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3D Printing: Have You Taken the Plunge Yet? Planning To?
First time accepted submitter mandark1967 (630856) writes "With recent advances in working with different filaments (Wood filament, Nylon, etc) and price drops seen lately, I'm curious to know how many of you have decided to take the plung and get into 3D Printing. There are several kits available now or even assembled units that are in the same cost range as a 'gamer' video card (DaVinci 1.0 for $499, Printrbot Simple 2014 — $399, 3d Stuffmaker — $499).
I'm wondering if any of you have purchased a 3D printer and how you like it so far. I've been in the computer field since the 80's but never did CAD work before so I was very hesitant to take the plunge, fearing the steep learning curve of mastering programs like Blender or AutoCAD. What I found, however, was programs like TinkerCAD and 123Design made it very easy to learn basic CAD so I decided to pick up a 3D Printer last week. After a week or so of design work and printing out many items, I think I've picked up a few skills and I can actually see myself making a little money on the side creating and selling items. I don't think I'd trade my current job for one designing and printing items, but it is nice to have a little income on the side if I choose to do that."
I'm wondering if any of you have purchased a 3D printer and how you like it so far. I've been in the computer field since the 80's but never did CAD work before so I was very hesitant to take the plunge, fearing the steep learning curve of mastering programs like Blender or AutoCAD. What I found, however, was programs like TinkerCAD and 123Design made it very easy to learn basic CAD so I decided to pick up a 3D Printer last week. After a week or so of design work and printing out many items, I think I've picked up a few skills and I can actually see myself making a little money on the side creating and selling items. I don't think I'd trade my current job for one designing and printing items, but it is nice to have a little income on the side if I choose to do that."
So, you haven't actually tried to make any money, but you could see yourself doing it, and you are talking about how it would be nice if you choose to do it... Shouldn't you verify that you can actually successfully do such a thing before counting that as a selling point of the printers?
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Once they have a sub $1000, metal 3d printer they will become attractive to people with the same free capitol to buy a poor used car, gun, or good computer, then they will become mainstream.
Once they can print circuit boards and other such complicated things for less than 3-5K they will become a necessity for any business.
I am not an expert in the field, but because of the prices, i think you are aiming for a "home user" kind, this might work nice and cool for a "HOME USER" :), but i dont think the idea of making money out of it would work if you dont really use a professional tool.
either way is good that you get skills that later on you can use if you decide to really go serious
I can't speak from experience but the things keeping me OFF 3D printers at the moment are:
- Too much faffing about to build the things (or too much cost to acquire them pre-built).
- Too much faffing about having to calibrate, adjust, tinker and play with them to get good results.
- Too fragile (i.e. you can't throw them about, take them to a friend's house).
- Too reliant on a small set of manufacturers (for the source materials, software, etc.)
- Still no established 3D printing "standard" in an OS. Sure, there are lots of "almost-standards" but I'd rather avoid another mess of things not being compatible - non-compatible printers just puts us back into the range of "I have to buy the same printer/manufacturer again because I don't want to change all my setup / software / source material" but in an era where it's too expensive to perform the current "Sod it, throw it away, buy the cheapest one again, suffer the time lost" scenario we have with 2D printers.
- 3D models are just that much harder to make and print reliably. The two examples of software you point out? Both licensed only for home use. Google Sketchup is the same. As soon as you say 3D, you have to pay for software (and driver integration, or learning-curve) so we've jumped back 20 years again). Then every home-built printer will have different tolerances and results.
3D printing needs to become a consumer-level tech. It's not. It's still up there with all the existing methods of plastics / wood / metal construction from a computer model. In the range of a trained person with expensive hardware in, say, a school for a specialised project. But not for the amateur home user unless they are prepared to spend as much time tinkering with the system as getting results out of it.
To be honest, I will look at 3D printing seriously, even for personal hobbyist use, when someone like HP or Epson or a big name (hell, doesn't even need to be a printer manufacturer, Dyson, Samsung, whoever) produce a small black box. From that I put in up-to-but-no-more-than four materials / colours / dyes in a standardised package. I get a free bit of software with a few thousand models and - critically - import of any 3D model and/or conformity to a standardised 3D printing protocol so I can use other software. And it just works. Every time. I print, it comes out exactly as it is on the screen. WYSIWYG 3D printing. I don't even mind if it costs as much as a really decent 2D printer with more expensive consumables. But the hurdle to jump is the simplicity, repeatability, the hands-off method of printing, the automatic calibration and error detection (why can't we combine with something Kindle-like to detect when the print job is going wrong and have the printer slice off the last layer and start it again?), the single-black-box that is available complete, without assembly, from Amazon, tested and ready to go.
Until then, it's nothing better than a hobbyist electronics kit, or someone building a high-end overclocking rig, or one of those RPi racks... the domain of someone who has so much time on their hands that they don't actually need the printer in the first place.
I almost bought an entry level 3D printer in 2010. And I am glad I did not.
3D printing is way over hyped like Segway or Bluetooth. It has its niche market/uses, but the proponents and true believers claim that will "change the world", everyone will start printing at home, things will be cheaper, more available, better, faster, stronger, wider and so on is pure BS.
Tat Tvam Asi
What could i possibly print that I don't already have?
Most people in developed countries already have enough crap lying around.
You ain't seen nothin yet. No, you ain't seen nothin yet.
I like the concept of 3D printing. Beining a bit of a tinkerer, albeit with too little free time, I could see myself using one in a number of creative projects.
But the material used by most printers is an ugly ABS. Sturdy but not appealing.
Furthermore the detail level of what I have seen so far is no match for stereolithography.
Now progress is being made quickly. I think that within 5 years or so they will be at a reasonable hobbyist price offering a quality and flexibility level that I would be interested in buying.
Personally I can't think of anything that I'd need to print - that would work first time.
Sure, it's possible to print out a load of old crap, just for the fun of saying "I made that" (just as small children are so proud of their scribblings), but surely we're all past that stage by adulthood?
The things I *would* like to fabricate would be plastic or metal parts that is part of a larger assmebly, but has broken. In that case, it's much harder to measure every dimension, put it into a design package, print off a sample, see where it doesn't fit, modify the design and repeat the whole process until I get one solitary example that fits, performs and doesn't contain any manufacturing flaws that weaken it.
Far better to start with a piece of stock material and remove excess, bit by bit, until you get the fit you require. All the tools and materials are readily available now. Although that doesn't have any "geek" qualities: it's simply old-fashioned manual dexterity and skill.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
Betteridge's Law of Headlines still holds true.
