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Pirate3D to bring its Buccaneer 3D Printer to Japan

Rick Martin 2014.01.30

We have written about a number of fun Japan-based 3D printing projects. In a country like this one known for creative product design, 3D fabrication already off to a promising start. But in order for this space to thrive on a large scale, printers need to be accessible and affordable. We’ve previously written about a number of shared workspaces, including CUBE and FabCafe, which are helping in this regard. We’re also pleased to see more printers going on sale here in Japan, including the Buccaneer 3D printer, whose parent company, Singapore-based Pirate3D, has just signed a distribution deal for Japan with Keienu Trading Company. Its printers are set to go on sale in the country in late May or early June. It’s a little surprising to me to see that Pirate3D really didn’t waste any time moving in on the Japan market, seeing as how they are still just in the pre-order phase elsewhere. So I asked the company’s management engineer Evgeny Lazarenko why Japan represented such an important market for them. He explained: Japan is arguably the most developed consumer market in Asia in terms of purchasing power. […] The nation is quick to experiment with new products, and…

We have written about a number of fun Japan-based 3D printing projects. In a country like this one known for creative product design, 3D fabrication already off to a promising start. But in order for this space to thrive on a large scale, printers need to be accessible and affordable. We’ve previously written about a number of shared workspaces, including CUBE and FabCafe, which are helping in this regard.

We’re also pleased to see more printers going on sale here in Japan, including the Buccaneer 3D printer, whose parent company, Singapore-based Pirate3D, has just signed a distribution deal for Japan with Keienu Trading Company. Its printers are set to go on sale in the country in late May or early June.

It’s a little surprising to me to see that Pirate3D really didn’t waste any time moving in on the Japan market, seeing as how they are still just in the pre-order phase elsewhere. So I asked the company’s management engineer Evgeny Lazarenko why Japan represented such an important market for them. He explained:

Japan is arguably the most developed consumer market in Asia in terms of purchasing power. […] The nation is quick to experiment with new products, and 3D printing is all about experimentation. The ‘monozukuri’ philosophy is deeply ingrained into Japanese mentality. This nationwide maker spirit is exactly what Pirate3D is looking for. We believe that 3D printing market in Japan is going to explode very soon, and cultural element will be one of the major contributing factors to this.

He adds that because Japan cares about inspired product design, that the Buccaneer 3D printer will “resonate with tastes” in Japan.

For those not familiar with Pirate3D and its Buccaneer 3D printer, we should point out that the product is still pretty young, having launched a very successful Kickstarter campaign last summer that raised $1.4 million. The product itself focuses on ease-of-use, sporting a minimalist design without any buttons, just a light indicator. It can print continuously for over 200 hours, and can even function as a server through wireless connection with PCs, tablets, and smartphones.

While the they hesitate to make any sales projections, Evgeny says maybe they can move hundreds of units per month by September. A representative from their Japanese distributor, Keienu Trading, says that they have seen “explosive growth” in Japanese demand for 3D printers in the past year, and so far their distribution partners have all shown a “significant and promising” reaction to the Buccaneer 3D printer and its potential.

Check out the video above for an overview of the Buccaneer 3D. Pirate3D was backed by Red Dot Ventures and incubated by the Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES).

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Handie: An affordable, functional prosthetic hand, made in Japan with 3D printing

Takeshi Hirano 2013.12.17

See the original article in Japanese Before we go any further, please check out the movie above. What you’re looking at is one of the many prototype devices developed for the recent Gugen hardware contest held in Tokyo on December 7th. Its developers are a team of three (a software engineer, a mechanical engineer, and a designer) who came together for this contest and developed this device. Users can create a functioning prosthetic arm by connecting the device with a smartphone, sensors, and a 3D printer. Affectionately named ‘Handie’, the prosthetic arm won contest. Gugen is an event focused on identifying business-oriented hardware prototypes, and provides reward to top talent. A member of its executive committee, Yasunori Okajima, says the number of entries reached almost 200 this year. Before participants were mostly those who enjoy creating electronics as a hobby. But this time, however, I see many more participants creating things that are business-oriented. ‘Makers’ is more than just a buzzword Chris Anderson is a genius at creating buzzwords. He finds the structure of latest trends, and expresses that trend with one powerful word to facilitate an entire movement. When he published the books The Long tail and Free, even…

See the original article in Japanese

Before we go any further, please check out the movie above. What you’re looking at is one of the many prototype devices developed for the recent Gugen hardware contest held in Tokyo on December 7th. Its developers are a team of three (a software engineer, a mechanical engineer, and a designer) who came together for this contest and developed this device. Users can create a functioning prosthetic arm by connecting the device with a smartphone, sensors, and a 3D printer. Affectionately named ‘Handie’, the prosthetic arm won contest.

