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Meh. You wouldn't download a car.

I totally would.

https://www.thingiverse.com/th...

At least he actually followed through

Indeed! I was almost certain he was a flake screwing with the press about the flight. He actually took the flight and proved he is a truly dedicated and faithful nutcase. I'll give him a special gift.

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https://www.thingiverse.com/th...

https://www.thingiverse.com/se...

In about eight years ago.

Congrats RPI! LOVE my Pi3s and Zeros! I makes them into NeaT StufFs! http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...

Oh yes I would!

I saw that fancy case, and wouldn't you know, you can print one. https://www.thingiverse.com/th...

Nice pictures by the way. I wasn' thinking of a CNC router, so good point.

I'm assuming that you have a CNC router, and you're essentially doing a bunch of extrusions for the shape?

If so, yeah, a CNC router (or laser cutter) will beat a 3D printer for that application. For more complex 3D milling operations, clamping is a real problem, especially if you have to mill, re-clamp and re-datum several times during the operation.

If you have super complex shapes for example:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...

CNC is right out. OK that's a bit excessive, but I did print one once my printer was set up, just to show off.

So basically, can we agree that "it depends"? If you're doing planar cutouts to be assembled and have somewhere to put it, then a CNC router is definitely the machine of choice. But it looks like you have a garage and probably some sort of dust extraction.

My 3D printer is used for things for which the CNC router wouldn't be especially suitable. And I have nowhere to put one either.

I never bought a 3D printer myself, they are too expensive and I could not think of enough uses for one. Instead, twice I have used Thingverse to find something that fit my needs and ordered the item to be printed and mailed to me. There is a cottage industry of people with 3D printers that print the item and mail it to the end-customer. Both items combined cost less than $50 and that's with shipping. Delivery took an average of 4 days from the date of order.

For those curious, the 2 items I ordered are:
Cubicle Phone Mount:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...

Mini Desk Fan (turns a 120mm fan into a personal cooling fan):
http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...

I never bought a 3D printer myself, they are too expensive and I could not think of enough uses for one. Instead, twice I have used Thingverse to find something that fit my needs and ordered the item to be printed and mailed to me. There is a cottage industry of people with 3D printers that print the item and mail it to the end-customer. Both items combined cost less than $50 and that's with shipping. Delivery took an average of 4 days from the date of order.

For those curious, the 2 items I ordered are:
Cubicle Phone Mount:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...

Mini Desk Fan (turns a 120mm fan into a personal cooling fan):
http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...

While I agree that a hobby-grade 3-axis CNC can do things a 3D-printer can't, there's also no denying that the same CNC cannot do parts like these. Each machine have their own strengths.

http://www.thingiverse.com/thi... Although, looks like anything but SLS would be more than a little tricky...

How about a pencil cup, toothpick holder, or a keyfob made from a CT scan?

http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...
https://www.youmagine.com/desi...
http://cdn.instructables.com/F...

No 3D printer yet but I'm planning on adding a hot end (E3D v6) and extruder (something geared, current choice is the Toranado right now) to my CNC.

Since I don't have a 3D printer yet, let's use my CNC as a comparison. So far, I've cut a lot of parts for projects that would already have cost me a lot more than the CNC itself if I had to pay to have the parts made by someone else. And judging from the quotes I get from 3D printing services online, it won't take long for my future 3D printer to pay for itself.

As I type this, the license link on the product's page leads to the variant of the Creative Commons License, that explicitly allows commercial use

I was wondering about that too. I thought perhaps I misunderstood the license or had missed something, but on the face of it, it seems like what they did was legal (perhaps a little sleazy, but still legal).

If someone more familiar with this could explain specifically what they did that was infringing or illegal, I'd be interested to know what it was.

As I type this, the license link on the product's page leads to the variant of the Creative Commons License, that explicitly allows commercial use:

You are free to:

        Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format

        Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.

        The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

What's the problem? Did the author pick wrong license by mistake — and will they apologize to the folks now harmed by eBay's overreaction?

You forgot the "Under the Following Terms" bit, which is the whole point!

Under the following terms:

Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

You are free to:
Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

What's the problem? Did the author pick wrong license by mistake — and will they apologize to the folks now harmed by eBay's overreaction?

This is true-- there is no home 3D printer that can print a reasonable LEGO brick.

However, LEGO makes a lot of other ancillary pieces that you CAN print. Replacement heads for mini-figs, clip-on attachments to things, little flowers, buckets, etc. In addition, the LEGO Technic straight brackets (the long ones with the holes and plusses) are not too hard to print, and you can create your own configuration of those holes. (I have a customizable one up on ThingiVerse here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...).

