MakerBot

Makerbot is a new hobby class 3D Printer. For $750 you can order a kit of parts and build your own 3D Printer. Makerbot uses ABS or PLA plastic and is an FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) 3D Printer, very similar to the RepRap and Fab@Home 3D Printers, which work just like the commercial solutions from Dimension / Stratasys.



Makerbot





YouTube Videos of the bot in action:

Makerbot Presentation at Maker Fair (38 minutes)
Webnews interview (5 minutes)

Very cool website that the Makerbot community uses to post 3D models on the web and share with the Makerbot community: http://www.thingiverse.com/

Print a bicycle?

A Solido Case Study
http://www.solido3d.com/

Objective: Make a true scale model of a folding bicycle for design testing.
Solution: Print out the entire bicycle part by part using the SD300 printer.
A leading Israeli product development company, Ziv-Av Engineering, decided to use the SD300 Pro Printer to create a folding bicycle for their client. The printed bicycle was going to be a 1:1 scale model that tested the mechanical design prior to starting production. The bicycle was divided into parts, and each part was constructed in sections using the SD300 Pro Sdview software application. Standard commercial adhesives allowed the parts to be made, with the SD300 Pro PVC material simulating aluminum cast strength quite nicely.
The final bicycle parts were assembled and the mechanical design was tested and improved for final production. The whole bicycle was built in less than five days using a single in-house SD300 Pro printer.The development team saved money for the company by building the bicycle in-house with the SD300 Pro printer. They didn't have to re-create the wheel, they just used our printer.
Additional information on the SD300 PRO is available at: http://www.solido3d.com/.