3D Printing -- Please Shut Up And Take My Money!

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Hello Tenth,

3D printing is the future! BIG time! And not only in the manufacturing field but also in the medical. of course there is a big down side to this being so big because 3d printing is going to be as big as the internet.

right now 3D printing is in it's new hobby baby step but in the very near future it is going to explode into a huge, huge market for 3D print design engineers, "ink" manufacturers, home based factory printers, factory based printers, even Mobil based convention and fair printers. 3D printers will be in stores and supermarkets malls and such.

The biggest push and where you will first see it take off just like the internet is in public libraries and personal homes as a hobby.

You will see new mega corporations form from groups of entrepreneur out of their garage some will be bought out by Google and Microsoft so they can grow and be part of this new market and keep up. Print designee web sites will be as big as youtube. Sites like amazon and ebay will become heavily involved in facilitating the purchase of home made printers and print designs and material 'Ink".

Jobs world wide will be lost and manufacturers will be forced to supply and manufacture the few components home based printers might need while they restructure quickly to print themselves. Corporations will have print designers designee and copyright millions of prints and copyright every non copyrighted print available on the net.

This is where creative commons licenses will become the force it needs to be as home based entrepreneurs fight to compete with corporations and be able to sell their designers at a low price.

3D printing along with the internet and creative commons licenses will dramatically change the world we live in today but our world today with it's laws and new laws will viciously fight back with control and regulations. For a time it will be like the internet was a wild, wild west where anything is possible,then like the internet today it will slowly be controlled. Main steam hackers will play a big part with the control being implemented along with bootleggers.

You will know when the good old days of 3D printing is over because you will not be able to legally print something with out a brand name that comes at a price. We can only hope the Creative Commons license gains a lot of ground while this is all happening.....

The Rat.

I'm using this one right now.

Dimension 1200

reply to post by Crakeur


It does make a ton of sense for small replacement parts. I don't know how many gadgets I have that I don't use anymore because some cheap plastic component is broken. It's not worth the hassle of finding the part and going through the shipping hassle, etc. I would be much more apt to buy a product from a company that had replacement and obsolescence issues as part of their offering.

reply to post by TucoTheRat


THis is why MOST of the industry is Free To Print so to speak.

Most of these folks are just happy sharing the knowledge and I'm sure they'll be DRM for digital copies once it becomes more mainstream.

But again, the gate keeper model is dead and with the entertainment industry moving to Free To Play, in gaming at least, Netflix with 7.99 unlimited content, you can see where I'm coming from.

Eventually and in the next 20 years, we won't have intellectual property for digital media; one step closer to a better society.

~Tenth

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
reply to post by TucoTheRat

 

This is why MOST of the industry is Free To Print so to speak.

Most of these folks are just happy sharing the knowledge and I'm sure they'll be DRM for digital copies once it becomes more mainstream.

But again, the gate keeper model is dead and with the entertainment industry moving to Free To Play, in gaming at least, Netflix with 7.99 unlimited content, you can see where I'm coming from.

Eventually and in the next 20 years, we won't have intellectual property for digital media; one step closer to a better society.

~Tenth

I understand and right now things are the wind, wind west with 3d printing, one guy printed a bike another a gun so on and so forth.

But when we get to the point that any guy in his home can start selling Lamborghini engine parts for $ 5.99 on the net because he spent $60,000 at an art institute learning 3d modeling for the gaming industry the big boys are going to take to heart and set up ways and laws to stop such things.

Digital is one thing and we all ready see the media industry taking drastic measures with congress and the world to retake control they once enjoyed and are rapidly gaining ground with some compromises like netflix and some new copyright techniques developed by YouTube (where the owner can chose to gain revenue or delete content of another users breach of copyright). These little compromises will lead to further expanding control just like people now prefer to use netflix rather than watch and search for a pirated version but how long will the $7.99 price tag last with out the pirate version readily available?

