Monthly Archives: February 2015

Fablab London: an unique experience

At YouMagine, we are very proud that more and more FabLabs are becoming YouMagine member. FabLabs began as an outreach project from MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms. A FabLab is a Fabrication Laboratory that provides access to (digital) fabrication tools, like lasercutters, 3D printers and much more.

FabLab London is YouMagine member too and one of their goals is to help students, teachers and schools to learn about the application of technology and computing.

I recently visited Fablab London, because it is unique in many ways. Unlike most FabLabs for example, FabLab London has an on-site electronics lab, with access to the latest technologies like:

Arduino
RaspberryPi
KANO
Intel Galileo
Edison

What also makes FabLab London unique is :

It’s location. Being in the center of London enables access to anyone and everyone who lives or works in London.
The tools, machines and platforms FabLab London has craft machines and tools, expert machines and Digital fabrication including CNC. These are combined with the electronics lab, which means that anyone can make or create (almost) anything.
The model. The phenomenon of fabrication hubs and make spaces is not new. What’s new, is that Fablab London has two interesting founding partners: Bathtub2boardroom and The Great Recovery. The Great Recovery focuses on ‘redesigning the future’, with an emphasis on ‘circular economy thinking’. The mission of Bathtub2boardroom is to fill commercial space with early stage entrepreneurs who have limited capital, but unlimited ideas.
The team – tools, machines and platforms are amazing, but there is a need to have onsite experts who understand what you are trying to do and are capable of teaching or assisting you.

Some FabLab London team members:

Left to Right: Peter Troxler, Martin White, Karien Strouken, Ronald Scheer, Ande Gregson and Tony Fish.

Martin White, product manager FablabLondon
Karien Stroucken, Education manager FablabLondon
Ande Gregson, co-founder FablabLonden
Tony Fish, co-founder FablabLonden

also in the picture:

Peter Troxler, board member Fablab Benelux Foundation
Ronald Scheer, on behalf of YouMagine

My best advice is to visit FablabLondon when you are in London, and you can have a unique experience too!

Contact FabLabLondon

Visit Fablablondon.org
Send a tweet to: @fablablondon

Interview with CREAT3D from UK

Most organisations within the 3D print industry offer one product or service, for example 3D printers OR 3D scanners OR 3D print education. In the United Kingdom however, I found an organisation that provides all of these services and products under one roof: CREAT3D. Curious about the ‘people behind’ this organisation, I decided to talk to two staff members: Sabina Gonzalez-George and Simon Chandler.

YouMagine-member CREAT3D is independent specialist in the UK in desktop 3D printers and 3D scanners. CREAT3D offers high quality desktop 3D printers, handheld 3D scanners and associated consumables and technologies. Customers can explore the products on their website online or in the high street store. And because CREAT3D are independent advisors, it means they can provide informed and impartial buying advice, as well as expert training and aftercare support.

Ronald Scheer together with Sabina Gonzalez-George and Simon Chandler.

Why are your services and products a ‘must have’ for Education?

Whilst 3D printing and 3D scanning have developed, they are still new and complex technologies that require a different way of thinking and operating. As such, it is essential for Education customers to feel confident that they are in the right product, for the right purpose, have the full training and ongoing support. That’s what CREAT3D specialize in providing their clients.

How and where did the business start?

CREAT3D began in 2012 when fully assembled desktop 3D printing was just emerging and there were only a handful of manufacturers on the scene. Today the CREAT3D range spans over 20 different 3D printers from a wide range of manufacturers. CREAT3D was the first to open a 3D printing store outside of London in the UK.

CREAT3D developed from a fascination of the technology by its Founders, combined with a commercial awareness of the positive impact that the application of the desktop technology could have on businesses and in education.

What are your plans for the near future?

In the coming year, CREAT3D will continue to work with its educational clients, providing support and advice on how best to maximize 3D printing and scanning at this level. In addition, CREAT3D will be working with a number of suppliers in providing educationally focused literature, lesson plans and activities to develop students’ skills in the technologies.

How to contact Creat3D?

1: Go online to:
Desktop3dprinter.com

2; Send a tweet @CREAT3D

3: Or visit their ‘brick-and-morter shop’ shop at:
38C Church Street,
Caversham
Reading,
West Berkshire
RG4 8AU
United Kingdom

Interview with YouMagine user Bert-Jan Walker

YouMagine user Bert-Jan Walker has many designs on YouMagine. One of them is a very popular design that more than a thousand people have downloaded: the 3mm filament clip. Bert-Jan works as an independent 3D designer and he is a 3D print consultant with his own company IntoFocus.

