The Makerbot Replicator 2 3D Printer: Bringing Higher Resolution Prints to Your Desktop

The Makerbot Replicator 2 3D Printer may soon become one of the top desktop 3D printers in the nation based on the features it offers. This printer alone proves just how ubiquitous 3D printing is becoming on our desktops and how fast the prices are starting to lower. While this model currently runs at $2,199, we offer it for $1,982.62. This should be more than worth it to those who want to start doing higher resolution 3D printing in their own home.

Bringing Higher Resolution and Size

While cheaper 3D printers have certainly brought the ability to make many fun objects, the desire is on now to start creating more complex items. But higher resolution printers have been primarily out of reach for most home consumers. With this Makerbot Replicator, you get a 100-micron layer resolution that prints things with perfectly smooth edges so you'll never need to do sanding or buffing.

The Makerbot site already shows rave reviews from other businesses that say the Replicator 2 was able to print things only industrial 3D printers could once handle. At one time, those industrial printers were as much 40 times more expensive.

With that comes the ability for the Replicator 2 to print things equivalent to the size of a basketball. Most home 3D printers prior could only print things half that size, which meant being limited to making toys or jewelry. What makes this model so astounding is being able to print several complex items at once to save time. This can help someone needing prototypes for an engineering project to obtain the parts they need on the same day.

Using Renewable Bioplastic

The quality of the plastic being used on this printer is also very impressive. With the PLA filament being renewable, it's a quality plastic that adheres much better than on any other 3D models. This means you don't have to worry about your created object peeling or the unsightly problems of curling or shrinking. This is important for accuracy and why it succeeds so well in printing with higher resolution.

Better Software

The computer-aided design (CAD) side is just important to make sure the object looks how you want it before being printed. The Replicator 2 manages to make it easier by allowing more detailed previews of your object, including color tests and internal aspects like infill patterns.

If you run out of imagination, Makerbot even provides a website they started called Thingiverse. This site has pre-made 3D models you can upload into the software and print for your own use. Models include everything from simple toys and jewelry to astoundingly complex items like cameras and mechanical computers.

Excellent Customer Support

While the Makerbot Replicator 2 is fairly easy to use, they have an excellent customer support system. They quickly respond to any technical mishaps you might have without keeping you waiting on the line.

It's a 3D printer that we're proud to feature on our site, and one that we recommend for your household or in the near future. Before the end of the decade, you can expect Makerbot to be a leader in household printers and enable everyone to print out industrial level items that will profoundly change the manufacturing world.

Contact us if you have any questions or comments about what more you'd like to see about 3D printing here at MWave3D. We're here to keep you up on the latest information about 3D printing and how fast it's starting to evolve in our tech culture.

Adobe Adds 3D Printing Capabilities to Adobe Photoshop CC

With Adobe stepping into the 3D Printing Arena, it is a huge step in closing the gap and bringing 3D Printing to the masses. Limited only by your imagination, Photoshop CC will bring consumers the tools they need to create, refine and print their 3D models through their own 3D printer or through third party 3D printing services like Shapeways.

Fool-Proof Your 3D Printing
Imagine all the advanced preparation you've gone through to make sure your 3D print is just right and about 3-4 hours into printing, all of a sudden your design starts to fall apart right before your eyes. Disaster strikes, your masterpiece will not survive. The anticipation, disappointment, all those hours wasted. Perhaps one of it's greatest features, Adobe Photoshop CC can take your 3D existing model and implement automated mesh repair and/or support structure & raft generation to ensure the print is successful.  This feature alone will save consumers hours upon hours of frustration, which is worth it's weight in gold.

“The new 3D print capabilities in Photoshop CC take the guess work out of printing 3D models for everyone,” said Winston Hendrickson, vice president products, Creative Media Solutions, Adobe. “Before today there was a gap between the content produced by 3D modeling tools and what 3D printers need in order to deliver high quality results. Now, by simply clicking ‘Print’ in Photoshop CC, creatives can bring 3D designs to the physical world.” View Entire Press Release


Visit us at www.mwave3D.com for the latest developments in 3D Printing Products & News.

3D Printing Materials: Printing with Metal, soon to be mainstream?

Finding the proper 3D printing materials to make the objects people want can sometimes be a chore without paying for a more expensive printer. One of the most desired materials is metal and being able to produce full objects or parts for essential items we use in everyday life As great as standard 3D printers are in providing plastics, it can only go so far when combining other materials can create so much more.

Fortunately, having an affordable metal printer may be soon available. International Business Times reports on a new 3D printer being designed by engineers from Michigan Technological University that can easily print anything with metal. What makes this one so notable is that it could retail for a significantly lower price when bought disassembled.

How Printing with Metal Would Work in the Home

Photo Credit : minimetalmaker.com

So far, only major companies have been able to afford high-priced printers that can print metal objects. One home-based metal printer already exists and plans to go to market in 2014. It's called the Mini Metal Maker, even if it's fairly expensive at $1000 when bought fully assembled. They already have a fundraising project for the printer on Indiegogo.com that's been very successful so far (as the RepRap project was).


It could be the above model will eventually compete on the market with the newer printer being developed at MTU. Regardless, the MTU model is promising much more sophisticated abilities, including being able to create machine parts made of steel.

