Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo

Recently on April 22-23 NYC’s Jacob Javitz Center was host to the first Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo presented by WebMediaBrands. While the expo area was smaller in size than might have been imagined, considering the current buzz around 3d printing in general, there were still some interesting technologies on display and a host of new and old 3d printing vendors on hand. Some of the booth highlights included Mcor Technologies, Formlabs, (x)object, and of course Makerbot.

Mcor Technologies was showing their new Mcor Iris full color 3d printer (http://www.mcortechnologies.com/3d-printers/iris/) which essentially creates your 3d object with paper.  Their system allows you to print full color sliced images of your model on a normal color printer and then stacks, laminates and cuts the individual sheets to build up your full color 3d model.  The results are impressive and in handling the models the strength and heft are as good as any plastic based printed models we’ve seen. Pricing on this printer will probably exclude it from most of the grassroots maker movement and limit it to the industry, education and research fields that it is intended for.

Formlabs (http://formlabs.com/)had on display their eagerly anticipated SL (stereolithography) based Form 1 printer.  The Form 1 uses a photopolymer approach where laser traces out each cross section of a model onto a liquid resin that cures (hardens) wherever its hit by the laser. The results are extremely high resolution models that would be hard to replicate using the more common Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) approaches.  The printer itself is beautiful and very mac-esque but is not yet shipping (they project a July ship date).  The only downside we see is that the resin used is currently proprietary meaning you have to buy it from Formlabs.  While they are currently working to develop new compatible resins we still prefer the freedom of choosing from various 3rd party vendors for consumables.

x object, a Brooklyn based company, was showing their Up! and Up! Mini 3d printers which are affordable FDM based printers (http://www.up3dusa.com/).  These are 3rd generation versions that are attractive, small and low cost solutions that are perfect for anyone looking to test the waters of rapid prototyping .  Limitations at these price points understandably are print volume size and only single print head capability.

Makerbot (http://www.makerbot.com/) was of course on hand with a wall of their slick Replicator 2 and 2X FDM based printers.   These 2 head capable printers have a reasonably large build volume compared to other commercially available printers encased in a cool black aluminum case. Not much else to say about these pioneers of 3d printing especially considering their strategic alliance with Autodesk.  We expect lots more in the future from the Makerbot guys.

Other interesting booths included Bolton Works (http://www.bolton-works.com/) with their 3d Scanning system and service aimed at engineering industries,  3D Systems (http://www.3dsystems.com/) with their glowing wall of 3d models on display along with a fully playable 3d printed electric guitar, and a NY based 3d printing service called National Reprographics Inc (http://www.nrinet.com/) that has been historically been in the 3D printing world primarily for architecture clients. The company has several different technologies in-house so if anyone is looking to go somewhere local to get something made quickly then they can always visit the location at 40 west 18th street 2nd floor and drop off/pick up their 3D model or of course upload online and have it shipped.  They also have another interesting offering for companies that may be thinking about getting a higher end production printer but don’t want to fork out the initial outlay of capitol, NRI will buy the machine, put it on site with a technician to run it for a monthly fee similar to the Xerox 2D copier business model of old.