Sharing detailed instructions
Bert-Jan shares his designs on YouMagine and he recently published a video on YouTube, about Home Improvement with an Ikea Kvartal wall spacer. This video contains detailed instructions about how Bert-Jan made the drawings for the custom-fit wall spacer. The result of his design process is uploaded to YouMagine. Recently, Bert-Jan visited YouMagine HQ in Geldermalsen, where I interviewed him. Good reasons to publish a blog post about Bert-Jan.

About the 3D intoFocus 3DHub
The IntoFocus 3DHub was founded in February 2014 by Bert-Jan Walker after the purchase of his Ultimaker 2. After the first successful prints of designs found on YouMagine Bert-Jan started to make and share his own designs. Bert-Jan uses communities like 3DHubs and YouMagine to share his designs, Bert-Jan now shares experiences, knowledge and designs with other Hubs and printing enthusiasts.

High print quality
The mission of 3D intoFocus 3DHub is to bring 3D printing within everybody’s reach by offering competitive priced 3D-printing services at the highest quality available in the prosumer 3D printing market. Most of his customers are very satisfied and many customers place follow-up orders. With his print quality Bert-Jan has earned several badges from 3DHubs, like the Fairphone certification & the Ultimaker badge.

From Concept to 3D Printed reality
With the in-depth knowledge of 3D printing, solid modelling and consulting skills Bert-Jan offers customers a unique service by not only printing the 3D object (found on for example YouMagine), but Bert-Jan also assists customers in the process of visualizing and transferring their ideas into ‘printable’ 3D models used for prototyping purposes.

You can contact Bert-Jan Walker from intoFocus on 3DHubs or via his YouMagine-account.

Interview with Chris Thorpe from IcanMake

Chris Thorpe from the UK is founder and CEO of I CanMake and also YouMagine member. I Can Make creates educational content and resources on 3DPrint&Design for teachers, students and parents. Chris has uploaded a special Valentine’s Day-design in his YouMagine-account and that is a good reason to publish my interview with Chris and his team.

Left to right: Chris Thorpe, Mark Simpkins, James Richards and Dean Vipond (not pictured Becky Fishman).

Tell me something about your background
We’ve worked for publishers (like The Guardian, OUP and Macmillan), for media companies (like the BBC and Channel4), we’ve been part of BAFTA award winning teams and Chris is the former CTO of Moshi Monsters (a service used by 1 in 4 children in the UK).

How did is all start?
At MakerFaires when we took our 3D printed models of trains to Brighton, New York and Wales, we noticed we could have in depth conversations about engineering and 3D printing while the children put together the models, and the information stuck. We spoke to friends at Bethnal Green Ventures who funded us to build a product and have spent the last year developing services for teachers.

What are your Plans for the near future?
We’ve just joined the Wayra UnLtd academy in London (a joint venture between Telefonica and the Cabinet Office which supports social venture start-ups) and we’re preparing to teach our first courses for teachers about using 3D printing in the classroom. Our subscription service for schools full of downloadable models and lesson plans launches in Summer 2015 and we’re working on something fun for the home market in time for the holiday season.

Why is your service important for schools?
Our generation, and some of the YouMagine-audience, grew up playing games and learning to code on home computers like the ZX Spectrum. And collectively as a generation we’ve reframed commerce, media and communication.

Our children’s generation, if they get to play and create with 3D printers, will reform manufacturing, product design, engineering and the environment.

The problem is the grown ups are scared and often don’t know what to do with the machines. The grown ups I’m talking about are teachers and parents, and they’re the gatekeepers. If we can help them we can help to inspire the next generation of inventors and engineers.

How can our readers contact I Can Make in the UK?
Visit the IcanMake website, or talk to Chris on Twitter @icanmakehq.

ICT Talent Development Program with a focus on 3D Printing

In Amsterdam, an interesting education project called ‘ICT in the Clouds’, is producing very interesting results. This project (that started in 2013) is an ICT talent development program, for students in secondary schools (age 12 till 18 years). Some of the project partners are:

IBM,
KLM,
Cisco and
VU University Amsterdam.

One of the participating schools is Montessori group Amsterdam with a computer room full of interesting learning materials like Oculus Rift, an official First Lego League table, 3D printers, PCs and a Smart Board. I was invited to participate in a project meeting, where students and teachers cooperate on projects with a focus on topics like:

Robotics,
App-development,
Serious Gaming and
3D Printing.

Left to right: Robert Iepsma, Maurits van Bellen, Hakan Akkas, Marc Souwer, Eelco Dijkstra, Renee Witsenburg, Ronald Scheer and Laura van der Lubbe.

