I've work as a quality tech for 7 years and I'll confess that I have almost no experience in manufacturing plastics and alike substances as most of my experience comes from steel, and aluminum. Aside from products that have a mechanical or electrical function (which would most likely be made on a CNC), the lowest tolerances you'll see for most parts is around +/- 0.1mm (or .004 off the top of my head) and even then that is rare as .5 mm is much more typical. There do exist things don't go through a CNC with lower tolerances, but I assure you that tolerances aren't being held reliably and alot of waste is involved in the process.
As for my intrest in a 3D printer. I'd say that at this point it would probably be for quicker prototyping and learning. So I'd probably go for something basic that would come with a few advanced features to use as I get better. I'd probably look into a better one once I figure out what I'm doing.
So just go with Shapeway. You cannot afford a machine that will produce result that you can be happy with.
This is the thought process about 3d printers that I hate. There are about a thousand different types of plastic. There are engineers who design things out of certain plastics in certain ways because they've been educated in material science and design. Just 3d printing something that looks like something else does not make it equivalent. Is that blender lid made from a material that's rated as safe for food contact by the FDA? How's it going to hold up in your dishwasher? Is it going to crumble into your food because you washed it with the wrong detergent? Or is it going to start flaking over time, leaving garbage in your food?
People seem to think that if two widgets have the same dimensions, they are compatible. Um, no. If you're generally ecstatic with poor quality made in China knock off anything, then you'd probably be totally happy with 3d printed junk!
Sure, "they" may have said that about PCs 30 years ago, but "they" weren't composed of people whose opinions meant anything. 30 years ago, I was helping a major manufacturing company computerize its lab, as well as integrate PCs into the business department and shipping/ordering departments. People were buying Apple IIs just to run Visicalc in the early 80s. By about 1984, Lotus 123 immediately overtook Visicalc in sales. So, only a moron 30 years ago wouldn't have realized the usefulness of PCs.That's what they said about PCs 30 years ago and the internet 20 years ago respectively.
The thing is that for the average person, a 3D printer wouldn't be much more than a toy. This would at least be the case until when and if someone figures out a way to make it easy to design 3d printed objects in WYSIWYG kind of way. And even then I seriously doubt that WYSIWYG would deliver the kind of accuracy that you would need to create sophisticated designs that would function.
However, I think that 3D printers have enormous potential in the hands of a skilled individual.
It's ridiculous to think it's a money saver. From a materials engineering point of view, you're not going to 3-D print all these parts and have them serve the same purpose. A few posts up, someone has a link to the youtube video of a very large wrench being duplicated. Do you know how much torque a very large steel wrench is capable of? There's a reason manufacturers who mass produce wrenches make them out of steel - the same reason a garage buys Snap-on tools, and not Fisher Price tools.I view it as a potential money-saver.
Things like this: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1006834
Look around at how much stuff you have that's made out of plastic. If you can 3D model it, you can get a new one for the price of filament.
I've also used it to make little brackets, jigs, and adapters for some woodworking projects, case mods, etc. Replaced the corner brackets I lost from my strap clamp, made some limit switch holders for a CNC machine.
If you're not somebody who makes stuff regularly, I don't think a 3D printer will change that though.
Another thing is - how freaking careless are people that they are breaking things all the time? I think I've owned a blender for about... well forever. I've broken the lid on it exactly zero times. In fact, I'm struggling to think of the last time when I broke something that I would have wanted to print out a replacement. Hurray! I cracked a switch plate. Let's see, I could print out a new switchplate at a cost of several dollars in materials, plus a percentage of the original cost of the 3-D printer. Or, I could wait until tomorrow and buy a replacement for 50 cents or less. The beautiful thing about mass manufacturing - it brings down the price. You'll never compete on price on replacement parts, except for replacement parts that are proprietary and only manufactured by one company with a patent. That being the case, I have no doubt that if 3-D printing gets popular for replacing such over-priced replacement pieces, the only ones who are going to get the plans for printing those are the same people using Pirate Bay today - a very very small percentage of the overall population. Thus, 3-D printers will never be cheaper than just purchasing cheap mass produced parts, and it will be so difficult for the average person to get plans for non-widely available parts that it wouldn't be worth the bother to own a 3-D printer. The only people who will own them are 3-D hobbyists.This is the thought process about 3d printers that I hate. There are about a thousand different types of plastic. There are engineers who design things out of certain plastics in certain ways because they've been educated in material science and design. Just 3d printing something that looks like something else does not make it equivalent. Is that blender lid made from a material that's rated as safe for food contact by the FDA? How's it going to hold up in your dishwasher? Is it going to crumble into your food because you washed it with the wrong detergent? Or is it going to start flaking over time, leaving garbage in your food?
People seem to think that if two widgets have the same dimensions, they are compatible. Um, no. If you're generally ecstatic with poor quality made in China knock off anything, then you'd probably be totally happy with 3d printed junk!
This is very true. But yet, it's another reason why 3-D printers aren't going to be a common household item beyond hobbyists. You're still not going to be able to match all of the characteristics and properties of many manufactured items. And, it's insane to think that the average homeowner is going to want to have all of these different types of raw materials available for some 3-D printer that can do a variety of different manufacturing processes.Do you really think 3D printer nerds aren't taking that into account, or are you actually unaware of all the different available materials, finishing processes, etc., and think that everything is made from PLA with 10% infill and no surface prep?
