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I'm skeptical that home 3D printing is going to have much impact on manufacturing consumer goods. We've had inexpensive laser printers for a couple of decades n

by dcw303 11y ago

I'm skeptical that home 3D printing is going to have much impact on manufacturing consumer goods. We've had inexpensive laser printers for a couple of decades now, yet there's not many people printing out books at home. The printers would have to be very user friendly and very fast to compete with the convenience of buying finished goods.

bordercases 11y ago
I should probably weigh out how much that actually costs in time and money, because there are additionally concerns of book binding and paper as it scales if you want to have equivalent quality to a bought book.
- moonchrome 11y ago
  Which is the case with 3D printing as well (materials=paper, time and post processing is even worse than printing books ATM). Even right now digital printing is still less efficient than traditional printing machines up to small numbers where it comes down to cost of printing form and reseting the machine (cleaning/setup).
cordite 11y ago
As an owner and user of a 3D printer, I don't expect the scene to get to regular household users within the next 5 years. Difference in material qualities can totally influence how you prepare the models for printing. For example, after I switched to a less brittle PLA filament, breakaway is totally different. The model may have less opportunities for failure during printing, but the plastic is less convenient to remove after the print is finished. Further sanding is needed for breakaway spots and arbitrary extrusion defects. I also find that super glue is a bad idea for assembling what is larger than can be printed at once. On a side note, if there were an automated solution for breaking apart a model, adding peg holes or woodwork inspired nailless/screwless mesh finger pegs would really fulfill a need for users with small economic 3D printers
- est 11y ago
  > I don't expect the scene to get to regular household users within the next 5 years. I don't expect any 3D modeling software get to regular household. Did anyone really install Google Earth or something?
madengr 11y ago
Good point. I remember thinking digital cameras were going to put photo printing shops out of business. Seems to be the opposite.
- LesZedCB 11y ago
  Well, they did become commoditized though.
eli_gottlieb 11y ago
That sounds like a fine business opportunity for someone trained in the use of a 3D printer: you run the thing, other people just pay you and pick up their new stuff. Such businesses could become as common as any other small convenience-retail outlet.
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  It's not worth it unless you treat it as a bonus or have a farm of 3D printers working all the time. The materials are cheap, but printing is very slow and the machines tend to break often. In other words, machine time is the most expensive part for a customer. I have friends who tried making money that way; the only one who was remotely successful was a guy whose father is a respected automatic control engineer, who could forward requests for custom one-off parts to his son.
blisterpeanuts 11y ago
What about commercial 3-D printing? A large scale facility that can afford to invest in the latest and greatest printers could turn a profit in just-in-time prototyping, small runs of specialized custom designs, etc. Email us your design and we'll have 100 units ready for you to pick up in the morning. Overseas manufacturers can't beat that. They're using glass, metals, and fabrics now. It seems like only a matter of time before you can order up almost anything at the corner print shop. If I were China, I'd be trying to get upstream of this trend as soon as possible and become the main supplier of the printers in the world.

by dcw303 11y ago

bordercases 11y ago

I should probably weigh out how much that actually costs in time and money, because there are additionally concerns of book binding and paper as it scales if you want to have equivalent quality to a bought book.

moonchrome 11y ago
Which is the case with 3D printing as well (materials=paper, time and post processing is even worse than printing books ATM). Even right now digital printing is still less efficient than traditional printing machines up to small numbers where it comes down to cost of printing form and reseting the machine (cleaning/setup).

cordite 11y ago

As an owner and user of a 3D printer, I don't expect the scene to get to regular household users within the next 5 years. Difference in material qualities can totally influence how you prepare the models for printing. For example, after I switched to a less brittle PLA filament, breakaway is totally different. The model may have less opportunities for failure during printing, but the plastic is less convenient to remove after the print is finished. Further sanding is needed for breakaway spots and arbitrary extrusion defects. I also find that super glue is a bad idea for assembling what is larger than can be printed at once. On a side note, if there were an automated solution for breaking apart a model, adding peg holes or woodwork inspired nailless/screwless mesh finger pegs would really fulfill a need for users with small economic 3D printers

est 11y ago
> I don't expect the scene to get to regular household users within the next 5 years. I don't expect any 3D modeling software get to regular household. Did anyone really install Google Earth or something?

madengr 11y ago

Good point. I remember thinking digital cameras were going to put photo printing shops out of business. Seems to be the opposite.

LesZedCB 11y ago
Well, they did become commoditized though.

eli_gottlieb 11y ago

That sounds like a fine business opportunity for someone trained in the use of a 3D printer: you run the thing, other people just pay you and pick up their new stuff. Such businesses could become as common as any other small convenience-retail outlet.

TeMPOraL 11y ago
It's not worth it unless you treat it as a bonus or have a farm of 3D printers working all the time. The materials are cheap, but printing is very slow and the machines tend to break often. In other words, machine time is the most expensive part for a customer. I have friends who tried making money that way; the only one who was remotely successful was a guy whose father is a respected automatic control engineer, who could forward requests for custom one-off parts to his son.

blisterpeanuts 11y ago

What about commercial 3-D printing? A large scale facility that can afford to invest in the latest and greatest printers could turn a profit in just-in-time prototyping, small runs of specialized custom designs, etc. Email us your design and we'll have 100 units ready for you to pick up in the morning. Overseas manufacturers can't beat that. They're using glass, metals, and fabrics now. It seems like only a matter of time before you can order up almost anything at the corner print shop. If I were China, I'd be trying to get upstream of this trend as soon as possible and become the main supplier of the printers in the world.