3D Hubs and Thingiverse Team Up to Connect 3D Designs with 3D Printers

MakerBot’s Thingiverse platform for 3D designs has just announced their partnership with 3D Hubs.

By connecting the Thingiverse 3D design community with the worldwide network of 3D printers, the partnership enables over 700,000 3D models to be directly printed at one of 15,000 3D printers.

A 3D print button will be featured on the Thingiverse website, which gives users the option to send desired designs directly to the nearest 3D printer via 3D Hubs and have it made straight away.

To kick off the partnership, Thingiverse has initially selected eight popular designers to integrate the 3D print button next to their designs and more will be added soon. These selected designers now have the ability to suggest a tip for using their design, which users can choose to pay within the purchase process on 3D Hubs. This fee goes directly to the designer as recognition and credit for their great work.

 “Working with 3D Hubs is a natural next step as we continue to grow our MakerBot 3D Ecosystem,” noted Joey Neal, Chief Experience Officer with MakerBot. “At MakerBot, we are continuing to look for ways to get 3D printing into the hands of more people. 3D Hubs has built an incredible network to fulfill 3D prints locally, which we see as a natural fit for integration into the Thingiverse community.”

“This collaboration marks an important step in striving to make 3D printing universally accessible,” said Bram de Zwart, CEO and co-founder of 3D Hubs. “By connecting our global 3D printer network to the world’s largest 3D print design community, we enable people to 3D print almost anything, anywhere in the world. This is truly about bringing together creativity and production power.”

This announcement follows the recent partnerships of 3D Hubs with the DIY platform instructables and 3D design platform Sketchfab.