Too finicky, too expensive, most people myself included don't have the need for one in their home, so on etc.
None of the "consumer" level units have come close to approaching the ease of use of a circa-1995 inkjet printer.
Please help metamoderate.
Back in the day before digital cameras, I also used to take photos on film, but I didn't have my own darkroom. Same thing.
All the inexpensive hobby printers still make parts that look like melted spaghetti. They are useful only as test fit items, and even then only marginally so. The finish requires too much touch up and filler. One day they will get better, but not there yet.
I use shapeways a lot. No one can even come close for the price vs. quality at the moment, and the materials list keeps growing.
I make a lot of parts for large scale models of trains. Things that originally would have been cast and have complex shapes, like brackets, granb handles, brakewheels, rachets, pawls, trussrod washers. Saves a lot of time in the machine shop, and since I am only making one offs or two offs it is far cheaper and easier than making a pattern and having them cast traditionally. I use the high strength flexible plastic (PA2200) where I can for cost, and stainless RP where needed for functional parts.
Some of these I will be offering on SW to other modelers for a few extra dollars a month in mad money. Another nice SW perk.
I hope in five years I'll come back and say "I got my new home printer and I don't have to wait for the Shapeways delivery any more!" but the quality I need is still too expensive to own on a hobby basis.
I could use a printer that let me produce custom stuff. I have a wood workshop and such a thing would be neat for jigs of all kinds.
Problem is, I am very bad at using 3D programs, unless you count sketchup. And AFAIK, these printers take input from very expensive and complicated 3D software... or have they added support for sketchup now?
The worst examples of hype are when there is an article about something printed on a $15k printer and people say "look you can print the same way using this $100 printer". The problem is that the $100 printer is nowhere near the precision or resolution of the $15K printer. (Hint Peachy is crap)
On another note melted extruded plastic is crap. The surface will always be rough and things will always slump a bit. The layers don't always fuse well. It is even difficult to make a watertight cup. The failure rate is high and the results are weak.
My advice is to save your money for a while as some very important patents have just expired and there could be some interesting things on the horizon.
I was very much wanting to get a 3D printer. In looking around I found a Maker Lab / Hack Space (http://rlab.org.uk/). There we have a number of 3Dprinters plus laser cutter, cnc, lathe and much more. Along with people that know who to use them and help fix and adjust them.
I have access to all this for what it would cost to buy just a 3D printer (a year). When and if I want my own I can build it there.
I have the Velleman K8200 and for the OpenTRV project (opentrv.org.uk) that I'm working on we've been able to print the enclosures and well as designing the hardware (and making and stuffing PCBs) and the software in the same distributed fashion, and easily outsource to third parties for larger runs (hello Thames Valley Rep Rap User Group TVRRUG; thank you again).
It's been fun and helped us to control more aspects of the product while still in prototype phase.
Rgds
Damon
http://m.earth.org.uk/
Today we have too many (wannabe) Steve Jobs, but not enough Steve Wozniaks.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
I recently purchased a MendelMax 1.5 kit because I need small plastic parts for some of my projects. The kit is less expensive then most, yet is build very well. It looks like a tank and handles like a tool, this is not a toy. I can highly recommend it.
I decided to get a kit because it is not that easy to source all the parts in Europe and I wanted to focus on designing my objects without spending months to source the individual parts.
That said. The 3D printer is actually very easy to build and to get going. The problems starts when you want to create your own designs......
SolidWorks is the only software that works as promised.
I hope the company will offer licenses to hobbyist soon because I hate using pirated software for everyday use.
3D printers are really cool if you are a tinkerer / hobbyist but I would only recommend one if you have the need for one. You will spend days designing, printing and re-adjusting your models.
3D printers are not hipster toys!
Everyone who buys Wild Hunt will receive 16 specially prepared DLCs absolutely for free, regardless of platform.
...I checked, and I already have enough cheap-looking plastic smartphone cases.
I'd love to be able to - when my grandchildren stay the night - to be able to say to little Chloe "How would you like a pink horse" "Yes Poppy Yes!" "Well lets snuggle down for this story about horses and on this new machine Poppy will make a pink horse for when you wake up". When this is possible - yes I have a grand-daughter Chloe - then 3D printers will be mainstream. Until then they are for tinkerers.
I need to improve my knowledge and skills related to 3-D printing first, then I'll make the plunge.
As many have noted, 3-D printing isn't easy. A big part of the reason is that the technology isn't well developed yet. As others have noted, 3-D printing is also over hyped. A big part of the reason is that the idea is exciting, but it takes a particular type of personality to have a use for it.
Yet this simply means that 3-D printing is of limited value as it stands, and as it will continue to stand. (It will become more reliable, but it will never become convenient.) It does mean that the people who end up using it will have a mindset where they want to create their own stuff. Some of those people will be inventive, while others will want to know how their stuff work. Some will be tinkerers, while others will take pride in what they create.
So please stop with the negativity. If it's not for you, that's fine. If you can't honestly recommend it to other people, that's fine. But also understand that there are other people who want to use 3-D printing and have good uses for 3-D printing.
Yes I have taken the plunge and I am earning money with it. But not with one of those really cheap printers . Have a close look at the quality that most printers give you and most are just disappointing. But there are some very good printers which allow you to start printing immediately and have good result for a bit more money, (mine was $1900).
Be aware: when evaluating 3D printers just know that they are in the matrix-printer phase: yes they work, but are slow and results vary widely.
Also have a good look at the surface finish of the different planes: side, bottom and top have different qualities due to the nature of FDM printing.
Printers that are up to par imo: The Up and the Zortrax M200. Below par: Makerbot, most repraps.
I own a Zortrax printer and I am satisfied with the results. I deliver series of small parts to a company that I happen to know (and earned about 350 euros with it sofar, delivering about 150 items). They could order at Shapeways too, but I am cheaper and deliver faster.
FYI: 2 weeks after I placed my order Shapeways sent me an enthusiastic email : "We started printing your order!". They have a production problem. It appears that their printer-manufacturer can not deliver enough of the needed printers to keep up with increasing demand. So it is not so difficult competing with that : ).
I hooked up at 3DHubs aswell to do printjobs for others, but I am not sure yet if that is worth the trouble for the money that it earns. Maybe I need bigger printjobs / need to set the setup cost higher and cost per cm2 lower.
