New Renders of 3D Printed Mobiles in Development

Following are some images / renders of new models of the 3D printed mobiles that we have in development.

I’m very excited about the possibilities that 3D printing opens to mobiles and really any sort of kinetic sculptures, setups that someone like Alexander Calder probably would not have thought of as possible or reasonable to make. It means that things can be made that used to be impossible to make by hand, especially by creating mobile designs through scripts and precise calculations. Balance points can be calculated to 1/100th of a milimeter and parts can be placed at exactly that point. The diameters of wires can be increased or decreased by very minimal amounts from one piece to the next. And hanging mobiles that would be extremely time consuming to make by hand can be made quite affordable. This first collection of 3D printed mobiles feels like it’s only the very beginning of exploring the possibilities.

Currently it looks like the first mobiles will be available through our Shapeways mobiles shop by mid-May 2013. If you’d like to be notified, please enter your email address in the form on the bottom left of this page.