Gugen is an event focused on identifying business-oriented hardware prototypes, and provides reward to top talent. A member of its executive committee, Yasunori Okajima, says the number of entries reached almost 200 this year.

Before participants were mostly those who enjoy creating electronics as a hobby. But this time, however, I see many more participants creating things that are business-oriented.

‘Makers’ is more than just a buzzword

Chris Anderson is a genius at creating buzzwords. He finds the structure of latest trends, and expresses that trend with one powerful word to facilitate an entire movement. When he published the books The Long tail and Free, even though the concepts were not brand new, many businesses then followed those trends. His most recent work, Makers, is no exception. Here in Tokyo, 3D printers appeared in many places all of a sudden, and media too have begun paying attention to this trend. A Makers boom suddenly started, but it soon cooled off.

What we need is not just a temporary trend or buzzword, but more initiatives like Gugen that try to tap into the inherent potential of the concept.

Three components for hardware creation

There are three components typically associated with developing hardware or electronics:

Create molding: exterior design.
Create software: the fusion of online and built-in software
Create electronics: open-source hardware such as Arduino

Because we can easily see and touch exteriors, 3D printers quickly became a sort of symbol for Makers. And this process of creating something from scratch is definitely exciting.

Handie’s exterior can be created at a reasonable price thanks to 3D printers. With data and printers, Handie can be created anywhere. However, there are two other important factors involved in building Handie:

All the software is smartphone apps, which cuts down the cost.
Motors and sensors are not customized parts. By putting general parts together, the team could create this device much faster.

Of course, Handie is not the kind of device anyone can develop. The most amazing part is its mechanical design. While multiple motors are typically needed to move fingers, the team managed to do it with only one motor.

And while not everyone can develop this level of device, as long as the developer has the core idea and the experience, they can create advanced devices like Handie.

Potential for business

Why is this new way of creating hardware and electronics getting so much attention right now? One of the reasons is that it represent significant potential for business expansion. When it comes to creating something entirely, the important thing to keep in mind is this notion of expansion.

Handie could never have been built without smartphone software. Yet with only smartphone apps Handie cannot be built. This is what I mean when I talk about expansion. As a result of such ideas, the shift from two dimensions to three dimensions has now accelerated.

For those who are interested in what kind of hardware can be developed by individuals, we’d like to list some of the other entries in the Gugen contest 1.

Squama

Squama is a screen that lets users can control transparency. At the contest, the developer mentioned that the panel can make an office more open while it also protecting privacy. In addition, it has an energy-saving effect in heated rooms.

Universal Earphones

This earphone automatically recognizes if it was put into your left of right ear, and then proceeds to play the right sounds.

Handie

As mentioned above, it aims to provide reasonably priced prosthetic arms using just a 3D printer and smartphone apps. It’s only for the people who lost a hand or the finger, it could be used as “a third arm” for everyone in the future.

Telemba

Telemba is a video-chat Robot created by connecting android devices and other electronic parts with a Roomba (robotic vacuum cleaner). It was quite amazing to watch the team members participated in the awards ceremony through Telemba.

PocoPoco

PocoPoco is an intuitive and sophisticated music interface. Each part was carefully chosen to realize elegant movement of the interface. PocoPoco played a short performance at the event, drawing a significant the audience.

