3D Printing Now Available in New Orleans

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The 3D printing market looks to heat up over the coming years as the appeal and potential of this technology becomes better known. The application of 3D printing has already entered fields such as jewelry design, medical products, architecture and defense. The most recent hype shows that astronauts will be using a 3D printer next year to print parts they may need while in orbit. The technology is now accessible to those in Louisiana with the emergence of NOLA 3D Printing, a local company located in Kenner, LA.

With the Fortus 400mc printer, NOLA 3D Printing has synthesized a myriad of products including bracelets, prosthetic legs, and innovative prototypes for start-up companies. Local businesses have asked NOLA 3D to construct the prototypes of various goods such as Mardi gras throws because the benefits of 3D printing are multifold.

The old practice of constructing a mold to make a prototype can cost thousands of dollars. 3D Printing works with CAD to make the process remarkably cheaper. By working with Computer-Aided Design (CAD), a computerized way to create, modify, analyze and optimize a design, one can make profound changes via a few mouse clicks, resize a prototype quickly, and print the product with a fast turnaround.

According to Co-Founder Jonathan Schudmak,

“A smart guy or gal with a neat idea and some engineering or drafting skills can now make a CAD file, and design a product to show potential customers or investors to jumpstart a business.”

NOLA 3D Printing is a powerful asset for the local community of innovators, engineers, and tech companies. There are actually only “1300 machines like [theirs] in all of North America,” and the overwhelming majority of those 1300 machines are in-house so they’re not available for third party work. NOLA 3D printing works one of the few available 3D printers for the general public and is “the only third party printer from Houston to Atlanta.”

I urge engineers, innovators, and students interested in prototyping a design to check out NOLA 3D Printing here!