3D printing in bronze has passed the test
We’re happy to say to you our trial period of bronze is over! So from now on we can serve you with exact prices and details about the designs on our webpage. The maximum size we offer is 50 x 50 x 50 mm, but we do encourage you to challenge us with bigger models. If you come up with a design a little bit bigger than the imaginary box, don’t hesitate to tell us: we can check wheter it’s possible or not. We hope to print bigger models in time as research is still going on.
For the prices: we can say that a design up to 5 cm³ will cost you 38,50 dollar, for every extra cm³ you will pay 8,8 dollars extra. For compact models there’s an extra discount. The more material you have within the imaginary box around your model, the more discount you get for the same model volume.
Bronze is typically used for coins, medals, key or small figures, but don’t hesitate to think out of the box. We welcome any possible design!
Do you have more questions about your design, just mail it to cont
Check out the 3D printed Dragonbite: the winner of the Metal Challenge
It was a very hard decision to choose a winner for our Metal Accessoires Challenge but, as we mentioned in an earlier blogpost, Vangelis and Dinos convinced us with their marvellous design: the dragonbite pencil. We’re very happy to present to you the 3D printed resultand we can tell: it fits perfectly in your hand!
Its ergonomical design fits perfectly in your hand.
Don’t forget our other challenge, the Facebook/Forum Design Challenge: Post a nice picture of your project in ‘Unbox it’ on our forum and win a voucher of 250 euro for 3D printing. We post the pictures on Facebook, whoever gets the most likes can when another voucher of 250 euro. Good luck to you all!
We introduce to you: Ceramics
We’re very happy to give you the possibility to print in ceramics, as the latest material available on i.materialise. Imagine all the new, beautiful designs you can make: table ware, tiles and even jewelry or candle holders. Anything is possible, really. The models are made from alumina silica ceramic powder and sealed with porcelain and silicia. The colored glaze we apply after printing is a lead-free, non-toxic gloss.
The lovely thing about ceramics is all the nice colors you can choose from. They say ‘there’s a color for every mood’, so we made a selection of eight, in our eyes nice, fresh and warm colors. Choose the colors you like the most, we offer you a wide range:
- Glossy white
- Glossy Black
- Lemon Yellow
- Pistachio Green
- Sky blue
- Ocean Turquoise
- True blue
- Peach Orange
For more detailed information about the basic properties and pricing, check out our webpage.
Not only is this material we’re using heat resistant (up to 600°C), b
It’s a Sinter Summer
Remember when we did that laser sintering pricing trial back in April? We said it would be for a limited time only and we also said that we would evaluate it afterwards. Well now we can confirm that the evaluating part is over and we’re ready to offer you our official laser sintering prices here and now! In simple words… laser sintering will cost you 0.1 euro/cm3!
Let’s take a look at how it all works…
- All designs that fit within a bounding box of 125cm3 and have a maximum dimension of 200mm will from now on be sold at 12,5 euros a piece
- If your design fits within a bounding box of 27cm3 (for example 3x3x3cm) and has a maximum dimension of 100mm, you’ll only pay 5 euros per copy of that same design (for example you’ll pay 32,5 euros for 5 copies as 12,5+5+5+5 = 32,5)
- For copies of any other design that still fits within the 125cm3 and have a maximum dimension of 200mm, you will pay 10 euros per copy (for example you’ll pay 52,5 euros for 5 copies as 12,5+10+10+10+10 = 52
Introducing Brass 3D Printing
Looking for a high detailed metallic material that looks amazing and doesn’t cost you a fortune? Then Brass is the way to go for you. It’s a very shiny material due to its high-grade polished gold plated layer while offering a high level of detail giving it that 18-carat golden look. It’s a material that fits perfectly between 3D printed gold and gold plated stainless steel and here’s why…
- Gold Plated Stainless Steel: Cheapest option but less detailed
- Brass: Cheaper than Gold but same level of detail and beautifully shiny
- Gold: Highly detailed like brass but more valuable
Gold plated brass is a great way to go when designing things such as small jewelry or Steampunk based designs. It just looks phenomenal and expensive when it’s actually quite affordable compared to the real thing. Let’s have a look at what it would cost you to 3D print in this new material:
- 1cm3 will currently cost about 25 euros
- 5cm3 will currently cost about 95 euros
- 10cm3 will currently cos
Finish it!
