FDM creates iphone bridge prototype pre-production

Inventor and Dimension 3D Printer user Jason Hilbourne has yanked a tangled mess of white cord out of his bag for the last time. He and his colleagues at 3D Product Engineering in Portland, Oregon, have developed Twig, a short, sturdy, flexible accessory for syncing and charging handheld Apple devices. The Twig improves threefold upon the idea of a shorter cord: It doubles as a tripod and, resting against a wall, triples as a charging base. Watch this video to see the household objects Hilbourne sacrificed to splice together his early prototypes, eventually graduating to attractive black ABS models built on a Fused Deposition Modeling system. Hilbourne describes his creative process as involving “lots of prototyping,” and says he and his colleagues use 3D printing all the time. If you want one of these clever accessories for yourself, preorder one now; the Twig is a Kickstarter project that seems fast on its way to final production. But only sustained interest will put it in backpacks and briefcases.