3D Printer: Most unbelievable gizmo ever

[Rick]

Can't wait until they come down in price. A 3d scanner/printer would be awesome!!

 

[BrooklynBay]

This company is working on making a 3D printer for $199: http://www.electronicproducts.com/P...t_coming_to_a_home_near_you.aspx#.U8Pnyyt15U0

 

[BrooklynBay]

This article has a comparison of a few popular machines: http://www.pddnet.com/blogs/2014/10...ters?et_cid=4196718&et_rid=541481442&type=cta

 

[BrooklynBay]

Here's a new 3D printer for $179:
http://www.electronicproducts.com/P...ting_Kickstarter_with_its_super_low_cost.aspx
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tiko3d/tiko-the-unibody-3d-printer?ref=discovery

 

[OffTrac]

Here's a new 3D printer for $179:
http://www.electronicproducts.com/Packaging_and_Hardware/Prototyping_Tools_Equipment_Services/High_precision_unibody_3D_printer_is_dominating_Kickstarter_with_its_super_low_cost.aspx
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tiko3d/tiko-the-unibody-3d-printer?ref=discovery

I'm trying to figure out why I need one to justify it to my wife. I can't think of a reason to have one that prints 5"x5" items. But I really want it. We have CAD and she's an expert (I can zoom in and out pretty efficiently); maybe she'll come up with a reason.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Unless you want to make pocket sized items, or kid's toys there's no reason to get one that's so small. It will be practical when they make an affordable model which is capable of printing items 12 - 24 inches in size. Industrial sized machines need to make items much larger such as auto body fenders.

 

[sirhk100]

I'm late to the party in this thread but I've been working with a 3d printer for 6 years now and I believe they bought it about 2 years before I started here so our machine is roughly 8 year old tech now. It's amazingly handy though and has saved us who knows how much money in tooling up just to find the first sample part would've been wrong and not fit correctly. Heck, my coworker right this minute is in the middle of a 50+ hour print job printing out part of a wheel. Ours is old school, lays down fine layers of ABS material that is fed out of a weedeater type spool of plastic. It also has a soluble support resin type material that it lays down to help support over hanging features since it can't print in thin air. At SEMA this past year though, we looked at the latest and greatest machine just released by the same company that makes ours and it was pretty nice. Can do all different hardness of plastics from soft spongy type stuff to rock hard type plastics. It would be really nice for when we're designing molding like around the window on your car or the molding in the door jam to have real flexible type parts for fit testing before tooling up for reals.

Some of the other types of printers out there are pretty amazing!!! Part of me wants to get one of those 3d pens just to screw around with. They're like $100 but I know I'd mess with it for a few minutes and probably never touch it again. Total novelty item in my eyes...

 

[Rick]

I can't wait until auto manufacturers bring back discontinued parts via 3d printing. They will be able to print on demand, and not house a huge inventory of bits and pieces.

 

[OffTrac]

Total novelty item in my eyes...

That's kind of why I want the Tiko. I have no real use for it but the price isn't so outrageous that I'd feel stupid for buying it after I got bored with it.

 

[BrooklynBay]

http://blog.caranddriver.com/3d-print-your-own-2017-ford-raptor-for-just-5/

 

[BrooklynBay]

Staples is finally offering the long awaited 3D printing service: http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/products/3d-printing/?icid=3DCENTER:PRINTINGSERVICES:FOOTER. I wonder if they would decline certain jobs such as printing guns?

 

[Rick]

3D printed cars coming next year, startup says
Paul A. Eisenstein
Saturday, 11 Jul 2015 | 5:03 PM ET

Forget making vases, bracelets and other trinkets. Arizona-based Local Motors plans to transform the traditional automotive world with the launch of a three dimensional (3D) printed car next year.

The company plans to build two versions of the Reload Redacted vehicle using a design that was submitted as part of a contest by Kevin Lo, an engineer living in Vancouver, Wash. Set to debut during the first quarter of 2016, it will be a low-speed battery-car, or so-called neighborhood electric vehicle, priced between $18,000 and $30,000.

A full speed vehicle is set to follow, the company said.

Forget making vases, bracelets and other trinkets. Arizona-based Local Motors plans to transform the traditional automotive world with the launch of a three dimensional (3D) printed car next year.

The company plans to build two versions of the Reload Redacted vehicle using a design that was submitted as part of a contest by Kevin Lo, an engineer living in Vancouver, Wash. Set to debut during the first quarter of 2016, it will be a low-speed battery-car, or so-called neighborhood electric vehicle, priced between $18,000 and $30,000.

A full speed vehicle is set to follow, the company said.

"At Local Motors, we are hell-bent on revolutionizing manufacturing," said John B. Rogers, Jr., CEO and co-founder of Local Motors.

"Car manufacturers have been stamping parts the same way for more than 100 years. We now have the technology to make the process and products better and faster by linking the online to the offline through DDM (Direct Digital Manufacturing). This process will create better and safer products, and we are doing exactly that."

(More in full article)
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/10/3d-printed-cars-coming-next-year-startup-says.html

 

[BrooklynBay]

http://www.electronicproducts.com/O...ifts_features_low_power_silent_operation.aspx
http://www.iboxprinters.com/

 

[BrooklynBay]

 

[BrooklynBay]

The United Postal Service is getting involved in 3D printing: http://mhlnews.com/transportation-d...m=email&elq2=adf7489973a640ca825b084cb2a5e8eb

 

[Rick]

[MENTION=42004]BrooklynBay[/MENTION] have you jumped into 3d printing yet?

I have not, but it keeps looking more and more tempting.

 

[BrooklynBay]

I was looking into getting a 3D pen since it's cheap, doesn't require computer programming, and isn't limited to a specific build size. I know that it can't produce the same quality objects as a 3D printer, but it's something to start with. I have a butane powered plastic welder for repairing things. I'm thinking that a 3D pen will work better for that purpose but I can't say at this point since I haven't tried it.

The company in post number 114 never replied to my email. It looks like they didn't have sufficient funding when they started their project so I wonder if they made any of those units.

 

[BrooklynBay]

The price on the older model pens started to drop around a half a year ago since they came out with newer versions. I found a second generation pen on EBay for $17.99 so I thought that it might be worth giving it a try.

My kitchen faucet was missing a rubber cover over the spout. Nobody sells it separately unless you buy an entire replacement spout. I used a flexible filament for the replacement cover. It's not perfect but it works. Here are the results:

 

[Rick]

Is the material sandable or is it to flexible to sand?

 

[Rick]

I need a replicator. Something which can scan something, and duplicate it without a lot of tweaking in software.