As January draws to a close we take a look back at the week in 3d printing. It was a week where fear, uncertainty and doubt around 3D printers made an unwelcome appearance alongside “alternative facts“, but also a week where a new audience were inspired by the potential of 3D printing to change their industry.
Kickstarter suspend Next Dynamics NexD1 3D printer
Our week began with a visit to a company to see what promised to be a remarkable 3D printer. Since mid-January we’ve spent time (initially unsuccessfully) trying to contact Next Dynamics to understand more about their NexD1 machine. In the previous week we reported on doubts about the 3D printer, and after visiting the company and finally speaking with one of the directors we published a follow up article.
By the end of the week Kickstarter had suspended the campaign and as reported on Slashdot, several tech sites who had previously given “praise” to the company were looking less than well informed about the 3D printing industry.
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3D printing business updates
Earnings season began with GE and Renishaw reporting numbers. There was also news about a change in management at SLM Solutions. GE had previously made a takeover bid for SLM Solutions, only to purchase Concept Laser after the deal fell through.
We also looked at how a new investment in 3D printing bureau, Voodoo Manufacturing values the company at $10 million and how the North of England is set to benefit from a half a billion investment to advance manufacturing.
There was more good news about 3D printing as we spoke with Mcor about their expansion plans. In other business news about 3D printing we reported on the $23 million investment organised by Li Ka-Shing and Horizons Ventures. Divergent 3D will receive the funds to advance plans to, “create a new model of decentralized car production that fosters pioneering car designs and lowers costs while alleviating environmental damage.”
3D Printing Industry presentations and trade shows
On Wednesday I gave a presentation to a group of food industry professionals about the use of 3D printing in the food sector. The group from Belgium were investigating advanced technology for the food industry and were interested to learn about opportunities for 3D printing with food. Also speaking at the event was Oxford University’s Professor Charles Spence. Professor Spence gave an interesting and often amusing talk that featured several remarkable experiments. Including one where hungry undergraduates were shut in a soundproof booth and made to eat stale Pringles.
We also visited the Bett show where we saw how 3D printing is used in education. We met with MakerBot, Ultimaker, XYZPrinting, Digimagic, Solidworks, Dremel, Craftunique, Fabmaker, Denford and many others working with 3D printing and education.
Another enterprise bringing science to life is the Bloodhound SSC project. We’ve often reported on the use of 3D printing to build the 1,000 mph car and it was interesting to speak with Rob Bennett from Bloodhound about the response to their science outreach projects.
We also saw demos of new products from HP and Microsoft and got to hear about how they can be used in the 3D printing industry. We’ll bring you more on this shortly.
This coming week 3D Printing Industry will be attending more 3D printing events. We’ll be reporting from the 4th edition of the 3D bioprinting conference and also the 3D Dental Printing conference, 3D MedTech conference and 3D Medicine Printing conference. We’ll bring you all the news from these events and exclusive coverage on our social media channels, so don’t forget to follow us here and here.
You can catch up with our earlier reviews of the week in 3D printing, here, here and here.
If you’re still looking for more news about 3D printing then why not see what 14 3D printing industry experts had to say about the future of additive manufacturing.
And finally, the nomination period for the 1st Annual 3D Printing Industry Awards is drawing to a close, don’t miss your opportunity to let us know who should receive an award.
Featured image shows a Dalek in the BBC Micro:bit booth at Bett 2017. Photo by Michael Petch.
