Aug. 11, 2014

Customized earbuds aren't a new concept, but they involve making complicated ear mold and can easily cost you over a thousand dollars. But last month, Hardware startup Normal launched its custom 3D-printed earphones in the US market, aiming to provide affordable, 3D printed earbuds that are customized for individuals.

Normal's custom 3D-printed earphones are custom-built based on photos you take of your own ears. Normals are fully personalized for each user's ear. Using Normal's mobile app, users take photos of each ear and send the data out to Normal, then engineers there design the earphones to fit each user's ears.

Last weekend, on Saturday, Normal has opened a retail store in Manhattan where consumers will be able to come in person to have their ears photographed, making the process more interactive.

Once an order is submitted, Normal will take a picture of both the right and left ear, have you choose the color of your buds from seven different colors. The earphones can also be customized for cord length, color and connector color. Normal then uses Stratasys Fortus 250mc 3D printers to personalize the fit of each pair of earphones in its operations department upstairs. The earphones are priced at $199, and according to the company, each order can be delivered in as little as 48 hours.

The company has raised $5 million last year from Michael Ovitz, The Kraft Group, RRE Ventures and NEA. And the store will serve as a real place that anyone can stop by and see how 3D printing works, and how Normal employees assemble headphones.

"I want to stress that the cool thing about Normal is that it's our store, factory and headquarters." says CEO Nikki Kaufman, "We have ten printers here now, you can see that the retail floor is built very modular so we can swap out displays and pop in a printer."

Kaufman believes specialized 3D printing with high margins is another area 3D printing technology can grow besides its success with hobbyists printer. "Normal is using 3D printing for the first time to mass produce a consumer good." Kaufman said.

All images credit: Normal

Posted in 3D Printing Applications

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612io wrote at 8/11/2014 1:54:40 PM:

Ignore my previous comment, I read over ht ewhole Stratasys Fortus part, excuse me -_-'.

612io wrote at 8/11/2014 1:52:59 PM:

I expected they would use SLA-printers for producing these buds, however it seems to be FDM? What/who is the brand/manufacturer of the machines they use?



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