When it came to visiting the 3D Print Show at The Louvre, it was a tough assignment to fulfil, but someone had to do it!
We arrived at the show on Friday morning after a crafty croissant and it was brilliant to see it as a hive of activity. The variety of 3D printers, material and various other accessories on display was very impressive.
As we entered the show area we walked past a race car sponsored by the 3D printing giant Stratasys (who own MakerBot) and were greeted by the extensive Ultimaker stand with multiple models of the Ultimaker 2 3D printer range, including the Ultimaker 2 Go, Ultimaker 2 and Ultimaker 2 Extended, along with the Original and loads of excellent prints.
Wandering around we saw plenty of ideas for prints. Some excellent vases and funky looking lampshades that we’ll definitely be giving a go soon.
Smack bang in the middle of the show floor was the Zortrax stand, which featured a very slick looking array of cabinets with some electrically powered printed models that naturally drew lots of attention. But the star of the show was their yet to be released Zortrax Inventure. The demo unit wasn’t printing on the day, but it was great to be able to see it in the flesh and get hands on with the build quality. Overall it looks set to be a market leader on its release, especially if the performance of the Zortrax M200 is anything to go by.
Ultimaker 2’s and Zortrax M200’s were on lots of other stands too, which says a lot about their position in todays market.
Also on display were some fascinating printers by a company called Wasp, they print with a suspended print head that flies around the build area like a bee in a jar… Perhaps this is where the name comes from? If not, it should be!
Which leads me nicely onto the BEEVERYCREATIVE stand, with a variety of BEE printers on show. The BEETHEFIRST is still in my opinion a very under-rated printer and of course it was printing away happily on the day. The helloBEEprusa is their new 3D printer that come in a kit and they had one of these printing on the day too.
An interesting area of the show was dedicated to artists that incorporate 3D printing into their work. Highlights were some animatronic bird wings, some figurative sculptures and botanical pieces.
For a more in depth view and to get a feeling of the atmosphere on the day, take a look at our walkthrough video below.