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Printrbot: Your Very Own 3D Printer

kickstarter.com

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Re: Printrbot: Your Very Own 3D Printer

#2
There have been a lot of crowd-funded and startup attempts to commercialize RepRap designs lately - here's a sample of a few:

eMaker Huxley: http://www.indiegogo.com/eMAKER-Huxley-3D-printer-kits

SeeMeCNC - uses software to drive stepper drivers via a parallel port rather than onboard control hardware running GCode or the like, saving hardware cost: http://www.indiegogo.com/SeeMeCNC-H-1

SUMPOD - http://sumpod.com/ - more appliance-y.

Re: Printrbot: Your Very Own 3D Printer

#3
post #2

There have been a lot of crowd-funded and startup attempts to commercialize RepRap designs lately - here's a sample of a few: eMaker Huxley: http://www.indiegogo.com/eMAKER-Huxley-3D-printer-kits SeeMeCNC - uses software to drive stepper drivers via a parallel port rather than onboard control hardware running GCode or the like, saving hardware cost: http://www.indiegogo.com/SeeMeCNC-H-1 SUMPOD - http://sumpod.com/ -…

Good list - I think there's a definite hype bubble in cheap 3D printers. All the copy sounds very naive in relation with the reality of what these printers can actually do. Ex: "printer in every home" - that's like saying a CAD designer in every home - not going to happen. Even d/ling from Thingiverse isn't going to be that popular as most of the parts aren't super useful / attractive.

Re: Printrbot: Your Very Own 3D Printer

#4
post #2

There have been a lot of crowd-funded and startup attempts to commercialize RepRap designs lately - here's a sample of a few: eMaker Huxley: http://www.indiegogo.com/eMAKER-Huxley-3D-printer-kits SeeMeCNC - uses software to drive stepper drivers via a parallel port rather than onboard control hardware running GCode or the like, saving hardware cost: http://www.indiegogo.com/SeeMeCNC-H-1 SUMPOD - http://sumpod.com/ -…

Good list - I think there's a definite hype bubble in cheap 3D printers. All the copy sounds very naive in relation with the reality of what these printers can actually do. Ex: "printer in every home" - that's like saying a CAD designer in every home - not going to happen. Even d/ling from Thingiverse isn't going to be that popular as most of the parts aren't super useful / attractive.

I think you're missing the beauty of having a a 3d printer at home and needing an enclosure to do an electronics project and just printing one out, or deciding to print out an ipad stand, fork, screwdriver, guitar, etc.

If 3d printers became widespread, we would have databases full of plans made by people and every 3d print wouldn't be a custom one off

Re: Printrbot: Your Very Own 3D Printer

#5
post #2

There have been a lot of crowd-funded and startup attempts to commercialize RepRap designs lately - here's a sample of a few: eMaker Huxley: http://www.indiegogo.com/eMAKER-Huxley-3D-printer-kits SeeMeCNC - uses software to drive stepper drivers via a parallel port rather than onboard control hardware running GCode or the like, saving hardware cost: http://www.indiegogo.com/SeeMeCNC-H-1 SUMPOD - http://sumpod.com/ -…

Good list - I think there's a definite hype bubble in cheap 3D printers. All the copy sounds very naive in relation with the reality of what these printers can actually do. Ex: "printer in every home" - that's like saying a CAD designer in every home - not going to happen. Even d/ling from Thingiverse isn't going to be that popular as most of the parts aren't super useful / attractive.

Would you have imagined that one of these would be in every home?

http://www.ttsw.com/SuesClasses/OldComputers/ENIAC.gif

Re: Printrbot: Your Very Own 3D Printer

#6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good list - I think there's a definite hype bubble in cheap 3D printers. All the copy sounds very naive in relation with the reality of what these printers can actually do. Ex: "printer in every home" - that's like saying a CAD designer in every home - not going to happen. Even d/ling from Thingiverse isn't going to be that popular as most of the parts aren't super useful / attractive.

Would you have imagined that one of these would be in every home? http://www.ttsw.com/SuesClasses/OldComputers/ENIAC.gif

To be fair, there never were nor should have been ENIACs in homes. I don't think he's saying a future 3d printer shouldn't be a real consumer model.

Re: Printrbot: Your Very Own 3D Printer

#7
post #2

There have been a lot of crowd-funded and startup attempts to commercialize RepRap designs lately - here's a sample of a few: eMaker Huxley: http://www.indiegogo.com/eMAKER-Huxley-3D-printer-kits SeeMeCNC - uses software to drive stepper drivers via a parallel port rather than onboard control hardware running GCode or the like, saving hardware cost: http://www.indiegogo.com/SeeMeCNC-H-1 SUMPOD - http://sumpod.com/ -…

"SeeMeCNC - uses software to drive stepper drivers via a parallel port"

Parallel port? Isn't that an anachronism, or are these still popular in the 'hobby' world?

Re: Printrbot: Your Very Own 3D Printer

#9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good list - I think there's a definite hype bubble in cheap 3D printers. All the copy sounds very naive in relation with the reality of what these printers can actually do. Ex: "printer in every home" - that's like saying a CAD designer in every home - not going to happen. Even d/ling from Thingiverse isn't going to be that popular as most of the parts aren't super useful / attractive.

I think you're missing the beauty of having a a 3d printer at home and needing an enclosure to do an electronics project and just printing one out, or deciding to print out an ipad stand, fork, screwdriver, guitar, etc. If 3d printers became widespread, we would have databases full of plans made by people and every 3d print wouldn't be a custom one off

I have the ee enclosure problem now. It's getting pretty bad with some of my deployed projects just kind of spread all over the place.

As far as the database full of plans: http://www.thingiverse.com/

Re: Printrbot: Your Very Own 3D Printer

#10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you have imagined that one of these would be in every home? http://www.ttsw.com/SuesClasses/OldComputers/ENIAC.gif

To be fair, there never were nor should have been ENIACs in homes. I don't think he's saying a future 3d printer shouldn't be a real consumer model.

A better analogy might be the early PCs sold as kits and targeted at hobbyists, which is basically what this Kickstarter is funding.
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