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Does 3D printing still have a long way to go before it could be more adaptable to everyday consumer electronics?
Last week, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) gave companies like 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD) and Stratasys, Ltd. (Nasdaq: SSYS) a boost following positive commentary on the technology, not to mention releasing templates which users could access and create their own cover for a Nokia 820.
TheVerge recently took those templates to a 3D printing service in the U.K. and found that Nokia might be moving a little faster than it should be. Though the printers were able to cut out the design, there was one notable flaw: the cases were too thin.
According to one of the operators, Nokia’s design around the button areas measured about 0.6-millimeters thick. The rule of thumb, he noted, was that a design should be one millimeter or more thick. The designer actually thinks that Nokia released the injection molding version of the 820 case design rather than go and make it more compatible for 3D printing.
A second try with a $40,000 device (the Zprinter 450) resulted in the same weak points, leading to a cracked case when removed.
Does that put a crimp in the potential for 3D printing of cases, buttons, and other thinner items that might be used in consumer electronics? Will plastic technology come along and allow for the thin-printing needed to keep gadget profiles thin?
For more on the test, click here.
Shares of 3D Systems and Stratasys are both higher on the session.
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