Meet the Robisons and Their Low-Cost RepRap Kit (Video)

It seems like less than an hour since Slashdot ran a Report From HOPE: The State of Community Fabrication. Now we have a video about a Massachusetts mother and son team we met at HOPE that had so much trouble with commercial RepRap machines that they designed their own and started marketing it under the name Robison Industries, a company they seem to be starting on the fly that uses their local hackerspace as its manufacturing location. Interested in RepRap? Maybe not yet, but as devotees of the concept point out, nobody outside a small circle of geeks was interested in personal computers at first, but they're ubiquitous today. Will we all have 3D printers on our desks in a few years? Good question. round us up in 2020 or 2025 at our local hackerspace and we may have an answer for you.

For those interesting in further reading, a selection of links mentioned in the video:

• Wildseyes Simple hot end.
• A project to add dual extruders to the RepRap (another attempt, and some general chatter about the idea).
• Automated circuitry manufacturing with the RepRap.
• An inkjet head for the RepRap, made by the RepRap.

Comments

Bender says

[Guano_Jim]

Fine, I'm gonna make my own 3D printer! With blackjack! And hookers!

In fact, forget the 3D printer.

This is really dire.

[kotku]

All the product designers and manufacturers of real products are going to have their products stolen and made by freeloaders at home. It will be the total and irreversible end of creativity and innovation. It must be stopped.

Re:This is really dire.

[sgrover]

Sure, one *could* create a model and then print something that is commercially available. What really happens though is that people create the parts that they need that the commercial entities are not selling. Like a broken plastic piece to a cargo area cover. The vendor's solution is to spend the $500ish on a new cargo area cover. The printer owner's solution is to create a model and print out $0.30 worth of plastic to fix the existing cover. In this sense, the vendor's game has to change, or at least recognize the fact that they are not servicing their customers - they are only pushing product. (the irony is that it took a $500 - $2000 printer to make that 30 cent part, to save the $500ish. but the printer can be used for more than just that one job).

At the moment, 3D Printing tends to be focusing on "cool trinkets", but I'm seeing a gradual shift to practical items too. Those are boring though so don't get as much attention.

Re:This is really dire.

[Sentrion]

Obviously even the best and most advanced yet affordable 3D printers won't mean that people could just print out every product they ever needed. But even in our mass-produced world, final production of many products is just a process of assembling - by hand - several stamped, machined, forged, or molded components. The possibility that I could mold many of my own components, and the possibility that I could download and upload drawings, designs, instructions, and codes to print such components could help keep manufacturer's prices in check.

As some other post have already pointed out, this type of technology could help DIY-minded people fix their own products rather than replace them or spend exorbitant amounts of money of spare parts. One of the best uses for 3D printers is for aspiring inventors to build prototypes and cheaply test their designs. The machines could definitely be handy for those living in remote parts of the world where having just the right type of plastic part produced on-site very quickly can fix a problem that otherwise would be a really hassle to deal with. A cheap 3D printer, a $100 laptop, wireless internet access, and on-site renewable power generation - can you see what these types of technologies could possibly offer for people living in developing countries? Factor in the latest advancements in sustainable agricultural and architectural practices and the 3rd world may end up being the envy of the developed world after we reach peak oil.

I think there could be a "threat" to commercial producers in the future if these trends continue. More "Open" sharing of information, technology, media, and code. Online collaboration of like-minded consumer-producers, the advantage of extreme customization possible with printing your own products, the proliferation of hackerspaces, and the possibility that intelligent robotics could be developed to make more desktop fabrication possible. Imagine a pair of robotic arms with articulated hands that could assemble more complex products. There are a lot of hobbyists experimenting with all sorts of manufacturing technologies, from traditional blacksmithing all the way to growing crystals in precision controlled pressure furnaces.

Mass production means that the cost of production decreases per unit, but that doesn't stop companies from charging 10 or 20 times that amount when competition is light and their customers aren't used to making a similar product of their own. And how often is it that the mass-produced item just isn't designed the way you would have preferred or the quality is substandard - below what you could have done on your own? More 3D printers and similar rapid prototyping technologies in homes, offices, and small businesses would force the mass producers to increase their quality, lower their price, offer better designs, and ways to customize their products to the specific needs of their customers. Everybody wins (except Wall Street).

