Shapeways, an online marketplace that offers affordable access to the latest 3D printing technologies, has added Milky White Matte Glass to its suite of materials available for personal production. Shapeways’ commercial service enables 3D designers to manufacture glass objects for both their personal use and to be sold in the Shapeways online shops. “At Shapeways.com, you can become a sculptor, product designer, and inventor with nothing more than a computer and your imagination,” says Bathsheba Grossman, designer and Shapeways shop owner. “With its online marketplace, Shapeways is changing the way 3D printing technology is used—it’s now worthwhile to develop beautiful, useful materials for artists and designers, as well as functional ones for engineers. Adding glass, a completely new, art-quality, archival 3D-printing material, is reason to celebrate!”
Applications for Milky White Matte Glass include jewelry, figurines, and decorative objects. Produced from recycled bottle and plate glass, Milky White Matte Glass has a greenish tint and is 100 percent recyclable. Also, as with most 3D printing processes, there is no solid waste in the process — all glass powder can be recycled.
Milky White Matte Glass has a production lead time of 21 working days. Tiny spherical glass particles are bound together with an organic binder, and cured in an oven.
Shapeways community members can also produce objects in Full Color Sandstone; Stainless Steel; White, Strong & Flexible (dyed options include Bright White, Night Black, Blue Jeans, Limestone and Terracotta), a nylon-based plastic; Grey Robust, a strong ABS plastic; as well as White Detail, Transparent Detail, and Black Detail acrylic-based plastics. Comparatively, 3D printing in glass costs half the price of printing in stainless steel, and is about two to three times the price of printing in various plastics.