The surface of a 3D printed model is determined by the material and the technology. It will define the look and feel of your printed design.
Most technologies print your model layer by layer. The goal of post-finishing is to reduce evidence of these layers as much as possible, without damaging the geometry of your model. However, the difference in surfaces can be seen when the natural surface option is chosen – for example, a powder based model will be rougher than a resin based model.
So what can you do with your model after it’s printed? Well, we already have a wide range of post-finishing options available but a lot of times, our designers create their own magic. Welcome in the world of polishing, dyeing, painting, and so much more. Don’t consider these pages to be omniscient but will add more and more information as time goes by.
Check them out here:
http://i.materialise.com/materials/finishing
The Month of April in 3D printing
Without a doubt it was a busy month in the world of 3D printing. Big companies started spending their money again. This continues to enforce the trend that we’re on a road towards a future of a handful of big 3D printing players.
We also saw the continued rise of crowd funding projects in the world of 3D printing and as often happens… more new 3D printers for us to get our hands on. Let’s have a look at the news items in detail…
First, the business news… It seems that 3D Systems got back into its spending habit of last year by acquiring My Robot Nation and Paramount Industries. Could it be the beginning of another spending spree this year? Only time will tell… On the other hand, they also got to present the new Z Printer 850. It promises higher print volume, greater productivity and vibrant full color that empowers designers, engineers, and architects to create more and larger parts faster.
At the same time we can’t really say that the other 3D Printing giant calle
i.materialise student discount
UPDATE: This post is from 2012. Click here for the latest promo code for students!
Worldwide, students 3D print concept cars, architectural models, functional models, prototypes, and all sorts of other things with us. We really love working on those projects. So, if you’re a student at a College or University and want to use 3D printing for a school related project, we’re giving you a 10% discount if you 3D print with us. We’re especially interested in Design Academy students, engineering students, product design graduates, and fashion students. Nevertheless, feel free to surprise us with your work from any other discipline.
However, there are some rules and remarks to get the 10% STUDENT DISCOUNT.
- You have to be enrolled at a College, University or Technical school.
- You must contact us using an .edu or other university/school email address to verify this (sorry about this but someone always will play unfair even though virtually all are fair). In case you didn’t
Great phones ask for great covers
Your own unique cover in 1 2 3 ( 4 5)
Look what our friends Jonas and Daaf from Samson design studio have created. Yourkees allows you to create unique and awesome looking iPhone covers.
You are able to build your own KEES (Dutch for ‘Case’) by combining a side bumper with two back layers. These layers can be selected in two libraries. The first one is filled with 3D structures; the second one is filled with beautiful images of –mostly everyday- objects. The magic happens when you see the combination of both. As if that is wasn’t enough, you can also add your own piece of text on the cover AND select different material options! Some of the covers have a very special velvet look, of which you will soon hear more on our blog.
i.materialise is proud to work together as production partner for these guys. We see many great 3D printed covers passing by, but the configurator they have developed allows everyone to create cool designs with a unique touch
i.materialise to Japan, and back
Hi all,
We are happy to announce a new collaboration with our Japanese friends at Inter-Culture to exchange products in our online galleries.
Inter-Culture was founded by INCS, a Japanese company with a rich (+20 years!) history in 3D printing. So these guys definitely know how to design and produce for3D printing. Just as i.materialise, Inter-Culture has an online store where they offer a nice collection of 3D printed products
What does this mean for you?
Well, we’re sure you’ll have some nice advantages by this partnership.
Products of designers who are using the i.materialise gallery will also be offered for sale directly in Japan via the Inter-Culture channel. It generates more selling opportunities for your products, giving you the chance to make more money.
Also – for people who are searching for original designs – we now offer some beautiful Inter-Culture products in their i.materialise gallery store. These are ‘designed in Japan’ – with a great eye for de