You can see the whole list of entries on their website. ↩

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Japanese service brings manga characters to life with 3D printing

Yukari Mitsuhashi 2013.10.22

With its established culture of manga and animation, many people here in Japan are fans of collecting figures of their favorite characters. Recently a new crowd-funding platform was launched here, dedicated to creating character figures according to user votes. It’s called Okuyuki, which roughly means ‘depth’. On the Okuyuki platform, all that a user needs to do is upload an image of their illustration. By promoting his or her Okuyuki project to fans, they enlist the support of others to help get their project created. Once there are enough supporters for a project, Okuyuki takes over. It creates the 3D data, makes the figure, and then ships the end product. If and when a project meets its funding goal, the original designer receives 10% of sales from Okuyuki. Of the five projects currently running on the platform, only one has succeeded in gaining any supporters, specifically this character, which is available for 25,000 yen (or about $254). Okuyuki is provided by Japanese company Emotional Brains. It’s a clever idea, and we hope to see more projects on there soon!

With its established culture of manga and animation, many people here in Japan are fans of collecting figures of their favorite characters. Recently a new crowd-funding platform was launched here, dedicated to creating character figures according to user votes. It’s called Okuyuki, which roughly means ‘depth’.

On the Okuyuki platform, all that a user needs to do is upload an image of their illustration. By promoting his or her Okuyuki project to fans, they enlist the support of others to help get their project created. Once there are enough supporters for a project, Okuyuki takes over. It creates the 3D data, makes the figure, and then ships the end product. If and when a project meets its funding goal, the original designer receives 10% of sales from Okuyuki.

Of the five projects currently running on the platform, only one has succeeded in gaining any supporters, specifically this character, which is available for 25,000 yen (or about $254).

Okuyuki is provided by Japanese company Emotional Brains. It’s a clever idea, and we hope to see more projects on there soon!

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New Japanese 3D Printing Marketplace Officially Debuts

Yukari Mitsuhashi 2013.09.11

A new 3D printing marketplace recently made its debut in Japan. It’s called Rinkak, which roughly means ‘outline of objects’ in Japanese. Anyone with 3D data can open shops on the platform and sell products from their designs, which is sort of similar to Shapeways. Rinkak has been operating in beta for three months, and has now opened up to the public. There are many materials available on the site including plastic, pottery, and metal. Designers can set a price for their products based on the manufacturing fee, and Rinkak takes a 30% cut from sales. Manufacturing and shipping will be handled by partner companies of Kabuku, the company behind the new 3D platform. On Rinkak, designers can publish 3D data under a Creative Commons license. This allows for other creators to modify parts of the design to produce remixed products. Currently, there are only around 40 products available (some by the same designer) on Rinkak. But there is no shortage of amazing designs, as you can see below. The products are only available to purchase in Japan right now, so overseas buyers will have to wait. LovelyHeart paper cup holder for ¥2,434. Polygon espresso cup, ¥5274. Shop card stand,…

A new 3D printing marketplace recently made its debut in Japan. It’s called Rinkak, which roughly means ‘outline of objects’ in Japanese. Anyone with 3D data can open shops on the platform and sell products from their designs, which is sort of similar to Shapeways. Rinkak has been operating in beta for three months, and has now opened up to the public.

There are many materials available on the site including plastic, pottery, and metal. Designers can set a price for their products based on the manufacturing fee, and Rinkak takes a 30% cut from sales. Manufacturing and shipping will be handled by partner companies of Kabuku, the company behind the new 3D platform.

On Rinkak, designers can publish 3D data under a Creative Commons license. This allows for other creators to modify parts of the design to produce remixed products.

Currently, there are only around 40 products available (some by the same designer) on Rinkak. But there is no shortage of amazing designs, as you can see below. The products are only available to purchase in Japan right now, so overseas buyers will have to wait.

LovelyHeart paper cup holder for ¥2,434.

Polygon espresso cup, ¥5274.

Shop card stand, ¥5,000.

Stratum vase, ¥27,954.

BigA paper cup holder, ¥1,317.

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Japanese company to launch data sharing platform for 3D printing

Junya Mori 2013.08.09

See the original story in Japanese. Adways Labot, a subsidiary of Japanese internet company Adways, has launched a teaser for its 3D printing data sharing platform, which specializes in creating figures. The service is called Delmo, and it will be available later this month. The company already started distributing several samples of 3D printed data in STL format. We’ve recently seen many vendors introducing inexpensive 3D printers for individual users, and peripheral services have been springing up at the same time. Adways Labot is taking advantage of this trend, unveiled their sharing platform to allow users to share knowledge and exchange 3D printing data. We’ve also seen many communities where pictures of figures can be shared, including Pixiv and Wonder. When 3D printers attain higher penetration, there could be a huge need for sharing knowledge and data among users. Japanese news site Toyo Keizai Online recently interviewed David Reis, the CEO of Stratasys, where he unveiled some interesting user metrics. He says their 3D data library (available on the Stratasys website) sees a million visitors and 80,000 downloads every month. Makerbot has been strong in the education space, but it will also be interesting to see how it can evolve…

See the original story in Japanese.

