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Actually it would seem a good idea, if someone could do this they could form a company around it, selling the printers. That's a nice aspect of open source har
by radarsat1 15y ago
Actually it would seem a good idea, if someone could do this they could form a company around it, selling the printers. That's a nice aspect of open source hardware: unlike software, you can still make money off of instances.
Unfortunately it wouldn't work, because there's no way it would be able to compete price-wise with the massive economy of scale afforded by the big players in the industry.
- namdnay 15y agoPlus, you wouldn't be able to subsidise the up-front cost of the printer with revenue from overpriced toner
- omh 15y agoIf the printer itself is significantly cheaper overall and the toner is cheaper then many companies would see it as the more sensible option. And you can always use financing options to spread any up-front cost out, which would probably work out cheaper in monthly charges as well.
- tybris 15y agoNot sure, an open source 3D printer is already cheaper than most laser printers.
- tintin 15y agoProbably because cheap 3D printers just melt plastic and drip it on the right spot. I think the most sophisticated part of a laser printer is the toner. It has to stick on the drum but also on the paper at the right moment and at the right temperature. And it should stay on the paper for a long time without loosing it's tint. Maybe they should build an open source laser cutter weak enough to just burn the surface of paper.
- ori_b 15y agoIt's also got terrible resolution -- on the order of tens of DPI. It's slow. And it breaks down constantly. (I've heard the makerbot nicknamed the "breakerbot" thanks to it's constant failure). Open source 3d printers are great hobbies. I love them, but they're certainly nowhere near production ready.