3D Printers and Printing

It was great meeting you at the 3D Printer World Expo. I can’t believe how fortunate I am to have won your printer!The printing is going amazing! I’ve only done two prints so far, but they have both gone perfectly. After hearing how difficult 3d printing is and watching my friends spend hours tinkering with their settings, I can’t believe how opposite my experience was. I setup the printer, downloaded some .stl files, hit print, and voila – I have a print! You’ve done a great job of building a product that works perfectly, right out of the box. Can’t wait to see what else I can do with it! [Read more…]

We were sent a great article about Afiniac Damon Swanson and the Circus Model Builders Organization. Damon was highlighted on our blog last year, and we’re glad to see that he is continuing to make headlines. For more information about the Circus Model Builders Organization, find them on online or visit their Facebook page. Damon Swanson and his Afinia H-Series Printer. Click to read full article. [Read more…]

Afinia announces today that it has filed its answer, affirmative defenses and counterclaims to the Complaint filed by Stratasys. According to Attorney William J. Cass, of Cantor Colburn, “Afinia has included affirmative defenses of patent misuse and will be investigating a potential claim for antitrust (by patent) given the significant differences between the asserted claims and the Afinia H Series.” Afinia is represented by William Cass of Cantor Colburn (860.286.2929 – wcass@cantorcolburn.com) and Mark Burns of Haugen Law Firm. Afinia’s answer to the Complaint filed by Stratasys More information: Exhibit A Exhibit B Exhibit C Exhibit D [Read more…]

We’re rounding out the year for Time Lapse Thursday, with only one more left. For this week, we decided to toss in a bit of a complex structure by printing a Castle created by ramenspork. This design is just as detailed and impressive small as it is when printed on larger scale. We printed our file at: Z Layer Resolution: 0.20mm Fill: Loose Material: ABS Quality: Normal With Raft Size: 82.51 x 68.38 x 99.12 mm What we really enjoyed about this print is that it’s what everyone needs to complete their very own fantasy world! Go ahead, STORM THE CASTLE! Until next week, Happy Printing! [Read more…]

Welcome Back to Time Lapse Thursday! This week’s Time Lapse Thursday is the second half of our two-part series. We will be finishing up with the second video showing the GoPro Case we 3D printed. The case is attached to the GoPro Drone Mount on the bottom of an AR Parrot Drone. This model is designed by Gimungus. We printed our file at:Z Layer Resolution: 0.15mmFill: SolidMaterial: ABSQuality: NormalWith RaftSize: 75.18 x 97.66 x 23.28 mm Thanks for tuning in to see the conclusion of our two-part time lapse. Visit our Instagram page to take a peek at the final assembled GoPro Drone Mount model.Until next week, Happy Printing! [Read more…]

This week’s Time Lapse Thursday is half of a two-part series. To start, we’re showing you the time lapse for the mount pieces that can be attached to the bottom of an AR Parrot Drone. This model is designed by Gimungus. We printed our file at:Z Layer Resolution: 0.15mmFill: SolidMaterial: ABSQuality: NormalWith RaftSize: 101.70 x 114.64 x 110.72 mm Tune in next week to see the second half of this time lapse and the final assembled GoPro Drone Mount model. Until next week, Happy Printing! [Read more…]

Glen Risberger, Afiniac and Mentor to Gladstone Robotics Glen Risberger really likes robots, so much so, that he has been a mentor of the Gladstone Robotics team (First Robotics Club #3131) for many years. Looking to help take his team to the next level, Glen began looking for a 3D printer to create custom robot parts. “There were lots of kits available. We decided that we would rather build robots than a 3D printer so we started investigating ones that were already built. We got really serious in October and November of 2012 and received a copy of Make Magazine’s Ultimate Guide To 3D Printing. It was obvious to us [Read more…]

It’s happened to everyone, you’re working on a project and SNAP! – a piece breaks. Then you have to make that inevitable trip to the store and buy just one item to complete your project. But the store sells your ONE item in packs of 4… What do you do? Instead of enduring all that, why not just 3D Print your replacement piece? Which is precisely what we’re showing you today! Today we printed a Church Bracket created by Steve Carlson. Steve reached out to us and sent us this file to print. It turned out great, and saved him (and us) a trip to the store! We printed our [Read more…]

Welcome back to Time Lapse Thursday! This Time Lapse Thursday post highlights the ability of the H-Series to print a model that has moving parts and hinges. We printed a Hinge Box created by profhankd. This nifty little box can lie flat or fold up to hide a little treasure inside, the choice is up to you! We printed our file at: Z Layer Resolution: 0.15mm Fill: Solid Material: ABS Quality: fine No Raft Size: 86.18 x 122.09 x 8.08 mm Did you know that we’re looking for models to display at our CES booth? If you use your Afinia 3D Printer to prototype or manufacture, we want to hear [Read more…]

Vadym Chalenko: Designer, Inventor, and Manufacturer Vadym Chalenko began his career as a graphic designer and has created illustrations for a number of retail t-shirt customers. He also has an interest in photography/ videography, and therein lies the start of his journey from Inventor, to 3D printing to Manufacturing. Capturing Inspiration “Last September I was looking for another phone and was really surprised by the photographic and video-graphic quality of the new models. I selected a Galaxy S3 and started using it more as a camera than as a phone.” The Beastgrip is a universal lens adapter and rig system for Iphone, Android or Windows phones. “Overall, camera phones have [Read more…]

3D Printing, Math, Biology and Worm Locomotion Eva Strawbridge, Assistant Professor – Department of Mathematics and Statistics, James Madison University (JMU) and Jeff Kopsick, Junior in Mathematics and Biology are on an unlikely 3D printing journey. We’ll get to the worm locomotion part, shortly… Their story began when Jeff took an independent study course in 3D printing. He’d never seen a 3D printer in action and knew that his Dad’s company used one to design bottle cap prototypes. That was it. Once familiar with the capabilities of a 3D printer, Jeff was inspired, and wondered if a 3D printer could be used to create micro-environments through which round worms (Caenorhabditis [Read more…]

This Time Lapse Thursday print came in as a request from our friends over at PrintedSolid. They knew of an Afiniac who was printing some amazing models, and wanted us to get in on it. Well to that we say… Challenge Accepted! We downloaded the Angry Tentacle Guy, originally created by chaitanyak and reproduced by Afiniac, JuliaDee. Knowing that this model had successfully been printed on an Afinia H-Series, we weren’t the least bit concerned. We ran the model at a standard setting, lo and behold it turned out great! There are still a few adjustments that could be made to produce a finer resolution, but we wanted to try [Read more…]

Welcome to Time Lapse Thursday and Happy Halloween! We’re getting in the Halloween spirit this Thursday by printing a very seasonal model.We’ve printed a Boo! ghost, created by infinityplusplus. We really like the style of this model, and have decided to kick it up a notch by printing it in one of our glow-in-the-dark filaments. This is printed in our Glow-Green filament! Take a look at how it turned out. Printer Settings: Z Layer Resolution : 0.20mm Fill: Loose Material: ABS Quality: Normal With Raft Size: 81.98 x 81.93 x 69.95 mm We hope that you, and all our Afiniacs, will join us with this spirit-themed print. Hey, what have [Read more…]

Welcome to Time Lapse Thursday! For today’s print, we chose a design that was created and is used by one of our fellow 3D Printing enthusiasts. This print is called “Cute Octopus Says Hello.” We wanted to print this octopus for any of you that are still on the fence about purchasing a 3D Printer. If you are looking to purchase these are some things to consider: initial investment, filament type & cost, warranty options and, most importantly, customer service and support. Another consideration is the print resolution. We printed this octopus using the ‘fine’ setting, which created a very smooth look and feel. Awww… Go ahead, you can say [Read more…]

