Will.i.am aims to shake up 3D printing with Coca-Cola branded Ekocycle Cube, from The Guardian UK:
…The Ekocycle Cube printer is being made by 3D Systems, the US-based manufacturer that announced Will.i.am as its chief creative officer in January this year. Coca-Cola is also a partner in the project, which is an offshoot from its existing Ekocycle venture with the Black Eyed Peas star.
3D Systems will start selling the device in the second half of 2014 with a launch price of $1,199 (£706). Its cartridges will include filament – 3D printing’s equivalent of ink for traditional printers – partly made from used plastic bottles.
The company says each cartridge will contain 25% of “post-consumer recycled materials”, using an average of three bottles.
The Ekocycle Cube is very on-brand, printing objects of up to six inches cubed in red, black, white or “natural” colours. Will.i.am is designing 25 “fashion, music and tech minded accessories” for buyers of the device, which will also use the Cubify smartphone app to browse and print designs.
“We will make it cool to recycle, and we will make it cool to make products using recycled materials,” said Will.i.am in a statement. “This is the beginning of a more sustainable 3D-printed lifestyle. Waste is only waste if we waste it.”
It’s the star’s latest technology venture, following on from his “director of creative innovation” role with Intel, announced in January 2011. Will.i.am also had a minority stake in Beats Electronics, the headphones brand recently bought by Apple for $3bn….
Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!
Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!
The Adafruit Learning System has dozens of great tools to get you well on your way to creating incredible works of engineering, interactive art, and design with your 3D printer! We also offer the LulzBot TAZ – Open source 3D Printer and the Printrbot Simple Metal 3D Printer in our store. If you’ve made a cool project that combines 3D printing and electronics, be sure to let us know, and we’ll feature it here!