Feedback Needed - 3D Printers - Any Interest?

[The Hat]

My criterion is: can it be refilled and also refilled cheaply with aftermarket filament ?

The answer to that is yes and no !, you have the choice as to which materials you wish to use and what use you want to put the end product too, but it all depends on how deep your pockets are...

Here is a guy who makes all his own 3D bionic implants...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbnW_O407MQ

 

[Nifty]

My criterion is: can it be refilled and also refilled cheaply with aftermarket filament ?

Hahaha... brilliant!

Fortunately I think the answer to both is "yes!"

 

[guymark]

Now they have a true CMYK 3D printer AND printers that can deposit different materials I think the interest will soon explode.

I reckon we will find 3D cameras and 3D printers will soon be printing tiny 3D images of everything from family snapshots to combined units making 3D photo copies of plastic components.

Alas poor LEGO....

It will take a while I think before the price of 3D CMYK printers are in the sub £100 mark but it will happen - just as the first CMYK laser printers almost 25 years ago were around £10,000 and a basic full colour laser printer can now be had for under £100. I bought a terraced house around that time for £24,000 less than the price of three colour laser printers at the time.

A cheap device that can make a 3D print of "Aunt Maud's 100th" will appeal to a lot of folks and you can bet your bottom dollar that the first shop that offers an ultrasound scan & 3D print of someone unborn will be busy at almost any price.

So, after all that waffle (sorry), I reckon it could be an interesting forum that will gradually get progressively busier as prices come down, models get better/faster/cheaper and the library of free images to download has an increasingly useful range of items. With cheaper filament and more materials the appeal can only get stronger still I think.

Need to print a replacement panel for part of your toner cartridge to make it much easier to refill ?? - Click, print and fit......

I reckon this forum would be a great place to have some interesting dialogue going where some of us (like me) can start to learn from those who have already played around and learned the good, bad and ugly parts of different makes, models and types.

So my vote would be: Yes Please

 

[The Hat]

What, a 3D photo of the Mother in Law... ..

 

[stratman]

Have we considered the dangers of 3D printing?

 

[The Hat]

Exactly...

 

[Nifty]

The prices have come down so far!

I recently bought one of these for my kids: http://amzn.to/2pELYbw

... and I'm VERY tempted to get one of these: http://amzn.to/2quJYRm

 

[The Hat]

The prices have come down so far!

Hi Nifty, That printer look great, but have we not been here before, imagine making all you own Lego blocks for a special project or big car, it would cost a fortune in ink...Ops Sorry plastic for just a couple of dozen blocks...

I reckon both Epson and Canon are way ahead on this one, or am I being just too cynical again...

 

[Nifty]

imagine making all you own Lego blocks for a special project or big car, it would cost a fortune in ink...Ops Sorry plastic for just a couple of dozen blocks...

Ya, it's not going to compete with mass-produced stuff that you can find in the store down the street (at least not yet), but it currently competes VERY well with trying to get a unique item you've developed yourself into a small-volume production... like one unit. For example, a guy on Youtube printed a piece for his old fridge that had broken off. He couldn't find the replacement part anywhere, so he designed and printed his own... AND he designed it to be stronger than the original one. Really cool!

 

[The Hat]

Really cool!

That figures..