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BotObjects Announces First Full-Color Desktop 3D Printer
Zothecula writes "In the ProDesk3D, 3D printing outfit botObjects has come up with not only the first full color desktop 3D printer, but thanks to its anodized aluminum body, unquestionably one of the prettiest. The company's goal was to think about how 3D printers might look in 5 years, aiming to put clear water between the ProDesk3D and its "kit-like contemporaries." To print in color, it uses a cartridge system capable of mixing five base colors of PLA."
I checked out the article and website, but there are not pictures of parts printed with the system. Was there no proof-of-concept, just a few photoshopped or empty shells made for these product images? On the other hand, it does look nice, although with 3D Printing looks don't matter that much.
It's a waste of money and environmentally unfriendly. Some of the commercial printers even have chips to keep you from refilling. There are cheap machines to make filament from raw material now, going to cartridges from filament reels is the wrong direction.
Also, inb4 the 3D printing haters/snobs!
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
>> put clear water between
Smashing! I'll take a lorry-load of these. Just put them in the lift and I'll send the boxes down for the bin men.
At least not yet, best you can do is click on a link to "register your interest"
What's next? a kickstarter campaign?
Vapourware/slashvertisement of the worst kind.
So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
It's not "the first" of something, and it isn't "news", until they actually build one. It looks more like an independent attempt at a kickstart. I assume "register interest" is hip-kid slang for "get asked for money to fund our attempt to actually engineer this". One of their paragraphs even let a "will" slip in: "The ProDesk3D will be capable of printing down to 25 microns..." Yeah, once you invent it.
Sigh... you made me click on the link.
Are you f#€%#€% kidding me?
Yup... please mod me down to terrible again, I like it. And FO with this stupid crap!!
"Slashdot only allows a user with your karma to post 2 times per day (more or less, depending on moderation).
You've already shared your thoughts with us that many times. Take a breather, and come back and see us in 24 hours or so.
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Ha ha ha sloooow claaap
> "thanks to its anodized aluminum body, unquestionably one of the prettiest."
Anodized aluminum, or does it just look like anodized aluminum?
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
aiming to put clear water between the ProDesk3D and its "kit-like contemporaries."
i get it, "we're open (for business) and your little open source ideas are cute but dwarfed immeasurably by THE PRODUCT." Heres a hint. SCO tried this, Microsoft tried this, SUN tried this, and they all found out the competitive, more readily established 'kit-like contemporaries' called Linux eventually became an industry leading Juggernaut while their ProSuperUltraEnterprise offering became the lock-in standard for reverse engineering, assimilation and deprecation.
Good people go to bed earlier.
How ironic that last night I was exploring 3D printer choices. This thing sounds interesting but A) no prices anywhere and B) cartridges? Really? How much material do they hold? Right now, 1kg of filament from Makerbot is about $40. Are these cartridges going to be competitively priced or is the company attempting to repurpose the inkjet printer business model (aka the razor blade model)? Aside from these obvious issues, I'm forces to ask what practical uses are there for full color other than printing out characters or possibly vehicles that require no painting. I'm still wondering if I can print production-quality parts. Here's a real world example. I currently use some custom electronics enclosures that I have CNC milled out of aluminum. They are about 8" x 6" x 4" overall size and they are made for me by a machine shop. I worked out the numbers and I figure that I can print them out of ABS for about $20 versus $170 and it would take about 5+ hours to print one versus 6-8 weeks lead time for 10 pieces. So in theory, the machine is starting to make sense. Printing one-off parts seems to be what people use these machines for and therefor they don't really care if they have to toss some failures or how long it takes to print. I'd be interested to hear peoples experiences.
So we have computer generated images of the printer.
No images of prints.
No images of the device proper
No cost
No details on the 'cartridge system'
No price
No details on the internal mechanics (Either say 'based on the reprap pro' or say 'entirely new guide/position system')
Claiming capabilities and qualities far beyond what the most advanced/expensive devices on the market can claim
I can't smell anything, so I'm suspecting vapourware.
A clue for the people posting these Slashvertisements. The use of the word "proprietary" may get the venture capitalists knickers all moist, but it sets off all sorts of alarms when trying to sell a product to an end-user. (Not including clueless CIOs reading Gartner reports.)
"Proprietary" translated to end-user speak means "once you buy this we have you by the balls. You're locked in to buying our over-priced, exclusive consumables until you swallow your pride, admit your mistake and dump our product. With luck, that time will never come to pass as we'll be dug in deeper than a starving deer tick. Bend over and grab your ankles."
For examples, please see Oracle and Microsoft.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
The webpage has mock up images of a plastic box. No actual photos, no printed objects. Some touchy-feely text. A scam kickstarter project has more information than this.
Obviously, this is paid advertising. Of very low quality. Probably a direct result of slashdot's corporate whor..., I mean takeover. Shame.
Very nice 3D rendering on that big-ass scrolling webpage.
What do you mean, they're not selling 3D rendering software? Could've fooled me!
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color printing(ink on paper) has been around for centuries, but was a selective process, applying color to discreet areas(initial caps, image insert pages). and it was a costly and time consuming process. true full color printing which was reporoducable at scale was when chromolithography and color separation process was refined. it was the advances of the halftone screening process that really propelled color printing to enter the mainstream.
3d printing is more complex the its flatland brother, since halftone color process might not be a viable solution to rendering color hues(maybe with multiple hotends). 3d printing is also complicated by the fact that your printing substrate is the "ink" you are using. i've been mulling over 3d printing in color, and my opinion is 6-7 colored filaments, not 5. CMYK+white for color spectrum mixing, grey(cause it's cheaper and faster than mixing expensive pigments) to also be used for infill, and a brittle rafting material.
three can keep a secret, if two are dead - benjamin franklin
So how much did the slashdot ad cost, and how do I block this kind of ads with adblock?
Did timothy and Zothecula share the cash equally?
c++;
It looks like they copied the design of the FormLabs Form 1 aesthetically at least with the aluminum and amber colored window
To all slashdot submitters: If you are going to post articles about amazing new tech please stop trying to gain interest by making it sound like you can buy it right now when its actually still in the wet dream phase.
>> The company's goal was to think about how 3D printers might look in 5 years, ...because that is how long it will probably be from now before this becomes available as a product you can actually buy.