This works by a commercial welder inside the printer that's specially equipped to meld metals together. As with other 3D printers that print with special materials, a nozzle is used to produce the heated metal.

The Implications of Having Metal Printers in the Home
The biggest concern is people can make weapons having access to a printer that so easily creates metal objects. In the above report, one of the engineers behind the new MTU metal printer says you have to keep an open philosophy about not damning the technology itself. It's all in how people use it, and the implications are truly staggering in how products could be created.

Being able to print out metal parts for cars, electronics or virtually anything else in our homes would completely change how we acquire things. It could pose a problem for manufacturing in factories, yet subsequently saving consumers thousands of dollars. In the immediate term, these printers can only create small to medium-sized items, despite this likely changing in another decade.

Will we be able to compromise on allowing products to be manufactured in factories for the sake of providing jobs and the economy? Or will saving money for consumers be the only focus?
No matter what happens, these metal 3D printers will likely be in many households within the next few years.  We'll keep an eye on the developments here at Mwave3D. Our blog gives you the latest on 3D printing and scanning news.

App brings 3D scanning technology to smartphones (software)

Scientists at the Institute for Visual Computing have developed an app that brings 3D scanning to the smartphone, and makes it as easy as taking a photograph. That technology was demonstrated in for the first time at the International Conference on Computer Vision in Sydney, Australia.

Rather than taking a series of photographs that merge together to become a 3D model, this app allows the user to move the smartphone camera around the object. After a few motions, the object is scanned and a model appears on the screen. The more you scan, the more images the app collects and the more detailed the model becomes. Since all the assembly is done on the phone itself, you can see which parts of the model are lacking detail and tell the app to continue scanning those sections. This is much different from other apps that do all of their processing in cloud-based services.

The main benefit of 3D scanning software on smartphones is portability. An app that works correctly, with minimal complications, puts a 3D scanner in your hand, wherever you are. Depending on the type of camera and its capabilities, the app could scan an object in low-light conditions and a variety of weather conditions. The app uses the internal gyroscopes of the phone to make it easy to scan all the angles of an object. Two years ago this would have required large-scale machines running in conjunction with supercomputers. Now all it takes is your iPhone.

The technology can also capture 3D scans of faces and 360 degree scans of other objects. Instead of a standard portrait in your Photos app, you could have a 3D image of your loved ones or prized possessions. And, of course, having portable 3D scanning options enable you to more easily print those objects from a 3D printer...possibly even in a remote location.

Visit us at www.mwave3D.com for the latest developments in 3D Printing Products & News.

Makerbot Digital Store: The new iTunes of the 3D Printing?

Back in 2008, Makerbot created a sharing site called Thingiverse, which is comprised of a community of thriving designers dedicated to sharing user-created digital content for 3D Printing. With over 100,000 digital files and growing everyday, 3D enthusiasts can create, share or download unique 3D printing models in a public forum. With it's open platform, Thingiverse inspires people to create and do awesome things.

Taking it a step further in 2014, MakerBot sweetens the pot by launching it's new MakerBot Digital Store, bringing to 3D Printing, what iTunes has brought to the music world. With high quality designs created by 3D Printing experts, 3D enthusiasts can print models that have been proven and tested to work right out of the gate with no fuss or prep work. Thingiverse is an amazing place to experiment and collaborate for all users alike, but MakerBot Digital Store is a place where you can find designs with more detail and precision, something a little more polished.

“3D printing can be a bit daunting from the outside, so we’ve created all these 3D designs that you can buy individual models or as a collection – a bit like songs – and create fun for kids and adults alike,” said Bre Pettis, co-founder and chief executive of MakerBot.

Makerbot offers six exciting new collections of fun & colorful 3D designs to start. Purchase designs individually or purchase the whole series, and print them as often as you like. All 3D digital designs are "MakerBot Verified" to successfully print on MakerBot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printers and Fifth Generation MakerBot Replicator 3D Printers. MakerBot's Digital Store is still in it's infancy, with the objective to learn from it's customers through purchases and feedback. With this data, MakerBot will take their service to the next level by giving back to the customer, exactly what they are craving.

Mwave3D is excited to see what MakerBot's Digital Store has in store for us in the near future.

Visit us at www.mwave3D.com for the latest developments in 3D Printing Products & News.

The Next Generation of Smart 3D Printers

Mark this day fellow tech enthusiasts, 3D Printing Technology has finally made the leaps and bounds we have been holding out for... MakerBot has just introduced the 5th Generation of MakerBot 3D Printers that WILL make you hit that "BUY" button.

With features like the Smart Extruder, On-board Camera, Intuitive Full Color LCD Interface, the MakerBot 5th Generation of 3D Printers will have you chomping at the bit to finally make that leap into 3D Printing.

MakerBot 3D Ecosystem | A Giant Leap

"There’s so much to tell, it’s hard to know where to begin! We do know we’re excited to see what creative journeys you’ll take and design challenges you’ll solve with these latest additions to our expanding MakerBot 3D Ecosystem. -"

Read the full article 

Visit us at www.mwave3D.com for the latest developments in 3D Printing Products & News.