The Mojo comes with a print pack which includes PrintWizard software that allows users to design products and print. The printer uses ABS plastic spools that contain 80 cubic inches each, and the printer is able to print objects as large as a five inch cube using Stratasys’s patented FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) technology which prints to a high resolution.

This product is just another indication that 3D Printing is ready to move into the mainstream of modeling and prototyping. Many 3D printers are built from kints by enthusiasts and hobbyists, but for the person who wants a machine that can work right out of the box, the Mojo could be very attractive. I have no doubt that we will see more of these kinds of professional products on the market in the coming years, and just as happened in the early days of computers and printers, I expect the sophistication of the machines to increase while prices drop — another revolution in the making.

Below is a marketing video that Stratsys put out featuring the Mojo

Some of the real advantages of 3D printing is becoming obvious to those who examine it — some its appeals are:

• Infinite customization of products
• Ease of design with CAD software
• Vast reduction in waste products
• Home-based manufacturing
• Designs easily shared over the internet

We recently reported on the special report in the Economist magazine which went into a detailed examination of the current state of digital manufacturing, labeling it a ‘Third Industrial Revolution’. There have been other noteworthy articles since then — for example, The Telegraph has a lengthy article entitled ‘Make your own: the 3D printing revolution‘, which discusses the history, current state of affairs, and possible future impact of 3D printing.

Mashable reports on a talk by Shapeways CEO Peter Weijmarshausen who explains how fast product development has become because of 3D Printing. He explains that new versions of a product can be put out almost instantly, depending on feedback from customers. There are tremendous advantages for product designers.

Instead of getting a loan, paying a manufacturer, putting it through retail channels and hoping it sells, designers can make just as many units as they sell. If they have new ideas or feedback, they can incorporate them immediately instead of waiting until their latest version sells out.

Despite all the advantages of 3D printing there are still significant drawbacks. One of these is that mass production of 3D printed products is much more expensive than traditional production methods. Economies of scale in manufacturing allow for the creation of cheap products — but over time this could change. There is also the time issue — it takes a long time, sometimes hours and even days, for current 3D printers to make products which would be much faster with current factory production methods.

So a 3D Printing revolution is still in its very early days, with many problems to solve. But momentum seems to be building, and as the movement captures the imagination of the public we could well see rapid advances in this field which may hasten the flowering of this new way to make things.

A number of remarkable technologies are converging: clever software, novel materials, more dexterous robots, new processes (notably three-dimensional printing) and a whole range of web-based services . . . The 3D printer can run unattended, and can make many things which are too complex for a traditional factory to handle. In time, these amazing machines may be able to make almost anything, anywhere — from your garage to an African village.

It seems that serious minds are realizing that we are on the cusp of massive changes in the world of manufacturing and industrial production. The Economist talks about how the skills and techniques that have been honed by machinists and tool and dye workers are becoming obsolete with new manufacturing processes. Digital manufacturing will also make possible cheap manufacturing of custom and one-off products, something impossible with traditional production-line mass producing processes.

The whole report makes for fascinating reading, highly recommended.

A breakthrough may have been made in this area using a technique know as two-photon lithography. Researchers at the University of Vienna have developed a process in which which a focused laser beam is directed by movable mirrors into liquid resin. At the focal point of the beam, the resin hardens in lines only a few hundred nanometers wide. These lines can be built at speeds much faster than has been done before.

Professor Jürgen Stampfl from the Institute of Materials Science and Technology at the TU Vienna explains that his team has broken 3D printing speed records with their development. “Until now, this technique used to be quite slow. The printing speed used to be measured in millimeters per second – our device can do five meters in one second.”

The technique is so precise that it allows for the creation of precision 3D objects smaller than a grain of sand. Below is a video showing the printing of a model Formula One racecar that is only one-hundredth-of-an-inch long and was built in just over four minutes.

A recent innovation in his product is the RepStrap 3D Printing Frame in which a 3D printer head is incorporated into a CNC machine which expands the capability of what the CNC machine can create. Below is a video of a prototype 3D printer built on one of Clanzer’s CNC frames.

Thomas Jefferson has the honor of being the first full size 3D replica to go on display. Using advanced scanning and printing technology, a statue which is housed at Jefferson’s Monticello museum in Virginia was copied and is now on display at the “Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello: Paradox of Liberty” exhibit at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

The Jefferson replica is part of a pilot program which the Smithsonian hopes to develop in order to bring open up its collection and bring it closer to the public. With this kind of technology one could imagine students and teachers at schools and universities accessing a digital archive of Smithsonian objects online and printing them out with 3-D printers in order to study them in depth.

Here’s a video from Mashable that shows the Jefferson model

But what if you could go down to your local library and use one for free? This might be the kind of thing that could bring the technology into the life of everyday people. In Fayeteville, New York, the Fayeteville Free Library has opened the FFL Fab Lab in which they are making 3D printing available to library patrons. The stated mission of the FFL Fab Lab is as follows.

The mission of the Fayetteville Free Library is to provide free and open access to ideas and information. There is no place in the state of New York that provides free and open access to 3D printing technology, which has the power to revolutionize society. The public library will provide a safe and accessible space where anyone in the community can interact, understand and develop through use of this technology.

The Fayetteville Free Library has the unique opportunity to be the first library in the United States to build a free, public access Fab Lab. A Fab Lab is, in essence, an evolution of a computer lab.

Public libraries often make available computers for the public to use at no cost, and now we see an extension of providing new technologies to the public. Perhaps this will be a trend that will catch on, and that the local library will be a venue to facilitate the spread of 3D printing until it becomes a technology as ubiquitous as the personal computer.

Below is a video introducing the idea behind the FFL Fab Lab, and shows how the library is intending to expand it.

In order to help out these creatures, Makerbot industries have issued a challenge to the 3D printing community to create homes for hermit crabs. Makerbot’s artist-in-residence, Miles Lightwood, has created a ‘crabitat’ and is appealing for people to design a shell that hermit crabs will like to move into. If you have a design that you think would work, you are invited to upload it into Makerbot’s thingiverse (digital design database).

One problem that has not yet been resolved is what material to make these shells out of. Many people are concerned that making them from plastic would not be environmentally friendly, and could be ingested by the crabs. A calcium material would be ideal, but it’s not normally something that people use to print with. Taking into account people’s account, Makerbot have responded:

* The final shell material has yet to be determined
* No printed shells have been distributed in the wild
* The goal is to create a printable hermit crab shell for domestic use, thus reducing harvesting of natural shells.

To keep up with the project you can visit the Project Shellter page on Facebook.

The printing of Robots is only the beginning for My Robot Nation, apparently. The company intends to branch out into the personalization business for all kinds of objects. In a recent CNET article, company founder Sarah Stocker said, “”If we do this right, instead of sending Mother’s Day cards, you’ll go to the site, choose from a few keepsakes, add some trinkets, and make [your 3D printed item] personal.”

It’s not clear yet whether this is an idea that will take off. but just the availability of a service that an absolute design beginner can use is quite impressive. I must note, however, that in attempting to try this service on my own computer, I discovered that even though I have both Chrome and Firefox browsers, I was not able to open the design program. Apparently my computer does not have the WebGL technology that is required for the service to work. And if you are an Internet Explorer user, you won’t be able to use that browser to make a robot, either. Some people might be put off by technical roadblocks, but the service is so intriquing that I need to try this on a different computer.