Lately the tech world has focused its spotlight on industrial-scale 3-D printing company Stratasys’s acquisition of consumer-oriented MakerBot, which is sensible: Marketbot, already compared to ’80s-era Apple, is a tech darling for its drive to simplify and its commitment to open source via its blueprint website Thingiverse. Time will tell if Stratasys aims to renege on its hands-off vision of MakerBot’s future, but there are plenty of other companies to shed light on, many of them outside America.
Most of the 3-D printing world can be found on the website of Wohlers Associates, a consulting firm that publishes an annual almanac listing the myriad service providers and machine dealers that sell printers from desktop models to Mammoth stereolithographers. Alternatively, the net community Additive 3-D features a chart of comparative 3-D printer models. Though the marriage of Stratasys production capabilities and MakerBot’s user-friendly design is a tangible threat, there are many companies (and even a few DIY options) already invested in the consumer 3=D printer market:
3D Systems
Created by Chuck Hull, 3-D Systems is arguably the original 3-D printing company and developer of stereolithography (carving a layer of liquid resin with a UV laser, recoat with resin, carve another layer . . . ). Likely to be Stratasys’s largest rival, 3-D systems has over 1,000 employees worldwide and began an acquisitions campaign in 2007 (including 16 in 2011 alone) in order to streamline the “scan to print” timeline. One of these, Cubify, released its Cube to favorable reviews.
Competitive consumer product:
Cube: $1,299.00
Afinia
Founded in 2009, Afinia offers a hobbyist-prototyping desktop machine for well under $2,000. was a fan of their current flagship model, the H-Series 3-D Printer.
Competitive consumer product:
Afinia H-Series 3-D Printer: $1,599.00
The RepRap Project
It’s worth noting that the expiration of a Stratasys patent for fused deposition modeling in the mid-2000s liberated the DIY 3-D printing community, which grew around the RepRap (Replicating Rapid Prototyper), with each model edging closer to a machine that could improve itself (with the proper instructions) and serve as a local industrial center, replacing the need for pricey industrial infrastructure.