Adways Labot, a subsidiary of Japanese internet company Adways, has launched a teaser for its 3D printing data sharing platform, which specializes in creating figures. The service is called Delmo, and it will be available later this month. The company already started distributing several samples of 3D printed data in STL format.

We’ve recently seen many vendors introducing inexpensive 3D printers for individual users, and peripheral services have been springing up at the same time. Adways Labot is taking advantage of this trend, unveiled their sharing platform to allow users to share knowledge and exchange 3D printing data.

We’ve also seen many communities where pictures of figures can be shared, including Pixiv and Wonder. When 3D printers attain higher penetration, there could be a huge need for sharing knowledge and data among users.

Japanese news site Toyo Keizai Online recently interviewed David Reis, the CEO of Stratasys, where he unveiled some interesting user metrics. He says their 3D data library (available on the Stratasys website) sees a million visitors and 80,000 downloads every month. Makerbot has been strong in the education space, but it will also be interesting to see how it can evolve in the figure space.

For Delmo, it will be probably hard to generate traffic in Japan since the platform targets a very niche group. They will probably need to expand globally like Tokyo Otaku Mode, which is now developing a strong following from users worldwide.

3D printing technology has been used at design studios and architectural offices for the purpose of rapid prototyping. These days, many startups including Makerbot, Cubify, and PP3DP are developing cheaper but more user-friendly 3D printers. Makerbot was acquired by the major 3D printer vendor Stratasys for $403 million. And here in Asia, Pirate3DP received funding amounting to $482,000 from Singapore-based Red Dot Ventures.

When we look at the Japanese market, electronics retail chain Bic Camera recently started selling Robotama.com’s’ CellP 3D printer. Another Japanese chain Yamada Denki also started 3Dsystem’s Cube and its high-end CubeX model, and Nojima has started selling the CubeX series on its e-commerce channel.

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Japan’s Fotofig lets you make a 3D Mini-Me with your smartphone camera

Rick Martin 2013.07.25

In recent months there are more and more great 3D printing projects popping up here in Japan. But here’s a fun consumer services that aims to make the process a little but easier. Fotofig lets you create a miniature human figure simply by sending in photos of a somebody taken from different angles. It’s a figure created from photos, hence the clever name ‘Fotofig’. You need to capture every side of your subject, getting a clear image from the front, the back, and from the left and the right. The service then creates a digital composite that can then be printed as a plaster figure. Created by House of Art, the Fotofig process is now in beta, accepting orders from customers who would like to create their own ‘Mini Me’ or perhaps a model of their child. The size of the figures range from 15cm to 25cm, ranging in price from 39,800 yen (about $400) to process the data and print a 15cm figure, to 64,800 for a 25cm size. To process the data only, it will require 29,800 yen. An optional pedestal is also available, as is extra finishing. Given Japan’s fascination with smartphone photo services, I expect we…

In recent months there are more and more great 3D printing projects popping up here in Japan. But here’s a fun consumer services that aims to make the process a little but easier. Fotofig lets you create a miniature human figure simply by sending in photos of a somebody taken from different angles. It’s a figure created from photos, hence the clever name ‘Fotofig’.

You need to capture every side of your subject, getting a clear image from the front, the back, and from the left and the right. The service then creates a digital composite that can then be printed as a plaster figure.

Created by House of Art, the Fotofig process is now in beta, accepting orders from customers who would like to create their own ‘Mini Me’ or perhaps a model of their child.

The size of the figures range from 15cm to 25cm, ranging in price from 39,800 yen (about $400) to process the data and print a 15cm figure, to 64,800 for a 25cm size. To process the data only, it will require 29,800 yen. An optional pedestal is also available, as is extra finishing.

Given Japan’s fascination with smartphone photo services, I expect we will continue to see even more services like Fotofig that involve 3D printing in the future.

