Additive Manufacturing – Great news for small business and consumers

Blog Written by Hutch Hutchison, Director, Technology & Engineering Matching, FuzeHub
3D systems has rolled out several new products at the Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas including:

• Cube 3, the latest version of its consumer printer, that prints 2 colors/2 materials in ABS and PLA, 6” Cube build volume, and costs around $1000. It is allegedly twice as fast as its predecessor, but it is still committed to use 3-D systems materials, in the cartridges that fit the machine.
• The  first, low–cost (under $5000), ink-Jet- like 3-D printer that prints in full color, the CubeJet – no specifications yet, but soon to come – expects to ship this Summer! Read their press release: Full Color CubeJet
• ChefJet, a 3-D Printer that can print food creations in both consumer and professional kitchens. The smaller, with an8”X8”X6” volume, prints monochrome cake toppers in chocolate, vanilla, mint, sour apple, cherry and watermelon, and costs $5K. The larger, full color version, prints the same flavors in sizes up to 10”X14”X8”, for a mere $10K. See the press release:  ChefJet
• CeraJet, the first Ceramic 3-d Printer , that, for $10K, prints in full color, via the ink-jet-like technique. Once printed, the only-imagined-never-producible-shapes that can be had by 3-D Printing (layer-by-layer, remember?) are ready for the traditional ceramic firing process. This too will be shipping in the first half of this year.
• Here we go, George Eastman, (Kodak) roll over in your grave!- 3-D Systems rolled out the first 3-D “Photobooth” (Remember going into those booths to get a strip of photos?), where you can go into the booth, have your face scanned, and produce a figurine instead of a photo. Imaginative software and cloud computing add options to “mash” your face with celebrities. 3-D Me Photobooth
• If these aren’t enough, 3-D Systems also introduced a Haptic 3-D Mouse , which is a tool to allow a realistic, physical sculpting experience, with touch feedback to simulate really sculpting your 3-D creation.

Seems like they have been very busy at 3-D Systems!