It has been awhile since we have written an article and as such we have so much to talk about. It has been exciting hearing about all the new 3D printing related Kickstarters, including the introduction of new 3D printing materials, and we can’t wait for what we have to show off too. We have been working non-stop this year between printing and consulting, increasing our printing and scanning capabilities, appearing at events as well as releasing the beta to our flagship product, ABE. Read More
SD3D has been a very busy place over the past several months and we are extremely excited about where we are headed in 2014. We have been watching the 3D printing market as closely as anyone and we believe that 2014 will also be a breakout year for the industry. Here is what we are most excited for in 2014:
There are several practical reasons why you may want to cool the components inside your 3D printer. The first and most important is to make sure that your printer remains operational and free of maintenance for as long as possible. The most obvious low-hanging fruit for most 3D printers are the stepper motors responsibility for extruding and positioning the model on the x-y planes. These three motors can run so hot that they will burn you if you try to touch their surface platting during a print. While these motors are designed to run hot, there is a limit to how hot you want them to get for prolonged periods. This is where stepper motor cooling comes into play.
There are literally hundreds of desktop 3D printers emerging on the market, each with a multitude of variables to consider. This review was restricted to printers that are currently available or scheduled for initial delivery in the 4th quarter of 2013. Additionally, we only included the most valuable product offered from any single manufacturer to help narrow the playing field. Our quest was to find the top 10 most valuable 3D printing machines available to those looking for a printer by the end of the year. Here is what we found:
October 1st, 2013 – San Diego, California While crypto currencies have been around for several years now, they have yet to establish themselves as a viable alternative to traditional currencies for most transactions; including digital ones. The main reason for this is that acceptance of Bitcoins and other crypto currencies are sporadic which inherently limits their demand. Merchant involvement is further discouraged as the perceived value becomes relatively volatile due to this deficiency of legitimate sources of demand. However, the scene is slowly changing with the emergence of vertically integrated markets that embrace digital crypto currencies such as Bitcoin. A perfect example of one of these is the open source 3D printing market. Open source fused filament fabrication (FFF) has increased in popularity at around the same pace as digital currencies over the past several years. While these two markets are completely independent of each other in function, the cultural impetus, which has made them successful, shares a common thread.
When choosing a rapid prototyping solution there are often many possible options, each with their own set of strengths and weaknesses. In this article we are going to take a closer look at three of the main types of rapid prototyping solutions available today: fused filament fabrication (FFF), stereolithography (SLA), and selective laser sintering (SLS). Read More
