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Best New 3D Printer

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sparky961:
Ok, the title is entirely tongue-in-cheek.  I hope you get as good a laugh as I did.  It reminds me of my own time spend working on projects and the various things that go horribly wrong.



But seriously, when you're done, if you have a particular expertise in this area maybe you can tell me where we're at with 3D printing.  I've been watching from the sidelines for a while now.  I've been less than impressed though with the lack of a good balance between price and performance.  It seems you can get one but not the other.

Time is also a consideration.  Does it take a $2k machine + 2 days to print a $2 part?  Almost all demo videos are shown in time-lapse for good reason.

tom osselton:
Yes it can take a while to make some complex parts on the other hand how long would it take by hand? One thing you could do is design it in cad and have shapeway build it apparently in a choice of 50 different materials, I saw a metal piece they made for a member of protospace and it looked like it was cast they do a excellent job!  http://www.shapeways.com/marketplace/gadgets/?li=home 

nrml:
They are capable of creating items which would be impossible or very difficult by reductive manufacturing techniques for example internal hollows, variable infills to strike the right balance between weight and strength, variable wall thickness etc. You can manufacture every part in a design for optimum performance without any concessions to the practicalities of the manufacturing process. As tom osselton pointed out, it would take  lot more time and human effort (programming, setting up plus or minus manual machining) to make complex parts than printing them out. Boeing have started using 3d printed parts on some of their commercial aircraft and airbus are looking at doing the same. They are companies that spend an awful lot of effort in optimising their design and manufacturing process.

On a more grassroots level, 3D printing offers people with limited skills and abilities the chance to create whatever they can imagine. I don't have an engineering background, my machining abilities are rudimentary and CAD skills are nonexistent but this doesn't stop me from creating great quality stuff with software created for dummies (like tinkercad and 123design), and printing them out.

sparky961:

--- Quote from: nrml on October 31, 2015, 04:44:41 PM ---On a more grassroots level, 3D printing offers people with limited skills and abilities the chance to create whatever they can imagine. I don't have an engineering background, my machining abilities are rudimentary and CAD skills are nonexistent but this doesn't stop me from creating great quality stuff with software created for dummies (like tinkercad and 123design), and printing them out.

--- End quote ---

To play the role of Devil's Advocate, which I do relish, there's still a huge gap between quality of printed model and price of machine.  At least, that's still my impression.  I'm sure the machines the big boys are using are well into the millions of dollars.  As I mentioned before, the print quality of hobby and self-built machines hasn't impressed me in the least.  Sure, if all you're after is something that moderately resembles the surfaces you designed and gives limited strength and durability, that's fine.  But add in the PITA factor keeping things running and I'm not sold.

Maybe someone will make a machine to turn all those water bottles people needlessly consume into 3D printer plastic extruder stock.  Then we can have a closed loop of "stuff" with questionable necessity.

On the other hand, I do love the idea of printing my own "stuff".  What sane person doesn't love "stuff" and the ability to print as much of it as they desire?


--- Quote from: tom osselton on October 31, 2015, 03:57:12 PM ---http://www.shapeways.com/marketplace/gadgets/?li=home 

--- End quote ---

I'll have to look into this one next time I do come across a rather complex part to make through subtractive means.  I might even draw up a few things to test out their automatic pricing algorithms.

tom osselton:
I have a Makerbot Replicator 2x that I bought mainly because of the build capacity although pricey I'm happy with it but must say my cad needs improvement!

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