Rapid Ready Roundup: Objet in China, Thingiverse ToS, New Material for DMLS

In the course of my diligent efforts to keep you good people up to date on the state of additive manufacturing, I come across many interesting news items. I’ll gather them up once every few weeks and present them in a Rapid Ready Roundup (like this one). You can find the last Roundup here.

Objet (company profile here) is expanding its presence in China by teaming up with Digital China and Shanghai Chengmei Technology (SCT). Digital China will distribute and support the full line of Objet printers and materials in north China, while SCT will act as a reseller in east China.

Digital China can offer Objet its network of 19 regional centers in major cities across the country along with its large base of agent partners. The company’s clients include the financial and telecommunications industries, along with the Chinese government. SCT adds Objet to its partners in Germany, the U.S.and Canada, and is a major reseller of a variety of IT and manufacturing technology products.

 With its huge manufacturing base and growing interest in 3D printing and rapid prototyping, China is an important strategic market for Objet. It was therefore essential for us to team up with the right local partners. –Gilad Yron, regional manager for Objet Asia Pacific and Japan

Further cementing its position as an open source advocate, Thingiverse, which is operated by MakerBot, has changed its terms of service and dropped the “All Rights Reserved” option for the site. All object files uploaded to the site will now function under the Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication license.

“Dropping the ‘All Rights Reserved’ is kinda a big deal, said Bre Pettis, founder of MakerBot. “When people used that license on Thingiverse it made it so that you could no longer click ‘I Made One’ on that page. This caused confusion and it just turns out that license doesn’t work with Thingiverse.”

Morris Technologies (MTI) has developed a new material for direct metal laser sintering (DMLS). Stainless 17-4 PH is “precipitation hardened and heat treated to exceed the minimum requirement of the AMS standards.” According to the company, the new material is high strength, creates parts that can be machined and welded, and is resistant to corrosion, galling and stress. A PDF rundown of the material can be found here.

Last, but not least, we’ve added some new video pages to the site that feature tons of videos on 3D printing materials, as well as Objet and Stratasys 3D printers. Be sure to check them out.

Below you’ll find a video that covers the early history of MakerBot.

Sources: Objet, Morris Technologies, Thingiverse