July 27, 2014

"3D printing and the maker culture is now accessible for everyone, young and old, experienced or total newbie!" says Norma Barr, co-founder of DimensionAlley, Europe's first 3D printing FabCafé.

"Over the past 6 months we have welcomed a real variety of customers, from experienced CAD engi-neers to 6 year olds learning how 3D printing works using icing sugar and sliced up banana cakes! The experience has been illuminating and has brought us projects we would never have imagined when we opened the doors on a wet and cold day in December." continues Barr.

The 3D printing Fabcafé, near Alexanderplatz, offers expert service and support for 3D printing as well as great British style food and drinks.

"We have been running a lot of workshops, I think most people are surprised how quickly they have been able to design and print their first object. I especially like using the software Tinkercad for the com-plete beginners," elaborates Barr.

Most of customers have been Berlin based and they often cycle to the shop, keeping the production pro-cess very environmentally friendly, this is complimented by having a local filament manufacturer to supply custom colour PLA.

The company is placing more emphasis now on prototyping and small-scale manufacture. Amin Torabi, also co-founder tells about his favourite project. Berlin is a vibrant hub of start-ups, and Amin was excit-ed to work together with Infarm, and indoor farming company, to prototype print parts for their custom watering system. "It's great to see start-ups supporting each other" he enthused. "Normally we print in PLA (corn starch based plastic) because it is suitable for a café environment," elaborated Torabi, "but for an outdoor watering system ABS was the clear choice."

One highlight was the 3D print of 70 mini-monuments reproductions of an art installation commemorat-ing the 100 year anniversary of the start of WWII. Printers were running around the clock to get all the pieces made in time for the opening.

3D printing is ideal for creating truly unique gifts. "One of my favourite projects was a bespoke terrain model. The customer wanted to create a landscape model for an 80th birthday. It should depict the ex-act route the old man drove to work. We created the model and hand-painted it for a perfect finish," reminisces Barr. Recently they ceated a model of a beautiful New Zealand location seen in the film "The Lord of the Rings."

Pop in to DimensionAlley where many more of the great projects of the last 6 months are on display and get inspired.

Great projects: Showcase of the first 6 months:

Bespoke terrain

Lock adapter

Finger skateboard

Family portraits – scanned busts

Science model—thermal convection plumes



Mini Memorial art piece

Model locomotive repair

Arthritic shoulder medical model

Posted in 3D Printing Services

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Stuart Gifford wrote at 7/27/2014 2:56:25 PM:

We run a small innovative,sustainable local cafe in Semaphore, South Australia.Sarah's Sister's Sustainable Cafe,est 2005,features local art,music,fashion,food,beer,wine,staff,and also Adelaide Fringe, and other events.We would be interested in talking to anyone about incorporating a 3D facility.We think that Adelaide could become the leading 3D Hub/Incubator for Australia(and beyond?).It might be the only thing to help us avoid a "Detroit Moment"!Please tweet us @sarahssisters



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