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Dell Partners With MakerBot To Resell 3D Printers and Scanners
An anonymous reader writes "Dell today announced a partnership with MakerBot to offer Replicator 3D printers and scanners to small and medium-sized businesses looking for faster and more affordable ways of prototyping. The products are slated to become available for purchase on February 20 in the U.S."
But ... do they come with the schematics to produce replacement parts for your now overpriced and under supported Dell 3D printer?
*with the Dell mail-in rebate
Here is the product lineup Dell plans to sell:
MakerBot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printer – 100-micron layer resolution and a 410-cubic-inch build volume priced at $2,199.
MakerBot Replicator 2X Experimental 3D Printer – features experimental dual extrusion optimized for printing with MakerBot ABS Filament, available for $2,799.
MakerBot Replicator Mini Compact 3D Printer – fast and easy one-touch 3D printing will be available in the spring at an anticipated price of $1,375.
MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3D Printer – provides a large build volume and fast print times to accelerate rapid prototyping and model making, available for pre-order at $2,899.
MakerBot Replicator Z18 3D Printer – massive build volume and the best price to performance ratio in its category, available in the spring of 2014 for $6,499.
MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner – optimized for use MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3D Printers and MakerBot Thingiverse, available at the price of $949.
So it looks like $1,375 is the base price.
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I'm working on some hinge designs for something for a renaissance faire, so it would be nice if the files Makerbot uses could be handed to a metal sintering company to make the identical object... but made from Iconel.
I wonder how this will turn out. Dell resells a lot of products, so it does make sense, as it does keep them as a one stop shop for businesses.
I'm probably sure (please correct if I am wrong) there are better printers for the money, but Makerbot seems to have their act together the best for getting stuff made.
Much more likely to be purchased by an artistic, engineering, manufacturing-type of group - under greater control and scrutiny than "I need a [standard] PC" like a lot of boilerplate Dell IT purchases.
Maybe these consumers would go with Makerbot, maybe not - but their gonna need the machine with the right specs - not just whoever is on the approved vendor list.
So - don't know if this will be good for MakerBot and Dell. But then again, maybe I'm just short sighted - and a few years 3D printers will be as ubiquitous as 2d ones - and that's the game they want to be in.
In true Dell tradition, it will come with some additional features not present in the regular Makerbot Replicators:
* The custom Dell firmware will be the same as the regular Makerbot firmware, but will come with additional Dell branded support features that make your printer go 1/2 the speed. You can however, uninstall these tools.
* It will come with free red filament, a 30-day free trial blue filament, a "light" green filament.
The red filament will not be compatible with your new 3D printer. The blue filament will automatically bill your credit card after 30 days even if you have not used it. The "light" green filament is half the diameter of the "full" green filament and will cause your prints to break. You can optionally upgrade this to the "full" green filament for half price.
As a plus for me and mine personally, I welcome the spread of 3D printers to bring the cost of my future purchase way, way down.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Why limit yourself to sintering? Products are made with all sorts of processes these days. Prototype on your 3D printer and use something designed for mass production to make your final product. Sintering is likely to price you out of the market.
Also, I know people that use actual objects created on MakerBot specifically to use mold-making for metal casting - so that would be an option for you too.
Having/using/bangingMyHeadAgainstAWallRepeatedlyBecauseOf/beingMightilyDissapointedBy a makerbot 2x at work, I hope Dell are ready for the tech support nightmare that is going to be involved in this endeavor.
Don't ask me why, but we are still thinking of purchasing a Z18 when they come out. Seems like it is worth a go before we go buying a $140,000 Stratasys Fortus and associated infrastructure to support one.
Also, Bre Pettis is a cock.
every document known to mankind.
This will really help companies that need to make plastic cups and little toys - and in a hurry!
Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
Dude, I'm not getting a Dell.
This will really help companies that need to make plastic cups and little toys - and NOT in a hurry!
FTFY
As someone in an organization which owns a Makerbot (a university branch of IEEE), I can't imagine a good business case for the things. They need CONSTANT maintenance and the prints are pretty low quality, even when they're not warped (which may take several attempts at tweaking temperatures of either the extruder or headed bed). The same applies to any of these extrusion printer models. Any company with an actual need for rapid prototyping would be much better served by either an SLS or stereolithography printer. Yeah, they're fairly pricy and the consumables are more expensive than ABS filament, but I'd imagine that pretty much any hardware design firm pays their employees enough that it'd be a waste for them to spend so much time fiddling around with getting an extrusion printer to actually work properly.
I wouldn't put my product's reputation on the line by associating with that company. Way to go MakerBot...me thinks you should be preparing for damage control by March.
Dell also made the news by buying out the whole capacity of some polish startup: http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/...
:wq
and your 3d printing a hinge? why? http://borealissteel.com/Articles/Hinges/Hinge_Construction.html this is what I use for my period Medieval hinges.
Pee-Testing Programmers
good idea... fuck knows what drugs the windows 8 developers at microshaft are on
How long before they start trying to sell you models to print from, and sue the shit out of thingiverse / anyone else offering free models online? If the law isn't on their side, then I'm sure the appropriate legislation can be purchased.
How long before they start trying to shut down reprap for 'copying Dell'? (Yeah, I know it's bullshit, but if you have enough money, law and logic need not apply to you.)
How long before they add firmware that prevents the printer from printing its own replacement parts?
Sorry, but "open source tool to build your own shit for not much more than the cost of materials and energy" is wholly incompatible with "multi-national business that makes squillions of dollars selling hardware."
I'm not sure what you mean by this. If you are referring to the *.stl file representing the part geometry (before slicing, rastering, and toolpath generation), then you need look no further. stl files are the lingua franca of 3D printing; any company that accepts files for printing will take this. You may have to search around for a company that does inconel (not really keeping with the renaissance period, eh?), but there are plenty of companies that could do it in other metals.
Anyone who thinks partnering with Dell is a good idea is clueless and stuck in the 90's. These days if your product is sold by Dell, it's automatically labeled overpriced and under performing junk that will break very quickly. You know, like all Dell printers, monitors, PCs, and laptops, and basically everything else they sell. Even the Dell brand laptop bags fall apart.