Printing To Go

Interested in a 7.4-cm chicken coop? How about a skull-shaped money clip? Maybe a bubonic plague cell as a paper weight is more to your liking?

If you can create it in CAD, Shapeways (www.shapeways.com) can probably print it and send it to your door. The Netherland's-based 3D-model printing company has launched Shapeways Shops, an online store for 3D designers to upload CAD designs and sell their wares to a global bazaar. Models--from toys to jewelry to prototyped parts--can be ordered in a variety of materials, including polycarbonate- and acrylic-based photopolymer, with prices ranging from 1.87 to $2.90 per cubic cm. Shapeways says most printed products are priced between $50 and $150, but some objects are under $10. All orders must be at least $25.

Shapeways CEO Peter Weijmarshausen says since the original Shapeways service was launched in July 2008, thousands of prototype designs have been uploaded and he expects to produce tens of thousands of models in the first year of operation. The company was spun out of the Lifestyle Incubator of Royal Philips Electronics in Eindhoven.