Back again

Ten months are passed since last post on this blog.

We start again this saturday on makerfaire in Rome.

Stay tuned.

Printing a brigde

This first 3D printed bridge is going to be built in Amsterdam by the Dutch company MX3D.

“A little step for a company a big step for humanity”

Sketch from MX3D website

3D printing Hubs

I started my personal 3D Printing Hub on 3dhubs.com.

You can find the button on the homepage of this website or simply click here!

3D Hubs facilitates transactions between 3D printer owners (Hubs) and people that want to make 3D prints. Printer owners can join the Hubs listing in their city to offer 3D printing services in their neighborhood, and customers can locate printer owners to get stuff printed nearby.

Using 3dhubs.com is really simple and can be simplified into 3 steps:

1- Upload the stl file

2- Select the hub you prefer filtering from distance, price, color, material.

3 – Submit a request

Then you just have to wait the seller contact.

Enjoy 3dhubs.com

Melting the Hot-end

Printing is about melting plastic. What happen when the thermistor is not regulating the temperature and an hot-end is made in plastic? You can print directly by melting the hot-end 🙂

This is what happened to me!

3D printing Nutella!

3d printing nerds are crazy. Automating the Nutella spreading process is the aim of this new useless gadget presented on kickstarter: Cub3r. 100 points for the courage but I really don’t think the would achieve the goal. Good luck guys!

Here’s the project:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robtwil/cubr3-the-bread-spread-machine/widget/video.html

Hybrid is the way!

In history, most of the inventions had to pay for legacy systems before they had to be accepted and used by people. One of the recent Pixar film “Planes” shows a funny character, Franz Fliegenhosen that’s half car and half plane.
This is not an invention, it’s a true 1954 project named Taylor Aerocar. Recenltly Terrafugia designed a new and modern version of that aerocar. The dream is still alive.

Aerocar Franz Fliegenhosen

So, why am I talking about flying cars?

The answer is simple: personal flying objects must deal with a big legacy barrier and may be the way to convince people accept them is to pass through an hybrid version. You will not lose your car, you will also get a flying one!
Could this be one of the way for a 3D printers to breakthrough into our house?

A 3D printing computer. A sort of computer integrated into a 3D printer with all the specialized software and specific support for it’s hardware. This is my weird idea.

ner3d

HP confirms the plan to split in two

It’s very interesting the new about HP and its plans to split into two companies. Standing to Forbes “by the end of 2015, the HP of today will no longer exist; the tech giant will split itself into one company focused on servers, software and cloud technology, and one company focusing on the legacy computers and printers business. The cloud-focused company, to be named Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, will be led by current CEO Meg Whitman; the computer-and-printer-focused business will be named HP Inc and led by Dion Weisler, who is currently serving as executive vice president of HP’s printing and personal systems business. Whitman will serve as non-executive chairman of HP Inc’s board of directors.”

They affirm that this division will provide more flexibility e quickly response to the market. With a new 3D printer market to conquer, you will see some good things. Great times are coming. Stay tuned!

ner3d

HP splits in two companies

3D printing killer feature to be searched into organized crime?

When we build things, apps, we always think about the their killer features. Why should people buy your “thing” rather than another one? There is an old silly comic strip I have printed and attached to the wall some years ago, that’s about Android vs iPhone.

Sometimes killer feature is simply openess to another system. For example explosion of Bitcoin must be strictly analyzed with its adoption as standard currency for illicit trafficking on the net (Silk road case). The first of October Europol arrested 31 people in a operation against Bulgarian criminal dealing with credit cards frauds. They used 3D printed equipment to manufacture fake plastic card slot bezels to be installed on ATMs and to manipulate POS terminals.

Is this a fresh start of a new age? Can “Bitcoin + 3D printing” build the base for the new organized crime age out of the standard controlled system? Should we find the 3D printing killer feature into organized crime?

ner3d

ner3d.com @ Rome #Makerfaire 2014

I had great time yesterday at Makerfaire. The event took the Auditorium space and was really big. If I had to find two words to describe it, i would use 3D PRINTING. This was the real added value to almost every showroom I visited. 3D printing does not only helps to make 3D printed stuff at home. 3D printing helps to prototype working things to help people in the world. It seemed to me that most of the projects would have never started up if the could not rapid prototype something.

I’m taking the example of an arm to let deaf-mute people have distance communication by replicating locally the gesture language. Everything, from the simple toy to the specialized technology, started from a 3D self-printed part. This is the fact and no one can cancel it.

Beyond the makers and beyond the faire there’s technology, and the technology that made all this possible was affordable 3D printing.

METAL 3D printing on Kickstarter

Aurora Labs launched a Kickstarter campaign for their new and affordable metal 3D printing. Up to 20 different materials in 3 printers!

Aurora Labs Founders

Take a look for the specifications on their kickstarter campaign HERE.