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Poll: Do you have a 3d printer?

news.ycombinator.com

191–200 of 281 posts

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

#193

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.

You wouldn't download a car.

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

#194
post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think that it could be very plausible to say that "it feels more like the venture capital IPO machine is in full force just to crank up the IRR on their funds", but I think that you are missing that the powerful thing about personal computer wasn't that everyone would do the same thing (I suppose it was general computing calculations), but that people were free to explore many different things (solve individual pain points) in the same way 3d printing will (I think it may be even more than that but I'm limited by the contraints of my own insight into potential future applications[imagination] at this time).

I guess if you even look back on the origins of the personal computer, people gave very narrow reasons for its use and failed to make the connection to how it could be valuable outside of those reasons (outside of the angels/venture capitalists and entrepreneurs).

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

#196

Here's a story. I always wanted to make a CNC machine. I got a bunch of parts off Craigslist from a guy, got some stuff off eBay, I was in college at the time so I never really had time to do anything with it (and money was tight), so I couldn't get it finished. But in college I saw some 3D printers, decided I wanted one. Moved back home with my parents, christmas / birthday was coming up. I was looking into some pri…

I'll add another data point to this. While working for Thalmic Labs (of the MYO fame) last semester, one of the best purchases decision was to buy a 3D printer. We were able to find a big, cupboard size professional 3D printer for a great price, and we bought it. It ended up being invaluable for prototyping the design of the product. The difference between the first prototype, and what the final product is going to look like is incredible. In addition to simply prototyping, it also greatly helped in demos and testing, as we essentially had a prototype that for all intents and purposes looked fully ready at every demo, which definitely helped with testing the different sensor design, and form factor designs and getting valuable feedback from it.

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

#200
post #150

The problem is that they only print stuff made of plastic. The most interesting things are either made of silicon/metal (computer chips) or organic matter (food, people) and neither are printable.

I recently at a conference and sat in on a session on 3D printing. There were several materials to choose from now, mostly plastic, but I saw rubber and a few other materials.

There's a sort of "faux wood" material you can print with as well.[1] And there is such a thing as 3D printing with metal also[2], although that can be much more expensive and probably isn't down into the reach of DIY'ers yet.

[1]: http://www.wired.com/design/2012/11/3d-printer-wood-filament...

[2]: http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/143552-3d-printing-with-m...

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