MakerLove figures out how to get smooth and safe surface for sex toys

MakerLove which offers free sex toy designs for 3D printers, has announced on their blog that they have successfully come up with two different methods to get a smooth an safe finish.

Until now, you could print a personalized sex toy, but not actually use it. Jagged an unsafe, it needed to be be replicated in silicon form as a second step.

Obviously getting a smooth surface is good news for sex toys, but these methods could be applied to other products.

Cheap 3D printers fuel home-printed sex toy 'phenomenon'

Dezeen Magazine takes a closer look at the demand for personalised sex toys that can be ordered online or printed at home and the companies who are going after this market —though "surface finish and materials" using this technology are still major drawbacks today.

... "The world of 3D-printed sex toys is growing rapidly and every day more and more brands pop up," says designer Jelle Plantenga of Dutch "gentlemen's jewellery" brand Velv'Or, which offers printed nylon products for men (top image). "It has the potential to grow very big".

"I think the future holds a lot for this industry," agrees Tom Nardone, founder of New York-based Makerlove, a site that offers vibrator designs that can be downloaded for free. "It's definitely growing; it's sort of a phenomenon. People want to avoid the embarrassment of getting these things in the mail." Nardone's designs were rebuffed by Thingiverse where he originally tried to sell them. "I had a conversation with their attorney," Nardone says. "He said 'we want to be open-source but we have to draw the line. You can't post that stuff here'."

... The mainstream 3D printing industry seems reluctant to talk about this nascent trend. Dezeen spoke to senior executives at two major printer manufacturers, both of whom said they were aware of the phenomenon but neither of whom wanted to speak on the record. One said: "What people do with our printers once they've bought them is up to them".

Read full article.

Pop-Up store 3DEA in New York offers customised 3D sex toys. By appointment only.

Pop-Up store 3DEA in New York which opened for the holidays, allowing customers to print all kinds of things (jewellery, Xmas tree ornaments, toys...), has also been offering customised 3D sex toys. But by appointment only. 3ders.org reports.

You and your loved one will be greeted with champagne and chocolate. After a quick tutorial on how to perfect your scan, you can then enter the ShapeShot 3D scanning booth. The ShapeShot cams will capture you in your full glory and these 3D images will be used to print out a prototype on a 3D printer.

Then the 3D printed model will be sent to New York Toy Collective, a high-end sex toy shop run by Chelsea Downs and Laura Parker. They will then have it replicated in silicon form.

As reported by VRZone, "it's still early days with things like 3D printed sex toys, mostly due to the materials currently used in the printing process and the difficulty in getting a smooth finished product." So this would explain why New York Toy Collective would replicate the scanned part of someone's anatomy to make a silicon version of it.

Related: 3D Shades of Grey. Free Sex Toy Designs for Your 3D Printer