£250,000 3D printing hub opens in Manchester

A 3D printing hub has opened in Manchester, with the launch of Hobs Studio in Dale Street.

Printing company Hobs Reprographics has invested £250,000 in the hub, which will allow for 3D scanning, 3D drawing, physical model production and reprographics, at all stages of the design process.

Hobs said the 3D hub has been established to meet rising demand for 3D printing from architects, engineers, medical product developers and media designers.

With onsite 3D printing Hobs said it can offer turnaround times for printing of 3D models in as little as 24 hours.   

Hobs Studio will also offer Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). AR allows users to point a tablet or smart-phone at a QR code and visualise a completed project in reality, to scale and more realistically than traditional 3D imagery.  

VR uses the same tablet or smartphone to enter a virtual reality computer simulated environment that can simulate a real or imagined world.

Hobs Studio is on the site of the MPG printing business, which Hobs acquired in January 2013, and has 6,000 sq ft of space.

Kieran O’Brien, chief executive of Hobs Reprographics, said: “What puts Hobs Studio in a league of its own is that at present no other company offers all these very relevant AEC services under one roof. The launch of Hobs Studio will bring huge benefits to designers, architects and product developers who need to produce 3D models.  

“If you think of the AEC sector, 3D printing used to be brought in at the end of a build, with models created in London and then transported.  With our new hub, 3D models can be produced right at the beginning of a development, complete with internal 3D models and landscaping if required, saving clients valuable time and money.”