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3D Printing Blog

The i.materialise blog keeps you updated about outstanding 3D designs, the newest 3D printing technologies and the best 3D modeling software tutorials.
Finding The Sweet Spot By Designing For 3D Printing

Finding The Sweet Spot By Designing For 3D Printing

Confiserie Van Damme produces over 19,500 tons of marshmallows in different shapes, sizes, and varieties every single year: a delicious product with small margins that requires relatively expensive machinery. And that’s where our parent company Materialise’s advisory team Mindware came in. With their knowledge of design for 3D printing, they could efficiently translate an essential machine part for design — the nozzle — into something customizable yet more affordable. 3D printing’s design freedom and short development time was an essential key for the company to open up production, with new designs for clients that they previously had not been able to work with.

Part of being able to introduce new styles of marshmallows is having a unique nozzle that can pump out marshmallow cream in the correct flow, shape, and separation of colors to create a particular design. Typically, a single nozzle consists of 12 metal parts that are welded together and a nut. The conve

How To Get An Instant Price For Your 3D Prints

How To Get An Instant Price For Your 3D Prints

Are you thinking about a really cool 3D design but you’re on a budget and don’t know in which material you should print it? Or maybe you want to know how much a print will cost to make sure that the sizes you would like are affordable? For example, will polyamide be more affordable than resin for your print?

To help you find the answer to all these questions, read on to discover how to get an instant price quote for your 3D print on our platform.

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11 Fascinating Facts About 3D Printing

11 Fascinating Facts About 3D Printing

If you’re reading this blog, chances are you’re no stranger to 3D printing and know a fair bit about it — but we reckon we can still surprise you with our 11 fascinating facts from the wide world of additive manufacturing.

Every day’s a school day here at i.materialise. We’re always learning something new, and we’re more than happy to share that knowledge with you. That’s why we’ve dug a little deeper into the past, present, and future of 3D printing to come up with the greatest listicle the internet has ever seen.

OK, so we’re exaggerating a little. But what we DO have are some entertaining facts that we think you will enjoy. Let’s take a look!

  1. It’s older than you think

Many see 3D printing as something for the future or consider it a budding technology. Compared to some of the alternatives, that’s arguably true, but it doesn’t change the fact that 3D printing is older than you might think. It started in the mid-1980s when Chuck Hull invented the stereolithography pr

3D-Printed Molds For Special Concrete Pillars Brings Revolutionary Sustainable House One Step Closer

3D-Printed Molds For Special Concrete Pillars Brings Revolutionary Sustainable House One Step Closer

Sustainability, environmentalism, and climate change are subjects at the forefront of hearts and minds across the planet. Recent events, from forest fires and floods to record weather temperatures and shifting ecosystems, indicate that we must make a concerted effort to come up with sustainable solutions to global issues. One such problem is providing adequate shelter to urban slum families in sub-standard housing in Africa. What could help solve this crisis? The Tridealhouse project.

Tridealhouse — a triangular house that stimulates happy living, urban farming, and sustainable utilities to help tackle urban poverty — solves five slum household deprivations as defined by the UN-Habitat while providing food and micro jobs. To confront such wide-ranging issues, this ambitious project needed more than just theoretical knowledge, it also required specific materials and expertise. That’s why the Trideal team contacted our parent company, Materialise, to collaborate on making special, 3D-

5 Things You Need To Consider When 3D Printing Wearables

5 Things You Need To Consider When 3D Printing Wearables

Far from its days as a niche technology, 3D printing now accounts for more than 90% of the world’s in-ear hearing aids: and that’s just one example of how this technology is making waves in the manufacturing sector across diverse industries.

In recent years, our parent company Materialise has worked on many eyewear manufacturing projects, in addition to several 3D-printed fashion collaborations and other consumer products. Manufacturing wearable products like eyewear calls for a considerably different approach than non-wearable end-products — and 3D printing is now at a level where it has to address all of these requirements. In the world of wearables, products reflect the identity of different brands, and often one needs to address tough requirements related to both performance and appearance at the same time. So, what goes into the process of using 3D printing to manufacture a product that people will be wearing? Here are the five things you need to consider when 3D printing wear

ABS: Save Over 50% On This 3D Printing Classic

ABS: Save Over 50% On This 3D Printing Classic

When you think of fused deposition modeling, your mind might jump to materials like ABS – this plastic is well-known in 3D printing crowds, after all. With an attractive new price to add to the list of reasons to love it, there’s never been a better time to try it for yourself.

Whether you’re an i.materialise veteran or thinking of starting your first-ever 3D printing project, we’ve got some exciting news that’s sure to be right up your alley. On July 22, 2021, we introduced a new price for ABS that will see you save more than 50% on every piece you print, depending on the size and shape of your model.

It’s a great opportunity for us to empower you to bring your projects to life and to share the joy of 3D printing with more people than ever before. But why should you choose it? Let’s take a look at just some of the reasons this material has stood the test of time that we think will inspire you to try it for yourself.

ABS is great for practical objects, but its surface textur

The Heat Is On: Get 10% Off On All Orders Over €250 With Our Promo Code “Creativesummer2021”! 

The Heat Is On: Get 10% Off On All Orders Over €250 With Our Promo Code “Creativesummer2021”! 

This summer might be the perfect time to start a new 3D project and materialize your wildest ideas. If you are taking a holiday from work, you can dedicate more time to your hobbies, including exploring your creativity in 3D software and design something extraordinary. To give you an extra creative boost, this week, we are launching our special Summer Sale!

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An Interview With Materialise’s CEO: The Top 5 Highlights

An Interview With Materialise’s CEO: The Top 5 Highlights

Looking back at three decades

In June 1990, Fried Vancraen and his wife, Hilde, founded Materialise and embarked on a mission to create a better and healthier world through our hardware and software infrastructure and an in-depth understanding of 3D printing.

But the radical change didn’t come overnight. With incremental steps, 3D printing has indeed revolutionized the way we manufacture products and has helped to save lives. This interview between Fried and Kristof Sehmke, our Communication Manager, goes over the last 30 years of the company’s story with a look forward to the future. Read on to learn about five highlights from the interview!

1. Surprise at the evolution of AM

Fried says, “I always recognized 3D printing as a paradigm shift in manufacturing and as a technology with huge opportunity,” but he has been pleasantly surprised with the technology as it exists today — especially when it comes to metal sintering. He adds, “It h