Dingdong merrily I’m high, on ASB and nylon…… | Econolyst A few years ago, I gave a presentation at a rather dull conference to a bunch of very traditional engineers. Given that the conference was organised by the Gauge and Tool Making Association, I guess I shouldn’t have expected a great reception to my ‘Additive is the future’ speech. In fact, I think the concept of using 3D printing to make Santa Claus recession proof left most of the audience looking like Jeremy Paxman trying to comprehend the workings of an Objet Machine. The Makerbot mixtape – 3D printed MP3 player However, fast forward a few years and here we are in 2012 with a 3D Printed winter wonderland on our December high street. This week, I was lucky enough to visit both the Makielab pop-up shop on Regent Street London and the very next day, by a twist of British Airways scheduling fate, the new MakerBot retail store in Lower Manhattan New York. So what did we find? Look into my eyes Makie-dolls – cute but sinister! What a difference a day makes! 2 days retail stock of printers
Business rate deferral A scheme allowing ratepayers to defer some of their 2012/2013 liability was introduced by the Government last year. This scheme allowed business ratepayers to defer up to 60% of the increase (equivalent to 3.2% of the total liability), and repay the deferred amount in 2013/14 and 2014/15. When setting the new multiplier amounts for Business Rates, the government has to use the inflation figure from the previous September. In September 2011, inflation was 5.6%. The Government announced that it planed to allow business ratepayers to defer up to 60% of the increase (equivalent to 3.2% of the total liability), and repay the deferred amount in 2013/14 and 2014/15. Ratepayers who have found an additional increase amount, (as shown as a balance brought forward into this 2013/2014 charge), means they have applied for this scheme to be applied to their business rates accounts.
Replicator Warehouse | All about 3d printing France gets its first 3D print shop: Protoshop Dec.13, 2012 Opened by MULTISTATION, a france-based industrial equipment distributor, this 3D print shop PROTOSHOP is located near Montparnasse station in downtown Paris. The shop is officially opened in October 2012. "We focus mainly on selling machines." says Clément BOUTET, manager of the store. Customers will have a large choice of machines, including fully assembled EXTRU 3D printer and printer kit, the 3,000 euros TOUCH PRINT and professional high precision Solidscape 3D printers. Also displayed in the shop are 3D scanning devices with different levels of precision. The division MULTISTATION SECOND LIFE, selling second hand rapid prototyping machines on site, is having the last sale of an 2009 EDEN 260V at a very reasonable price. If you rent or buy your own 3D printer, 3D scanning device or vacuum casting machine you will receive training from the technicians of the PROTOSHOP supported by the hot line of Multistation.
Dreambox is a 3D Printing Vending Machine Kyle Maxey posted on March 07, 2013 | 4 Comments | 3555 views UC Berkley students David Pastewka, Richard Berwick and Will Drevno have come up with a brilliant idea: A 3D printing vending machine. Inspired by their frustration to access 3D printers at their university, the students decided to create a way for everyone to have immediate access to the technology, 24/7. They call their machine The Dreambox. The process for using the Dreambox is pretty simple: 1. 2. Once your design has been uploaded it will be queued for printing. As of now, the Dreambox appears to be in the early stages of development, and there are a few obvious design improvements that need to made before it becomes a market ready product. Watch A Demo of the Dreambox: Images Courtesy of Dreambox