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Makerbot Thing-o-Matic 3D Printer Review
rsk points out this "review of the $1200 Makerbot Thing-o-Matic 3D printer. After a 16-hour self-assembly and a few weeks of use, a blown PSU was replaced with a higher powered PSU via a mod to the Thing-o-Matic. Video of the Thing-o-Matic printing out little solar panel mounts from Google Sketch-up included in the review. Final thoughts suggest that the Thing-o-Matic is not a great gift for non-engineers: 'You need a decent understanding of robotics, hardware, software, electronics and mechanics, need a little hand dexterity and a ton of patience.'"
I want to know what software he used to make those cats!
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Reprap?
You wouldn't steal a car. But soon you'll be able to copy one. Why do I have a feeling this is going to make piracy analogies on Slashdot a lot more interesting in the years to come.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
Wouldn't it be more accurate to move the head around rather than moving the part? What if your plastic hasn't set yet? Jiggling it around while it is hardening is probably not good for getting an accurate part.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
And where, exactly, is this DIY colour laser printer?
See... 3D printers are far from crude - see shapeways.com / i.materialise.com / 3dmetaltec.com . It's just that the DIY 3D printers tend to be rather crude.
If you're saying that eventually these 3D printers will work their way down to the prosumer and later consumer level, then sure.. but that 'revolution' started around the time ZCorp et al made their machines available at reasonable (for small studios/manufacturers/etc., not individuals) prices, way down from the usual rapid prototyping machines' costs, quite a few years ago.. not 'now'.
Why not call it what it is, a consumer-oriented CNC milling machine. It is arguably in the same family of devices as the 5-axis Hermle C60s in the factory where I work. (We use those giant machines to cut some really *tiny* parts, it's pretty awesome to watch them do their thing.)
I'm not knocking the Thing-o-Matic in any way. I want one.
Fuck you. I would if I could.
PS: Anyone have a copy of Ferrari_599_Fiorano.torrent? Thanx!
You wouldn't steal a car. But soon you'll be able to copy one.
I doubt GM / Ford / Ferrari will be too worried about off white lumpy 'cars' with plastic engines anytime in the foreseeable future. Wal Mart might be concerned about your ability to mimic their large selection of plastic junk, everyone else - not so much.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
They should have made a few more web servers with the Thing-o-Matic *ducks*
Now if only Apple will come out with the iMadeIt, or the iBuiltIt or iTem or iDontKnowWhatever.
He is mentioned in this article. He is awesome and deserves all of the adoration he will receive for his work at Makerbot.
Truly.
I think I'd rather have the laser burn table that they used to cut out various parts of the Thing-o-Matic (such as the plywood shell), than a machine that prints stuff from plastic.
But then, I like to make big things, instead of little things. :)
Kid-proof tablet..
I was seriously considering picking one of these up as i tend to do a lot of low level fabrication (right up to casting noble and non-noble metals) and have yet to find a reasonable and quick method to fab plastics. However looking on the website and reading the review the quality of this product seems extremely questionable, not only did this one unit have 2 major issues within the first day of running (with a complex system like this not exactly a horrid start) but the company itself has a blog post on the front page about how its favorite customer service interaction was one in which the customer decided to fix all the problems on their unit themselves. So my first two impressions are that this unit will most likely be in a state of disrepair in between quick burts of usefulness? I'd rather just submit my renderings to online stores and pay the shipping, etc. simply for the lack of frustration. Now if they got these problems under control i'd have one tomorrow.
drunk chemists
T1000 self assembly was cool. "16 hours" of gooey glue spit job resulted in well... but we have to praise them for trying, enthusiasm and pioneering...
I'm looking forwards to seeing what he builds once he's gotten done rebuilding the machine.
Sure, it's a lot of work to put into a brand-new machine, but anyone who has bought a Chinese mill or lathe machine knows that a right-out-of-the-box rebuild sure helps the accuracy. Even with simple tools like wood chisels, the first thing you do is resharpen them because the from-the-factory job is nearly worthless, so it's hardly surprising that an amateur-designed, amateur-built, and kit-built-by-amateur 3D printer would need some work.
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
I think I'd rather have the laser burn table that they used to cut out various parts of the Thing-o-Matic (such as the plywood shell), than a machine that prints stuff from plastic.
The desk-sized laser cutters are the most popular machines at TechShop. They're easy to use, easy to program (all they need is line art), and will cut up to 3/8" plywood. The size limit is 18" x 24". They'll cut wood and many plastics, but not metals - that takes a much more powerful model.
Making small plastic parts by injection molding is an incredibly cheap operation in quantity. Making one-off parts with a MakerBot like device is a slow, expensive process, and the surface quality will be lower. On the other hand, cutting stuff out of sheet stock with laser cutters, plasma cutters, and water-jet cutters is fast; it's useful as a production process.
