3 ms·

What you are describing is what Prusa did to for example Lulzbot. Prusa replaced Lulzbot based on price. Cheaper materials, cheaper labour in East Europe vs US

by cowl 4y ago

What you are describing is what Prusa did to for example Lulzbot. Prusa replaced Lulzbot based on price. Cheaper materials, cheaper labour in East Europe vs US, less logistic costs, less Regulation etc. Why it's acceptable for this to happen in East Europe vs US and not in China vs Europe in this case?

j-pb 4y ago
Your comparison doesn't make much sense to me. If a chinese company were to produce their own printer model and dominating the market with it, then we wouldn't have this discussion. Prusa produces their own design, in a factory in their hometown, while contributing to the open-hardware community. The chinese knockoffs produce somebody elses design in somebody elses factory and don't contribute anything back. Do I think we should curb globalisation, and encourage local production and innovation (protecting both lulzbot and prusa)? Yeah, but that's an orthogonal discussion for another day.
- cowl 4y ago
  Do you have any example in mind? The three "main competitors" right now are AnyCubic, Creality, and Bambu. All with their own Designs (and various levels of contributing back) that have nothing in common with Prusa appart the fact that they Do (among other models) Cartesian systems with fixed Z Bed. I don't doubt that if you scour in Aliexpress you might find some exact copies but by every measure they are not visible in the global market and are not competing with Prusa. Do I think that we should encourage local production? Yes. At the expense of affordability for the common people? Hell no. I don't care where John Doe got his first Hobby printer and if encouraging local production comes at the expense of less people having a chance to use the technology that is a net negative. Prusa himself Got into this business because of the affordability of the Reprap project. I Want other people to be able to dip their toes into new areas and maybe become the next Prusa, but if the entry price into the new field is equal to the monthly salary how many (and especially how many students) can afford to try and do so?

by cowl 4y ago

j-pb 4y ago

Your comparison doesn't make much sense to me. If a chinese company were to produce their own printer model and dominating the market with it, then we wouldn't have this discussion. Prusa produces their own design, in a factory in their hometown, while contributing to the open-hardware community. The chinese knockoffs produce somebody elses design in somebody elses factory and don't contribute anything back. Do I think we should curb globalisation, and encourage local production and innovation (protecting both lulzbot and prusa)? Yeah, but that's an orthogonal discussion for another day.

cowl 4y ago
Do you have any example in mind? The three "main competitors" right now are AnyCubic, Creality, and Bambu. All with their own Designs (and various levels of contributing back) that have nothing in common with Prusa appart the fact that they Do (among other models) Cartesian systems with fixed Z Bed. I don't doubt that if you scour in Aliexpress you might find some exact copies but by every measure they are not visible in the global market and are not competing with Prusa. Do I think that we should encourage local production? Yes. At the expense of affordability for the common people? Hell no. I don't care where John Doe got his first Hobby printer and if encouraging local production comes at the expense of less people having a chance to use the technology that is a net negative. Prusa himself Got into this business because of the affordability of the Reprap project. I Want other people to be able to dip their toes into new areas and maybe become the next Prusa, but if the entry price into the new field is equal to the monthly salary how many (and especially how many students) can afford to try and do so?