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$499 3-D Printer Drew Plenty of Attention at CES (Video)
3-D printing is far from new, but a $499 3-D printer is new enough to get a bunch of people to write about it, including someone whose headline read, CES 2014: Could 3D printing change the world? XYZPrinting, the company behind the da Vinci 1.0 printer, has some happy-looking executives in the wake of CES. They won an award, and their booth got lots of attention. This is what trade shows are all about for small and/or new companies. Now the XYZprinting people can go home and pump out some product -- assuming they got a lot of orders (and not just attention) at CES.
But what will the cartridges cost? And will they 'expire' each time I unwrap and insert one?
("Nudge nudge, wink wink HP?")
Because it doesn't use the standard filament. http://www.xyzprinting.com/en/... You have to buy the 'ink' from them.
Proprietary consumables? Seriously? When are we gonna get past this crap? Ever?
Nice going, "editor". You managed not to provide a single direct link to the company that makes the product you're talking about.
From the latimes article:
Even though 3D printing is all the rage at the Consumer Electronics Show, many people outside the industry are still puzzled by all the fuss. "Explain 3D printers to me. Why are they useful?" one non-techie friend of mine tweeted me this week, after I posted a picture of a 3D printer at the show.
The show is called the *consumer* electronics show, not the *producer* electronics show. Most people are not makers, so they won't be excited about a technology that lets them make something. Even if people want something, a 3D printer requires that you know how to design that item.
When someone invents a 3D designer, where you can say "Build me a thing that..." then you might get the consumers excited.
just wait 6 month and the file format will be reversed engineered, same for the software.
Specifically, it appears to be a translation-and-back-again of the LA Times article which is the first link in the article, or an automated synonym-substitution (trying to avoid being detected as copyright violation for reposting stories in full, perhaps, though strangely they link to the original article at the bottom). The other articles on their site (see Latest USA News sidebar on the right) appear to have undergone the same process.
In the future, users may be able to print shoes that are tailored to the exact size of their feet, among many possibilities.
Have they looked at the different materials that go into shoes these days? The different parts need to have different qualities. The sole needs to be grippy. The uppers need to be flexible and porous. The insole needs to be cushioning yet supportive. This is done today by using many different materials. Sorry but materials that come out of thermal printers don't have all those qualities and generally don't hold up under the stress shoe are put through. Let's try to be realistic about what this technology can do.
Something that accepts .STL format (which most CAD type programs let you output now) and G Code (pretty much the standard for CNC machines) as well as their own XYZ format is hardly locked into "proprietary formats." Do you have to use their software? To do the actual printing, sure. But it looks like you can do the design in a number of other tools as well, as long as you can output the aforementioned .STL or G Code.
Buying filament from them? Sure, possibly a pain. But then, for the vast majority of printers nowadays, you "have to" buy the ink cartridge from the company. And since it's in a cartridge, it's presumably easier to load - one of the most common complaints I've seen for products like Makerbot is that loading the filament is tricky and you often have to fiddle and do numerous test prints to get it right.
Is that solution going to be best for a high-volume printer? Absolutely not. For a hobbyist who wants to print maybe a dozen things every few months? Should be fine.
The overall construction was in line with a cheap 2D printer. The rails where thin, the structure in general seemed to be flimsy in comparison to the other 3D printers that were there. The proprietary print medium and the cheap-ish construction were enough to put me off and I was ready and willing to buy.
"Due to miscalibration of the 4th axis, your object was printed 255 years ago."
Slashdot: come for the pedantry, stay for the condescension.
just wait 6 month and the file format will be reversed engineered, same for the software.
According to their website the printer will accept STL files, which is an open, well documented, and widely supported industry standard format. Nearly any CAD software, including nearly all FOSS CAD programs, will export STL, in either compressed binary, or human readable ascii text.
No, not again. I... why does it say time jam when there is no time jam? I swear to God, one of these days, I just kick this piece of shit out the window.
From the article "Gary Shu, XYZprinting's market development division senior manager, said the 3D printer can quickly create objects that users may need in their homes, such as a plastic cup or a plastic spoon.". I hope he comes up with a few better ideas than that.
Actually, a 3D printer would be useful to me for hobby projects like cosplay props, although probably a bit expensive. But around the house ? I look around for things completely made out of plastic that it would be practical to print if they broke or I needed another one but it's a struggle.
I suppose what all of these 3D printer manufacturers want to convince themselves and their investors is that there is a mass market for their product. The cheap printers still look very much like a hobbyist tool to me though.
PC LOAD CHRONOTONS? What the fuck does that mean?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Aren't market development senior managers supposed to be kind of visionary....or able to fake it? Cups and spoons? Really?
Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
Most people are not makers
I challenge that assertion.
Just look at the size of the scrapbooking industry, or hobby stores in general.
Or cooking classes and cookbooks.
Most people ARE makers. Most people like creating things. There's no reason to think that devices that can produce small useful things for a myriad of hobbies will not be accepted by a huge range of people.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley