3D Hubs Commercializes the Maker Scene

If the experts are correct, it may be awhile yet before a significant number of people own personal 3D printers. The lack of an additive manufacturing (AM) system in the home doesn’t necessarily mean that people are uninterested in what the technology has to offer, only that they are unwilling to invest in a machine they aren’t certain will get a lot of use. These are the sort of individuals that turn to Shapeways or other service bureaus to manufacture the personalized merchandise you can only get from AM.

The same crowd that chooses Shapeways might be willing, eager even, to approach someone in the Maker community to build their merchandise, and learn more about how AM works at the same time, becoming part of the community. 3D Hubs is an online service that seeks to connect people with 3D print jobs to Makers in the same city, commercializing home AM and expanding the community in one fell swoop. 

“3D printers are becoming more commonplace as pricing drops and quality improves, empowering a new generation of makers and entrepreneurs,” said Bram de Zwart, CEO and co-founder of 3D Hubs. “Much like music did with the rise of the Internet, manufacturing has begun to take an industry-changing peer-to-peer form. 3D Hubs is at the forefront of this trend, enabling anyone with a 3D printer to make customized local goods for their community.”

To join the 3D Hubs community, a city must be “unlocked” by having 10 3D printers registered online. Once this step is complete, the owners of the AM systems are listed on the 3D Hubs website, along with the standard prices they charge for a build. Europe, where 3D Hubs was launched, already has more than 600 printers listed in 200 cities. The network is growing quickly in South America and Asia, with several large US cities on deck to join as well.

If you want variety in materials, 3D Hubs isn’t the place to look. The vast majority of systems that comprise its network are material extrusion printers (similar to the printers built by MakerBot) only capable of building plastic objects. That may well change as other processes become more widely available with the launch of AM systems the likes of the FORM 1.

Below you’ll find a short introductory video about 3D Hubs.

Source: 3D Hubs