SLS nylon parts will be available through the 3D Hubs HD service
From its position as king of distributed desktop 3D printing – with over 23,000 printers signed up worldwide – 3D Hubs has announced its new professional service launching across 37 cities at the end of the month.
3D Hubs HD sees approved professional bureaux, including i.materialise, Sculpteo and NRI, among the first signing up to ‘make industrial-grade 3D printing locally available’ through the 3D Hubs website.
Professional grade suppliers mean professional grade machines, with customers able to order Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) Nylon parts using the new service, while over the coming months 3D Hubs HD promises to unveil more materials and locations.
“Through unlocking this tier of industrial-grade materials, we are now able to offer an end-to-end solution to our customers both large and small,” explains 3D Hubs co-founder Brian Garret.
“By combining affordable desktop production with high-end industrial-grade services, the full spectrum of 3D printing is now becoming accessible.”
The most interesting part is 3D Hubs’ ability to harvest data harvesting on 3D printing. Currently all 23,000 of its 3D print providers are rated by customers using a five star system, and this will continue for its HD service – with all approved bureaux needing 80 percent of all reviews to be a full five stars to maintain HD status.
Customer satisfaction makes up only part of the data, with the service recording which materials and machines are in circulation, and which are most selected by customers, as well as the locations of both parties.
Collecting similar data on professional machines, materials and services should prove an interesting read over the coming months, while all this helps cement 3D Hubs’ position in the industry as a company capable of opening up the marketplace.
The 3D Hubs community will be hosting a series of design workshops worldwide to get designers of all skill levels up to speed with printing their designs in HD materials – starting with a 3D Printing for Designers and Architects event in London on 28 October, 2015. DEVELOP3D readers can sign up for earlybird tickets here.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ptU77qHDkgo
