4 ms·

I'm a little bit in a similar place. I reviewed a LulzBot SideKick recently, and my major takeaway was "This is a kickass printer from three years ago, but I'm

by Fomite 3y ago

I'm a little bit in a similar place. I reviewed a LulzBot SideKick recently, and my major takeaway was "This is a kickass printer from three years ago, but I'm worried about it as a new entry to the market." And there's a very good chance my lab will be replacing its current printer with a Mk4. But I think the key is I don't feel that same excitement about building a kit. The open source nature of the thing really doesn't matter to me beyond "That's nice". And that's why I bought my Mk3. Because it was a no-muss, no-fuss printer that I ordered assembled from the factory, put on my desk, and got to work with. The problem is that space is now a little more crowded, and it's hard to compete on a feature-by-feature comparison, especially at the price point. Some of that is stuff Chinese firms are getting away with, and some of it is genuinely that there's such a thing as economies of scale. But I also think Prusa has a lot of goodwill - I can't imagine another company releasing the Mk4 with a major advertised feature (input shaping) missing, and the plan for it being a one-size-fits-all approach and not getting eviscerated for it, rather than most people going "I'm pretty sure they'll work it out."

jacquesm 3y ago
I think part of this is the difference between buying a 3D printer when you've got work to do for it and buying a 3D printer out of interest in additive fabrication methods and what you could do with them. If those are answered questions then you don't need the 'tinkering' stage, you need the stuff that the printer makes much more than you need new insights (or, probably even more than you need the printer itself, its just a tool on the way to getting that stuff). I bought a Prusa kit, had it sit around for a bit, finally put it together with one of my kids and since then we keep finding really good uses for it that I would never have thought of before I had the thing. The idea that you can fabricate small scale plastic components in a tiny corner of your desk has been a game changer in many ways. Just the other day a part on my car broke, which the manufacturer wants an absolutely outrageous amount of money for (it's a part of the door mechanism). An hour later or so I had a near perfect replacement in my hands (10 minutes to design it, 50 minutes to print).
- Fomite 3y ago
  Me, having fixed something via 3d printing, to my wife: "Is this why people with woodshops are always so smug?" But yeah, my interest in 3d printers is "I need an X" - either a bespoke, custom plastic part that is made in small batches for a research project, or for my home printer, wargaming terrain, and I really don't care about modifying the printer, etc. That's also what's been standing in the way of me building a VORON - I just...don't want to.

by Fomite 3y ago

jacquesm 3y ago

I think part of this is the difference between buying a 3D printer when you've got work to do for it and buying a 3D printer out of interest in additive fabrication methods and what you could do with them. If those are answered questions then you don't need the 'tinkering' stage, you need the stuff that the printer makes much more than you need new insights (or, probably even more than you need the printer itself, its just a tool on the way to getting that stuff). I bought a Prusa kit, had it sit around for a bit, finally put it together with one of my kids and since then we keep finding really good uses for it that I would never have thought of before I had the thing. The idea that you can fabricate small scale plastic components in a tiny corner of your desk has been a game changer in many ways. Just the other day a part on my car broke, which the manufacturer wants an absolutely outrageous amount of money for (it's a part of the door mechanism). An hour later or so I had a near perfect replacement in my hands (10 minutes to design it, 50 minutes to print).

Fomite 3y ago
Me, having fixed something via 3d printing, to my wife: "Is this why people with woodshops are always so smug?" But yeah, my interest in 3d printers is "I need an X" - either a bespoke, custom plastic part that is made in small batches for a research project, or for my home printer, wargaming terrain, and I really don't care about modifying the printer, etc. That's also what's been standing in the way of me building a VORON - I just...don't want to.