Maurits van Bellen and Robert Iepsma have been working for the ICT in de Wolken project for over two years, to assist students during class and develop new study programs.
Maurits and Robert are Master Artificial Intelligence students.
Hakan Akkes is teacher in this project.
Mark Souwer is co-founder of the project, together with Martin Rodermans (not in picture) and Ferd Stouten (not in picture).
Eelco Dijkstra is an advisor to the Montessorischool-board and project leader of ‘ICT in the Clouds’.
Renee Witsenburg is project assistant, she studies Computer Science at University of Applied Sciences of Amsterdam and she likes to develop teaching materials for this project, aimed at secondary level students.
Laura van der Lubbe also works on this project to help students and she is YouMagine member!

I interviewed her about this project, her work and her education, and this is what Laura told me. ”My name is Laura, I am a 3rd year Lifestyle Informatics student at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. This study is closely related to Artificial Intelligence. We study the way we can support people in their daily life with the help of technology. During my 2nd year I was asked to follow the Honours track. Which is an extra track for talented students on top of your normal study-load that gives you the opportunity to broaden and deepen your knowledge. For this track I did a project about 3D printing in education.

In my first project I studied the possibilities of 3D-printing in education. A second project resulted in a framework for a project that schools can do around 3D printing and creativity.

Education has always had my interest and because of my Honours project I decided I really wanted to work in the 3D Printing field. At the project ‘ICT in de wolken’ (best translate to “ICT in the Clouds”) I became a student-assistant and currently I am involved in an internship at a high school to see whether I want to become a 3D Print & Design teacher or do something else related to 3D Printing education.”

Winners Create a New 3D Printing Technology Challenge

After long deliberation and discussion we’ve finally been able to decide on the winner of our “Develop a New 3D Printing Technology Challenge.” We looked closely at the level of innovation, feasibility & achievability of the technology. We also looked at to what extent the entries would revolutionize 3D printing and be a step change in 3D printing for the desktop 3D printing user. We tried to determine which technologies were not already being worked on within the open source 3D printing community. We also looked at which technology would let designers & makers explore new design directions in 3D printing and make new things possible. Our final conclusion was to award two Ultimaker Originals to two winners.

The First Winner is Laird Popkin with his “High Speed Large Format 3D Printing with Detail Finish” Idea. Laird wanted to solve the issue that 3D printing is too slow by creating a dual nozzle 3D printer. And “build a printer with two extruder nozzles, one very large (e.g. 1.2mm) and one much smaller (e.g. 0.4mm), and to configure/modify the slicer software so that it can use a single perimeter layer that is fine resolution (small nozzle, 0.1mm to 0.2mm layer height) and then interior perimeter and infill using much thicker lines of filament (large nozzle, 0.5-1mm layer height).” He wanted to, “make the modifications to the open source slicer software and configurations to optimize print speed and quality for such as configuration.” His goal was to, “Once the software and configuration are validated on standard hardware, my ultimate goal is to “hack” the Ultimaker to support 2x dimensions, for 8x the print volume, in order to be able to extremely rapidly print prosthetics for entire adult limbs in a single print.” He wanted to start with the Gigimaker design for a large format machine and go from there. We loved the ambition but also thought that he had considered the issues and problems well. We thought that this would greatly help the open source 3D printing community and that he had thought well about the issues and challenges at stake. We hope that Laird enjoys getting an Ultimaker Original and can’t wait to see what he shares with the YouMagine community.

Our second winner is XYZAidan‘s Silicone 3D Printing Process. Aidan made a video describing his process, you can check out above. We liked his ambition and by introducing new materials and a completely new way of 3D printing we could see that his idea could radically transform 3D printing for the home user. His idea to 3D print a silicone mix could be difficult to implement. If he is successful however it would be a significant advance for desktop 3D printing.

In addition to silicone his 3D printing technology would open up 3D printing to many more 2 component materials and this would greatly add to the home user’s 3D printing arsenal. Aidan wants to increase the resolution of 3D printing with his technology and also bring about higher print stability. He hopes to be able to extrude the silicone while having it cure inside the 3D printer’s nozzle. We love this idea and can’t wait to see him implement it! Congratulations to both Aidan and Laird on winning their Ultimaker Original’s. We hope they share their innovations with the YouMagine community and that their work lets others create more technology at home!

SprintPerformance uses 3D printing for dragrace competition machine

Sprint performance is a team of two Dutch guys competing in the national NSSC dragrace championship. Sprint performance are YouMagine community members. I contacted the teammembers Peter en Benjamin, because they build awesome bikes for dragracing. Their second bike for example, was built for the 50cc shifter class. Benjamin became Dutch champion with it, the fastest time achieved was 7.130 seconds. 0-100 is faster than a Lotus Elise S. The corresponding top speed was an impressive 110 km/h. You can read parts of my interview with them below the picture with Benjamin in action!

The NSSC championship is a Dutch moped drag race championship in which the rider and machine have to cover 150m from a standing start, as fast as possible. The Sprint Performance team has been competing in this championship for over 6 years now and their aim has always been to be the fastest.

