Staples Bets on 3D Printing
While major news agencies have been running stories about additive manufacturing (AM) for a goodly amount of time now, you can still find plenty of people who have never heard of the technology. Unless your place of work uses a 3D printer or you are a technophile (or know one), the odds of running across an AM system in the wild isn’t all that great, even with some of the retail stores that have begun popping up. That might well be about to change.
Last December, Rapid Ready ran a short piece about a new partnership between Staples and Mcor Technologies that would bring 3D printers into the stores. The first Staples Experience Center featuring the Mcor Iris opened for business on April 29 in Almere, The Netherlands. Other locations are set to follow, including American stores. Continue reading
Rapid Ready Roundup: Mcor, Stratasys, Architecture and 3D Photo Booths
In the course of my diligent efforts to keep you good people up to date on the state of additive manufacturing (AM), I come across many interesting news items. I’ll gather them up every so often and present them in a Rapid Ready Roundup (like this one). You can find the last Roundup here.
The Irish are invading! No, not really, but Mcor Technologies is making new inroads in the US, following the debut of its Iris 3D printer and its deal with Staples. The company announced the addition of architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) 3D printing and modeling firm, LGM to its list of channel partners. LGM will sell the Mcor stable of AM systems, as well as using Mcor products to fill AM orders. Continue reading
Additive Manufacturing Goes Retail
Online shopping is a huge business, just ask Amazon. The success of that particular company contributed to the fall of Borders’ brick and mortar stores, and, no doubt, the early demise of many smaller businesses based in the real world. For many kinds of shopping, online is perfect. The selection is enormous, consumers don’t have to worry about business hours, and they can shop in your PJs.
Not everything is better online, however. Sometimes just seeing a picture or even a video of a new product isn’t the same as eyeballing a potential purchase up close. And don’t forget the sensory angle. You know what to expect with a book or DVD, but tech is different. The lines that form around Apple stores at the launch of a new product suggest that touch experience is still a powerful sales tool. Continue reading
Rapid Ready Roundup: 3D Systems, Mcor Partners with Staples, GE Aviation and the Evolution of the 3D Printed Wrench
In the course of my diligent efforts to keep you good people up to date on the state of additive manufacturing (AM), I come across many interesting news items. I’ll gather them up every so often and present them in a Rapid Ready Roundup (like this one). You can find the last Roundup here.
Let’s begin with a look at the newest versions of 3D Systems’ ProJet line of AM systems: the ProJet 3500 HDMax and CPXMax. Both printers have the same basic specs of the older models, but offer tablet and smartphone connectivity. Additionally, the HDMax has a new high speed setting (at a slight cost in potential resolution) and the CPXMax offers an improved net build volume at higher resolutions for its RealWax casting capability. Continue reading
Geomagic Debuts Spark, Freeform 2013
Euromold 2012 has unleashed a veritable flood of information and new releases. In the past few days Rapid Ready has looked at new 3D printers, such as the Iris and the Objet1000. Today I’ll be shifting focus from additive manufacturing systems to the data that feeds them.
Geomagic has announced the forthcoming release of its 3D modeling software: Freeform 2013. The newest version of Freeform continues to leverage the company’s Phantom haptic feedback technology, which allows users to virtually sculpt new designs. Freeform 2013 adds subdivisional modeling, which is intended to add greater surface detail by, “applying a refinement scheme to polygon mesh surfaces.” Continue reading
