3D Hubs – first impressions

A while ago, I attended a 3D Hubs Meetup. The event advertised free food, but turned out to have a $20 entry fee (super bummer).

Pushing my gluttony aside, I managed to have a couple really interesting conversations with 3D printing enthusiasts. All were creatives using 3D printing to create art. It’s super neat to hear about their projects.

Before the Meetup, I’d never heard of 3D Hubs before. It is an startup trying to become the AirBnB of 3D printing, letting users rent out their individual printers and services.

I’m quite intrigued.

Creating a distributed 3D printing hub is hard. Not only are there others in the market (makexyz serves the exact same purpose) but also it competes with 3D printing services such as Shapeways and Sculpteo, who have invested in industrial-grade 3D printers. In fact, Fabbaloo had an article a while ago stating distributed manufacturing as a type of 3D printing business to avoid starting, ’cause of the potential complications.

I give 3D Hub huge props for trying.

I met a project manager from 3D Hub at the Meetup and asked if there were plans to create an API. Her response was no.

This is a bummer, ’cause it would plug nicely into 3D Printing Price Check, a centralized place to check print costs of a boatload of services, like makexyz, Shapeways, and Sculpteo.

Anyhoo, 3D Hub is definitely a company to keeps an eye on.

Good luck 3D Hub!