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Just FYI this machine can only inject 44ml of plastic. It makes tiny parts. Great progress for DIYers though!

by 55555 3y ago

jacquesm 3y ago
That's true but it's already quite impressive at that and usually when you have something working the path forward is incremental so I think over time you'll see larger and more capable units.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago
  Buster beagle sells a variant that goes up to 50 mL but once you get beyond that I think the price point is going to significantly increase. You need more pressure and capacity that an off the shelf air compressor might be able to give, for instance. So unless the availability of COTS stuff changes I think there is somewhat of a ceiling of capacity you can get at this price point
  - jacquesm 3y ago
    Hm... this has me thinking though and I'm already wondering if I shouldn't try my hands at a prototype, the key I think is that if you don't have to go fast that that's enough of a requirements change that you may be able to take another path.
    - SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago
      Yeah I would not really invest the time in this kind of setup unless you are sure you want to be doing production runs out of your garage/LI setup. One easy use case off the top of my head is if you’re trying to be allowed to put “Made in USA” on your product or you otherwise have some requirement that it be manufactured here vs simply assembled. That being said given the low cost (money) it’s also a worthwhile thing to look into because it’s so low cost. Which might be what you’re implying here, could build out a machine and even if it no longer meets your requirements down the road it’s not really a big deal because of the low monetary investment. If you’re handy that’s probably acceptable. You’ll end up knowing enough about the machine that you could probably make adjustments to it to meet some possible changing requirements down the road as well.

Just FYI this machine can only inject 44ml of plastic. It makes tiny parts. Great progress for DIYers though!

by 55555 3y ago

Just FYI this machine can only inject 44ml of plastic. It makes tiny parts. Great progress for DIYers though!

That's true but it's already quite impressive at that and usually when you have something working the path forward is incremental so I think over time you'll see larger and more capable units.

SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago
Buster beagle sells a variant that goes up to 50 mL but once you get beyond that I think the price point is going to significantly increase. You need more pressure and capacity that an off the shelf air compressor might be able to give, for instance. So unless the availability of COTS stuff changes I think there is somewhat of a ceiling of capacity you can get at this price point
- jacquesm 3y ago
  Hm... this has me thinking though and I'm already wondering if I shouldn't try my hands at a prototype, the key I think is that if you don't have to go fast that that's enough of a requirements change that you may be able to take another path.
  - SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago
    Yeah I would not really invest the time in this kind of setup unless you are sure you want to be doing production runs out of your garage/LI setup. One easy use case off the top of my head is if you’re trying to be allowed to put “Made in USA” on your product or you otherwise have some requirement that it be manufactured here vs simply assembled. That being said given the low cost (money) it’s also a worthwhile thing to look into because it’s so low cost. Which might be what you’re implying here, could build out a machine and even if it no longer meets your requirements down the road it’s not really a big deal because of the low monetary investment. If you’re handy that’s probably acceptable. You’ll end up knowing enough about the machine that you could probably make adjustments to it to meet some possible changing requirements down the road as well.