I'm excited to see what happens here. 3D Systems is releasing a printer with a proprietary filament cartridge[0], proprietary interface, and commercial ecosystem of downloadable solid model files[1] into a world that has inexpensive commodity filament spools[2], open interfaces and software[3], and a community of mostly open source solid models[4]. Can they really put the cat back in the bag?<p>[0] <a href="http://cubify.com/cube/store.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://cubify.com/cube/store.aspx</a><p>[1] <a href="http://cubify.com/store/model_list.aspx?searchtext=&minprice=&maxprice=" rel="nofollow">http://cubify.com/store/model_list.aspx?searchtext=&minp...</a><p>[2] <a href="http://ultimachine.com/catalog/print-materials" rel="nofollow">http://ultimachine.com/catalog/print-materials</a><p>[3] <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page" rel="nofollow">http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page</a><p>[4] <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.thingiverse.com/</a>
This is cool, but I'm more intrigued by the Solidoodle[1]. It's less than half the price ($499) – a much better entry level for the average consumer. It's not as pretty or have wifi, but it does have an extra half inch of print space.<p>[1] <a href="http://www.solidoodle.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.solidoodle.com/</a>
Uh oh, it doesn't mention head speed, or volume throughput. That's a bad sign. The frame doesn't even look as stiff as the Makerbot Replicator, which is pretty miserably slow compared to some of the bleeding edge designs. (ORDbot, Utilimaker) 3d printers with small motors and light frames can be excruciatingly, unusably slow.<p>It also doesn't say how large the cartridges are. Or how much they cost. It's also got a pretty small build volume, and a completely proprietary toolchain, including model files. (???)
I liked the design of their pages so I went to look at the source and noticed every page is wrapped in a top level form tag, can someone explain why they would do this?
People haven't yet been turned on to the market of enriching everything them around them with pretty finishings.<p>This is one of the great potentials of even these mini-3d printers: you can truly de-homogenize your indoor environment and make it very interesting.<p>I'm inspired by Black Rock City to see all the forgotten parts of our lives more beautiful. 3d printing will help :)
While this is very cool (minus the proprietary drawbacks), what can I make with this $1300 printer that I couldn't buy for $1300? I would have liked to have seen that in their marketing material.
Will only their designs work with their printer? Or is it some kind of open format, so I could get 3D models from somewhere else and then build it with their printer?
The MakerBot Replicator is 50% more expensive, but it can make larger objects and in 2 colors. I think it's the best one out there currently. They say they have 15,000 object models in their catalog on <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.thingiverse.com</a> .<p>How fast can these things make the objects, though? Does it take minutes or hours? Could you build a small business selling toys and stuff with one of them?
This looks quite interesting. I am not much informed of it. Can anyone share an overview of the technology underneath? Also what kind of things it can print, what and how much the raw material would cost?<p>Also the page show the image of a sandal in free creations section. Would it be possible use it as an actual footwear?
"Material: Tough Recyclable Plastic" - Does anyone happen to know exactly WHAT plastic it uses? I'm also curious about the whole activation requirement for the printer. It made me raise an eyebrow.