NEW MODELS: Ring of Hearts

I just finished uploading my newest set of rings on My Shop on Shapeways.  The new series is called the Ring of Hearts.  My rings have been fairly popular.  This one was inspired by my lovely wife.  Thank you sweetheart!  Is there some kind of jewelry design you would like to see made?  If so, leave a comment below.

More about my latest creation below: 

This beautiful ring features a pattern of two connected hearts wrapped around your finger in your favorite material.  Truly unique!
Choose from the following sizes:
Size 5 Size 6 Size 7 Size 8 Size 9 Size 10

Need a Free CAD Software to Make Your 3D Prints From? Check Out The Free 3D CAD Software List Below...

Free 3D CAD Software

The average 3D printing enthusiast rarely has the budget for a high end CAD system to build their designs. You could always download models created by someone else or shop any of the top 3D printing shops on the internet.  For the rest of us, there are plenty of great modeling tools available for free.  I have included the list below which I am positive is not a comprehensive list.  Please feel free to post a comment if you have a favorite free 3D modeling software I missed on my list.

Free CAD - "FreeCAD is a general purpose feature-based, parametric 3D modeler for CAD, MCAD, CAx, CAE and PLM, aimed directly at mechanical engineering and product design but also fits a wider range of uses in engineering, such as architecture or other engineering specialties. It is 100% Open Source and extremely modular, allowing for very advanced extension and customization."

SketchUp Make - "Hobbyists, kids and backyard spaceship builders all agree that SketchUp Make is the easiest, most fun, entirely free 3D drawing tool in the world. We think you will, too."

LibreCAD - "LibreCAD is a free Open Source CAD application for Windows, Apple and Linux. Support and documentation is free from our large, dedicated community of users, contributors and developers. You, too, can also get involved!"

3D Crafter - "3DCrafter is a real-time 3D modeling and animation tool that incorporates an intuitive drag-and-drop approach to 3D modeling."

Blender - "Blender is 3D creation for everyone, free to use for any purpose. Free Software, great community, and 100% open."

Scupltris - "Sculptris provides an excellent gateway into the exciting world of 3D. It's features are easy to learn, even for someone with no experience in digital art, yet robust enough for creating base models that can then be refined in other applications, such as ZBrush."

Creo Elements/Direct Modeling Express - "Creo Elements/Direct Modeling Express 4.0 is a popular 3D CAD choice for leaders in product design who have short design cycles and frequent one-off designs. Its speed, flexibility and responsiveness to change also make it the ideal tool for short-series production runs."  This one I have actually tried.  It's a little hard to get used to compared to Creo Parametric.

What free 3D modeling software did I miss?

3D Printing Company ExOne Offers Investment Opportunities, How You May See Custom Printed Teeth and Bones In the Near Future...

3D Printing News

The ExOne Company Announces Pricing of Public Offering of ... Wall Street Journal 10, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The ExOne Company (Nasdaq:XONE) ("ExOne" or the "Company"), a global provider of three-dimensional ("3D") printing ... See all stories on this topic »
Bones made to measure Global Times 3D printing, which fabricates a solid object by building up successive layers of materials, usually plastic or metal, has lit the technology world on fire. Aerospace ... See all stories on this topic »	Global Times

President Gives Priority to 3D Printing and Now You Can 3D Print, Scan, Copy and Fax All In One Machine

3D Printing News

Obama Administration Prioritizing 3D Printing Wall Street Journal As cutting-edge technology company Quantum International Corp. (OTCBB: QUAN) becomes increasingly involved in the potentially lucrative 3D printing market ... See all stories on this topic »
Slideshow: 3D Print, Scan, Copy & Fax in 1 Machine Design News You can design products in a CAD program, or you can 3D scan an existing object to generate a CAD file for 3D printing. You can also upload an .STL file to ... See all stories on this topic »

Man Prints a Replacement Hand, China Hosts 3D Printing Fair, Cyber School Explore 3D Printing, Wired Article About 3D Printing, and More...

Robohand Uses 3D Printing to Replace Lost Digits ABC News Richard Van As, a South African carpenter, lost four fingers from his right hand to a circular saw two years ago. He was unable to afford the tens of thousands of ... See all stories on this topic »
Qingdao to host 3D printing fair next year China Daily According to the World 3D Printing Technology Industry Alliance, Qingdao has been selected to be the host city for the second 3D printing fair from May 7 to 8, ... See all stories on this topic »
Pennsylvania Cyber Students Explore 3D Printing at Hands-On ... T.H.E. Journal Students from Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School's GATE (Gifted and Talented Education) and School of Engineering programs were offered the opportunity to ... See all stories on this topic »
The Fine Print Wired STL file from almost any CAD program into the software, or you can do what I did and turn to one of the internet's various repositories for 3D printing enthusiasts. See all stories on this topic »	Wired

From Crayon Sketch to 3D Model

Check out this cool new website call Crayon Creatures.  You can send them an image of something your child (or you) have drawn and they will make you a 3D print from it.  This takes the modeling part of 3D printing to a much more basic level.  Think of how thrilled kids will be when the see their creation in 3D and in color.

Here are a couple examples from their website:

Pretty cool!  Hopefully service this will be available in the US soon.  Still a bit pricey in my opinion at 69 Euros ($90 US).  But if the price doesn't bother you, get the crayons out.

More Models in My Shop... And Some 3D Printing News

I have added more models to my shop on Shapeways. Actually, I have put models back into my shop that I had previously removed.  Two of my most popular models are back:

The first one is a 6-Sided Spiked Die which will make your Yahtzee game a Yowtzee game.

The second is a 4-sided Spiked Die for any place you need a 4-sided die.

In the news:  Read Write posted an article and video about a 3D printed record.  I don't think the recording industry has anything to worry about for the near future.  The record sounds horrible!  But, At least you can tell it is a record.  The first song is Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" which sound like "War of The Worlds" (the original) and most likely smells like hot plastic.  It does however show the advances in the resolution of 3D printing technology.

Just to show how mainstream 3D printers are becoming, I found a 3D printer for sale on Amazon. The Afinia 3D Printer H-Series is on sale now for only $1,499!  This printer has a build envelope 5-1/2"(w) x 5-1/2"(d) x 5-1/4"(h) (140x140x135mm) and prints ABS plastic.  Actually, this is not the only 3D printer on Amazons site.  As the number of models increase, hopefully the prices will drop so the that average person can buy one.  If it follows the emergence of computers in the home we could see some rapid price drops in the next year or two.  In 1969 the first truly home computer, the Honeywell 316 Kitchen computer cost $10,000 and weighed over 100 pounds.  In 1977 the Apple II cost $1,298 for the base model.  We will have to see what happens as this technology become more and more popular.  My question is who will take advantage of this boom and develop an easy to use and cheap 3D design tool.  CAD software vendors like Solidworks and PTC still have their prices in the thousands of dollars unless you are a student.  This seem like a market ripe for the picking.

Please feel free to comment on this post to let me know what you think is the future of 3D printing.