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Samsung and MakerBot Join Forces To Inspire the Next Generation of Innovators 3D Printer Hardware

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Samsung Electronics Europe today announces that it is joining forces with MakerBot, a global leader in the desktop 3D printing industry. With this partnership Samsung and MakerBot aim to inspire the next generation of innovators by bringing 3D printers to classrooms across Europe. Samsung and MakerBot are equipping schools, colleges and museums with 3D printers as part of Samsung’s digital skills programme so that students at any grade level can both code and create. The planned first phase launches in Germany, Italy, Spain, UK and Sweden this year and builds on Samsung’s network of 1,300 Smart Classrooms and 65 Digital Academies. The vision behind the partnership is to combine design and coding classes with 3D printing so students can experience the full design cycle as a way to develop ideas and innovate. With MakerBot, educators and students have access to a full set of solutions and services that enables them to tackle real-world problems. “In response to the alarming skills gap and high levels of youth unemployment in 2013, we backed the European Commission’s Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs with a pledge to engage 400,000 young people across Europe by 2019. We will achieve our goal 3 years early so we can now invest further in educating thousands of young people in the latest digital skills.” says Evelyn Nicola, Sustainability & Citizenship Manager, Samsung Europe. “Our partnership with MakerBot will support a network of ‘Lighthouse Schools’ – centres of excellence for digital learning across Europe – to teach technology skills and encourage design and manufacture. Just imagine a 9 year old girl with her idea for a new design, being able to turn her idea at school into reality and take home. Experiencing the entire creation journey, from idea to digital concept to physical object represents the future of learning and R&D.” “Samsung and MakerBot share the same vision of developing new technologies that help prepare students for the jobs of the future,” said Andreas Langfeld, General Manager of MakerBot EMEA. “3D printing can help teach many of the 21st century skills that employers are looking for and applying knowledge to the real world. We’re excited to partner with Samsung to help even more educators and students discover the power of 3D printing.” Europe has particularly high youth unemployment. Many young people leave education without the digital and soft skills that their future jobs demand. At the same time education systems are struggling to respond to the changing needs of employers. Some teachers also lack the support and confidence to adapt how they teach to match the increasingly digital world. To address these challenges, Samsung focused its European citizenship programmes on digital education and employability. It helps young people to experience how digital skills can open new doors to their future through two core programmes: Firstly, Smart Classrooms create new learning opportunities for 6 – 16 year olds. Since 2013, over 1,300 Smart Classrooms have opened across 20 countries in Europe. Samsung not only provide technology, but also offer educational content and teach digital skills, such as coding to students and teachers. The second programme, Digital Academies is Samsung’s targeted contribution to tackling the digital skills gap. There are over 65 across Europe. In these learning centres, 16 – 24 year olds can access smart technology, ICT training and employability programmes to help their transition from education to employment. About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies, redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, cameras, digital appliances, printers, medical equipment, network systems, and semiconductor and LED solutions. We are also leading in the Internet of Things space through, among others, our Smart Home and Digital Health initiatives. We employ 307,000 people across 84 countries with annual sales of US $196 billion. To discover more, please visit our official website at www.samsung.com and our official blog at global.samsungtomorrow.com About MakerBot MakerBot, a subsidiary of Stratasys Ltd. (Nasdaq: SSYS), believes there’s an innovator in everyone, and sets the standard in reliability and ease of use. As a global leader in the desktop 3D printing industry, MakerBot offers a set of solutions that illuminate and guide every stage of the 3D printing process, making it easy to go from idea to end result. Founded in 2009, MakerBot has one of the largest installed bases in the industry with more than 100,000 MakerBot Desktop 3D Printers sold to date. MakerBot also runs Thingiverse, the largest 3D printing community in the world. The company’s industry-leading customers include designers, educators, engineers, and consumers.

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

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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

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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

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

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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

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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

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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.

