Spring cleaning! This is a bit more literal than what we have going on, but you get it. [Image: Pixabay] We have something up our sleeves here at Fabbaloo. Even though it snowed depressingly recently both in Cleveland, where I’m based, and in Winnipeg where Kerry and Marney are, it’s still actually spring — and that means time for a bit of cleaning, a bit of change! We’re getting into the spring spirit with some big changes over here, and you’ll see the fruits of these soon. On Monday, in fact. While you’ll notice some changes visually, the bulk of what we have going on really only impacts ou ..read more

A finely detailed ceramic 3D print [Source: Fabbaloo] The possibilities of 3D printing are always growing. As more industries realize the benefits of additive manufacturing, the technology continues to expand and advance. One of the most exciting and versatile developments in 3D printing is ceramics printing. Most instances of 3D printing revolve around plastics and metals, but in recent years companies have been working with a variety of alternative materials. Ceramics are one of the most promising of these. The ceramics 3D printing market was already worth $98 million in 2017, and coul ..read more

A complex 3D printable chair [Source: AREVO] I spoke with Tuan Tranpham of AREVO to find out what’s behind — and ahead for — their advanced 3D printing manufacturing system. Tranpham is a good friend of this publication and has been in the 3D print space for many years, working for essentially all the major companies. In fact, Tranpham informs us that AREVO, which he joined only a few weeks ago, is his seventh 3D print company!  Who Is AREVO? AREVO operates as a kind of contract manufacturing partner, operating as with a Manufacturing As A Service (MaaS) model. While there are many contr ..read more

The new Creality CR-6 SE 3D printer [Source: Creality] Next week Creality launches their latest desktop 3D printer, the CR-6 SE, on Kickstarter. The Shenzhen-based company has been producing many different 3D printers since 2014 and has released several very popular models. Today they list no fewer than 22 different DIY 3D printers on their product page. Incredibly, their massive 30,000sm factory is capable of delivering “over 800,000” units per year. While I’m not sure they are at that level yet, it shows their capacity to make 3D printers at large-scale volumes.  One of the machines th ..read more

Various types of porosities produced by the novel steel 3D printing technique. (Image courtesy of Texas A&M.) The fundamental mechanics of 3D printing provide a tradeoff when compare to injection molding and subtractive manufacturing.  Additive manufacturing, printing layer-by-layer, allows for the production of objects with sophisticated geometry that could not be produced by subtractive machining or injection molding. But material strength is compromised in additive manufacturing when compared to traditional manufacturing methods. Additive manufacturing has come a long way in terms ..read more

View of setting up a 3D print job in RaiseCloud [Source: Raise3D] Raise3D has opened up their RaiseCloud to third party devices, making it possible for anyone to build a 3D printer farm.  RaiseCloud  Raise3D has been developing a cloud service for some time now, as their clients often operate several (or many) Raise3D printers in a farm environment. Jobs must be dispatched to available devices, and if you have many machines operating simultaneously it can be challenging to do so without farm software.  RaiseCloud, as it is called, enables Raise3D printer operators to register t ..read more

Comparing a 3D printed prototype aquarium filter with the production unit [Source: XYZprinting] While prototyping using 3D printing has been a thing for many years, some companies are still discovering the incredible benefits of doing so. One company that’s recently leveraged the ability of 3D printing to produce prototypes is Taiwan-based Shiruba, makers of the Power Aquarium line of water filters. These are aquarium water pumping systems that hang on the side of the tank to keep water clean and fish healthy. Shiruba is the largest manufacturer of hanging filters in Taiwan and markets their ..read more

Samsung Rising by Geoffrey Cain Charles R. Goulding dives into the book Samsung Rising. During our stay-at-home confinement, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Geoffrey Cain' s new non-fiction book and page-turner, Samsung Rising. The front cover describes the story as, "The Inside Story of the South Korean Giant That Set Out to Beat Apple and Conquer Tech." This is like no other business book because frankly there is no other company like Samsung. Samsung has the sixth-highest global brand value since 2017. During 2019, Samsung’s worldwide revenue amounted to $230.40 billion. In 2015, Samsung ..read more

Drone 3D model processed by Polygonica [Source: Polygonica] I had a chat with Cristina Sesma of MachineWorks, the makers of Polygonica. You may have not heard of this UK-based firm, as their product, Polygonica, is not end-use software, but instead is more of a toolkit that is embedded in other products. The product has been around since 2011, while their company began in 1994 building CNC and CAM software. Polygonica Function What does Polygonica software do? They explain it thusly:  “Delivered as a set of APIs, Polygonica’s unique polygonal modelling technology takes advantage of year ..read more

Electroluminescent Paint! [Source: SolidSmack] The biggest problem with glow-in-the-dark and other types of luminous paints are how they lose their luminescence over time.  With exposure to sunlight and the inevitable passage of time, these paints eventually lose their ability to project colors in the dark, eventually turning it into just another streak of dull paint. Instead of giving the paint luminous properties, aftermarket painter Andy Zsinko thought up a different method. By applying a base coat that activates when an electric current is passed through it, you can control when, how ..read more