3 ms·

Funny you should mention them I was literally speaking to them this week :) Protolabs is nothing special really. The tech everyone uses for 3D printing, for q

Funny you should mention them I was literally speaking to them this week :) Protolabs is nothing special really. The tech everyone uses for 3D printing, for quick turnaround injection moulding ... it's mostly the same old stuff. 3D printing is only good for a few units, unless what your making is very small and very expensive. Custom moulding is still a big leap - and if there are any iterations (and there will be) it's not cheap. And all of the 'fine' stuff is still done by hand. So I see 3 roadblocks: 1) Rapid iteration and availability of component parts 2) True cheap way to get from 10 to 20000 units i.e. before true mass production 3) 'programmable robot hands' i.e. a very easy to program robot arm/hands that is nimble enough to fold and cut fabric, assemble arbitrary things, wipe/clean surfaces.

davidzweig 8y ago
Well, you can make 100+ high-quality plastic parts a week on a $500 SLA printer (if you can fit at least 5 on the bed, vertically), and the price per part for the material could be below $1/part (the goo costs $70 per liter). At least in theory, that's my plan in the next weeks. PCBs are no issue in smaller quantities, although the setup cost for PCB assembly will add to per unit cost if you are doing less than ~500. Here's an example, although perhaps a little big: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDUn3CoVmuc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDUn3CoVmuc Looks quite saleable to me. Maybe sand blasting would improve the finish. The real plus China having Taobao.. like eBay, but with every imaginable component you could need, and five different Chinese clones of it at 20% of the original component cost, all available at wholesale prices, in quantities of 1 or 100,000. The Shenzhen markets are still active, but shrinking.. you can usually find more variety, faster, cheaper, online. You can hand your BOM over to an agent on Taobao, and he'll get the parts together for you and ship them over.. it might cost 1/4 of the price of Digikey.
- sonnyblarney 8y ago
  Yes, if the parts are small and don't need much finishing ... that just might fly. Good luck with that I hope it works for you. Off the shelf electronics are good for some things ... not so much for others. Glad to see someone trying it!

davidzweig 8y ago

Well, you can make 100+ high-quality plastic parts a week on a $500 SLA printer (if you can fit at least 5 on the bed, vertically), and the price per part for the material could be below $1/part (the goo costs $70 per liter). At least in theory, that's my plan in the next weeks. PCBs are no issue in smaller quantities, although the setup cost for PCB assembly will add to per unit cost if you are doing less than ~500. Here's an example, although perhaps a little big: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDUn3CoVmuc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDUn3CoVmuc Looks quite saleable to me. Maybe sand blasting would improve the finish. The real plus China having Taobao.. like eBay, but with every imaginable component you could need, and five different Chinese clones of it at 20% of the original component cost, all available at wholesale prices, in quantities of 1 or 100,000. The Shenzhen markets are still active, but shrinking.. you can usually find more variety, faster, cheaper, online. You can hand your BOM over to an agent on Taobao, and he'll get the parts together for you and ship them over.. it might cost 1/4 of the price of Digikey.

sonnyblarney 8y ago
Yes, if the parts are small and don't need much finishing ... that just might fly. Good luck with that I hope it works for you. Off the shelf electronics are good for some things ... not so much for others. Glad to see someone trying it!