Next to that I designed some small objects and I am working at selling them to local retailers as promotional gifts, they are interrested, but I still need to strike a deal.
My conclusion sofar: although 3D printing is perfect for customization, for earning money: print small series. That makes it worthwhile.
Rob.
Does a lexmark inkjet with the controlled discharge of a well endowed porn star count?
I think you have unrealistic expectations fuelled by a lot of the hype around the printers (and the companies selling them).
Setting the poor quality and the need to constantly tinker with the calibration, belt tensions, levelling and what not aside, 3D printer is not a consumer device, even if it was plug & play today.
It is a machine tool and a pretty complex at that. Programming and using a 3D printer is comparable to a CNC router, which is a specialized skill that usually requires some extensive training. Sure, it is not rocket science neither, but expecting this to work as a printer in Windows (push a button and paper comes out with your document) is simply unrealistic.
Demanding things like "standardized 3D printer protocol" (hello g-code ...) or companies like HP or Epson to produce 3D printers is off the mark - why should they? They don't make other machine tools neither, the only thing a 3D printer has in common with a regular printer is the word "printer" ... These are all red herrings - those things are pretty much irrelevant. Without the engineering knowledge needed to build the part you won't be able to make a useful component beyond downloading and printing stuff someone else made. However, then you can order the parts cheaper and simpler from Shapeways or a similar place too.
The same holds for design of the parts - people complaining about the complexity of the CAD tools are way off the mark here. The tools have to be complex in order to be actually useful, otherwise designing precise parts would be impossible. Unfortunately, a lot of people think that CAD is like Photoshop or something - it is not. If you cannot construct a piece using a ruler & compass on paper, you probably shouldn't be using CAD neither.
Currently I'm only interested in 3D printing through my hobby of car restoration.... There are a gazzillion plastic parts in cars that you can't buy separate if they broke, and this is where 3D printing would be of use to me...
But it's not just about owning a printer.... I'd need to learn 3D modeling too, which is something I've tried in the past, but can't seem to grasp (maybe it's blenders fault?)
This is my favorite printer. It has a pretty decent resolution, the software is easy to use, it is practically print-ready from the box and has a decent print area of 5"*5"*5". Once calibrated, I have had very little trouble with it and the parts I print are fairly nice (for ABS plastic). I have made custom models and toys, keychains for cousins business, device mounting fixtures for work, household objects, and stuff for my Mom's crafts. For the ~$1500 price tag, I have nothing but praise.
However this is a hobby printer. Do not go into this thinking you can start a business of making and selling parts. It only prints in one color. Except for the smallest parts, builds take hours. For large objects, layers can warp and crack. Parts can be a pain to remove the support material from. This advice applies to pretty much any hobbyist printer on the market. They are pretty much more trouble than it's worth.
If you want to do printing as a hobby or have a hobby / job where designing and / or making custom plastic parts is important, by all means buy one. They are a great deal of fun and making your own custom parts can be a huge time and money saver. However, If you think you are going to spin this off into some sort of business, don't bother, we are not there yet.
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This is currently what I'm struggling to find. The main thing I've established is FreeCAD just isn't ready yet - very buggy and I can not get it to work, but parametric modelling is an interesting concept.
What else are people using for dimensioning parts which need to fit together? (i.e. part design, rather then modelling I guess?)
3D printing is in the early stages, comparable to just after 2D printing went from industrial line printers that cost $10K to home printers that cost "only $1000") and in the process of transitioning to the $100 home printers. That is, the $10K printers are super-expensive to run but produce real production-quality output, the $1000 printers are affordable for the home but with lots of tweaking, and every generation of home 3D printers is markedly easier to use. For example, if you look at the latest consumer printers from Makerbot (the "market leader" in a sense) you'll see that they are nice looking, have extruders and guided bed leveling that should be much easier for people to deal with, have consumer-friendly software and controls, etc., in marked contrast to the previous generations. Other printers (DeltaMaker, etc.) have automated bed leveling. So what you're seeing is still a fluid situation where competition is driving rapid improvement, which is what happens just before things get "good enough" and the market expands and things get even cheaper because they're cranking them out by the million instead of by the thousand.
When people have 3d printers by the millions, that will change the kind of people that use them. The people that bought the original RepRaps were tinkerers who wanted to learn a new technology. More people bought the Replicator 2 generation of printers, which are packaged printers with more polished software, sold to designers who want to print, not people who want to "hot rod" their printers. And the latest generation aims to expand the market even more, out to people who aren't designers, but want to download and print stuff, or use really easy modeling tools such as TinkerCad. And it's all good - as the printers get easier and easier to use, more and more people will be able to use them, and some of those people will learn how to do real design work, etc. And lots of them will be happy just downloading and printing, perhaps with a little customizing or tweaking. And that's fine - while everyone should be empowered to be able to design stuff if they want, they shouldn't be required to do so!
Enable 3D printed prosthetics!
What the heck would I make if I bought a 3D printer? I do 3D modeling for a living & I really can't think of anything I need. Except maybe an imagination I guess. Any suggestions? Creating 3D models is actually fun, I love to do it. They were selling 3D printers at the Maker fair that came around last year & I was not impressed with what they were making.
SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT
Every once in a while someone will insist on paying me for fabricating some doodad, like a piece of an automotive door-lock assembly or some of my beer opener / keepers (works like a mason jar; useful for when you want to drink part of a bigger homebrew beer bottle).
I always have several robotics/cybernetics hobby projects and use a RepRapPro-Huxley model to create many small parts. I used it to print the tracks and guides for a custom design 3D printer based on a heavily modified Huxley. Instead of a moving tray the printer itself moves and is permanently mounted under a 3 meter run of cabinets over my work bench, so I can print really big parts for armatures or chassis, or run off a series of multiple smaller items mostly unattended. This requires knowledge of home construction to float floors & walls, and reinforce cabinets such that settling and shifting of the garage doesn't affect calibration and the workbench can be adjusted for squareness with the cabinets. It's essentially a small part of a building within a building. Construction was not for the faint of heart. I don't think I'd be able to tackle it without having prior experience in robotics, electronics, home building, and as an electrician -- the bench surface is several aluminium hotbeds with manually adjustable variable temperature for attaching / detaching and cleaning off thermoplastics with different characteristics (got tired of screwing with strategic placement of Kapton tape).
