Our Take on the FabCon 3.D

We have just spend the last couple of days at the FabCon 3.D, one of Germany’s most prominent 3D printing expos. FabCon 3.D is a consumer/pro-sumer oriented event and 2014 only marked FabCon’s second anniversary.

The fair took place in Erfurt, from May 15 – 17 which gives it one day of overlap with the Rapid.Tech, a rapid prototyping fair aimed at a professional audience taking place in the same location.

For those of you who couldn’t make it, here is a review of what we discovered and found to be worth sharing.

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3D Printing Resources – 2014 Update

Here is just a quick shout about the updated resources section of our website. We have been hard at work over the last few weeks to compile what we hope to be one of the best resources pages for 3D printing. We have significantly extended the existing resources and added a few new pages such that our resources section now covers:

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Interview with Michael Sorkin, the co-founder of iGo3D

We recently had the pleasure to interview Michael Sorkin, the co-founder of iGo3D, Germany’s first 3D printing shop. Discover Michael’s fascinating journey into 3D printing which started by him sneaking into the university of Bremen’s product design department just to take a peak at a 3D printer. Fascinated by what he saw, the idea of 3D printing didn’t let go of him. Today, Michael and his team are on the brink of international expansion and are planning to open 3D print shops in Russia and Turkey.

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3D Printing Fairs & Events – 2014

You are interested in 3D printing but not quite sure yet whether you should go ahead and buy that home 3D printer? Or maybe you are a rapid prototyping veteran and want to stay on top of the latest developments around 3D printing technologies and services. The best way to do all of that is to visit one of the many 3D printing expos or trade shows that are happening in 2014.

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Happy New Year 2014!

Book Review – The Book On 3D Printing

A new book that recently hit the book shelves caught our attention: The Book on 3D Printing by Isaac Budmen and Anthony Rotolo. As the book is positioned as resource for 3D printing beginners we figured it deserved a closer look.

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FABtotum Personal Fabricator

These days, crowdfunding platforms such as Indiegogo and Kickstarter feature quite a few projects in the space of 3D printers. Most of these projects promise to develop cheaper, more affordable 3D printers aimed at the broader consumer market.

Whereas each one of these projects certainly has its merits, the FABtotum campaign currently live on Indiegogo has caught our attention: the FABtotum team initially aimed to raise $50.000 now stands at over $400.000 with two weeks of the campaign still to go! A campaign which generates such momentum certainly deserves a closer look.

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FabLab Opening in Luxembourg

Luxembourg opens its first FabLab

On 23^th  April 2013, the first Luxembourgish FabLab was officially opened in Belval, Esch-Alzette. So, what is a FabLab you ask? Well, FabLabs (short for fabrication laboratory) are basically a global network of small to medium-scale workshops equipped with computer controlled tools allowing people to convert their ideas into prototypes or, as some say, to make “nearly anything“. The idea behind the FabLabs is nothing short of genius: instead of each person having to buy a very expensive machine or to lease it for the duration of a project, tinkerers, designers and makers, etc. are being offered access to semi-professional digital fabrication tools in order to “make” their project for only a small fraction of the price of such a machine.  The main idea is to promote the spirit of invention by providing easy access to tools for digital fabrication.
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Book Review – 3D Druck / Rapid Prototyping

Despite all the current buzz there is still surprisingly little literature, especially introductory literature, on the topic of 3D printing and 3D printing technology. One notable exception is the book 3D-Druck/Rapid Prototyping: Eine Zukunftstechnologie – kompakt erklärt (X.media.press) by German author Petra Fastermann. Fastermann sees 3D printing as a key technology and her 180 page book is dedicated to introducing readers to the current state and future opportunities of 3D printing and rapid prototyping.

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RapidPro 2013 Conference & Exhibition

We here at 3Dprintingforbeginners.com love 3D printing exhibitions. It is always thrilling to discover the latest technological leaps in the 3D printing field. We also do enjoy making plenty of new contacts as well as spotting the hottest and most amazing 3D printers or printed objects being showcased. That’s why we were quite ecstatic when we read about the 3^rd edition of the RapidPro conference, which was held on 26 and 27th of February 2013 in Veldhoven (close to Eindhoven) in the Netherlands.

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