This time in our Sliced digest of the latest 3D printing news we see how many industries are getting a 3D printed upgrade. IKEA have 3D knitted chairs for sale; art and design at a Pennsylvanian university gets a 3D printing certificate; a co-working space in Virginia adds 3D printers; Jingle All the Way merchandise gets a Kickstarter; Made In Space to print sculptures for orbit; Autodesk choose the #DesignByCapture winner; and iMakr report doubled efforts on last year’s sales. Enjoy!
3D printing added to art syllabus at Pennsylvanian university
East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania expands their Art and Design syllabus to include a qualification for 3D printing. The program will make full use of the institution’s G3 Design Lab that is home to a range of 3D printers and scanners.
A Stratasys full-colour J750 3d printer has pride-of-place in the facility, making it a certified ‘superlab’ and one of only 2 other locations in the world to own one of printers.
Put that cookie down and kick-start the creation of Turbo Man
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without some obscure and specific reference to a film that claims to knock the spots off It’s a Wonderful Life and Elf. A Kickstarter campaign is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Jingle All the Way starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and a certain cult action figure.
Backers can buy a replica figurine 0f the film’s Turbo Man that has been recreated using 3D scanning and CAD modelling. With 22 days to go, the project has already exceeded its $13,000 goal and will be launching a larger print run for over 100 backers.
IKEA launches 3D knitted chair in stores
Though precariously within the bounds of 3D printing, 3D knitting has found its place commercially in a range of armchairs from IKEA.
Being backed by the Swedish furniture retailer could spell certain success for 3D knitting technology, and shows how the company aren’t afraid to take risks with modern manufacturing methods. We’ve already seen sneaker manufacturers embrace advanced knitting technology to manufacture the uppers in shoes.
Having 3D printers in an IKEA warehouse certainly would take some of the edge off that final ‘realm’ of the store, where customers are left searching for products in an seemingly endless maze filled with racks of cardboard boxes.
Virginia co-working space gets a 3D printer upgrade
The Foundry in Fredericksburg, VA, has changed hands. Reclaim Hosting, who provide digital host support to businesses and individuals, now own the facility, and are installing a recording studio, green screen and 3D printers in the site. The new Foundry will be, in essence, a MakerSpace with an entrepreneurial edge, as small businesses work and share ideas within the hub.
3D printed sculptures in space
Artist Eyal Gever, is planning to launch the first ever sculptures into space alongside (but not as far out as) the galaxy’s own naturally occurring ‘sculptures’ in the Asteroid Belt.
The project titled #Laugh is designed to be a celebration of earth, in art pieces that are ‘a mathematically-accurate encapsulation of human laughter, simply floating through space, waiting to be discovered.’
Gever will have the help of space additive manufacturing specialist Made in Space and NASA for the project, using a zero-gravity 3D printer on the ISS to create each #Laugh sculpture.
Winners of #DesignByCapture reverse engineering competition announced
Two lucky 3D designers have won themselves an extra present this Christmas for redesigning an object from a hobby using Autodesk Remake and Fusion360 software.
Jonathan Spoerke will receive an Oculus Rift VR viewer for his Seagull Guitar, which he designed an iPhone mount for in round 2. Melanie Tang on the other hand wins an HTC Vive for her bit mount design which can be fitted to a power drill.
iMakr close the year with doubled sales
3D printing and scanning store iMakr announced they have doubled of sales during 2016. The retailer attribute their success to the expansion of their specialist 3D printer engineering team who work closely with customers prior to purchase, and the launch of iMakr.fr for French speaking clients. Some of their best-selling products this year have been the Gizmo Gizipro desktop resin 3D printer, the Einscan-Pro 3D scanner, and the range of Cubicon printers.
The 1st annual 3D printing industry awards
We also have some news of our own this week. 3DPI will host the 1st annual 3D printing industry awards at an event in London, UK next year. Nominations are now being accepted, so if you think Autodesk, Stratasys, Einscan or any of the other companies or people mentioned in this edition of Sliced deserve an award then make sure you vote!
Featured image shows the Sliced logo over Eyal Gever’s digital renders of a #Laugh 3D printed sculpture. Original image via: Wallpaper Magazine
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