So a 3D printer is not going to keep you from buying LEGO, but it might make playing and building with LEGO more fun.

http://www.thingiverse.com/sea... Projects still need work, print it up, throw it in a river with insulated cabling, voila, effortless power. Cheers, D

They do work. I am using one for a few years (simple receptacle type with compost heap outside, see https://www.thingiverse.com/th... ) now and off course I use it with "any regularity". What could there not work with a compost heap? Do you throw chemicals in your toilet or something?

I use it to support my other activities- right now I'm working on a large volume chocolate printer (3.5 l) that contains parts that I made on my 3D printer. I have also started trying to print prosthetic hands for E-nable. I have designed and printed adapters to mount a web cam and cell phone on two microscopes and a telescope. You can see some of my designs here: https://www.youmagine.com/user... and here: http://www.thingiverse.com/the...
If you're into electronics, a 3D printer is great for printing custom enclosures.

You can see my printer here: http://www.instructables.com/i...

I'm no fan of the $300 printer kits that have become so common. They are junk and will cause you to give up on 3D printing. Don't buy one of those. Like everything else in life, as the price goes down, the quality goes down with it. And no, it doesn't make sense as a "starter" printer. Junk is junk.

Custom Model Rockets
Movie Props (Make your own light saber)
Prototypes
Inventions
Robot Parts (FIRST Robotics)
Phone Cases (with gears)
Thingiverse
Custom connectors for Legos

The biggest questions you have to answer are 1) what material do you want to use, and 2) what the max size of your part? Personally, I like ABS. It is flexible and more forgiving and assembles easily with acetone. My favorite lowend 3D printer is the Makerbot 2X, however you won't get an iron man costume out if it with the 6x9x12 build volume. However, with a few mods you can print, ABS, Ninjaflex, and even PLA.

The Ultimaker 2 is a great printer for PLA, nice resolution, however it uses 3mm filament which is not as common as at the 1.7mm that most of the other printers use.

My lease favorite low end 3D printer is the Makerbot Z18.

It's all good fun, go for it!

Custom Model Rockets
Movie Props (Make your own light saber)
Prototypes
Inventions
Robot Parts (FIRST Robotics)
Phone Cases (with gears)
Thingiverse
Custom connectors for Legos

The biggest questions you have to answer are 1) what material do you want to use, and 2) what the max size of your part? Personally, I like ABS. It is flexible and more forgiving and assembles easily with acetone. My favorite lowend 3D printer is the Makerbot 2X, however you won't get an iron man costume out if it with the 6x9x12 build volume. However, with a few mods you can print, ABS, Ninjaflex, and even PLA.

The Ultimaker 2 is a great printer for PLA, nice resolution, however it uses 3mm filament which is not as common as at the 1.7mm that most of the other printers use.

My lease favorite low end 3D printer is the Makerbot Z18.

It's all good fun, go for it!

I carry around a pipe caliper that I designed and 3D printed. A scissor-looking device that tells you the size of a pipe (up to 4") based on outside diameter. Useful on the job.

I designed and printed a custom flashlight holder for those cheap LED flashlights.

Custom replacement handle for a triangular file

Set of custom drawer knobs.

Custom hard drive mounting bracket.

Custom battery holder.

Custom shelf bracket.

~Three dozen clothespins.

3-axis tilt camera stand that mounts on top of a tripod. (replaces one that broke).

Custom 80:1 worm gear reduction for a machine I was working on, as well as a few spur gears and light-duty V-belt pulleys for same machine. Custom thrust bearing and ball bearing holders.

A full set of Meta-Chess pieces.

A custom tool for aligning V-belt pulleys using a 3V line laser module and magnetic base.

Currently in progress is a mostly 3D printed racing wheel controller for my PC, which uses the guts from a dual analog game controller. The controller is unusable because the silicone pads for the buttons cracked, but the electronics are still good and with 4x analog axes I can get steering and three pedals plus 16 digital buttons. My hangup is I can't get the "feel" of the buttons right...

If I ever get off my ass and finish building the electric furnace I've been working on, and manage to melt some aluminum with it, I fully intend to try lost-PLA casting some aluminum parts. That's be awesome...
=Smidge=

You've made absolutely no case for 3D printing here.

But if you had a 3D printer, you could print one.

http://www.thingiverse.com/sea...

Who are the customers of this? I am skeptical of the business model for 3D printing as a service.

There are 2 kinds of people who want to 3D print:
- Makers
- Gimmick lovers

The makers won't use this service. 3 years ago every hackerspace had a 3D printer, and it was a cool reason to join up. Now, the makers just buy their own printer. The cost has gone down, and designing a 3D object is an iterative interactive process.

The gimmick lovers could use the service. There are two types of gimmicks:
- Stock gimmicks that are all the same
- Custom gimmicks

If there is significant demand for a stock gimmick, then it is cheaper and faster to mass produce the item and sell it. This is how we have done it for decades. Popular items on Thingiverse and are now sold on Amazon.