Another thing is - how freaking careless are people that they are breaking things all the time? I think I've owned a blender for about... well forever. I've broken the lid on it exactly zero times. In fact, I'm struggling to think of the last time when I broke something that I would have wanted to print out a replacement. Hurray! I cracked a switch plate. Let's see, I could print out a new switchplate at a cost of several dollars in materials, plus a percentage of the original cost of the 3-D printer. Or, I could wait until tomorrow and buy a replacement for 50 cents or less. The beautiful thing about mass manufacturing - it brings down the price. You'll never compete on price on replacement parts, except for replacement parts that are proprietary and only manufactured by one company with a patent. That being the case, I have no doubt that if 3-D printing gets popular for replacing such over-priced replacement pieces, the only ones who are going to get the plans for printing those are the same people using Pirate Bay today - a very very small percentage of the overall population. Thus, 3-D printers will never be cheaper than just purchasing cheap mass produced parts, and it will be so difficult for the average person to get plans for non-widely available parts that it wouldn't be worth the bother to own a 3-D printer. The only people who will own them are 3-D hobbyists.
This is the thought process about 3d printers that I hate. There are about a thousand different types of plastic. There are engineers who design things out of certain plastics in certain ways because they've been educated in material science and design. Just 3d printing something that looks like something else does not make it equivalent. Is that blender lid made from a material that's rated as safe for food contact by the FDA? How's it going to hold up in your dishwasher? Is it going to crumble into your food because you washed it with the wrong detergent? Or is it going to start flaking over time, leaving garbage in your food?
People seem to think that if two widgets have the same dimensions, they are compatible. Um, no. If you're generally ecstatic with poor quality made in China knock off anything, then you'd probably be totally happy with 3d printed junk!
Yep. Gotta be careful about what you're going to use with food. At least in preliminary tests with zebrafish, there seems to be a small amount of cause to be suspicious of using home-printed materials for replacing kitchen parts.Zebrafish exposed to disks printed with stereolithography lacked normal coloring, showed abnormal swelling, and died within a week, similarly to Oskui’s initial observations. In contrast, fish exposed to disks printed with fused deposition modeling mostly developed and survived similarly to controls.
Stereolithography-based printers use light to polymerize layers of a liquid resin usually containing acrylate and methacrylate monomers, a class of chemicals known to be toxic. The researchers hypothesize that monomers or short-chain polymers that are not fully polymerized could be leaching from the parts. Fused deposition modeling, on the other hand, builds parts from melted, fully polymerized material that then resolidifies.
In an effort to reduce the toxic effects of stereolithography-printed pieces by completing polymerization, the team exposed the printed parts to ultraviolet light for an hour, and found that this mostly obviated the toxic effects on the zebrafish. The findings are too preliminary to draw conclusions about human toxicity, Grover says, but they indicate that 3-D printing waste should be carefully managed to prevent harm to ecosystems.
The only time I've thought about getting a 3D printed part was when this plastic ring in my grinder that holds the top blade in place broke in half. But a call the next day to Bodum about buying a new ring led to them simply sending me a new top-blade assembly (blade + plastic holder ring) for free. I just can't see the current benefit of individual ownership of 3D printers.
http://cen.acs.org/articles/93/web/2015/11/3-D-Printed-Parts-Leach.html
Yep. Gotta be careful about what you're going to use with food. At least in preliminary tests with zebrafish, there seems to be a small amount of cause to be suspicious of using home-printed materials for replacing kitchen parts.
Do you really think 3D printer nerds aren't taking that into account, or are you actually unaware of all the different available materials, finishing processes, etc., and think that everything is made from PLA with 10% infill and no surface prep?
Filament is expensive as hell. 3D printers are even more so.I view it as a potential money-saver.
Things like this: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1006834
Look around at how much stuff you have that's made out of plastic. If you can 3D model it, you can get a new one for the price of filament.
I've also used it to make little brackets, jigs, and adapters for some woodworking projects, case mods, etc. Replaced the corner brackets I lost from my strap clamp, made some limit switch holders for a CNC machine.
If you're not somebody who makes stuff regularly, I don't think a 3D printer will change that though.
I've work as a quality tech for 7 years and I'll confess that I have almost no experience in manufacturing plastics and alike substances as most of my experience comes from steel, and aluminum. Aside from products that have a mechanical or electrical function (which would most likely be made on a CNC), the lowest tolerances you'll see for most parts is around +/- 0.1mm (or .004 off the top of my head) and even then that is rare as .5 mm is much more typical. There do exist things don't go through a CNC with lower tolerances, but I assure you that tolerances aren't being held reliably and alot of waste is involved in the process.
As for my intrest in a 3D printer. I'd say that at this point it would probably be for quicker prototyping and learning. So I'd probably go for something basic that would come with a few advanced features to use as I get better. I'd probably look into a better one once I figure out what I'm doing.
Lot of different things. I'm a hobbyist in general, but I'd also see it as a learning tool.
There are very few things that are mass produced that actually need that level of accuracy and not everything we need is made of metal. You are very close minded. That being said, I hope I die before I get old.
But but...there's 3d printed parts on the space station!!!
Same company - same guy was on This Old House & built a mock-up of part of an addition for the remodel.They've already started work on printing moving parts as well. If you have a few minutes, this is a really nice video on how they 3D-print a (large) adjustable wrench:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ-aWFYT_SU
I've work as a quality tech for 7 years and I'll confess that I have almost no experience in manufacturing plastics and alike substances as most of my experience comes from steel, and aluminum. Aside from products that have a mechanical or electrical function (which would most likely be made on a CNC), the lowest tolerances you'll see for most parts is around +/- 0.1mm (or .004 off the top of my head) and even then that is rare as .5 mm is much more typical. There do exist things don't go through a CNC with lower tolerances, but I assure you that tolerances aren't being held reliably and alot of waste is involved in the process.