December 3rd is 3D Printing Day

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Those clever marketing folks over at GE have declared December 3rd as 3D printing day with the great strapline “On D3, GE goes 3D.”

To celebrate 3D day GE are running a twitter campaign in which followers can tweet #3DPrintMyGift and request one of a number of designs to be customised, printed and shipped to your home all for free!

There are ten designs and ten design teams, celebrities, sports stars, products and other public figures have each teamed up with a CAD designer to produce a 3D printed gift. Here’s the list:

  • The US’s most famous weatherman, famous to me for a Seinfeld episode, has teamed up with CAD designer Matt Marcil to create weather 3D printed fridge magnets.
  • The online music streaming service I’m currently listening to as I write this, Spotify have also teamed up with Matt Marcil to create a sound amplifier for iPhones 5 and upwards, so you can listen to your tunes even louder at the back of the bus.
  • Presenter of the TLC show “What Not to Wear”, Stacy London has teamed up with Spencer Wright to create a Cat Charm that can be turned into a necklace by looping a chair through the cat’s ears.
  • Optical Engineer at GE Mike Cheverton uses additive manufacturing on a daily basis and he has teamed up with Russell White to create a stylish penholder.
  • Chris Poole, the founder of online message board 4Chan has joined forces with Patrick Saville to keep those pesky spies at bay with Spy Block a clip that covers your laptops webcam when not in use.
  • The Smithsonian Design museum, The Cooper-Hewitt museum has teamed up with Justin Gambone to recreate a gift the museum given to the museum. The Serpent and Fruit matchbox has been scanned and will be 3D printed.
  • Ben Kaufman has curated a piece from his website Quirky.com, which brings real inventions to life. The design by Stephan Stuart, Cordies, keeps all your cords organised.
  • Pitcher for the 2013 World Series Champions, Craig Breslow, has teamed up with Juan Pablo Cilia to turn his charity’s logo, Strike 3, into a 3D printed charm.
  • Famed fashion blogger Tina Craig aka Bag Snob has joined forces with Mike Enayah to create as Year of the Horse (2014) charm that can be turned into a keychain or attached to the zip of you designer bag.
  • The final gift is from 3D animation filmmaker David OReilly, he’s designed a spherical die himself.

So that’s the lot, all you have to do is tweet GE tomorrow and you stand a chance of getting one of these fantastic 3D printed gifts to your home for free.         

This project shows just how dedicated GE are to the additive manufacturing and 3D printing cause, the conglomerate now have in excess of 300 printers prototyping and manufacturing parts in all areas of the business. The infographic tab on the top right hand corner of the page is really worth a look.