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I don't view 3D printers as a money saving device -- they're still too inaccurate, which means you can waste a lot of material (read: $$$) on misprints. For any

by exelius 11y ago

I don't view 3D printers as a money saving device -- they're still too inaccurate, which means you can waste a lot of material (read: $$$) on misprints. For anything a normal consumer would buy, it would be cheaper to make 100 injection-molded parts than a single 3D printed one. They save money for engineering firms; but the money they save is the time spent waiting for a part to be delivered. They're invaluable for people who are already "makers" though. Let's say you built an Arduino/RPi weather sensor (lame use case, but insert any use case here) and you need a way to mount it on a pole on the outside of your house. You can either find something on Amazon you think might work and go the trial-and-error route, or you can design a simple bracket in a CAD app and 3D print it.

dublinben 11y ago
Most practical uses for 3D printing parts are still inferior to CNC milling or wood carving. Rapid prototyping remains the most useful task for 3D printers.
- shiftpgdn 11y ago
  A hammer is better at putting nails into wood than a screwdriver is. Hobby CNC mills like the Xcarve or the shapeoko only have a 3"~ Z axis. That's on top of the normal limits of carving out of a solid block of material vs printing from nothing. I don't disagree though. Much of what people demonstrate with a 3d printer would have come out better with a hobby CNC mill.
hippich 11y ago
for the range of 100 parts 3D printing is still more viable for many cases than injection molding. mold alone will cost on average $5k in China. Also, not everything can be injection molded. There is certainly a place for 3D printed products (I know, since I am selling some)
- riskable 11y ago
  Just curious: What are you selling?
  - hippich 11y ago
    some odd things, which are not worth mass production: * http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QPA3K92 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QPA3K92 * http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TTCHHJ2 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TTCHHJ2 * http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RYFM3R2 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RYFM3R2 I have few more ideas in a pipeline. It is not bringing much money, but it does pay for my hobby. EDIT: I am also open source all of the stuff i am selling (under non-commercial license for obvious reasons) - https://github.com/hippich/stl https://github.com/hippich/stl
- exelius 11y ago
  Very true; I just made that number up :) But I guess my original point was that it will almost never be cheaper for a consumer to 3D print something than it will be to buy the mass-produced version of that same thing. Unless that thing is covered by an IP license (i.e. a Mario statue or something) in which case there probably is or will be some law against it that just isn't realistic to enforce against individuals.

by exelius 11y ago

dublinben 11y ago

Most practical uses for 3D printing parts are still inferior to CNC milling or wood carving. Rapid prototyping remains the most useful task for 3D printers.

shiftpgdn 11y ago
A hammer is better at putting nails into wood than a screwdriver is. Hobby CNC mills like the Xcarve or the shapeoko only have a 3"~ Z axis. That's on top of the normal limits of carving out of a solid block of material vs printing from nothing. I don't disagree though. Much of what people demonstrate with a 3d printer would have come out better with a hobby CNC mill.

hippich 11y ago

for the range of 100 parts 3D printing is still more viable for many cases than injection molding. mold alone will cost on average $5k in China. Also, not everything can be injection molded. There is certainly a place for 3D printed products (I know, since I am selling some)

riskable 11y ago
Just curious: What are you selling?
- hippich 11y ago
  some odd things, which are not worth mass production: * http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QPA3K92 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QPA3K92 * http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TTCHHJ2 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TTCHHJ2 * http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RYFM3R2 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RYFM3R2 I have few more ideas in a pipeline. It is not bringing much money, but it does pay for my hobby. EDIT: I am also open source all of the stuff i am selling (under non-commercial license for obvious reasons) - https://github.com/hippich/stl https://github.com/hippich/stl
exelius 11y ago
Very true; I just made that number up :) But I guess my original point was that it will almost never be cheaper for a consumer to 3D print something than it will be to buy the mass-produced version of that same thing. Unless that thing is covered by an IP license (i.e. a Mario statue or something) in which case there probably is or will be some law against it that just isn't realistic to enforce against individuals.