For the 2015 season they decided to step up their game and build a complete new machine for the 70cc class such that they can become champions. The new machine has to be lighter, faster and more powerful than any of their previous machines. In order to reach this kind of performance they need to explore new fabrication methods and this is where 3D printing comes into play.

Sprint Performance is currently developing their own special 2-stroke cylinder which has to be cast in aluminum. They use an Ultimaker2 to convert the complex shapes from the computer model into a true model. Interesting is that they are attempting to apply casting methods in a new way order to overcome the problem of manufacturing expensive molds.

The Ultimaker 2 is of more use to them than just using it to develop a new type of cylinder. It is also used to manufacture prototypes of parts, such that they can be test fitted first before machining them from aluminium. Furthermore, the ride position is fine tuned with 3D printed parts to determine the optimal geometry. These parts are shared on YouMagine with anyone who is interested, such that they can benefit from Sprint Performance’s knowledge too. If you are interested and want to know more about them, feel free to follow them on their SprintPerformance facebookpage.

Interview with the Fuel3D Team

During the BETTshow in London I spoke with Andrew Smith and Stephen Atkinson from Fuel 3D. You can check out a Fuel 3D Scan here on their YouMagine account. Fuel 3D created a 3D scanner that is meant to be very easy to use in combination with a 3DPrinter. I was curious to find out if their scanner is suitable for students to use in schools, so I asked Andrew & Stephen of Fuel3D.

Andrew smith is the Business Development manager at Fuel3D. As a biology graduate who had worked for medical devices companies, he originally joined the company to work on the company’s medical scanning product. As the applications for the company’s products have grown, so have the areas (including education) that he is focusing on.

Stephen Atkinson is one of the Applications Engineers at Fuel3D. Whilst studying Product Design at University he gained experience working in various design consultancies, after graduating from University in summer 2014 Stephen started at Fuel3D. As an Application Engineer he deals with allot of the application development and customer technical support.

Left to right: Stephen Atkinson, Andrew Smith and Ronald Scheer

Please tell me something about your company

Fuel3D is a developer of advanced 3D scanning systems and solutions. Originally developed for the medical imaging sector, the Fuel3D technology has been adapted for the broader 3D market, with the goal of bringing the benefits of point-and-shoot 3D imaging to consumers, professionals and businesses. Since raising more than $300,000 and generating worldwide attention through its successful Kickstarter campaign in 2013 the company has raised millions in private investment and signed retail and distribution partners across the world. In 2015, the company launched SCANIFY, a handheld 3D scanner that allows users to quickly and easily capture 3Dmodels of everyday objects for 3D printing or on-screen applications. Based on technology developed by Professor Ron Daniel, Lecturer in Engineering Science at Oxford University, Fuel3D is today led by Stuart Mead, CEO.

How and where did business start?

The Fuel3D story began in a lab at Oxford University, Professor Daniel and one of his doctoral students realized that they might be able to create something in the field of 3D printing. Some lateral thinking led them to the idea of using 3D photography to address the challenge of measuring and assessing the healing of chronic wounds. The wound measurement product was differentiated by its high quality output at a low price, which prompted the company to consider how to capitalise on this in other markets. In early 2013, the 3D printing market was taking off and it seemed an clear candidate for the company’s scanning technology. This led to the highly successful Kickstarter campaign that would ultimately drive the development and launch of SCANIFY.

What are your plans for the near future?

In the year ahead, Fuel3D will be exploring a number of avenues in the education sector, in particular focussing on informing educators about how SCANIFY’s ability to help create unique content can address the challenge of inspiring students to engage in 3D printing,. In addition, the company is looking at possible opportunities in content generation for computer game and visual effects courses, and in Blue Foam Modelling, which is used in many schools and colleges for prototyping projects.

Why is your tool a must have for every school & educator?

Fuel3D SCANIFY 3D Scanning system is aimed at bringing 3D scanning to a much wider audience. By providing hi resolution 3D scan data in a fraction of a second using a portable device that captures in a similar way to digital camera it is highly intuitive and allows almost everyone to capture data for use in 3D printing, and 3D design. Combine this with a price point that is below $1500 it is an excellent value educational tool for generating content for digital and design platforms.

Searchbar Improvements

Dear Community,

We’re continuing to improve YouMagine for you based on your feedback.

The main improvement is that the search field is now permanent visible in the navigation bar.

The new design button is now reduced to just a “Plus” sign. Also to make room in the navigation bar your name is not shown anymore, but the “Profile” icon is.

Also for you keyboard users: You can now press the question mark key to quickly go to the search field. Also when on the design page you can easilty navigate between the images by pressing the left and right arrow keys.

We also improved the performance and fixed some bugs.

We hope you do enjoy the new release and please let us know what you think.

The YouMagine team

Youmagine Blog