Fellow tinkerers occasionally want to try producing some custom thing, but if I don't have to design the object I usually don't charge anything for using my printers. Girls and boys young and old enjoy hanging out in the garage and "helping" print, build, program, and play with bots. The plastic isn't so expensive I can't let folks play at designing something. IMO, that's the real benefit of having a 3D printer. Humans are tool using creatures, once they know they can make new tools they start finding more excuses to do so.
One neighbourhood kid has become quite the enthusiast and has told his parents that he only wanted a 3D printer for Christmas. "Then I can make as many toys as I want!" - It's like wishing for more wishes.
I think I've picked up a few skills and I can actually see myself making a little money on the side creating and selling items.
Just like everyone in the late '80s was going to use desktop publishing to make a mint doing flyers and low-end restaurant menus and ten years later everyone was going to make a mint designing websites.
I've been wanted to get into it for creating terrain and weapons/armor/accessories for gaming. I don't have the skill to take it to the level of making money off it.
Yeah, I've got two now, they're fun toys. Made a lot of various gadgets, including a few firearms that resulted in some brief notoriety. Don't know that it's been a net profitable project so far, but really, it's not as if I bought my first(the Cube) with a business plan in mind or anything...it was just awesome, and I'd been eagerly watching the developments for quite some time, and really wanted to try it out for myself. Not everything's about money. If you were motivated to do so, you certainly could make a rapid prototyping shop or the like including 3d printing, but I already own one business, I honestly don't have time for another. I barely have the time to indulge my hobbies, it seems. But yeah, it's more fun than a barrel of monkeys.
Support more choices in goverment-Vote 3rd party.
At the consumer level, it's just like model rocketry, crochet, home sewing machines, pet rocks, velvet string Elvis art, and dozens of other fads. Fun? Sure, I guess, if you're inclined that way. Some sort of revolution? No, not even close.
Have you seen the price of Warhammer resin vehicles and figures? That there is your business model.
1. Find something plastic or resin that is obscenely overpriced
2. Scan
3. Print
4. PROFIT!
from mostly surplus machine parts. I designed it to have a build capacity sufficient to print full-size human skulls extracted from CT scan data. So far I have spent many hundreds of hours and about $1k on the machine.
Skip the low end of the printer market. They will not produce quality prints and build capacity is too small to satisfy for very long. First and foremost, look for a machine with a rigid frame (not plywood!). Avoid machines that have unsupported guide rail or screw ends. Quality prints require controlling the motion of the entire printer. You don't want anything wobbling or flopping around.
If you think you want to make money printing stuff, I recommend talking to a local oral maxillofacial surgeon. When they do reconstruction surgery for people who have experienced trauma or are otherwise disfigured, they frequently get 3D models printed to aid in planning of the surgery. One of the local guys here says a complete skull costs $1500 and a partial skull typically about $500. That's a lot better than you can do on etsy! You'll have to figure out how to extract the data from a CT scan (try DeVide or Osirix, combined with Blender, Meshlab, and Netfabb) to create a printable model, but if I can figure it out, you can too.
Lately I have been experimenting with an extruder design of my own invention. It uses counter-rotating nuts to drive the filament into the hot-end. It is working but still requires some tweaking of firmware and slicing options to get best results. You can see it running here: https://vimeo.com/89872411
and download the files to print one here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...
I use Sketchup for a lot of my models because it is fast and easy, but I do run into its limitations quite often. For those situations I use Designspark Mechanical, another freebie that works well but has a little steeper learning curve. If you're going to do a lot of this stuff (and you will once you have a printer) invest in a 3D mouse. I picked up a SpacePilot Pro on ebay for $200 and it was the best $200 I have spent in a long time. Once you get used to using it you won't want to touch CAD without it. I am hoping someone will release a good CAD package that runs under Linux so I can ditch Windows forever. The existing packages for linux just aren't quite there yet.
Apparently there is quite a bit of ignorance about 3D printing here. Also slashdot has become populated with too many Apple and M$ users who have "it's not ready for the consumer" mentalities.
I bought a Printrbot Simple ($300) for my son for Christmas. He and I put it together, tweaked it, and now we use it to print cool plastic stuff. He printed a rose for his girlfriend for Valentines day which she like very much. How f*^%ing cool is that? Taking a bunch of parts, putting them together to make a machine that can make stuff. It is totally fun and cool. I'm so glad I got this thing. It has given me the opportunity to give to my son what I had when I was his age with computers: the ability to tinker with tech and make something cool.
As far as 3D printing not being "standard" nothing could be further from the truth. When you order the Printrbot Simple unassembled, you get a box full of parts in the mail and nothing else. No instructions, no software, nothing. You don't need any non-standard crap. The connector is a standard micro-USB cable. The instructions are online as web pages and help is available on the forums. The software I need to run the printer and make models is already in my Linux distribution.
"sudo yum -y install RepetierHost blender" and off we go!
If you want to do some hobbyist tinkering or if you want to give that joy to someone whom you love, get a 3D printer.
Anything I can think of wanting to spend the time designing and printing is too big to fit in hobbyist printers. I thought about printing a replacement dash for my '80s Land Rover. Clearly even breaking that into pieces it was going to be too big for most printers. Then I looked at the cost of having it made, and decided I'd rather just go to a metal shop and have them bend something up for me out of stainless steel or aluminium.
Then I just puit my crappy old dash back in.
www.clarke.ca
After a week or so of design work and printing out many items, I think I've picked up a few skills and I can actually see myself making a little money on the side creating and selling items. I don't think I'd trade my current job for one designing and printing items, but it is nice to have a little income on the side if I choose to do that.
It's only called making money if you cover the cost of production, including the printer, supplies, computer, etc. And remember, that little income on the side is reportable to the IRS as hobby income in total, whereas the expenses come from itemized deductions, unless you truly start a side business doing this. If so, you probably aren't going to be using one of the below $500 printers as they are pretty slow.
Most of the people I know are using 3D printers as part of one of their hobbies, such as model railroading to make custom parts for themselves. They then make parts for others to offset their initial investment, but very few of them would ever say they are making money. I look at it this way, my father-in-law used to hunt raccoons. He would always say the sale of the fur helped offset the cost of the food and vet care for the dogs, but you never really made money, just reduced the costs of his hobby. The same would apply for 3D printing, at least from the small consumer printers.
I'm pretty happy to see at least SOME critical thinking and reality-based posts in here. There was a time when the incessant hype and unrealistic expectations were painful to read. Yeah yeah, it's going to change the world, just like leisure-society virtual-reality nanotechnology did, right?
