Makie Dolls are cute but David Cameron is dead wrong

As part of the GREAT Britain / Innovation is GREAT campaign, London-based MakieLab was invited to present its 3D Printed Makie toys to attendees at a recent showcase in NYC, including HRH Prince Harry and PM David Cameron. 

MakieLab was the only UK tech company invited by the Prime Minister's office. If true, that is a disgrace. 

How sad. Makie Dolls are cute, but they and similar 3D Printed trinkets will NOT kick-start a UK 'Third Industrial Revolution'. 

As Harvard economist Ricardo Hausmann said about the impact of 3D Printing (Additive Manufacturing) on the US economy....  "You Must Make the New Machines". Unfortunately, the UK does not.

MakieLab, like all UK companies, buy their 3D Printers from overseas, typically the USA, Germany and soon .... China!

David Cameron needs to think about why this is, and not tout toy dolls made on 3D Printers. 

The same mistake is made when the UK Prime Minister over-states the significance of London Tech City, comparing it to Silicon Valley. The same mistake was made decades ago when the UK over-stated the significance of its 'New Media' sector .... largely a floss of Web site development running on IT infrastructure NOT made in the UK. 

David Cameron makes the same mistake when he talks up UK's "leading position" in Wind Farms, stating that he is "proud that Britain has played a leading role at the forefront of this green energy revolution." 

Who is telling him this? The truth is different. 

Non-UK manufacturers, and non-UK operators, are behind virtually every UK-based wind farm - on or off shore. The UK is rapidly becoming (has become) dependent on other nations for their wind power technology, products, equipment, installation and maintenance services. 

And this will be the fate for UK Additive Manufacturing unless something changes. So as you read the following paragraphs about Wind Farm technology, think about 3D Printing if you care about a UK Industrial Revival. 

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UK Wind Farm Analogy:

Wikipedia is a reliable source of information on UK Wind Farms. It tells us that the units installed are provided by the following companies:

Vestas - Denmark

RE Power - German

Siemens - Denmark

It also lists the owner/operators as:

DONG Energy - Denmark

Vattenfall - Sweden

RWE - Germany

E.ON UK, a subsidiary of E.ON AG, Germany

While it is true that Centrica has interests in one UK wind farm and SEE another, that is the extent of the UK leadership. Starkly: the UK does not make wind turbines, does not install them does not operate them. The UK is a humble user of other nations wind power products and services. In this regard the UK is dependent on those nations for the technologies and know-how.  

Wikipedia also publishes a list of wind turbine manufacturers. The UK is not listed among the Top 10. Only one UK manufacturer is mentioned and they supply a small specialized unit with a very unusual design. Those units are hardly suitable for the installation and operation of a large wind farm. And the patent on them was created by a French aeronautical engineer. 

Just as with Wind Farms, the UK Prime Minister needs to look to the truth and be authentic about UK technological capability. To print a Makie Doll is one thing. To make the 3D Printer upon which it is printed is quite another.  And just as Silicon Valley R&D is not the same as London Tech City R&D. 

For a new UK Industrial Revolution, what the UK desperately needs is not claims of leadership, but actual leadership. And leadership always requires facing the facts. David Cameron should be brave enough to tell it how it is and then do something about it, if he really does believe in Wind Power and 3D Printing as a new source of wealth for the UK Economy.

The Liberator, an all Plastic 3D Printed Gun has been fired

Following our Analysis of the Aims of Defense Distributed the group have successfully fired an all plastic 3D printed pistol, the Liberator.

Message from Cody Wilson to 3D Printing News and Trends "Fantastic. This is the first piece I've seen that nails the whole endeavor. And I was beginning to think we had created a riddle..."
 -- Cody Wilson, Defense Distributed

Thanks Cody!

Postscript:

According to media reports, some time before May 10th, the US State Department has written to the gun's designer, Defense Distributed, saying that publishing such designs, which enable anyone with a 3D printer to produce their own plastic gun, could breach arms-control regulations.

"The order, however, comes after the blueprints were downloaded more than 100,000 times, and cannot prevent their further redistribution by others who have already downloaded them."

"The Office of Defense Trade Controls Compliance told Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson to ensure the designs be "removed from public access". It said he must prove he had not broken laws on shipping weapons overseas by putting the files online and letting people outside the US download them."

Cody's response to this is:

"DEFCAD files are being removed from public access at the request of the US Department of Defense Trade Controls. Until further notice, the United States government claims control of the information."

Now go back and read the Analysis of the Aims of Defense Distributed

Shapeways raises $30M led by VC Andreessen Horowitz

The significance of consumer 3D Printing Services has been confirmed by a $30 million Series C round of financing, led by the prestigious venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

The current investors of Shapeways, including Union Square Ventures, Index Ventures, and Lux Capital also participated in the round. Chris Dixon, partner at Andreessen Horowitz, is joining the executive board of the company.

"Shapeways eliminates the fixed costs of manufacturing and makes use of breakthrough advances in 3D printing," says Chris Dixon, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, who is also a big fan of 3D printing.

"We believe that technology is at its best when it enables human creativity. The Internet unlocked the world of bits. 3D printing is unlocking the world of atoms."

According to an infographic released by Shapeways, the service hosts 10,000 shops with over 1,000,000 3D-printed products. And 60,000 new designs are uploaded every month.

"Shapeways Shop Owners are the future of small business: they don't have inventory, they rapidly iterate on products, and they have direct access to consumer feedback," said co-founder and CEO Peter Weijmarshausen.

FormLabs set up 3D Printer Farm to fulfill Kickstarter commitments

Formlabs, the promising stereo lithography start up that raised $2,945,885 on Kickstarter and was then sued by 3D Systems for patent infringement, but decided to move full steam ahead into production, is now building a printer farm to fulfill its commitments to backers.

As a first step, Formlabs are required to 3D print four hundred and twenty five (425) unique Gyro Cubes. And that is a not insignificant undertaking.

Since I contributed to Formlabs' Kickstarter round, I am one of those people waiting for my Gyro Cube.

And I for one am prepared to be very patient.

As one wise person said in a Formlabs blog thread, a thread filled with people who backed Formlabs at higher levels and who are naturally impatient and excitedly waiting to be shipped a complete FORM 1:

The Sinclair C5

"If they do, we’ll all be in on the ground floor of an exciting new technology – something that might be as revolutionary as the PC. I recall spending way too much for flash-in-the-pan early home computers…Timex-Sinclairs, Commodore 64’s, Amigas, early Mac’s, etc. Wanna be on the bleeding edge? You gotta grab the train as it rolls through the station and hang on tight, ‘cause it’s gonna be a bumpy ride."

That's right.

For me, history is repeating itself. Three decades ago it took me two years and a lot of hard work before my home-built kit computer, the seminal NASCOM 1, could take on real work.

Here come the Chinese 3D Printers

Just as we reported a story in which Harvard economist Ricardo Hausmann argued that if the USA stood a chance of being part of a so called "third industrial revolution" it must make 3D printers (You Must Make The New Machines), China is gearing up to do just that.

China is making and exporting 3D printers even though additive manufacturing is only just starting to gain momentum the world over.

Chinese R&D is ramping up. China now has four major research centers, including Xi'a Jiaotong University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and Tsinghua University, working to bring 3D printing into the mainstream.

In Jackie Chan's latest movie CZ12, also known as Chinese Zodiac, there is a scene in which the actor uses specially made gloves to scan a bronze animal head that once crowned the famed fountain clock of the imperial retreat Yuanmingyuan Park (the Old Summer Palace). The action star then recreates the bronze head using a printing machine that operates three-dimensionally.

Global sources

ChinaDaily