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Formlabs Raises $35 Million in Series B Funding, Announces Autodesk Partnership 3D Printer Hardware

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Formlabs, the company founded in 2012 by MIT graduates that changed the SLA market forever when it introduced the first low cost SLA system, has raised $35 million in Series B funding. The round came from Foundry Group and Autodesk, as Formlabs also announced plans to collaborate strategically with the global CAD software leader. The investment includes participation from existing investors DFJ Growth, Pitango Venture Capital, and Pascal Cagni, bringing Formlabs’ total investment to date to $55 million. Beside giving yet another demonstration of the ever clearer potential of 3D printing, these newly injected resource will enable Formlabs to scale its operations to meet growing customer demand worldwide, grow R&D efforts, and to extend Formlabs’ reach in the market and ecosystem. “Formlabs’ efforts over the years in introducing new materials and capabilities have defined the category of professional desktop 3D printing, resulting in significant growth for the company along the way,” said Max Lobovsky, co-founder and CEO of Formlabs. “With the new investment, we’re excited to develop more powerful tools to enable anyone working with 3D content to create remarkable things. Formlabs will continue to grow the stereolithography business and bring new tools to the world to advance our goal of making digital fabrication more powerful and accessible.” Joining Formlabs’ board will be Brad Feld, co-founder of Foundry Group whose investments include MakerBot and Fitbit. Feld has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur for over 20 years and was co-founder of Techstars. “From the moment of its founding, Formlabs saw the opportunity in making professional desktop 3D printing accessible and was a key pioneer in the category,” said Brad Feld, co-founder of Foundry Group. “While the excitement and hype around consumer 3D printing has waned, the professional 3D printing category has had unabated demand, with Formlabs emerging as the leader in desktop 3D printing.” With Autodesk’s investment in Formlabs, the two companies plan to strategically collaborate on software integration and joint marketing initiatives. “Formlabs has brought a lot of innovation and great execution to the desktop 3D printing market, and Autodesk is excited to invest in the company’s future,” said Carl Bass, CEO of Autodesk. “But even more importantly, we’re eager to work together to improve digital design and manufacturing for product designers everywhere.” Pascal Cagni, who was head of Apple in Europe, will be joining as a strategic advisor to help bolster Formlabs’ expansion efforts across the EMEA territory. Through an expanding network of distribution partners, Formlabs’ global reach now extends across five continents in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. With rapid growth across all business fronts, Formlabs has seen 100 percent growth in annual sales for the third consecutive year and is shipping over 1,000 printers a month. Formlabs printers are now the top-selling 3D printers in stereolithography worldwide. Earlier this year, Formlabs acquired Pinshape, the fast-growing 3D printing community online that hosts a flourishing marketplace of 3D designs. Most recently opening a location in Japan, Formlabs now has over 190 employees across offices in North America, Europe, and Asia. About Formlabs Formlabs designs and manufactures powerful and accessible 3D printing systems for engineers, designers, and artists. Their flagship product, the Form 2 3D printer, uses stereolithography (SLA) to create high-resolution physical objects from digital designs. The company was founded in 2012 by a team of engineers and designers from the MIT Media Lab and Center for Bits and Atoms. With its powerful, intuitive, and affordable machines, Formlabs is establishing a new benchmark in professional desktop 3D printing. Formlabs also develops its own suite of high-performance materials for 3D printing, as well as best-in-class 3D printing software. About Foundry Group Foundry Group is a venture capital firm that invests in information technology, Internet, and software startups. It works alongside entrepreneurs to give birth to new technologies and to build those technologies into industry-leading companies. It is located in Boulder, CO but invests in companies across North America. About Autodesk Autodesk makes software for people who make things. If you’ve ever driven a high-performance car, admired a towering skyscraper, used a smartphone, or watched a great film, chances are you’ve experienced what millions of Autodesk customers are doing with our software. Autodesk gives you the power to make anything. For more information visit autodesk.com or follow @autodesk.