Other places in Japan that have offered similar 3D figure services, such as Omote 3D pop-up store.

(Source: Fotofig, via the always excellent VS Media)

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Meet the Japanese company that wants to be the Intel of 3D printing

Masaru Ikeda 2013.07.17

See the original story in Japanese. The 3D printing business is pretty hot in Japan right now. Since the beginning of the year, we’ve heard lots of news in this space. Many co-working spaces providing 3D printing facilities were launched around the country, and Japanese movie rental service DMM recently launched an online 3D printing order service in partnership with local companies Nomad and TeamLab. As the market is still in the early stages, we still don’t know who will be the main players in this space. But recently I had have an opportunity to visit a company that has a very strong presence in the Japanese 3D printing industry. They are iJet corporation, based out of Yokohama. The company was founded back in May of 2009. And despite the fact that have yet to really make any marketing efforts, hundreds of notable Japanese companies are now included on its list of customers. I had a chance to hear from the company’s founder and president Masaru Kumehara about how the company plans to change the Japanese market. A small company with big potential If you haven’t yet heard of iJet, it is probably because they are cultivating marketing channels in…

See the original story in Japanese.

The 3D printing business is pretty hot in Japan right now. Since the beginning of the year, we’ve heard lots of news in this space. Many co-working spaces providing 3D printing facilities were launched around the country, and Japanese movie rental service DMM recently launched an online 3D printing order service in partnership with local companies Nomad and TeamLab.

As the market is still in the early stages, we still don’t know who will be the main players in this space. But recently I had have an opportunity to visit a company that has a very strong presence in the Japanese 3D printing industry. They are iJet corporation, based out of Yokohama. The company was founded back in May of 2009. And despite the fact that have yet to really make any marketing efforts, hundreds of notable Japanese companies are now included on its list of customers.

I had a chance to hear from the company’s founder and president Masaru Kumehara about how the company plans to change the Japanese market.

A small company with big potential

If you haven’t yet heard of iJet, it is probably because they are cultivating marketing channels in partnership with retailing companies rather than actually marketing themselves. For example, 3D printing studios such as Aoyama 3D Salon, Omote 3D Shashin Kan, and Recs 3D in Hong Kong do not have their own 3D printing facility on site. But rather they outsource the printing process to iJet. Tokyo Otaku Mode is also preparing to launch an e-commerce channel pretty soon, where they will sell character figures manufactured by the company. Kumehara adds:

Have you ever watched Intel’s TV commercial? They use the tagline “Intel Inside”. That’s what we’re aiming at. Many makers produce personal computers, and they typically have Intel-made chips under the hood. They don’t brandish the name [overtly] but everyone knows that PC makers cannot produce computers without the chips. We want to be somewhat like Intel in the 3D printing business. ¶

ijet-kumehara — iJet’s president Masaru Kumehara

In order to provide the entire 3D printing process as a service, studios must have three things: a 3D scanner, software for processing scanned data, and a 3D printer. But you will need even more than that. In contrast to 2D printing, you will be required to process scanned data to make it fit a 3D printing output, and you’ll also need some finishing touches afterwards. These processes cannot be automated, but rather it is totally artisanal. At the company, professionals called ‘modelers’ (who typically worked as clay-model sculptors or illustrators) are taking care of this difficult production process.

When I visited the company’s factory, they seemed busy finishing many client orders. The scene looked something like a team of animators working on a film, bringing very realistic sculptures into the world [1].

Will traditional print shops shift to 3D printing?

iJet can receive orders for all 3D printing tasks: scanning, data processing, printing and finishing. They also support the installation and operation of 3D scanners for their partner studios. For customers, when you order 3D printing at a studio, your original sculpture will be scanned at their storefronts, and that scanned 3D data will be transmitted to iJet, who takes care of the data processing, printing, finishing, and even delivery.

For 3D printing manufacturers, if you buy a printing device from major makers in the US (such as 3D systems or Strata) it will cost around 15 million yen ($150,000). But in order to make your business profitable after paying for the printer, you will need to receive many printing orders from customers. So Kumehara has a plan to partner with print shop chains in order to better meet consumer needs.

