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Show HN: Similar 3D-Printer Finder

productchart.com

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Re: Show HN: Similar 3D-Printer Finder

#2

Post by no_gravity »

We have been researching 3D-Printer specs for about 2 years now for Product Chart. Today I enabled this tool for the 3D-Printer section. When given a 3D-Printer, it finds similar ones based on specs.

I originally developed the similarity tool for the phone section. Not sure how well it works for 3D-Printers. Feedback is very welcome.

Re: Show HN: Similar 3D-Printer Finder

#3

Post by mmcwilliams »

no_gravity wrote: post #2

We have been researching 3D-Printer specs for about 2 years now for Product Chart. Today I enabled this tool for the 3D-Printer section. When given a 3D-Printer, it finds similar ones based on specs. I originally developed the similarity tool for the phone section. Not sure how well it works for 3D-Printers. Feedback is very welcome.

This is a really neat tool, thanks for sharing it. I've been into 3D printing as a hobby for a while now and have gone through a handful of printers. Searching the models I'm familiar with, I'm pretty floored by how much the prices have dipped (even in the last year) and how feature-loaded new printers are. I haven't really been in the market for a new printer for a while, but this app is changing my mind. :)

The only suggestion I have, and I don't know how readily available this data is or how hard it would be to generate, but a visual representation of the print quality for each printer would be great. I've always found the advertised resolution of a printer to be a really sub-standard way of determining print quality before I buy. For me, printing something uniform [0] and comparing it to the same thing from another printer (using the same slicer) is the best demonstration.

[0] Been using this one for a bit: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5683

Re: Show HN: Similar 3D-Printer Finder

#4

Post by aj7 »

The construction, components, mechanics, etc. are much more important than Euclidean distance of specs off a data sheet. I thank you for educating me about Euclidean distance as a measure of similarity, but it is not of much use here.

Re: Show HN: Similar 3D-Printer Finder

#6

Post by CapTVK »

It's a neat product comparison site but it seems to be missing various models. At my first try I already missed the Renkforce 3D printer series from Conrad Electronic (EU/German) (rf100, rf500, rf1000, rf2000). Maybe it's too US/UK-centric?

Extra option could be to check if the system uses proprietary cartridges. (example: da Vinci)

Re: Show HN: Similar 3D-Printer Finder

#7

Post by no_gravity »

mmcwilliams wrote: post #3
no_gravity wrote: post #2

We have been researching 3D-Printer specs for about 2 years now for Product Chart. Today I enabled this tool for the 3D-Printer section. When given a 3D-Printer, it finds similar ones based on specs. I originally developed the similarity tool for the phone section. Not sure how well it works for 3D-Printers. Feedback is very welcome.

This is a really neat tool, thanks for sharing it. I've been into 3D printing as a hobby for a while now and have gone through a handful of printers. Searching the models I'm familiar with, I'm pretty floored by how much the prices have dipped (even in the last year) and how feature-loaded new printers are. I haven't really been in the market for a new printer for a while, but this app is changing my mind. :) The onl…

It's an interesting idea. To have a picture of the same "thing" printed on all printers. But it would be hard to come by these images. Would have to be crowdsourced somehow.

Re: Show HN: Similar 3D-Printer Finder

#10

Post by mmcwilliams »

no_gravity wrote: post #7
mmcwilliams wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a really neat tool, thanks for sharing it. I've been into 3D printing as a hobby for a while now and have gone through a handful of printers. Searching the models I'm familiar with, I'm pretty floored by how much the prices have dipped (even in the last year) and how feature-loaded new printers are. I haven't really been in the market for a new printer for a while, but this app is changing my mind. :) The onl…

It's an interesting idea. To have a picture of the same "thing" printed on all printers. But it would be hard to come by these images. Would have to be crowdsourced somehow.

It definitely would require a lot of effort. One method could be to collect data from 3D printer reviewers who do that sort of thing (mostly printing Yoda or something). Another would be to add a user-submitted form for collecting the data, but even as I'm typing that out it seems like a crappy idea.

Obviously all of this is coming from the peanut gallery, and would be a lot of effort to add little value, but I was imagining some kind of enlargement like this: http://tobuya3dprinter.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/3d-pri...

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