You must keep in mind the internet was around since like 1984 where you did not need an isp provider you just connected to a phone line you already paid for with a modem and contacted other computers then you had W3 then AOL then DSL which was not meant for higher speeds but rather was implemented so people could talk on the phone more. Now you have voice over ip which is the biggest fraud imaginable because in the past with a modem you could connect to other computers on a phone line just by paying the phone line but now you have to pay for both phone over Ip and internet when it is cheaper for the company. Now you have fiber optics which is still even cheaper than copper but for some magic marvel it cost more!

I'm just trying to point out to you the corporate progression of things and how they will apply to 3D printing because remember 3D printing is HUGE! It is Star Teak stuff, turning digital 1's and 0's into a bike, a hammer, and soon things like a space shuttle or a kidney.

Protect yourself with a CC licence if you want to sell because it's hard to under copyright because it cost so much. just like the dot com bubble and after you have million of people buying up domain names for higher resell you will have 3D model print designers foolishly copyrighting designs they will be forced to sell to corporations because they cant sell to the little groups they need to sell cheaply too.

This what i'm telling you is what corporations pay think tanks to sit around and think about....

The Rat.

reply to post by XLR8R


Rep rap is working on a way for you to be able to fabricate the parts for a new rep rap printer.
So if you buy one. It can make parts for child printers.

If they engineer it right. A rep rap can make 100% of the parts. I think right now they are at around 30% of the parts. But working on a version that can make 60%.

reply to post by tothetenthpower

THis is why MOST of the industry is Free To Print so to speak.

It is only free now because the technology hasn't advanced to the point where it takes profits away from companies' major product offerings. Once that happens, the industry will be "free to print" by exception.

Im buying a reprap. Theres a 3d printer on pirate bay..wonder if it really works?

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
reply to post by dollukka

 

These personal kits aren't fabricated to work with metals and such so that's not a worry with personal 3D printing yet.

Those full kits require auto cad and usually run in the tens of thousands of dollars.

But I agree they'll be looking into making restrictions once those platforms are available cheap to your regular consumer.

~Tenth

The only part of an ar15 thats restricted in the usa is the lower receiver.....infact only the outside of it. It can be made out ofplastic, several plastic lowers are commercially produced

Originally posted by dollukka
Looks like a deal and seems to make quality printing too not like many which looks like they were carved by 3 years old.
Some have printed working guns with 3d printers and i kinda believe there will be some sort of restrictions on these devices on some point.

You mean like the restrictions on CNC & manual milling machines?
/sarcasm

Complete guns were not printed - only the lower receiver of an AR-15 was... This happens to be the part of an AR that requires a background check to purchase from a gun dealer. In order to make a complete gun from the printed lower receiver (If I remember correctly and we're talking about the same guy -
haveblue.org ), the receiver required some minor touchup after printing, in addition you have to install a lower parts kit, buffer tube, stock, and mate it to an upper receiver that you have to purchase for about $400 or so. This project requires a bit of mechanical/technical ability. I don't know if perception is that you press a button and a few minutes later a gun pops out ready to fire - this is simply not the case... These parts are printed using plastic, and the pressure from firing a completely plastic gun (even a .22LR) will not be contained by a plastic chamber or barrel. These parts need to be metal (Or at least something much stronger than plastic).

Read the link above for much more detailed info about his experience. One thing to note, he first testfired it using a .22LR conversion and it worked good. When he went with a full power .223 round he has feeding and extraction issue. This is not quite ready for regular reliable use yet. I'm sure his design can be tweaked to overcome the weakness of the materials, but there is no danger in 3D plastic printers being restricted because they can print guns... Milling machines have been used for many years to make lower receivers and no restrictions yet,

Check out Weaponeer for a ton of home made gun projects - there's a few fully functional semi-auto guns made out of scrap metal these guys had lying around their shop...

