As patents have expired and open source 3D printers have grown in popularity engineers, designers, and business minded professionals are all searching for a way to capitalize off the next industrial revolution. Many believe that we are only years away from 3D printers being available in every home, and though that may be true, what are we to do in the mean time?
How About a 3D Printing Vending Machine?
That is the idea behind two separate projects, the DreamVendor and Dreambox (no correlation in projects that I can find, despite similar names.Dreambox is a startup at a UC Berkely incubator. After realizing that the on campus 3D printers had a long wait time and off site services required up to a 2-4 week lead time the Dreambox team set out to solve that consumer pain. The initial device is a nearly 8 foot tall behemoth that houses a Makerbot printer inside and is hooked up to the cloud. Similar to other service 3D printing systems, Dreambox lets users upload a file remotely but instead of going to some clearing house facility in New York or else where the file is sent to the nearest vending machine.
This business model is very similar to that being tested by Mcor Technologies in partnership with Staples. In Dreambox’s case they plan to house and distribute the printers in number of locations. The first Dreambox is already up and running on Berkeley’s campus.
The other vending machine printer is the Dream Vendor. Produced by Virginia Tech faculty and students the concept is very similar. First you start with a 3D file although instead of loading it to the cloud you load it into a SD card (exact directions on how to save the right file type are included on the VT website).
The SD card is then inserted into the machine and it produces the file. Users can watch in the open build window as the item is then printed out. Personally I like the idea of being passed a “surprise” SD card and then loading it and watching as something cool is magically printed.
The SD card is then inserted into the machine and it produces the file. Users can watch in the open build window as the item is then printed out. Personally I like the idea of being passed a “surprise” SD card and then loading it and watching as something cool is magically printed.
Both of these machines are in the infancy. As the technology gets better and the teams working on vending machine projects become more experienced it is likely we’ll see all sorts of developments including multiple materials, colors and more. Maybe one day retail stores stacked with endless rows of nearly identical knick knacks and gadgets will be a thing of the past and in their place will be left rows of 3D Printing Vending machine, mini factories just waiting to make dreams into reality.