I have an Ultimaker 1, bought about 2 years ago. When I bought it, it was indeed a tinkering nightmare - all the software was horrible beta, and you needed to follow a dozen wiki pages to get anything to work at all. They got started on the software fixes, and gradually things got much, much better.
Fast forward to now - I had my printer packed away for about a year. I unpacked it, downloaded the latest software and got started right away. It helped me level the bed (which was all but perfectly level already) and then recommended I upgrade my extruder (which you can buy from the shop, or print your own - so I did the latter). Since then, it's been brilliant - pretty much just switch on and print. I've printed some really big, complex things on it too.
If you're wondering, my tool chain is Google Sketchup 8 (later versions are turning a bit too commercial for my liking), and the very excellent Cura. That's literally all that you need. I'm looking to switch to Blender or other for design though. I'm also looking to use a Raspberry Pi as my gcode sender instead of needing my laptop to be connected to the printer (newer Ultimaker models use SD cards instead of USB printing, but mine still works over USB). I figure I can get my Pi to run CUPS so that I can literally right click on a .gcode file and say "print", and then use my phone to monitor how it's getting on. Time will tell how I get on with that little project mind you ;-)
Two years ago you were a very early adopter if you bought a 3D printer. These days, the newer printer models are much more "easy care" than before, there are also a bunch of (decent) filament suppliers to choose from (eg. Faberdashery). Some of the newer printers use easy to source parts (liek the Ultimaker), so apart from maybe some really specialist stuff, you can get things locally if you need to (although apart from upgrades, I haven't needed many new parts). You can use entirely free software to design and print stuff, and if you put the Ultimaker into its highest quality mode, you gets results out of it that rival some of the much more expensive printers (although I find some dimensions of small things like holes or posts sometimes aren't exactly what you specify, which I assume the $10K printers get right). The interesting thing is that the latest generation of printers aren't actually much more capable than the Ultimaker 1 - instead, they're got more convenience features, so are easier to use, but don't actually offer a huge amount more in terms of raw quality/capability.
As for what to make with it - well, I've made all sorts of things. It's been great for making small engineering parts that help make something else easier to construct, but I've made a few 'finished products' with it too. As for making money out of it - IMHO, not likely, unless you're using it to add value to something you're already making money out of.
I saw a demo of one of these 3D printers at a model train show. It was a $1500 model. I was blown away by the quality of what it was making.
This is totally, 100% going to be a disruptive technology as it gets cheaper. The days of any company making plastic toys are numbered. It is all going to be free and "open". maybe large plastic toys will still be made but the small stuff is doomed.
The consumer wins but this is going to absolutely destroy jobs ... in China. The thing is, it is also going to destroy US companies that make toys and simply outsource to China.
I bought a Velleman K8200 ($750) essentially on "impulse", as
I have access to a StrataSys 3D printer at work and so it might
seem "redundant".
Guess what? I LOVE IT! Sure, there is no reason why I couldn't
make this or that by hand-carving it out of a solid block of acrylic,
or wait till Monday morning to run the parts on the StrataSys at work,
but now I can drop into OpenSCAD (or my wife can drop into Blender),
design the thing, hit "print", and then cook dinner while the machine
does the drudge work. A few minutes of hand clean-up later (mostly
reaming holes if we want snug fits) and the part is done- or more
likely, we decide we want to change it. Some parts go through
three or four iterations before we decide it's perfect. That's the
seductive part of 3D printing - the cost of a prototype approaches
zero.
I'm probably $1200 into this by now (filament goes typically for
$40 a kilogram, and some of the stuff like the extrudable rubber
and the water-clear, FDA-approved PET is almost twice that), but
darn it, this is fun!
Sure, you can spend a lot of bucks on the toolchain but you
absolutely don't have to spend anything at all. (Solidworks $8000?
Got it at work. Don't need it; OpenSCAD and Blender and FreeCAD
are adequate for me, and free for the download).
Yeah, my wife has dreams of making gee-gaws and knick-nacks to
sell at her conventions, but I'm happy to spin out replacement ladders
for my son's toy fire engine and custom rail crossings for his railroad, and
"companion cubes" and little unicorns for my daughters.... as well
as the occasional screen door handle, refrigerator shelf holder,
cellphone mount, consumer electronics case / case replacement,
etc.
Note- there's no "driver issue" - with rare exception, all cheap
3D printers all talk G-code via RS-232 or USB-TTY at 250,000
baud (yeah, nonstandard baud rate because most 3D printers are
based on Arduino cores, and that's one baud rate that has essentially
zero error due to CPU clock speed). The printer control "front panel"
is a big Python script (several options are there; Repetier-host and
Pronterface both are nice); the slicer that turns STL models into
G-code is open-source (I use Slic3r at home and Cura at work).
It's a big, big win. Really. I can sit down with one of my kids and
make something they want and have the printer spit it out while
we read a book or watch a show. Maybe every home doesn't
need one, but I'd rate it right next to "belt sander" in the home arsenal.
Wound up w/ a second ShapeOko (a 2, which I got so that I could write the instructions at http://docs.shapeoko.com/ ), so have been planning to turn it into a 3D printer.
The initial (naïve) plan was to just mount an extruder I'd bought, source a hot-end, connect it to a spare stepper driver on my AtomCNC board, reflash w/ Teacup or Marlin and print --- anyone who knows anything about 3D printers can quit laughing now.
The current plan is:
- mount an extruder (a Wade's reloaded)
- wire up a hot-end (a J-Head Mk V or so w/ 0.35mm orifice for 1.75mm filament)
- source a new Arduino (an Uno w/ just a 328p won't cut it)
- source a stepper shield which has 4 stepper drivers (one for each axis, one more for the extruder, plus electronics support for powering the hot-end and monitoring its temperature)
Still haven't decided if I'm going to buy a heated bed or no --- hoping to manage w/o one ---you 3D guys may quietly laugh again now.
Unfortunately, there wasn't as much in the way of documentation on the RepRap wiki as I'd hoped for: http://reprap.org/wiki/Categor...
So I'm documenting things here: http://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/i...
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
They are neat tech, and they are affordable, but for the majority of people out there I just don't see them as particularly useful. We picked up a Makerbot for our lab at work, and it is proven to be extremely useful. We have a Solidworks guy and it is trivial for him to design and fabricate custom mounts and such that we would otherwise have had to kludge up some other solution because it wouldn't have been worth the time and money to have something temporary mount made in a machine shop.
