers Village of Irene. Fouche 3D Printing, Hans Fouche’s company, is now working with them, to turn the large size 3D prints of the Cheetah into some stunning decorative and display products, with the help of the Craftsman and Artists of the I Make Makers village, thereby advancing both the high tech 3D printing and traditional crafts, to the benefit of both parties. The objective of Fouche’s participation at Decorex was to show that the Cheetah, with a price of just $9,900 (US), and the fact that it prints using affordable ABS granules instead of filament, is clearly a market leader cost wise, and with it’s 1 cubic meter print volume, it represents a true bargain for the large size 3D Printer segment. “We know that we have a unique product,” Fouche stated. “We hope and trust that it will provide jobs, change the way that products are manufactured- small batches that require less storeage, and that it will inspire creativity! We use at least 25kg pellets a month. That is at least $80 worth of plastic. To do that with filament would cost $625, with spools priced at $25.” The Cheetah uses ABS granules as the raw product for filament, therefore cost per print is significantly lower. Cost per kilo is less than $4/kg for ABS granules. As standard, Fouche uses a 3mm nozzle in order to achieve a 0.5 KgHour flow rate. 1mm, 2mm, 4mm, 5 mm, and 6mm nozzles are also available.