3D Printing store in Germany opens its doors
What with Eos, Voxeljet, Concept Lazer, Realizer and EnvisionTEC all based in Germany you could say that the additive manufacturing industry in Germany is veritably booming. Despite the huge industrial presence the German consumer market is conspicuous by its absence.
While neighbouring Netherlands and Belgium are fast becoming the European epicentres for desktop 3D printing, Deutschland seems like it is lagging behind. Until now…
3D printing store iGo3D opened its doors this weekend in the German city Oldenburg, just 40 miles away from the Dutch border.
Co-founder Michael Sorkin cut the ribbon, or 3D printed chain as it was in this case, of the 150m2 outlet and workshop revealing a host of 3D printers, 3D scanners and accessories.
The first store of its kind in Germany offers the usual array of Cubes, Ultimakers and Leapfrogs alongside a new, very interesting printer, the Witbox Helios 2X.
Witbox
In action at the top of the page, the Witbox is the first printer out of Spanish tech company Marcha Technology. It is enclosed in a stainless steel frame with a chrome finish available in a variety of colours. We have to say it is a pretty neat looking machine coming with single or dual extruders and the ability to print the traditional ABS and PLA plus PVA, Laywood, Laybrick and Nylon out of the box.
The printer also is able to display the CE mark for meeting specific EU safety measures pertaining to the glass door on the front of the printer. Coming with a two-year warranty and a year of technical support. All that priced at €2150 seems very reasonable. The Witbox is certainly a new printer to watch out for.
Back to the store
Not only are the latest selection of 3D printers, scanners, 3D printed products available in the first store of its type in Germany but there’s also a workshop area. In conjunction with iGo3D a team from FabLab Oldenburg are using the space to work on their own 3D printer along with several other projects.
iGo3D also have an excellent online store offering all the products that they offer in store. It will be interesting to see how this venture gets on in a relatively small city. Most of the other big 3D printing stores that pop up like iMakr in London, 3D Printing Experience in Chicago and the MakerBot store in New York with populations in the millions as opposed to Oldenburg's modest 160,000.
