MakerBot unveils ‘Digitizer’ 3D scanner (Wired UK) At the SxSW conference in Austin, Texas, 3D printer manufacturer MakerBot has announced a 3D scanner called the “Digitizer”. The desktop-sized device uses cameras and lasers to scan objects and create digital files that can then be used to replicate the object exactly using one of MakerBot’s digital printers. MakerBot founder Bre Pettis said: “The MakerBot Digitizer is an innovative new way to take a physical object, scan it, and create a digital file — without any design, CAD software or 3D modelling experience at all — and then print the item again and again on a MakerBot Replicator 2 or 2X Desktop 3D Printer.”

MakerBot unveils ‘Digitizer’ 3D scanner (Wired UK)

At the SxSW conference in Austin, Texas, 3D printer manufacturer MakerBot has announced a 3D scanner called the “Digitizer”.

The desktop-sized device uses cameras and lasers to scan objects and create digital files that can then be used to replicate the object exactly using one of MakerBot’s digital printers.

MakerBot founder Bre Pettis said: “The MakerBot Digitizer is an innovative new way to take a physical object, scan it, and create a digital file — without any design, CAD software or 3D modelling experience at all — and then print the item again and again on a MakerBot Replicator 2 or 2X Desktop 3D Printer.”

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How An Army Of MakerBot Replicators Will 3D-Print The Future

Ever seen a 3D printer in action? If not, here’s your chance.

At CES 2013, MakerBot showed off its new Replicator 2X, an “experimental” version of the company’s landmark 3D printer that offers some twists on the Replicator 2’s design. The 2X features dual extruding nozzles that allow printing in multiple colors, and it uses thermoplastic ABS instead of the material known as PLA, which tends to be the preferred material for those new to the 3D printing world.

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3D Printers Get Big Boost: Foundry Group Leads $10m Investment in MakerBot | ReadWriteWeb Consumer-grade 3D printer manufacturers MakerBot Industries has raised $10 million in venture financing lead by Brad Feld’s Foundry Group, the fund announced today. The MakerBot project is exciting because it represents a democratization of physical manufacturing. “I believe that we’ll look back in 20 years and 3D printers will be as ubiquitous as laser printers are today,” Feld wrote this morning. “We aren’t yet at the point that is equivalent to the first HP Laserjet in 1984, but I think we’ll see a comparable product from MakerBot within a year. In the mean time, I’m going to keep downloading 3D things from the Thingiverse and keeping my Thing-O-Matic busy.”

3D Printers Get Big Boost: Foundry Group Leads $10m Investment in MakerBot | ReadWriteWeb

Consumer-grade 3D printer manufacturers MakerBot Industries has raised $10 million in venture financing lead by Brad Feld’s Foundry Group, the fund announced today. The MakerBot project is exciting because it represents a democratization of physical manufacturing.

“I believe that we’ll look back in 20 years and 3D printers will be as ubiquitous as laser printers are today,” Feld wrote this morning. “We aren’t yet at the point that is equivalent to the first HP Laserjet in 1984, but I think we’ll see a comparable product from MakerBot within a year. In the mean time, I’m going to keep downloading 3D things from the Thingiverse and keeping my Thing-O-Matic busy.”

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Rise of the replicators - New Scientist MakerBot is one of a range of desktop manufacturing plants being developed by researchers and hobbyists around the world. Their goal is to create a machine that is able to fix itself and, ultimately, to replicate … MakerBot and most of its kin are essentially a cut-price reinvention of the 3D printer. While professional machines still cost upwards of tens of thousands of dollars, a coalition of academics and tinkerers has created versions that do much the same thing for much less. Anyone with a few hundred dollars and some spare time can build their own 3D printer from a set of plans distributed free on the internet. 

Rise of the replicators - New Scientist

MakerBot is one of a range of desktop manufacturing plants being developed by researchers and hobbyists around the world. Their goal is to create a machine that is able to fix itself and, ultimately, to replicate … MakerBot and most of its kin are essentially a cut-price reinvention of the 3D printer. While professional machines still cost upwards of tens of thousands of dollars, a coalition of academics and tinkerers has created versions that do much the same thing for much less. Anyone with a few hundred dollars and some spare time can build their own 3D printer from a set of plans distributed free on the internet. 

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