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There are a few SLS printers that are approaching home/SB use pricing, <$10k. I don't think CO2 lasers are that expensive to build so I would imagine pricing ca
by mbell 9y ago
There are a few SLS printers that are approaching home/SB use pricing, <$10k. I don't think CO2 lasers are that expensive to build so I would imagine pricing can drop a fair bit if the volume gets there.
- opencl 9y agoSintering metals requires far more powerful lasers than the the cheaper SLS models have, the cheapest models capable of sintering aluminum are much closer to the million dollar mark. The ultra-cheap-market-disrupting-startup Desktop Metal is supposedly going to have something for $120k soon which is an enormous leap over what's currently available but I doubt it'll hit hobbyist level pricing anytime remotely soon.
- Pica_soO 9y agoJust wait till consumers find out how toxic those fumes and particles really get with laser-sintering- and the whole market evaporates anyway.
- derefr 9y agoCompared to $120k for the printer, getting a fume hood installed in your house would be a pretty negligible cost.
- dogma1138 9y agoDesktop metal isn't sintering it's powered metal deposition in a resin matrix. The parts then need to be baked in an oven at near melting point temperatures.
- reportingsjr 9y agoWhich is super exciting really! Formlabs, who make a really nice stereo lithography printer, announced an SLS printer[1] recently for $10k and I think they will do pretty well with it. They only list nylon as a material right now, but this sort of iteration is exactly what it takes for us to get affordable high quality additive manufacturing machines. [1]: https://formlabs.com/3d-printers/fuse-1/ https://formlabs.com/3d-printers/fuse-1/