People sometimes have difficulty remembering people they have lost contact with or even loved ones who passed away long ago. It is then that they turn to photos or videos to help them refresh their memories.
Fred Chen (陳仁德) was thinking about someone from his past when he thought about making 3D printed figurines instead.
“Why not print out a replica of yourself so that your loved ones can always feel your presence when you are not around?” said the 50-year-old Chen, who recently opened a 3D printed figurine store near Wanlong MRT Station in the Jinmei area of Taipei’s Wenshan District (文山).
Photo: Helen Ku, Taipei Times
While 3D printing technology has been around for more than 20 years and used to make various sorts of prototypes, Chen opened the store, named “EGO,” as a way of commemorating one of his best friends who passed away two years ago.
“I hope my friend’s two-year-old son could one day remember what his father looked like through the figurines I made of him,” Chen said on Saturday last week.
For Chen, 3D printed figurines can help revive people’s memories.
“It’s like a time capsule,” he said.
EGO has so far made about 50 figurines for customers that range from retirees to street performers and newlyweds.
Chen says his female customers are more likely to request changes to hair color or the removal of wrinkles, while most men care less about their appearance than technical issues, Chen said.
Nevertheless, making the figurines is “a work that matters more to humanity,” he said.
“I really like the moment when customers smile after seeing their 3D printed figurines,” he said. “To me, it’s like a kind of accomplishment that people accept themselves, rather than complain about defects they were born with.”
EGO uses a NT$3 million (US$98,900) full-color 3D printer to produce the figurines.
Unlike typical 3D printers that fuse acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) or poly-lactic acid (PLA) thermoplastics to print out models in layers, the full-color 3D printer make figurines composed of powder-like polymer-plaster composites.
To solidify each model, the 3D printer sprays glue onto powder layer by layer, and during the same time, the powder is colored with ink spattered from inkjet printheads equipped in the machine, Chen said.
Using the full-color 3D printer, it takes a day or two to produce a figurine, but then workers still have to wax the 3D model to smooth out the surface, which means it takes about a week for a customer to receive their miniature replica, he added.
In line with prices set by overseas rivals, he added, EGO charges customers NT$8,000 (US$264.67) for a 10cm tall 3D printed portrait, NT$10,000 for a 15cm figurine and NT$14,000 for a 20cm version.
Although pundits have speculated that 3D printing would trigger a third industrial revolution and change the course of human history, Chen said there are still too many limitations that prevent companies from using 3D printers to reduce manufacturing costs.
“It may take more time than people tend to think for the so-called third industrial revolution to happen with 3D printers,” he said.
Chen said he hopes his staff of four employees could produce as many as 200 figurines a month and plans to develop chain-store operations in Taiwan in the long term to stimulate demand for 3D printed figurines.
Market researcher International Data Corp (IDC) last month predicted that Taiwan’s 3D printer market would see 64 percent growth in unit sales this year, driven mainly by demand from local precision-machinery manufacturers for faster product delivery and lower manufacturing costs, along with falling average selling prices.
IDC analyst Apples Lu (呂孟蘋) said 540 3D printers were expected to be sold in Taiwan this year, up from 330 units last year, and she forecast the figure would soar to 4,950 units in 2017, as more consumers adopt the devices to make models for their own collections.
“Prices of 3D printers are still too high, but they are likely to fall once demand picks up,” Lu said.
Given the number of information and technology companies in Taiwan that require extensive assembly lines to manufacture their products, Lu said the nation’s 3D market is likely to expand faster than the global average over the next five to 10 years.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
UNCERTAINTY: Investors remain worried that trade negotiations with Washington could go poorly, given Trump’s inconsistency on tariffs in his second term, experts said The consumer confidence index this month fell for a ninth consecutive month to its lowest level in 13 months, as global trade uncertainties and tariff risks cloud Taiwan’s economic outlook, a survey released yesterday by National Central University found. The biggest decline came from the timing for stock investments, which plunged 11.82 points to 26.82, underscoring bleak investor confidence, it said. “Although the TAIEX reclaimed the 21,000-point mark after the US and China agreed to bury the hatchet for 90 days, investors remain worried that the situation would turn sour later,” said Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the university’s Research Center for
RSS