Print shop chains have been differentiating their businesses by providing in-shop photo-processing machines to serve customers better. But of course, with the rise of digital cameras and more advanced consumer printers, they’ve been forced to completely shift their business model. At these shops, 3D printing services may be provided as an additional service, making it more accessible to the every day consumers.

New opportunities in the entertainment industry

The rise of 3D printing is causing a drastic change in the Japanese manufacturing industry. In conventional manufacturing, mold making typically requires several months and cost a lot. But in some cases, iJet can deliver a 3D printed sculpture in as little as a few weeks after receiving an order.

If you create a human figure modeled from a real man, you can add texture so that it looks just like him. Because of its realistic detail and the short delivery time, the company been receiving non-stop orders from the music and animation industries for 3D printed figures. For the entertainment business, you don’t even need to order a large quantity, so customers can easily create and sell something by starting on a limited testing basis. And then based on the the market response, you can shift to mass-production.

The video below is a TV commercial from a Japanese plastic surgery clinic. At the end, you can see many performers wear masks. These were all made by iJet.

Can 3D printing be one of Japan’s core businesses

As some of our readers may know, the Japan Expo exhibition took place in Paris last week. We’re told that it was a big success, even better than previous events. But it’s a reminder that content development is one of Japan’s strong points. As I watched the folks at the iJet factory finishing their 3D sculptures, it reminded me that this will be another sort of animation industry for the country.

Prior to founding this company, Kumehara ran a digital printing company in Yokohama. But the 2011 earthquake severely impacted his business, eventually leading him to shift to 3D printing. As the time progresses, more players will jump into this space and gradually an ecosystem will form. .

iJet looks poised to lead the 3D printing business in Japan. It will be interesting to see how if their meteoric growth can continue.

The company secured funding from investors back in February, but no details about the amount have been disclosed yet.

For me this was a very impressive moment, and I wish I could share pictures or videos. But since most of the projects were related to popular characters or celebrities, it could result in possible rights issues if I do so. ↩

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How digital fabrication is changing our world, and Japan

Rick Martin 2013.05.24

This is part of our coverage of the Infinity Ventures Summit 2013 in Sapporo, Japan. You can read more of our reports from this event here. On day two of the Infinity Ventures Summit there was a conversation discussing digital fabrication, featuring a distinguished lineup of panelists from here in Japan (pictured left to right above): Kinya Tagawa, CEO, takram design engineering Hiroya Tanaka, Associate Professor of Keio University & Founder of Fablab Japan. Shigeru Kobayashi, Associate Professor, Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences Nobuyuki ‘Nobi’ Hayashi, IT Journalist/Consultant Mr. Tagawa started off with some background information noting that the innovation cycle in manufacturing used to be very slow. But just as digital innovations have changed most industries, we’re finally also starting to see it seep into manufacturing. Tagawa noted the importance of Make Magazine and its contribution to growing the culture in this space. Manufacturing was once limited to professionals, but now it appeals to a far wider group. The emergence of the ‘maker’ overlaps the previously separate spheres of innovator, producer, and consumer. Kobayashi followed up with an explanation of how 3D printing is making it easy for people to experience things like data processing, scanning, and…

This is part of our coverage of the Infinity Ventures Summit 2013 in Sapporo, Japan. You can read more of our reports from this event here.

On day two of the Infinity Ventures Summit there was a conversation discussing digital fabrication, featuring a distinguished lineup of panelists from here in Japan (pictured left to right above):

Kinya Tagawa, CEO, takram design engineering
Hiroya Tanaka, Associate Professor of Keio University & Founder of Fablab Japan.
Shigeru Kobayashi, Associate Professor, Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences
Nobuyuki ‘Nobi’ Hayashi, IT Journalist/Consultant

Mr. Tagawa started off with some background information noting that the innovation cycle in manufacturing used to be very slow. But just as digital innovations have changed most industries, we’re finally also starting to see it seep into manufacturing. Tagawa noted the importance of Make Magazine and its contribution to growing the culture in this space. Manufacturing was once limited to professionals, but now it appeals to a far wider group. The emergence of the ‘maker’ overlaps the previously separate spheres of innovator, producer, and consumer.

nail-clippers — Hisashi Imai’s nail clippers design (thingiverse)

Kobayashi followed up with an explanation of how 3D printing is making it easy for people to experience things like data processing, scanning, and fabrication. His organization holds workshops that teach these processes, and he notes that new digital fabrication tools like laser cutters make it a very accessible activity. He emphasized that traditional fabrication can co-exist in a sort of hybrid state with new methods like these. Kobayashi cited one example of a very simple but innovative design was Hisashi Imai cleverly designed nail clippers that allows people who may have limited mobility in one limb to use a nail clippers easily. Other designers can take such a design, and adjust the parameters to their own requirements.

