Poll: Do you have a 3d printer? • Hacker News Board

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

#171

Post by [deleted] » Thu, May 02, 2013, 2:49 AM UTC

gdw2 wrote: post #163

simonsarris wrote: post #128

You know, I never even owned a 2D printer until last year. And my girlfriend bought that. Someone else always owned a printer and I just used it (Kinkos, library, work, school). I would hope it would be the same with a 3D printer. I don't want to have one. I don't want to buy ink or parts or worry about it or have it obsoleted in 2 years time. But if I want something 3D printed, I certainly hope that there will be st…

> I don't want to buy ink or parts or worry about it or have it obsoleted in 2 years time. I've heard that with a 3d printer you can print another 3d printer, so maybe it can upgrade itself?

[deleted]

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

#172

Post by T-hawk » Thu, May 02, 2013, 2:50 AM UTC

porter wrote: post #85

georgemcbay wrote: post #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 t…

What would you do with a 3d printer in your house? For manufacturing and business use, it kind of makes sense to me. But personal use? After you print off a few cups and toy soldier molds, what would you want to do with a 3d printer?

One popular use is newly designed custom Rubik's Cube type puzzles. In all sorts of polyhedral shapes that go way beyond cubes. There's a thriving forum at twistypuzzles.com with all sorts of new inventions that can be realized quickly with 3D printing.

Some examples:

http://www.shapeways.com/model/56260/crazy-comet.html

http://www.shapeways.com/model/138720/icosaix-read-instructi...

http://www.shapeways.com/model/184114/constellation-six.html

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

#173

Post by porter » Thu, May 02, 2013, 2:50 AM UTC

johnnyo wrote: post #130

porter wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would you do with a 3d printer in your house? For manufacturing and business use, it kind of makes sense to me. But personal use? After you print off a few cups and toy soldier molds, what would you want to do with a 3d printer?

Custom miniatures for D&D night! I could even see custom modeling my own miniatures for other games, either tabletop RPGs like D&D or wargames like Warhammer or any of the others.

I can see how it has application to very small micro needs like this, but seriously....is this what all the 3d printing hype is about? With all the hype I read from VCs, you'd think 3d printers are the next personal computer. I'm really trying to make the connection, but it feels more like the venture capital IPO machine is in full force just to crank up the IRR on their funds.

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

#174

Post by dhughes » Thu, May 02, 2013, 2:50 AM UTC

frakkingcylons wrote: post #165

gdw2 wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't want to buy ink or parts or worry about it or have it obsoleted in 2 years time. I've heard that with a 3d printer you can print another 3d printer, so maybe it can upgrade itself?

It's not able to print all the necessary parts for a 3D printer, but one of the main goals of the RepRap project was to design a printer that could print most of its parts. http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page

Yes, and I think recently wasn't a hard to make part finally constructed some gear spring thing? I can't recall what it was but I can picture it in my brain.

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

#175

Post by pnewhook » Thu, May 02, 2013, 2:53 AM UTC

I've been holding off because the desktop size limits functionality, but manufacturers seem to be moving beyond toys. I think we're right on the cusp of seeing some industrial strength printers geared towards hackers/makers/hobbiests. This one on KickStarter seems to be pushing the conventional size boundaries, http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/re3d/gigabot-3d-printing....

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

#176

Post by rotub » Thu, May 02, 2013, 2:53 AM UTC

I may buy one in the future, but not any time soon.

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

#177

Post by esmansf » Thu, May 02, 2013, 2:59 AM UTC

I did my MS thesis work on 3D printing at the single micron scale. There are some very cool applications for the technology, but I do not know what I would do with it outside of prototyping or using it to make molds for casting parts.

I'm a lot more bullish about technologies that print metal such as NASA Langely's EBF3 (http://www.nasa.gov/topics/technology/features/ebf3.html) than soft, anisotropic polymers.

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

#178

Post by eli » Thu, May 02, 2013, 3:02 AM UTC

iamwil wrote: post #82

eli wrote: post #79

Any recommendations for an inexpensive 3d printer suitable for someone who just thinks they're cool and wants to screw around with it?

I wrote a post about this topic that I thought you might find useful. http://blog.cubehero.com/2013/04/12/what-you-need-to-know-ab...

Just what I was looking for. Thanks!

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

#179

Post by flogic » Thu, May 02, 2013, 3:06 AM UTC

georgemcbay wrote: post #112

porter wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would you do with a 3d printer in your house? For manufacturing and business use, it kind of makes sense to me. But personal use? After you print off a few cups and toy soldier molds, what would you want to do with a 3d printer?

Mostly enclosures for electronics projects in my case, it would be nice to use something more custom made for the device than an altoids tin or plain ugly project box.

You can get a laser cutting machine for about 1.5 grand off Amazon. I might consider one in few years if my projecting gets more serious. The Adafruit ice cube clock enclosure is laser cut and it looks sharp.

Currently, I'm working on getting my first laser cutting order through Ponoko. Hopefully that's all going to work out.

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

#180

Post by fotbr » Thu, May 02, 2013, 3:07 AM UTC

Borrowed one, decided that having one might be a nice addition to my shop. Built my own rather than buy an existing design.

Now it sits in the corner of my shop gathering dust - it works well, but I found that what I really wanted out of it was the experience of designing and building my own.