Please stop spreading this myth that 3d printers are going to be regulated because someone printed an AR lower that doesn't even work properly with .223 rounds. People have made more reliable guns (Lower receivers) using nothing more complicated than a drill press/drill, and for those a steady hand even a Dremel... Research 80% lower receivers.

Sorry, I'm not really trying to be a jerk, but this is a pet peeve of mine...

With all that being said, I look forward to acquiring my own 3d printed and tinkering with some lower receivers as well. Hopefully haveblue will work out all the bugs for us by that time.

I took a quick look at the printer in the OP and it seems ok for an entry machine if you don't mind the small print envelope and low resolution compared to the Replicator 2 (250 micron vs 100). I think I'll save up a few more dollars and get the Replicator 2.

This is the one I've been looking at
LINK

100 micron layers, equivalent to 100 gsm paper

Originally posted by thehoneycomb
Definitely on the top of my list. This would be great to boost small business and manufacturing. I do a little 3d modeling so I should be able to get in on the ground floor. Great stock to buy also, but hopefully not to many ATS people will drive up stocks because I posted that.

Also macworld a few months ago did on a 3d printer for about the same price. Not sure if it was the same one in your post but for the price it looks like a winner.

edit on 4-10-2012 by thehoneycomb because: (no reason given)

You want to check out 3d systems(DDD) and stratasys(ssys) they both have had a heck of a run in the past year and both stocks are both trading at very high multiplies driven up mostly by speculators. I'm sure the big boys are looking to get into this or possibly acquire one of the above companies.

reply to post by Komonazmuk


Yes!!! I want one of those motorized Big Wheels! Seems like it would be a blast to ride around; well as long as there isn't any traffic around.

One thing you always have to look at is the price of "ink". A cubify cartridge costs $50 and is supposed to be good for 13-15 mid sized prints which are 3” x 2” x 2” (75mm x 50mm x 50mm). That's 3.33.-3.85 per piece. While the guys at Makerbot were able to make 392 chess pieces from $22 dollars worth of plastic filament for about $0.06 a piece.

Haven't seen the output from either so don't know how much finishing the end products need but the layer thickness and accuracy seem to be about the same. Looks like they want to follow the 2d printing marketing plan of selling the printer cheap (maybe even at a loss) and making up for it in consumables.

ETA: I think I found a cheaper alternative: printrbot.com.... Printbot JR, only works with PLA and has a work area of 4″ x 4″ x 4″ but only costs $399.

3D printers are pretty useless for me but I hope that within a few decades I get to see molecular nanotechnology take off.

i read somewhere, that a company took back its 3d printer because people were printing guns!!??

if so...whats the issue??

peace

reply to post by dollukka

The gun was just a lower receiver. Don't think the technology has gotten to the point that you can print steel barrels yet.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


OP, The Airwolf3d seems to be the leading manufactured unit in the under $2K category and I've been eyeballing it as my choice to purchase in the next month or two. How do you think the Cubify compares to the Airwolf3d?

Hear, hear! I do very detailed 3D sculptures so quality without too much clean-up is what I'm really after.

I've been watching a small team and their desktop 3D printer's kick starter campaign. I really like the amount of detail they are able to get at such small sizes. Perfect for what I want to print!



If you want to check out their website: formlabs.com...

The good thing is the demand and tech is increasing! I wish they would make a resin that was eco friendly though. That would be the best ever!

Originally posted by Almalexia
I wish they would make a resin that was eco friendly though. That would be the best ever!

I think PLA might be what you're looking for.

Being able to degrade into innocuous lactic acid, poly(lactic acid) is used as medical implants in the form of screws, pins, rods, and as a mesh.

For anyone interested in digital sculpting with limited experience and or money I highly suggest Sculptris. Free and simple 3D sculpting program.

www.pixologic.com...

I am learning on that to transition into ZBrush.

I guess I am also prepping myself for a later 3d printer purchase! That would be super cool