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Poll: Do you have a 3d printer?

news.ycombinator.com

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

#181

Post by schreiaj »

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?

I do mobile robotics. Printing off a frame for a small robot or a sensor enclosure at home is a lot easier than sending away to commercial shops. And 3d printers are a lot "cleaner" than a mill (CNC or manual). I can also use it for prototyping basic gearboxes and such for larger robots.

I have a Replicator 2X coming in the mail within a month.

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

#182

Post by arde »

sgrove wrote: post #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.

Same here. Specifically, I'm not buying one until I can print circuit boards.

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

#183

Post by Tsagadai »

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?

I use it to fix things. Ever broken a handle off a drawer or snapped a catch on something? Print it, sand it and paint it. Done. I also use it for making little plastic doodads (like those you see on home shopping channels) where the idea was the hard part but reproducing it is pretty easy (think wall mounted bag hooks or egg cutters). Not the most practical uses but I see them as a way of answering the "what if I had that?" type of question.

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

#185

Post by fotbr »

dchichkov wrote: post #106
aortega wrote: post #86

IMHO 3d-printing is way overrated. We already have CNC machines that are reliable, faster, cheaper and more capable than 3d-printers, in that they can cheaply "print" in hard materials like metal with much better resolution. What are the advantages of 3d-printers? (except than being slightly more clean)

Quiet. Simpler to operate. And don't kid yourself that you can use a desktop CNC to work with metal. Even aluminium requires a $10k+ CNC with steel frame, cooling liquid, etc.

You can take a sub-$1000 benchtop mill (Sieg X2 or X3, for example), add less than $1000 of new parts and less than $1000 worth of motors and electronics, and have a benchtop CNC mill capable of working with aluminum and brass with no problems, and with steel in light passes.

If you don't want to do it yourself, you can buy complete from-the-factory benchtop CNC mills (Little Machine Shop: $4500, Tormach: $6k-$8k). If you don't need the size, you can get desktop CNC mills, "ready to run" for about the same price as doing it yourself (Sherline: $2k-$3k).

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

#187

Post by brittohalloran »

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…

My thoughts exactly. I'm the engineering manager (mechanical engineering) at a design / manufacturing firm and I've come to the conclusion that it's not worth it to buy our own machine. I'd prefer to have access to all the different print types (fdm / sls / sla / objet) and not deal with the upkeep and machine obsolescence issues. There are a ton of shops that can make parts now, which is driving the part cost down.

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

#188

Post by kintamanimatt »

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…

You're never gonna print that car at a Kinkos.

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

#189

Post by cschmidt »

porter wrote: post #169
iamwil wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You print out the things you weren't able to imagine, but other people were. 3D printers allow objects that don't need the economy of scale to work in its favor to come into being. If you're to compare 3D printed objects to things you can buy at Walmart, then of course, in most specs the 3D printer would lose. However, what a 3D printer allows you to make are all the things that you can't get at Walmart, either becau…

Any examples?

Some personal favorites I ordered off of Shapeways:

http://www.shapeways.com/model/24470/gyroid.html

http://www.shapeways.com/model/335195/the-code-prize-fire-co...

http://www.shapeways.com/model/683524/super-mario-mobius-str...

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