On The Road With 3D Systems
By David Lewis
Last week during Spring Break, while other kids went skiing, Riley spent “quality” road-time with the crew from 3D Systems as part of their Bay Area stop on the Cube Odyssey.
The Cube Ride
Over three days we spent time at Stanford University, on the Streets of San Francisco and at Singularity University at NASA Ames in Mountain View. We were part of the West Coast introduction of the new Cube 3D printer and spent three days with Abe, Adam, Boris, Alyssa and Kelly from 3D Systems showing off the new printer.
Colorful Cubes
Stanford was the chance to be part of the Cool Product Expo (CPX) where students, faculty, community members & business owners get a chance to get exposed to what is happening. CPX had companies as diverse as nutrition bars, custom support garments and of course, the 3D Systems Cube. During the four hours we were there the 3D Printing demo was swamped with people of all ages wanting to learn or to learn more about 3D Printing.
Cool Product Expo; Rajeev & Cathy talking to a professor, Cubify, Young Interest, Older Interest, Chainmail handshake (click to enlarge)
Thursday took us up to San Francisco where Abe Reichental (the CEO) had an interview and demo set up with Bloomberg West TV. While Abe was with the journalists, we were down on the Streets of San Francisco with the Cube showing a broad range of people from executives to artists what simple 3D Printing was all about.
Click to enlarge
A BIG hit was when we broke out Abe’s new axe – a Les Paul guitar with a custom printed body that was built in LA. People couldn’t get enough of the guitar which is a fully functional instrument as well as being a breathtaking example of 3D printing. The body is sintered nylon while the neck and electronics are all standard Gibson components. The guitar looks astounding, plays great, and weighs about 1/3 of what my Les Paul Solid Body does. While late afternoon rain finally chased us inside, we had a great day on The Embarcadero taking the story of 3D Systems and the Cube printer to the streets.
Rockin’ 3D in SF
Abe Looking Good in The City
Friday found us at Singularity University located at the NASA Ames site in Mountain View. “Singularity University creates a global network of like-minded entrepreneurs, technologists and young leaders to participate in crafting a road map to guide the evolution of these disruptive technologies.”
What we found there was a group of really forward thinking students & executives looking at where the intersection of Science, Technology, Art, and People come together in new ways. Again, the Les Paul was a huge hit and I even got to demonstrate it (briefly) live on stage for the crowd before Abe spoke to the audience.
Click to enlarge
After Abe talked, we had a crowd around the Cube learning about the Cube printer and what it could do. Again, folks kept coming up with new applications and ideas for the printer. From Singularity Abe was off to Wired magazine HQ in San Francisco and Riley was off to the house to print a couple of things and “come down” from the last three days of road work…but we were not quite done.
Adam called at about 4 pm and said they were done at Wired and wanted to come down to see the lab, so we quickly dusted things off and got some home baked muffins ready for the road-weary crew.
Here is the 3D Nissan Cube at Riley’s house in Santa Clara!
What a week for both 3D Systems & Riley!