I've had one of the Makerbot Cupcakes for quite a while. Great fun to build and operate -- if you are a tinkerer and enjoy making things work, and tweaking them until they work, and tuning them again when they quit working. If you don't happen to have the tinkerer gene, then they are not for you. I tell anyone that asks me about it: "It's not turnkey like a laser printer, it's a lifestyle choice."
Outrageous good fun, though, if you like that sort of thing. My last few prints: a pair of wheels for a robot, a bracket to mount an Android phone on a robot, and a cookie cutter to give as a gift. In between, my daughter has been printing doll house furniture.
After a 16-hour self-assembly
Now I'm impressed, I had no idea that it could self assemble, I expected that the guy who bought it would have to put it together.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
You wouldn't steal a car. But soon you'll be able to copy one.
Not until you can make - finish - assemble - and test - 15,000 to 20,000 parts of any arbitrary size, shape, weight, composition, and precision.
The wiki is still up, and more informative than the store site. Wiki - MakerBot Industries
Chemists do it with moles.
FWIW, I have a Makerbot Cupcake CNC, and it's freaking awesome. It takes a LOT of work to get it running and tuned properly, but once it's working, you can use it to make improved versions of every part. It's a self-feeding hobby. I've spent days building new parts to make things run better, just so I can use it to print even better improvements that require more precision.
Chemists do it with moles.
I think the first major lawsuit over physical-item-IP-infringement, as relates to individual 3d printing, will be for a brand name shoe. $50k commercial 3d printers (the kind that can print in multiple materials, including plastic, polymers, rubber, etc at the same time) can almost print a commercial-quality shoe today (without laces).
I hope they can raise the quality of these things. I'd like to get one to print out electronic parts to fix my headphones. Things such as the tiny bits of plastic that hold the ribbon to the circuit board would be perfect for this thing to print. Unfortunately the size and quality needed makes it impossible for these things to print. :(
Screws would be another thing. All my electronics come with tiny weird screws, if it could print new metal ones that would be awesome.
Guess we're going to have to wait for the quality to get better though.
was the kitty
Swap you a copy of Jessica_Alba_17.tar.gz for it? ;)
Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
Obligatory you wouldn't steal a car. (for some reason /. seems to be refusing to put my link in, so : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALZZx1xmAzg ).
Anything that makes piracy analogies on Slashdot more interesting is good by me.
>> I doubt GM / Ford / Ferrari will be too worried about off white lumpy 'cars' with plastic engines
Given the huuuuge percentage of the cars that are built from plastic chunks that are often stupid expensive to replace, they should be worried.
The last window repair I had done required buying an entire (new) actuator with all ancillary parts, because some 20 cent plastic piece gave up in the cold.
None of the scrap yards around here had a used one because - guess what - they all break on this poorly engineered p.o.s. (less than 4 years old, just off warranty)
If I had access to a makerbot/reprap, I woulda taken a stab at making the part myself. perhaps it'd fail, perhaps not.
When these printers get a little more user-friendly and make a decent installed base, it'll be something any company ripping us for small parts will need to think about.
FWIW, I have a Makerbot Cupcake CNC
what does a CNC-made cupcake look and taste like? And really: how many parts can it take?
antipaucity
Don't forget that the Thing-O-Matic can print parts after parts without any user intervention. Let's say only four hours per part... Hey, it'll take less than seven years to print your car!
I just started assembly of a Makerbot Cupcake. Unboxing & some assembly photos here:
http://www.alephobjects.com/photos/printers/makerbot/cupcake/
I have some other printers as well, in various states, more photos:
http://www.alephobjects.com/photos/printers/
The Makerbot stuff is very well documented relative to the other projects.
-Jeff Moe
Similarly, when the cassette recorder came out, the music industry was saying, "Yeah, but the quality of reproduction is awful and you can't copy a whole 33 1/3 RPM record." When the first computer with sound came out, they said, "Yeah, but it can only do 1-bit mono audio. It won't ever be a threat." Looking back, it's obvious that they were missing something.
Remember that this 3D printer is a fairly early design. Eventually we'll have robots that can do everything you describe in a few hours. This is just one step towards that, but it is a significant step.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
For anyone interested in CNC milling and casting, both of which are tangentially related and informative to this, have a look at these excellent writings: http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/guerrilla_cnc1.shtml http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/guerrilla_cnc2.shtml
To the best of my knowledge, all additive manufacture techniques that work in metal need a vacuum - so, if you pardon the pun, don't hold your breath.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
I find no mention of handling fumes. Burning ABS plastic is notoriously toxic, one of the main things that has been holding me back from tackling this for a home installation. Ideally one would construct a fume hood of sorts and then vent it externally to the home, but there are also issues with exactly how/where and also filtering perhaps ?
It bothers me that there's hardly any mention of fume issues during the talk about these great machines.
I just assembled one myself.... here's a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpAw5SCR7gQ