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3D Printer Owner's Network Puts Together Buyer's Guide
Lucas123 writes: Thousands of 3D printer owners who are part of a distributed online network were tapped for a buyer's guide, rating dozens of machines from tiny startups to major manufacturers. Surprisingly, the big-name 3D printer makers were nowhere to be found in the top picks. More obscure companies, like Makergear, a 12-person start-up in Ohio, or Zortrax, a Polish company that began as a Kickstarter project, took top spots in the reviews. The buyer's guide, put together by 3D Hubs, contains five different categories: Enthusiast Printers, Plug-n-Play Printers, Kit/DIY Printers, Budget Printers and Resin Printers. In all, 18 models made it to the top of the user communities' list, and only printers with more than 10 reviews were included in the buyer's guide. 3D Hubs also added a secondary "Printer Index" that includes 58 3D Printers that didn't make it to the top of their categories. Printers with more than five reviews are displayed in the index.
This is exactly the kind of resource I want when starting a new hobby; And it just so happens to be one I was considering.
Perhaps not yet. But since you can print anything, the value isn't what you can pick up at Walmart, but rather printing the thing you can't pick up there. Printing the 3D plastic clip you just broke on some older thing you own, and having it that day, instead of throwing the old broken thing away is worth something, even to you. I can't tell you how many plastic clips I've broken and tossed the old broken thing away, that I now can fix and have it remain useful.
Not to mention, the creative types who are prototyping new and interesting inventions that weren't cost effective if sent to milling houses.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
Chinese factories already do spit that stuff out by the ton. It is outrageous that 1kg of filament costs $35 to $50, when 1kg of plastic pellets costs $4 to $8.
One of the first things the hackerspace I belong to bought was a FilaStruder so we can make our own filament. We figure it'll pay for itself after 10 spools.
It seems the main proponents of 3D printing are people that break a lot of stuff. OK, everybody breaks stuff, but most people just tape (or glue) the broken thing back on, which is way cheaper and quicker than printing a new one will ever be.
I am still waiting for the 'killer' 3D printing idea, that would make ordinary people care at all about 3D printing.
It is also possible that since we are closer to mass (as opposed to specialized) demand, more R&D will go into finding new combinations of materials. Plastics are an area where a fairly small amount of tweaking (and a REALLY large search space) in process and ingredients can result in really different capabilities and price points. So that is an area I really could see a significant shift in the near future.