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Poll: Do you have a 3d printer?

news.ycombinator.com

1–10 of 281 posts

Re: Poll: Do you have a 3d printer?

#3
If you are looking to buy a 3d printer as a business investment/opportunity, let me know. I'm exploring that market and would like to talk to people with the same mindset.

Note that 3D printing is a huge, huge industry. Due to how it will allow companies to print or buy parts for their machinery at a fraction of the current costs.

Re: Poll: Do you have a 3d printer?

#4
No, and I'm unlikely to buy one until there's a particular killer application. I'm excited by the potential, but I don't have any concrete ideas to explore, nor the time/disposable income to tinker.

Re: Poll: Do you have a 3d printer?

#5
I voted "I don't have one now but I may have one," but after seeing on in person for the first time a week ago I am a little more hesitant. It took 3+ hours to print a chess piece!

I definitely see the value, but it will certainly take another five years before I'd be ready to actually buy one.

Re: Poll: Do you have a 3d printer?

#6
I'm in the camp of - any printer I could afford or justify spending money on in the discernible future would not produce the quality of product I would want. Until that machine eventually arrives, I will send out or find a hackerspace.

Re: Poll: Do you have a 3d printer?

#8
I'm not sure if it makes sense as an investment to own a 3D printer when you can order anything custom from Shapeways when you need. I don't have a constant need for 3D printed parts, so it probably wouldn't pay itself back.

Edit: To add, I've never even needed to order anything from Shapeways to date. For sure I'll need it when I start building robots. I think there should be some kind of new trend hobby which requires or is complementary to custom 3D printed parts, like robot building or something similar.

Re: Poll: Do you have a 3d printer?

#9

If you are looking to buy a 3d printer as a business investment/opportunity, let me know. I'm exploring that market and would like to talk to people with the same mindset. Note that 3D printing is a huge, huge industry. Due to how it will allow companies to print or buy parts for their machinery at a fraction of the current costs.

I dunno, 3D printed ABS parts are nowhere near the injection moulding strength of ABS. The construction of a part tends to be porous, and the inter filament bonds are weak. Geometry alone suggests layering tubes ontop of tubes is not the best way to make a strong solid. If a machine keeps breaking due to wear you don't want to replace its metal parts with ultra fragile plastic parts. Maybe it depends on the machine a bit. I seen people try to make a usable prop shaft out of 3D printing, it broke immediately.

I have built three 3D printers so far and a CNC. I like the CNC best and am designing my second. I use shapeways over using any of the 3D printers I have to hand, if the purpose is to build a working part (or the CNC).

Re: Poll: Do you have a 3d printer?

#10
I'm excited by the potential of 3D printers but they aren't quite at the price/convenience/quality intersection I'm waiting for.

I'd pay current prices for machines (the relatively consumer-level ones that are like $500-2000) that are faster and produce better output without having to do acetone-based "post-processing". I'd pay less than current prices for the current tech just to dick around with, but I don't want to pay the current prices for the current tech. As impressive as the price levels are already, I'm unlikely to get enough practical benefit out of one to make it worth laying down "real money".

I'm absolutely sure I will own one sooner or later, but not today.

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