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Formlabs: High Resolution 3D Printer

formlabs.com

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Re: Formlabs: High Resolution 3D Printer

#101

Post by Mizza »

mcantelon wrote: post #53

Sad prediction: the future of 3D printing will be cheap printers [that require/are subsidized by] proprietary resins.

You might like this, then, a 'Lyman Extruder':

Instructions and Pictures: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:30642

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JebhbxgjBgA

Pellets, 3$ a pound on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p3984.m570.l1313&...

and to be sold commercially by LulzBot.

Plastic, not resin based, but people are still looking into doing cool stuff to solve the challenge you mention.

Re: Formlabs: High Resolution 3D Printer

#103

Post by confluence »

samwillis wrote: post #7

It will be interesting to watch 3D Systems share price today. JP Morgan issued a statement yesterday that they thought Formlabs might pose a significant risk to them. https://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:DDD Down 2% already in just 5 min!

I don't think you get how the stock market works - short term linear news announcements do not indicate market translations. The stock market is the instantaneous auction price of ~100 market participants at any point in time - it can go in any direction for any reason.

For the vast majority of the time the stock market is stable until such a time as a whale moves markets and the feedback loop begins.

Re: Formlabs: High Resolution 3D Printer

#104

Post by bbbertie »

gavanwoolery wrote: post #29
jws wrote: post #2

The call to action link says: "Pre-Order on Kickstarter" They must have not gotten the "Kickstarter is not a store" memo. They appear to be ready to pull the trigger on their manufacturing partners, so this is sort of a "how big should we make the first run?" type of kickstarter rather than a "let's create something awesome". Details… • Stereolithography printer (laser, not extruder) • Much nicer than extruder style…

This might be a kind of dumb idea, but I would love it if somebody created a Kickstarter project to create a manufacturing and distribution plant for Kickstarter projects...(obviously, would require a huge investment for all of the machining equipment).

Related, but a different aspect of product design: http://www.quirky.com/

Re: Formlabs: High Resolution 3D Printer

#105

Post by guiambros »

confluence wrote: post #103
samwillis wrote: post #7

It will be interesting to watch 3D Systems share price today. JP Morgan issued a statement yesterday that they thought Formlabs might pose a significant risk to them. https://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:DDD Down 2% already in just 5 min!

I don't think you get how the stock market works - short term linear news announcements do not indicate market translations. The stock market is the instantaneous auction price of ~100 market participants at any point in time - it can go in any direction for any reason. For the vast majority of the time the stock market is stable until such a time as a whale moves markets and the feedback loop begins.

While I understand the gist your comment, you probably didn't read the link. This is exactly how the market works: traders don't have time to follow closely all the markets of all companies they are trading, so they will eat whatever canned news they get -- provided it came from a reputable source.

So when JP Morgan issues a memo saying "Formlabs ... could be a threat to incumbent 3D printer solutions at the low-end of the market in the near-term... First take: potential negative for DDD" - and in the exact same week that Wired published a cover page with Bre Pettis and his good-looking MakerBot Replicator 2... well, maybe it's time to lock in the 110% gains you had this year with DDD and move on...

Re: Formlabs: High Resolution 3D Printer

#106

Post by chromejs10 »

I don't know about you but I'm extremely excited about this printer. I currently have a RepRap Prusa but it really is hard to match the quality of these kinds of printers. The only problem I see is that it sounds like they are also selling the resin for it and somehow figured out a way to make it cheaper than most. I'd worry about how long they'd be able to keep up with selling enough resin for everyone.

Re: Formlabs: High Resolution 3D Printer

#107

Post by confluence »

guiambros wrote: post #105
confluence wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think you get how the stock market works - short term linear news announcements do not indicate market translations. The stock market is the instantaneous auction price of ~100 market participants at any point in time - it can go in any direction for any reason. For the vast majority of the time the stock market is stable until such a time as a whale moves markets and the feedback loop begins.

While I understand the gist your comment, you probably didn't read the link. This is exactly how the market works: traders don't have time to follow closely all the markets of all companies they are trading, so they will eat whatever canned news they get -- provided it came from a reputable source. So when JP Morgan issues a memo saying "Formlabs ... could be a threat to incumbent 3D printer solutions at the low-end…

Traders really don't trade that many companies a year - they specialise - and if they did so many that they followed canned news - well lets just say they wouldn't be in business very long.

Re: Formlabs: High Resolution 3D Printer

#109

Post by Gormo »

rbanffy wrote: post #52
chime wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it would work in exactly the same way you are describing but there may be alternatives. Manufacturing equipment is very expensive and the only way to justify the cost is to keep it running daily, sometimes 24/7/365. The change parts for each unique product are also quite expensive (easily $10k+). If I want to open a KickManufacturing plant, I have to buy/maintain/service hundreds of different kinds of e…

> And worst of all, most of the equipment will be collecting dust 95% of the time unless someone has just the right Kickstarter project for them. Cloud manufacturing?

If Kickstarter crowdsources funding, why not crowdsource manufacturing, too? Especially considering the increasing proliferation of 3D printing and the like.

I'm sure that many DIYers, hackerspaces, etc., have the ability to manufacture small batches of a wide variety of products; QA and final assembly could be done further up the chain, as a component of distribution.

Re: Formlabs: High Resolution 3D Printer

#110

Post by tinco »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #86
gavanwoolery wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This might be a kind of dumb idea, but I would love it if somebody created a Kickstarter project to create a manufacturing and distribution plant for Kickstarter projects...(obviously, would require a huge investment for all of the machining equipment).

Actually, I'm waiting for someone to create the Kickstarter that people seem to think Kickstarter is: a way to get pre orders for a new product. I mean seriously, there are a lot of people using Kickstarter for this and now they've explicitly said that's not what it's for. So, Entrepreneurial Opportunity. There's obviously a lot of people who need this kind of "pre-order aggregator" service. So when will a motivated…

I don't think you are right. There are a lot of consumers that use kickstarter for this, but they are not the customers, the startups are. I think you will find it a lot harder to find businesses creating innovative products based on preorders. Note the significant difference in expectations between investments and sales, preorders are sales not investments.
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