However, for the home user, at least for quite a while yet I see these as being akin to something like a specialized machine in your kitchen like a dedicated espresso maker, bread machine, or yogurt maker. They're really neat and do a great job at what they do, but eventually for most people they sit there unused. I think the 3D printer will be the same thing. People will get them, download really cool models to print, make some of their own stuff, then eventually realize there are just so many charms for charm bracelets, or curio type stuff you can make before the novelty wears off.
And I see you got modded informative for it.
Blender is an ok program. I use it all the time for video and still animations / rendering. I know it pretty well.
It is not even in the same ballpark as a CAD program. Yes, it can do the job. You can also use scissors to carve wood statues, but you would be an idiot to do so.
You can draw a 4 leaf clover in blender, and 3D print that. If you are so inclined you can even print a ton of them. That does not make it a good alternative 3D design program. You can not model any sort of assembly, then make a correction to a part dimension without having to manually redo everything. That is not productive, that is not design, that is artwork, big difference.
slashdot troll = you make a compelling argument I do not like the implications of.
If your espresso maker sits unused, you're doing it wrong!
Mostly random stuff.
"He printed a rose for his girlfriend for Valentines day which she like very much. How f*^%ing cool is that?"
It's not. Not in the farthest reaches of the imagination is it even close to cool.
If you believe linux is ready for the desktop (less than 1% market share), then it would be reasonable to conclude 3D printing is also ready for the masses. However, if you believe things closer to reality....
Before you comment, yes, I did Metal CNC at home before 3D printing was ever imagined. I've built a Printbot Jr. (and gave it away). Yes, I know real 3D CAD, and Blender (real 3D CAD it is not). And yes, I am running linux (a render farm for Blender as it turns out, nothing to do with 3D printing).
The software is buggy (which if you are an open source type you are ok with), instructions are out of date and spread everywhere (again, all ok for open source types).
Poorly designed parts lead to poor prints, lead to poorly finished object quality. But if you fit the less than 1% category, all probably fine.
On a positive note, I will admit it introduces you to a world of manufacturing, where the same principals apply, only using quality software and real tools when you are ready to do it, for real.
slashdot troll = you make a compelling argument I do not like the implications of.
I went a little crazy and got 3 through Kickstarter. I use them mostly as a hobby and as a tool to create prototypes of my ideas. Currently almost done printing new Tiki Torches. The bamboo ones are falling apart however the electronic solar powered LEDs still work. By designing my own I was able to add features to keep the wasps from building nests in them. One thing the bamboo torches seemed to attract. The cost will actually be less in materials than buying new ones. Considering my time the cost is way more however its been a fun and useful project that I can show off to others. There are many future project I plan to use them for. With the 3D printers now it is possible to realize my ideas with little out of pocket expense. I plan on using them to keep me busy after retirement.
...if the curve represents Integral over effort (i.e. f(x) = total effort expended up to time x), and the horizontal axis represents time/progress.
This captures the intuitive notion of walking up a steep hill (i.e., large derivative == large effort).
I didn't really think my submission was provocative but, based on the responses, it seems to have incited a lot of negativity for some reason...
I've had 1 part, and -only- 1 part "fail". That was due entirely to my design (I'm still a n00b, I admit)
My first week of ownership has been great, and I have recevied several requests to make items for, gasp(!), for real, honest-to-god currency no less!
I didn't buy it specifically to make money, but to learn and make things I need. I am also learning, however, that I "can" make money with it if I put forth a little effort...
Items I've made during my first week:
SSD Docking Station case
Dashboard to hold the speedometer/turn signals/ignition/GPS/Go Pro mount for my DR650
Fan Grills for my computer
Liliput 7" LCD back cover that mounts it into my spare drive bays in my computer case (so I can run my monitoring software there while gaming on my main screen)
Replacement door hinge kit for my Obsidian 800D Case
Wall-mounts for my surround speakers
Raspberry Pi case which also mounts a 4-port USB hub
I'm also currently in the design/prototype phase for a SFF HTPC Case.
Sig Follows: "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain
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Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
I regularly find myself needing to make ultra short run parts i.e. a few every year. Not nearly enough to justify doing them in a CNC mill and I don't want to spend a lot of money on a few parts only to have them sit on the shelf because that's capital that could be better spent elsewhere. One of my real world examples is a custom electronics enclosure. The boards I need to house sadly are just a little too big for a COTS enclosure from Hammond or Bud and the next size up is ginormous. So I decided to look seriously at 3D printing. Sending the design to Shapeways or Protolabs was insanely expensive at over $600 for a brick-sized part. That may be fine for a one-off research project but not for short-run production. Then I looked at the sub-$3k offerings. I was at first impressed with the CubeX until I learned that you don't feed it with rolls of filament but instead have to buy their cartridges and they refused to tell me how much material is in each one. They said "Oh, you can print about a hundred cellphone cases." GAH! A cellphone case is not a standardized unit of measure. So their business model is stupid for the customer. Then I looked at some others that could handle the size part I needed to make and discovered how slow they are. I figured it would take about 8 hours to print one enclosure. Well, I suppose I could click "Print" and go do other things. But then I wondered how reliable the process is and I realized that I'd be pretty pissed if the print screwed up 7.5 hours into it. That possibility is pretty much confirmed by the fact that you can now get a shredding machine that recycles your failures into new filament. Finally, the quality of the results came into question when I read about people buying home fryer machines, filling them with acetone, and dipping the parts in to smooth the surfaces.
I still want one but IMHO, 3D printing is at the same stage computers were in the late 70s. Back then, if you were a geek, you totally wanted one but nobody did much real work on them. What's needed is the IBM-PC or Macintosh of 3D printing.
The niche of 3D printers is with geeks who want to make stuff, but are uncomfortable around dremel tools, files, saws, sandpaper, clamps and glue. However, they are comfortable with software, know how to install quirky drivers, etc., so they feel like with a 3D printer, they become empowered make stuff without having any idea how to make stuff.
But you know, for the price of even a crappy 3D printer, you can put together a pretty impressive collection of real tools and materials. Just check eBay. Yes, your first projects will be crap, but as you get better, the work will get really fun, and you will be doing something new with your brain, which feels good. So figure out what you can't buy but need to have, and ask yourself whether it could be made of wood, paper machee, machined from brass, or made in a sand mold from aluminum (which you later finish). In many cases, the results will be better and cheaper if you don't make it in a 3D printer.
