It’s a new month! Which means that there is a new 3D Hubs Trend Report. And, now, due to new partnerships with Sketchfab, Thingiverse, and Instructables, the distributed manufacturing community has over 16,000 3D printers online in over 150 countries. So, this latest report can only have more data on which to give insights into the global 3D printing industry.
Though the Zortrax M200 was the highest rated printer in 3D Hubs’ 2015 3D Printer Guide, the Polish brand has since been dethroned and re-throned by the Form 1+ SLA 3D printer, which is also the most popular resin printer on the site. Surprisingly, Zotrax was bumped down to the number three spot this month and succeeded by the MakerBot Mini, which moved from 6th to 2nd place. Other developments on the desktop side include the DeltaWASP moving to 4th place, with the LulzBot TAZ4 following in 5th. And, on an interesting side note, the CTC-3D is the number 1 most trending printer, with 72% month-on-month growth pushing it up 12 spots.
On the industrial side of the industry, the Objet Eden 260 and Projet 3500 HDMax received five stars and are in the first and second spots, followed by the ProJet 460Plus in third. As 3D Systems’ most affordable full-color printer, the ProJet 460Plus may be of particular significance to 3D Hubs users. At the same time that the 3D printer community announced a partnership with 3D model sharing site Sketchfab, 3D Hubs also announced full-color support on the site. This means that 3D models from Sketchfab, even those in full-color, can be ordered for 3D printing via local 3D Hubs members. And, because Sketchfab models can be embedded directly into Facebook, prints can be ordered from 3D Hubs through the most popular social network in the world.
You can print or buy this digital mug. Read on: http://goo.gl/QrLfeA #3dprinting
Posted by 3D Printing Industry on Friday, April 24, 2015
Based on the number of listed 3D printer owners, New York is still the number one city for 3D printing, followed by Milan, LA, and London, with Boston making it onto the Top 10 cities for the first time. The Replicator 2 and 2X continue to be the most popular printers in the US, followed by the Prusa i3, the Form 1+, and the da Vinci 1.0, while in Europe, Ultimaker remains the most popular brand. In the Asia-Pacific region, the Replicator 2 and Ultimaker 2 took the top spots and, in South America, the Prusa i3 leads the way.
For the most part, the network of 16,000+ 3D printers are being utilized for the manufacturing of prototypes and scale models, those art, jewelry, and hobby applications are growing. Also growing is the network itself, with 3D printer users in Iraq and Eritrea joining the site and 3D Hubs declaring, “The map above represents the geographic distribution of over 16,000 printers on our platform. Providing access to over 150 countries and counting, it’s safe to say 3D Hubs is in more countries than McDonalds!”
And this network will only continue to grow, as more Thingiverse, Instructables, and Sketchfab users join the distributed manufacturing site. Plus, as 3D Hubs continues touring the world with 3D scanning and fun filament workshops, more and more people are likely to use listed hubs or offer their own. To get the full break-down from this month’s Trend Report, visit 3D Hubs here.