P. S. Ultimately, if humans are going to live sustainably and independently in environments like the Moon, and especially Mars, such small-scale highly flexible and customizable fabrication technology will be required.

Re:When (if ever) will prices come down?

[couchslug]

Five hundred bucks IS in the "impulse buy" range for many consumer goods.

A hundred or two hundred bucks nowadays won't get you many tools of any sort.

Re:When (if ever) will prices come down?

[TheCarp]

I paid over $900 for the kit I built mine from. Worth every penny if you ask me. In fact, I am already seeing the benefits of rapid design. I went from having never done any sort of 3d modeling or design apart from with hand tools to making my own custom parts pretty quick.

More than that, its the rapid prototyping that ROCKS. Its not just that I can design a part and have it made. I always could do that if I wanted to spend the money...but I can design it... print it (in whole or part) and see the results in minutes or hours not days or weeks. Just last night I stopped a print after 20 minutes because the entire subpart I needed to test was done enough for my purposes.

I can go through 4-5 design iterations in 1 night with design features that would have otherwise required special equipment and more time. I can print out threaded parts, with no need to tap or turn them.

A bit much for an impulse buy, but, do you really think a tool like this is the sort of thing you should impulse buy? They are really amazing tools, and limited mostly by your imagination.

That said, they take time to learn how to use effectively, and a fair amount of manual tinkering. Want one that doesn't? Expect to pay ALOT more...and even then... a friend of mine has a professional model where he works. Its not that it takes no tinkering, its just that, at the price they pay for it, its worth it to pay some guy to come out and do the tinkering for you.

getting it down to that range, I am not going to say is a bad thing, but, it just means there will be more of them, sitting in boxes, collecting dust, and otherwise, in the posession of people who played with them for a week and then lost interest....

True it would put them, faster, into the hands of those who really want them and will use them but can't afford one right now, but, what will you be putting in their hands for that price?

All that said, there is a CNC milling machine the Mantis-9 that could be realized somewhere in that price range (havn't priced out the electronics, but the non-electronic hardware is $100... another $100-200 for electronics depending on the options, though possibly less)

With that you can mill PCB to make custom circuit boards.... with the same benefits... rapid prototyping.

Will I make end final parts on it? Sure, why not? Already do, already printed a nice little figurine for the wife (Crest of Hyrule!)... but...its real win is in rapid prototyping.

Re:When (if ever) will prices come down?

[drinkypoo]

Five hundred bucks IS in the "impulse buy" range for many consumer goods.

Sure, if you've got money pouring out of your asshole. It's also half a month's rent, or a couple car payments, or a mortgage payment if you don't have a fat, short mortgage. Shit, I could get a functional used car for that around here. That's a lot of money for an impulse buy. Whether it's a lot of money for a 3d printer is a separate issue.

Five hundred bucks will get you a pretty decent auto scan tool. Five hundred bucks will get you a great used lathe. Five hundred bucks is enough to buy an old, sloppy milling machine that needs some parts you can make on that lathe. Five hundred bucks, as it turns out, is actually quite a bit of money.

Older unit

[romco]

I have a reprap on my desk. Last week I printed an adaptor for a new ssd harddrive and and couple of mike clips. I use it all the time. Cost me ~$500 to build and about a weeks tinkering to get it right. I could get one tweeked in a day or less now.

I dont recommend buying a built one as they are still at the model "T" stage and require a lot of tinkering to get them going. If you build it all the tinkering will make sense.

In the video they have a original mendel.
http://reprap.org/wiki/Mendel

  If you are starting out I recommend a Prusa Mendel, cheaper and better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3D56IpACME

your first step is to go to IRC and look up #reprap in Freenode and talk to the people in the room. Its not uncommon to find the very people who are designing these (Like Mr. Prusa) in the room.

Re:When (if ever) will prices come down?

[thesandtiger]

$75 a month will get you monthly membership in most maker spaces actually.

Ever you are in a position where dropping $500 on a whim is feasible, in many cases you would get more bang for your buck and do a lot more benefit from supporting your local maker community, and helping people who have good ideas but not enough money themselves to buy tools to make those ideas happen. Everyone wins, and you can spend your money on other impulse stuff :D

Re: Not sure about the name...

[Sentrion]

Yes, RepRappers is the proper term. A RepRapist is one who uses a RepRap without consent.