AN interview WITH SHAPEWAYS

It seems [Andrew] is an up as well as coming historian for the world of 3D printing. We’ve seen him interview the creator of Slic3r, however this time around he’s headed over to Eindhoven, Netherlands to interview the neighborhood manager for Shapeways, [Bart Veldhuizen].

Unlike the RepRaps, Ultimkers, as well as Makerbots, Shapeways is an completely different ecosystem of 3D printing. instead of building a machine that requires many hours of tinkering, you can just upload a design as well as have a physical representation delivered to your door in a week. You can likewise upload objects for others to buy. in spite of these contending philosophies, [Bart] doesn’t see Shapeways as encroaching on the homebrew 3D printers out there; they serve different markets, as well as competition is always good.

Unfortunately, [Andrew] wasn’t allowed to film on the Shapeways factory floor. Proprietary stuff as well as whatnot, in addition to a few specific ‘key words’ that will speed your client support request up to the top of the queue.

As for exactly how Shapeways really creates numerous objects a day, [Andrew] learned that private orders are made in batches, with a number of customer’s parts made in a single run. While most of the parts made by Shapeways are manufactured in-house, they do outsource silver casting after making the preliminary positive mold.

As for the future, a great deal of clients are asking about mixed media, with plastic/nylon combined with metal being at the top of the list. It’s difficult to state what the future of 3D printing will be, however [Bart] makes an allusion to cell phones from 10 years ago. In 2003, nobody had smartphones, as well as now we have an always-on wireless Web connection in our pockets. provided the exact same rate of technological progress, we can’t wait to see what 3D printing will be like in 10 years, either.