That leaves custom gimmicks and low-demand stock items for 3D printing. Does the royal mail have a system for customizing gimmicks? If not, then the pool grows yet smaller. I don't know if that customer base is big enough to be profitable. Maybe someone who wants a custom or rare gimmick can find a friend with a 3D printer. That's how it was with 2D printing back in the 80s. You always had a friend with a computer and a color dot-matrix printer, and they could make those "Happy Birthday" banners for you. I suspect that might be the way this really works.

How many places offer CNC routing as a service? That seems like the most equivalent thing to 3D printing. It has been around for decades, but I don't know of the post-office offering that service.

Maybe they are secretly making one of these. http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...

You were saying? People are already 3D-printing ball bearings, gears springs and motors.

You were saying? People are already 3D-printing ball bearings, gears springs and motors.

You were saying? People are already 3D-printing ball bearings, gears springs and motors.

You were saying? People are already 3D-printing ball bearings, gears springs and motors.

You'd be surprised. My compost toilet is a "collector" type, so it is basically a bin with a toilet seat on top (see http://www.thingiverse.com/thi... ) and it must be emptied on a compost pile. So the composting should take place outside the toilet itself. However, the composting process already starts in the toilet and hardly needs any mass at all. It just needs rest and the right ingredients.

The lifting at corners of a box is caused by the shrinking of the plastic as it cools. There are straight lines of plastic connecting the corners which concentrates all the force from the shrinking there. If you make the surfaces of the box wavy instead of smooth and flat you'll have fewer corner lifting and delamination problems. The other thing you can do is enclose the printer in a box that keeps the whole print warm as it prints. I have found that a temperature as low as 40C inside the box is sufficient to prevent most delamination problems in ABS prints.

I enclosed my printer in a box made of PIR foam. See: http://www.thingiverse.com/thi... The box clips together using 3D printable clips that allow you to take the box apart and reassemble it easily. I don't think it is entirely necessary to use insulating foam- I think a single layer of corrugated board would work just as well. My printer heats the box to >40C with the heat from the printbed alone.

ABS should stick to the kapton covered printbed without any assistance from "juice" or other additives. If your prints don't stick, you probably need to be more careful about leveling the bed and zeroing the Z-axis. Print the first layer slowly with the extrusion multiplier at 200%. It is entirely possible that your printbed isn't very flat and that can lead to prints lifting because no matter how well you level the bed and set the Z-axis zero, if the bed isn't flat your prints may not stick. Try replacing the bed with a known flat surface. Aluminum tooling plate is cast and milled flat and works well. Beware of fake kapton- one brand new printer that arrived at the Milwaukee Makerspace had a "kapton" covered bed and the prints wouldn't stick to it until the "kapton" it came with was replaced.

If you do everything right you'll be complaining about the difficulty of removing prints from the bed more than about prints not sticking.

Sure, the average consumer won't design the battery cover.

They'll just go search for replacements that knowledgeable people already modeled.

You mean like this?

http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...

Or this?

http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...

Or this?

http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...

You mean like this?

http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...

Or this?

http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...

Or this?

http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...

You mean like this?

http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...

Or this?

http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...

Or this?

http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...

Full disclosure: I'm in the process of getting my 3D finished up.

No, I don't think that 3D printers will be ubiquitous as computers, and cell phones, but I don't think they'll be a rarity either...eventually. They fill a niche but I think niche could be very large one day.

How many times have you broke something and wish you could replace it without having to buy a whole new item?
How many times have you needed a project box for something you're building and it wasn't quite the right configuration?
How many times have you wished you had some type of nicknack but you didn't have the ability to produce it?

All the above apply to me, as well as to the people I know that also have 3D printers. Maybe none of the above apply to you. But I bet you or someone you know would love to be able to create a custom cell phone case though. Or a special someone might like a lithopane of a sentimental photo. Or to help a child learn about physics and mechanical advantages with some custom gears.

I'm no expert in prothetics, but it seems the printed Cyborg Beast hand is a completely passive device, relying on wrist movements to control the fingers. On the other hand, the $42,000 device was a "myoelectric prosthetic device, which took signals from the muscle fibers in his forearm, translated those signal, and then used them to mechanically move the fingers of the prosthetic, which looks pretty close to an actual hand."

This guy prefers the less-realistic device. Good for him. A direct comparison is somewhat unreasonable, though.

Exactly. 3D printing of things that are mass produced and mass distributed makes no sense. But the huge range of "obsolete/obscure" stuff is perfect for 3D printing.

For example, I 3D printed replacement clips for my dishwasher that saved me $800 in repairs. The company wanted to replace the entire assembly because they don't inventory a single clip. So I measured and printed it. http://www.thingiverse.com/thi... . I love that with Taulman3D Nylon I can 3D print parts that are as strong or stronger than injection molded plastic.

