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Discovering T-slot was a revelation for me, lego for "grown-ups" basically. There's a good reason why the majority of decent 3D printers are built from it.

by janekm 8y ago

TaylorAlexander 8y ago
I would guess that the majority of 3D printers by shipped units are made of bent sheet metal.
- detritus 8y ago
  'Decent'. - ed I should qualify this, lest it come across as mere snark - from my meanderings on the internet and a couple of visits to 3D printing shows, the machines that seemed capable/large/demi-industrial were made from extrusions and t-slots. Certainly, where it comes to rigid forms necessary for (none- heavy industrial) CNC and such, they are heavily used. eg. Germany's BigRep http://c93fea60bb98e121740fc38ff31162a8.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/bigrep.jpg http://c93fea60bb98e121740fc38ff31162a8.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-...
  - TaylorAlexander 8y ago
    Ah. I was thinking something like the Prusa, which is $1000, and it’s derivatives which are $200-500. The BigRep is apparently around $40k. I think the cheaper printers ship in higher volumes. As far as “decent”, I do a lot with my sub $1k machines. The expensive ones seem to work better, but the price is so high I don’t consider them. And I come from a background of CNC machining where I’m familiar with $100k machines. Now I’m really happy with my $500 printer.
    - janekm 8y ago
      Actually I was thinking machines like the Creality3D ones (like the Ender 3S, I just bought one recently) which while far from perfect perform miracles at their (<$200) price point, in large part due to having a stiff frame with few resonances due to being built from commodity T-slot components. Even the Prusa i3 mk3 now uses T-slots for the base, though in their case it seems to be more of a DFM improvement. You're right though that sheet metal is very prevalent in the mid-range 3D printers and is an excellent choice for machines built in volume.

Discovering T-slot was a revelation for me, lego for "grown-ups" basically. There's a good reason why the majority of decent 3D printers are built from it.

by janekm 8y ago

Discovering T-slot was a revelation for me, lego for "grown-ups" basically. There's a good reason why the majority of decent 3D printers are built from it.

TaylorAlexander 8y ago

I would guess that the majority of 3D printers by shipped units are made of bent sheet metal.

detritus 8y ago
'Decent'. - ed I should qualify this, lest it come across as mere snark - from my meanderings on the internet and a couple of visits to 3D printing shows, the machines that seemed capable/large/demi-industrial were made from extrusions and t-slots. Certainly, where it comes to rigid forms necessary for (none- heavy industrial) CNC and such, they are heavily used. eg. Germany's BigRep http://c93fea60bb98e121740fc38ff31162a8.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/bigrep.jpg http://c93fea60bb98e121740fc38ff31162a8.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-...
- TaylorAlexander 8y ago
  Ah. I was thinking something like the Prusa, which is $1000, and it’s derivatives which are $200-500. The BigRep is apparently around $40k. I think the cheaper printers ship in higher volumes. As far as “decent”, I do a lot with my sub $1k machines. The expensive ones seem to work better, but the price is so high I don’t consider them. And I come from a background of CNC machining where I’m familiar with $100k machines. Now I’m really happy with my $500 printer.
  - janekm 8y ago
    Actually I was thinking machines like the Creality3D ones (like the Ender 3S, I just bought one recently) which while far from perfect perform miracles at their (<$200) price point, in large part due to having a stiff frame with few resonances due to being built from commodity T-slot components. Even the Prusa i3 mk3 now uses T-slots for the base, though in their case it seems to be more of a DFM improvement. You're right though that sheet metal is very prevalent in the mid-range 3D printers and is an excellent choice for machines built in volume.