Blender is just not precise enough. I could say the same about Maya if my end result is to create an accurate 3d printed model to fit other parts. If all you're doing is printing toys, I'd recommend sketchup over Blender. If you're good at modeling, then Blender is a moderate alternative - but still, toys.
Personally, I use 3DS Max, but I'm having issues of the units being accurately converted to the 3D printer's software, however, I can whip out my calculator and figure out the precise scale increase, but it's still cumbersome. I need my models to be accurate to the millimeter, but I don't need the kludge of AutoCAD. Other engineers here used SolidWorks which is an overkill IMO, but it gives them training in the software.
I haven't used it in over 10 years, but I think Lightwave also has a good unit converter.
My other gripe is the constant calibration of the 3d printer. We have a public one which has heavy wear and tear and the base is constantly changing/ warping. Models are then built out of alignment; errors propagate. Parts need to be replaced.
The bottom line is, 3d printing is difficult. It has a high barrier entry for hardware maintenance and calibration, and high entry to create 3d models. I'm glad I learned the latter years ago. If you just want to have fun with it, have some realistic expectations. My bosses think it's as easy and fast as printing a document, and think I'm an idiot if it takes me 8 hours to do it.
Living 30 min from the nearest photo shop means it's hardly a 'convenience' to bring photos in to be printed. Plus, by the time you factor waiting in line, transferring files, waiting for the prints to be created... I don't see the point when my $150 inkjet does a good enough job and I have the photo off the PC and into a frame in less than 5 min. You just can't argue with that economy of time.
As an owner of a CNC machine capable of 3D printing (though I have not set that up yet), I do feel for anything besides tinkering, I'd be far better off outsourcing the print. Doing 3D printing or any other CNC at home is not about economy as much about hobby. If I had a design I wanted to monetize, I'd be outsourcing the production runs.
Curious about making a replacement part for something in my house, and was wondering about the strength of the plastic used, as compared to a similar piece of polyethyene, or any other plastic available?
It's not. Not in the farthest reaches of the imagination is it even close to cool.
Dude, this is news for nerds. If you don't think this is cool, you are on the wrong site.
I did Metal CNC at home before 3D printing was ever imagined.
Did you build that Metal CNC machine yourself?
and Blender (real 3D CAD it is not)
So you are saying that I should buy my son a several thousand dollar copy of AutoCAD before I know if he is really interested in making models?
I will admit it introduces you to a world of manufacturing, where the same principals apply,
Which was the entire point of my post...
How strong are the final printed products. Have you ever compared them to pre-existing similar pieces? I'd imagine since the printed product is non-homogeneous, then it would be a bit weaker than a uniform injected similar plastic.
..........FULL STOP.
I currently own a number of Printrbot 3D printers: Printrbot Simple 2013, Printrbot Simple, Printrbot Original (came out in 2013 and was sold only at Make fair), Printrbot Jr, and Printrbot Jr v2. I've built and sold a couple of Printrbot Simple printers. I also built a replica of Printrbot Simple 2013 from scratch just to see if I could buy parts and build one. Printrbot printers are less expensive and expandable, unlike many of the other printers. Printrbot Simple Metal has a lot of the features of $3000 models for only $539. I would recommend buying a kit and building a printer from scratch.
While I can see where they would be occasionally useful, mostly for making replacements for small, hand-to-find parts, I'm not ready to buy yet. I thought about it last summer but for the money, I got an oxy-actylene set up instead. I figure in 10 or even 20 years, the gas welding setup will be worth about what I paid for it whereas the 3d printer will be worth approximately nothing, like a 10 year old computer.
I'm not trying to say that these are equivalent goods with equivalent capabilities, just that I will get more use for more years out of a welder.
Competition Good, Monopoly Bad.
I've successfuly designed a few parts (parametric) with Pro/Desktop Express (outdated software but the best I've used so far).
I've successfuly printed those parts at Shapeways.
The nylon powder is fused by laser. Parts are thin and quite stiff. Good point. This kind of making is really not affordable for hobbyists.
The metal printing is okay, strong but I noticed a slight deformation. Good enough for jewelry.
I'm not looking in buying any 3D printer. Parts won't have the same quality as the one printed by SLS and I don't need to print that much cheap parts.
3d printers are still expensive, and occupy space in your house. Unless you do a lot of it, it's still more economical to send it out to a place like Shapeways.
The first time I used 3-d printing was to repair an otherwise-unrepairable tool: http://www.instructables.com/i...
I'm also prototyping a toy for a friend. A printer capable of the resolution I need would cost far more than a simple home hobbiest printer.
It was very indigestible. I am thinking of using a plunger to remove it from my innards. Seriously guys, editing and speling [sic].
My printer kit arrived this morning in the mail.
$199 QU-BD OneUp. The kickstarter project has been...flawed, but folks are getting their printers and they are being made to work. I'm looking forward to the adventure.
They are seriously not that big of a deal the technology is decades old but somehow now it is a craze because some media outlets covered it. While the expensive models are slightly improved over what could be done long ago it's not serious or useful tech outside of prototypes and toys. I would find a personal CNC machine more practical.
If somebody would sell a cheap one that printed WAX I might consider it (wax for sacrificial metal casting.) If they added a CNC pen for the plotter it might also make it useful; especially with the layered imperfections of many of them. The plastic parts that everything has which break and are hard to replace are stronger than what these printers can do (plus you have to get a model of the part) it is better to make the replacement part stronger-- in which case, metal casting is far more useful - glue the plastic part together just long enough to make a casting of it. Then put your old Al cans to good use.
All that being said, if I have the time and inclination someday I'll just make my own. I've thought about doing that over a decade already; it's not difficult to out perform these bought models for less money. One doesn't have to buy expensive stepper motors and sensors.... proper design using tension and dynamic feedback loops can give you incredible precision with poor quality construction.
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Your criticism is valid, but it works. Strangely the web browser version has some features not available in the desktop version. But it works. It's default is for you to log in and save your files in the cloud, but you can save locally and well ... it works. Occasionally I'll have a very complex a model and if I go back and forth with too many undo's it will crash, but 99% of the time it just works. It is easy to collaborate with the college student I have working for me. We just put the model in a shared folder in dropbox. It's free, and did I mention? It works.
Over the last year I've printed hundreds, close to a thousand parts for hire, on two Afinia printers all designed with 123D. Is there money to be made? Yes if you have a customer who isn't a tinkerer or hobbyist, but wants his idea turned into solid form in a few hours, tweak the design and then print a dozen to 100's of copies.