Welcome to Time Lapse Thursday! For today’s print we’ve chosen a sculpture of Recursive Spheres created by SteedMaker. This print was designed to be a stand-alone sculpture that is an abstract representation of a lighthouse. Although we didn’t add a light for our time lapse, we completely see the appeal of illuminating this sculpture. SteedMaker shows some really great pictures demonstrating how this print can brighten any room. We printed our file at: Z Layer Resolution : 0.20mm Fill: Loose Material: ABS Quality: Normal With Raft Size: 63.70 x 65.56 x 3.00 mm Give this print a try and let us know how it brightened your day! Until next week, [Read more…]

Welcome to Time Lapse Thursday! For today’s print, we’ve chosen a model of a Gold Atom created by greensiant83. At first glance, this print may look quick and easy, but once it’s finished, you get a surprise that can only be had by 3D-printing the model. This file is set up so that each ring has the appropriate configuration of electrons, and they all rotate. This gives you the ability to hold a replica of this element, and allows you to engage your students in a new and interesting way. Take a look at the final print. We printed our file at Z Layer Resolution : 0.15mm Fill: Hollow Material: [Read more…]

Welcome back to Time Lapse Thursday! For today’s time lapse we wanted to show a print that will highlight the Afinia H-series’ ability to couple fine detail with chaos. We found this Block Tower file created by MichaelD33. It was straightforward, but anything but simple. We had a bit of a rough start to this file. We documented our first attempt on our Instagram page. Needless to say, that the first attempt didn’t go as planned. So, the file was sent off to our techs. They ran it through a fix program for us, and did some of their techie magic. Our second attempt for this print went much smoother [Read more…]

Robert Hughes of Lucky Bug Lures: “Fish Be Warned!” The Lucky Bug Lure Company is a family-run business located in Vancouver, British Columbia that has been growing steadily since 2000. Much of the recent increase in business is because of Robert’s design talent and, partly, due to recent investment in an Afinia Desktop 3D Printer. “Before we purchased our Afinia, it would take 6 – 8 weeks and many hundreds of dollars to get a single prototype completed. Now, I can bring in a drawing , my designer prints it and we’ll be fishing with the prototype yet that morning. We make adjustments during lunch, print a new prototype, fish [Read more…]

Students get an edge with 3D printer packages designed for Next Generation Science Standards Afinia teams with Pitsco to offer affordable 3D printing education Rapid prototyping is all the rage as 3D printers pop up in companies and schools everywhere, but teaching about it has been a go-it-alone journey. Until now. 3D printing, which creates three-dimensional objects by laying down successive layers of material, is becoming widespread in engineering and manufacturing for rapid prototyping and production. Considering this, giving students an opportunity to understand the technology is important for the future of industry. So Afinia, a supplier of desktop 3D printers, teamed with Pitsco Education, a provider of STEM learning [Read more…]

Welcome back to Time Lapse Thursday! We’re working hard to bring you some of the coolest, most intricate prints that we can find, but sometimes we get a little side tracked. Such is the case for this week. While we were searching for some interesting prints, we happened across some Despicable Me Minions. This minion was created to be part of a minion army and was designed by Doodle_Monkey. We didn’t stop with just one minion, oh no, we decided to see how many there are out there that we can print. Well we found three, and this little guy is created after the minion in the movie that is [Read more…]

Welcome back to Time Lapse Thursday! This week we have a few people at the Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo, we wanted to print something that will appeal to the inner nerd in all of us, as well as give our team a little something to chat about while at the conference. So for today’s print we chose the mascot for the newest release of Android – Kit Kat created by p0Pe. To all our Android and Google fans out there – How SWEET is this? We printed our file at Z Layer Resolution : 0.15mm Fill: Loose Material: ABS Quality: Fine With Raft Size: 81.00 x 120.25 x [Read more…]