Tanaka pointed out that there lots of fab labs around the world, now over 200 in total. He projects that in the future stationary stores could be places where you create your own stationary. Similarly, clothing shops could be a place where you implement your own designs. He adds that services that connects all the people and workshops doing great work in this space would be valued.

Nobi gave some fun examples of great makers like Osaka University’s Hiroshi Ishiguro, who has created some things that you’ve likely seen before, including the now famous android clone of himself. There’s also Maki Sugimoto who creates 3D scans of organs, and then can use those items to practice surgeries. Organs have a wet feeling to touch, so he is even trying to use 3D printers to reproduce this.

This is a space where I expect Japan is going to progress rapidly, given some of the creative things that we have already seen in these early stages. There are lots of mad scientists in this country, says Nobi, and they getting more involved in fab labs, helping Japan stand out in this space.

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3D printers too expensive? No problem. Fabrication workshops coming to Tokyo’s CUBE

Junya Mori 2013.02.08

3D printing and digital fabrication is one of those rare technological developments that has overwhelming potential. But it can be a very expensive activity to break into. Last November, a 3D studio called CUBE opened at Shibuya in Tokyo, providing a place to test expensive 3D printers and scanners which would otherwise be inaccessible for most individuals due to their extremely high costs. The studio will hold workshops and coursework to train individuals in the use of this 3D equipment. CUBE is located on the second floor of the same building as FabCafe, a “laser-cutting” cafe run by Loftwork. The lineup of equipment installed at CUBE includes: 3D printers: manufactured by 3D Systems (US), Projet series, Vflash and others 3D scanners: manufactured by Breuckmann (SmartSCAN-HE, Body-SCAN), S3 scanner (US) 3D software: FreeForm (US), rapidformXOR/XOV (South Korea), 3D-CAD/CG The above image is of a plastic wrench produced by a 3D printer. It was distributed to the participants of CUBE’s opening ceremony held in October. As you can see, even the rotating adjustment section is included, and that sort of detail is indicative of the enormous potential of 3D printing. The possibilities are practically endless. The book The Pirate’s Dilemma also makes…

3D printing and digital fabrication is one of those rare technological developments that has overwhelming potential. But it can be a very expensive activity to break into.

Last November, a 3D studio called CUBE opened at Shibuya in Tokyo, providing a place to test expensive 3D printers and scanners which would otherwise be inaccessible for most individuals due to their extremely high costs. The studio will hold workshops and coursework to train individuals in the use of this 3D equipment. CUBE is located on the second floor of the same building as FabCafe, a “laser-cutting” cafe run by Loftwork.

The lineup of equipment installed at CUBE includes:

3D printers: manufactured by 3D Systems (US), Projet series, Vflash and others
3D scanners: manufactured by Breuckmann (SmartSCAN-HE, Body-SCAN), S3 scanner (US)
3D software: FreeForm (US), rapidformXOR/XOV (South Korea), 3D-CAD/CG

The above image is of a plastic wrench produced by a 3D printer. It was distributed to the participants of CUBE’s opening ceremony held in October. As you can see, even the rotating adjustment section is included, and that sort of detail is indicative of the enormous potential of 3D printing. The possibilities are practically endless.

The book The Pirate’s Dilemma also makes mention of 3D printing, pointing out that major manufacturers such as Sony, Adidas, BMW already use 3D printers when creating in-house prototypes of goods that will ultimately be manufactured at scale. Prototyping is also one of the essential elements in the Design Thinking method, and the simplicity of preparing prototypes using this new digital fabrication technology could spur a wave of innovation.

CUBE, which gives people hands on experience with some of the most advanced equipment in the world, will be highly valued in Japan, where a new wave of manufacturers seem poised to sweep the nation.

3d printing

Pirate3D to bring its Buccaneer 3D Printer to Japan