3D printers won't "take over from traditional manufacturing" any more than home laser/ink jet printers "take over from traditional offset presses". What they do is more subtle - they enable new forms of manufacturing that are impossible in a factory, just as home printing allowed for new forms of printing that are impossible on an offset press.

So if something can be mass produced by the million via injection molding, that's how it should be made. But just as commercial printers couldn't imagine that anyone would want a home printer, I think you're missing the transition that home 3D printing is already making. That is, people at home now get to do what used to be restricted to "professionals", allowing them to do for themselves what used to be done for them by the professionals. And we can only guess at where it will eventually lead, just as people in the 80s could only begin to imagine where home printing would lead. And it wasn't people printing Sears Catalogues in their homes, it was people printing unique documents only relevant to them. Personal photos and newsletters, presentations, contracts, etc., all of a quality that used to require a design agency, being done at home using a cheap computer and printer.

Now let's see how 3D manufacturing transitions to the home. Speaking for myself, I enjoy designing things, and I've saved lots of money designing and printing repair parts (e.g. for my dishwasher, http://www.thingiverse.com/thi... ), and cases for Arduino-based projects and such. But I think things like a personalized pen (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:47543) or truly unique snowflakes that won't melt in Florida (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:37525) and cheap, personalized prosthetics (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:285009) are a lot more interesting. Now imagine the creativity unleashed when millions of people are empowered to make their own stuff instead of just consuming mass-produced stuff.

Not quite true. You can easily build good "CAD" models in Blender. Your "hollow shells" are just that anyways. The STL only defines a volume, which Blender's hollow shells define just as well as anything else.

Given that if you know how to use Blender efficiently (especially with boolean modelling), importing and exporting STL files is extremely easy. People whine about it because it's true, Blender doesn't define a unit as being an inch, a millimiter or a centimeter. My suggestion: just assume 1 unit = 1 mm. Then export the STL. It will open into any software scaled appropriately. If you need to convert it from mm to inches, there's some software that will let you do that.

Or the few software I've used for 3D printing (Makerware at work, Repetier host elsewhere) can let you scale it just fine. Just remember 1" = 25.4mm. That's a 2540% scale ratio if you need to go from mm to inches.

Now stop complaining Blender's incapable of designing proper parts. Check my thingiverse design, entirely done with Blender: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:268048 -> see how it all just clips together perfectly? Now stop your whining.

from mostly surplus machine parts. I designed it to have a build capacity sufficient to print full-size human skulls extracted from CT scan data. So far I have spent many hundreds of hours and about $1k on the machine.

Skip the low end of the printer market. They will not produce quality prints and build capacity is too small to satisfy for very long. First and foremost, look for a machine with a rigid frame (not plywood!). Avoid machines that have unsupported guide rail or screw ends. Quality prints require controlling the motion of the entire printer. You don't want anything wobbling or flopping around.

If you think you want to make money printing stuff, I recommend talking to a local oral maxillofacial surgeon. When they do reconstruction surgery for people who have experienced trauma or are otherwise disfigured, they frequently get 3D models printed to aid in planning of the surgery. One of the local guys here says a complete skull costs $1500 and a partial skull typically about $500. That's a lot better than you can do on etsy! You'll have to figure out how to extract the data from a CT scan (try DeVide or Osirix, combined with Blender, Meshlab, and Netfabb) to create a printable model, but if I can figure it out, you can too.

Lately I have been experimenting with an extruder design of my own invention. It uses counter-rotating nuts to drive the filament into the hot-end. It is working but still requires some tweaking of firmware and slicing options to get best results. You can see it running here: https://vimeo.com/89872411
and download the files to print one here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...

I use Sketchup for a lot of my models because it is fast and easy, but I do run into its limitations quite often. For those situations I use Designspark Mechanical, another freebie that works well but has a little steeper learning curve. If you're going to do a lot of this stuff (and you will once you have a printer) invest in a 3D mouse. I picked up a SpacePilot Pro on ebay for $200 and it was the best $200 I have spent in a long time. Once you get used to using it you won't want to touch CAD without it. I am hoping someone will release a good CAD package that runs under Linux so I can ditch Windows forever. The existing packages for linux just aren't quite there yet.

using mirrors and lenses from disposable cameras:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...

Two words - printable quadracopter.

I most certainly have!

I see that you are on the cusp of making a point though. Go ahead and make it, since it might be s a valid one. Do you think that these technologies will make consumers interested in 3D printing?

The beautiful thing about this is that while such certification and testing may be required of manufacturers and distributors of such products, there is nothing that can be done to stop you from building one yourself or with a few friends.

There are others who have also traveled this path, and a number of open source designs available for anyone to have a go at: Robohand @ Thingiverse, Prosthetics @ Thingiverse