I have zero need for additional paper weights, door stops, and ash trays. I might be more interested when they (a) provide isotropic materials, (b) provide better precision, and (c) provide (a) and (b) at a lower cost.
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I have 3-year-old twin girls, and what I want is a way to easily create Rube Goldberg devices which will help my girls understand basic physics. I want a kit I can print with levers, pulleys, inclined planes, windmills, catapults, springs, and more, that my girls can add to and just go nuts with. When this exists and is easy, believe me, there are a LOT of parents out there who will buy one for their kids.
more than taken the plunge, I have my 3d printer for almost a year now and have designed and printed over 50 parts, many used in my electric motorbike, build thread here: http://www.elmoto.net/showthre... i'm using the Felix 2.0
I purchased a PrintrBot Jr V2 which both my home-schooling son and I use extensively. We use the excellent and free TinkerCAD web-site for model design.
What's great about 3D printing is the mind-shift. It opens up a new world of what feels possible to do. Here's a project I put together as a Christmas present for my son (http://www.instructables.com/id/Magpi-The-Micro-Arduino-Gaming-Platform-Interface/). I don't think I would have started if I didn't have a precise way to build a case for it, which the 3D printer enabled. The other day my wife wanted hooks for the closet to hang scarves, so I went a designed one to her specifications and printed them. This sounds like no big deal, and in someways it isn't, but on a deeper level it points to a very big shift that's happening. It's a switch away from mass-production consumer culture to micro-self-production. If you want to be in on the ground floor of experimenting and playing in this big shift, and you don't mind the fiddling it takes (because they are finicky machines), then take the plunge.
As far as making money on 3D printing, we've made back the cost of all our filament by printing things for people via makexyz.com and the 3dprintmything subredit. We do this not really for the cash, but as part of the fun of it.
I love it!
I've learned a ton, downloaded and printed many things from Thingiverse, and now I'm designing my own new parts.
One of my big interests is making improvements on the 3D printer, and I can honestly say that I haven't had this much fun in the last 30 years!
Over the weekend I designed parts for holding the spool directly on top of printer, so the Bowden tube is 40% shorter and the filament path is straighter.
Also, I created a page at http://www.maui-3d.com/cgi-bin/plotG29 :-)
Which graphs the calibration for your 3D printer.
Making data visual makes it easier to intuitively understand.
I'm waiting for HP to show the product
...please remember to return it after you're done with it.
You could just buy the new Goldie Blox which are marketed to that demographic:
http://www.goldieblox.com/
When they get older, buy them Technics Lego brick sets
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
I discovered the world of 3D printers when I was looking for interesting projects to build with Arduino, as I'm starting to learn electronics to augment my coding skills. I could have started with a programmable LED cube, but when I discovered the RepRap project I was immediately hooked. Not only could I learn a lot of useful skills and get soldering practice, but at completion I'd have a machine I could use to build custom cases, buttons, and any other custom parts I might need for future projects!
I did a lot of up-front research comparing the commercial offerings to a growing plethora of open source designs. It seemed clear that I would probably save money and gain more valuable experience by self-sourcing parts and building a RepRap myself, so it was really just a matter of choosing a design. I finally settled on the Prusa i3 Mendel for several reasons, foremost being the large (20cm^3) build area, low cost, and elegant design.
The sourcing and acquisition of parts took me about a month, and I made some noob mistakes, such as buying unsuitable stepper motors and the wrong RP parts for my chosen i3 variant (single plate). I also needed to buy tools and supplies, such as a soldering kit, a grinder to cut metal rods, a glass cutter, nuts and bolts, Kapton tape, blue painter's tape, acetone, etc. My main sources were SeeMeCNC, eBay, and McMaster-Carr. I overspent a bit up front, but I was able to recoup most of that overage in reselling my surplus. Today I have much more savvy (and now I can print my own parts) so I could easily build a sister to this printer for under $500.
I did learn a lot in the process of building this machine, and I've learned a lot in the process of enhancing and upgrading it since. The printer certainly hasn't "paid for itself" even a year later, but that doesn't matter to me. I did this project to educate myself and get hands-on experience, and compared to the cost of a college semester it's been a total bargain. Not only am I now familiar with Arduino programming (and have contributed code to Marlin firmware - you're welcome), but I've gotten pretty good making things in OpenSCAD, gotten to know a great group of geeks at the Seattle Metrix:Create Space, delved into Blender 3D, and gotten to know electrical current and the smell of burning components... None of which I would have gained just buying an off-the-shelf Cube3D.
The progress of low-cost 3D printing has really been accelerating lately. Some of the most vexing problems (such as bed leveling) are being solved, better extruders are being made, the slicing software is smarter and faster, and the quality of parts designs is constantly improving. I've got a half a grocery bag filled with failed prints and imperfect prototypes after a year of messing around with this machine, but I've gotten really good at calibration at this point, so very few prints fail now. You do still need to watch prints carefully, and that goes for the commercial machines as well, but generally speaking the reliability of newer machines is much better than their predecessors.
As for how useful a 3D printer is to any individual, that will depend on the intensity of their interest. I took the time to learn OpenSCAD, but not everyone will feel inclined to do so. I've made some useful items, such as the "hanger" part to repair some Sony headphones, a light cover, a slick sign for my workshop door, some iPad sound deflectors, cases and covers for various things, and of course upgrades for the RepRap itself. I've made several sets of printer parts and sold them on eBay, so the printer is slowly paying for itself. I help others with their 3D printer builds, sharing the experience I've gained in my first year, and that's a lot of fun. I think it's a great tool for hobbyists and professionals alike, especially those with engineering skills, and I can anticipate a time, not too far in the future, where 3D printers will be as ubiquitous as home computers.
-- thinkyhead software and media
I've found that aluminum baking pans with a raised edge all the way around just a bit bigger than the laptop footprint are perfect for laptops on pillows. They can breathe the way they normally do on a table, and the raised lip keeps them from sliding off. If the lappy has rubber feet, all the better.
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I've always wondered why the 3DConnexion guys (who I think are now Logitech) won't release drivers so their stuff can work in games. I'd think writing joystick/gaming mouse drivers for the SpacePucks would be pretty trivial, and the hardcore gamer crowd would exponentially increase their sales.
Hopefully they already have, and I just missed it...
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********* sig: If you don't like the law, get filthy stinking rich, and buy a better one.