11–20 of 73 posts
The cheapest professional machines run into $50K unit prices. A RepRap will set you back under $1K, but it's not very useful at the moment.
This isn't true, by the way. The uPrints start at $14,900 now: http://www.dimensionprinting.com/3d-printers/3d-printing-upr... I'm also assuming that you're talking about FDM, like the MakerBot/RepRap. If you're talking about a different process, well, then it's different.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why not? What are the differences?
Generally, those from the engineering community sneer at the MakerBot and the RepRap. Just listen for the word "tolerances." Now, they're totally right: the home printers have a significantly lower resolution than the professional ones. But unless you're making professional grade parts, you probably don't care, and they use the same materials. (I'm assuming you're making the comparison to other FDM machines.)
Sure they aren't great enough for everything yet, but there has to be things you can create even with the cheap bots that are good enough to be useful.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why not? What are the differences?
Generally, those from the engineering community sneer at the MakerBot and the RepRap. Just listen for the word "tolerances." Now, they're totally right: the home printers have a significantly lower resolution than the professional ones. But unless you're making professional grade parts, you probably don't care, and they use the same materials. (I'm assuming you're making the comparison to other FDM machines.)
Good to see the Economist covering 3D printing - it's still amazing to me how much most people, even close to manufacturing, aren't familiar with it at all. FWIW though - the 90% they're referring to is the delta between machining solid parts and printing them. It should be added that this is a rare use-case for 3D printing. Usually it competes more directly with injection molding technologies that often have better…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, that's not entirely true. The lattice structures are internal to the object, and substitute for solid infill. Commercial FDM 3d printers use a crosshatch instead of solid fill, and the reprap toolchain has that as well as a number of cool ones like hexagonal infill. So you have lattices instead of solid walls in the microstructure. With powder printers, such as the metal printers described in the article, you c…
How much work did it take to create a printer when you already had one, and how many custom parts?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How much work did it take to create a printer when you already had one, and how many custom parts?
About 20 hours of print time, 4-5 hours of assembly time, and around 400EUR of nonprinted parts (motors, electronics, fasteners, hotend parts)
Good to see the Economist covering 3D printing - it's still amazing to me how much most people, even close to manufacturing, aren't familiar with it at all. FWIW though - the 90% they're referring to is the delta between machining solid parts and printing them. It should be added that this is a rare use-case for 3D printing. Usually it competes more directly with injection molding technologies that often have better…
Well, that's not entirely true. The lattice structures are internal to the object, and substitute for solid infill. Commercial FDM 3d printers use a crosshatch instead of solid fill, and the reprap toolchain has that as well as a number of cool ones like hexagonal infill. So you have lattices instead of solid walls in the microstructure. With powder printers, such as the metal printers described in the article, you c…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This isn't true, by the way. The uPrints start at $14,900 now: http://www.dimensionprinting.com/3d-printers/3d-printing-upr... I'm also assuming that you're talking about FDM, like the MakerBot/RepRap. If you're talking about a different process, well, then it's different.
Thanks, prices appear to be falling steadily.
There are also newer processes that are much more expensive. If you're checking out something like an Objet machine, or something like EBM, you're still going to be looking at an upper 5 figures to a mid 6.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Generally, those from the engineering community sneer at the MakerBot and the RepRap. Just listen for the word "tolerances." Now, they're totally right: the home printers have a significantly lower resolution than the professional ones. But unless you're making professional grade parts, you probably don't care, and they use the same materials. (I'm assuming you're making the comparison to other FDM machines.)
Ah, that makes sense. However, it sounds very good for the price.
I'm excited to see what happens as the patents in this space expire. I'm expecting it to be similar to what happened with steam engines.