DIY Home 3D printing

[AndrewBeasley]

I've just found that Maplin are selling 3D printers!  

Not the cheapest way to make a figure and its a bit hard to tell the quality but could this be the first breakthrough into the home market in the UK?

Printer details are http://www.maplin.co.uk/3d-printer

Velleman K8200 http://www.maplin.co.uk/velleman £700

Up Plus 2 http://www.maplin.co.uk/up-plus-2 £1620

First one is a kit / second runs from the box and both prices have the obligatory 1p added by me.

Shame I have no skills in design    I would come back to http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23727229

Nice to see Maplin in the lead again - I come from the age of Maplin and Tandy (Radio Shack) leading the way with electronics and computers - how old does that make me feel...

[Elk101]

That is cool! I just watched the video of the 2 up, you could make all the scenery you wanted (especially since I'm cad trained!). I just need £1600 now.

[OSHIROmodels]

It's basically a motorised hot glue gun and the detail isn't suitable for figures at all, probably not for scenery either.

They will improve but not anytime soon.

cheers

James

[Dewbakuk]

It's basically a motorised hot glue gun and the detail isn't suitable for figures at all, probably not for scenery either.

They will improve but not anytime soon.

Do you mean these ones or 3D printers in general? I know a man with a printer that is well up to the job of making 30mm figures with frankly superb detail. The issue of course is that printer was insanely expensive and when you work out the costs involved in that type of print, it's cheaper to hire a sculptor

[Elk101]

Shame; not that I could buy one anyway! Looking at the 3d rabbit they made I thought 'ooh a terrain making machine!'. These things rarely turn out to be as good as they'd like to make out. Out of interest what sort of thing could this be used for?

[OSHIROmodels]

Do you mean these ones or 3D printers in general? I know a man with a printer that is well up to the job of making 30mm figures with frankly superb detail. The issue of course is that printer was insanely expensive and when you work out the costs involved in that type of print, it's cheaper to hire a sculptor

These ones. We get stuff done for work quite often with the proper ones and the quality is fine.

cheers

James

[Cubs]

About ten years ago I was visiting a company down the road called Drumlord, who make prototype parts for all sorts of stuff. Basically the designer comes up with a design, they make the parts, which get put together and poked and prodded before anyone has to go the expense of building production models (or indeed the machines that have to make the production models).

The 3D printers they had back then were about the same dimensions as one of those novelty crane machines you see, half full of fluffy toys and stuff. The bottom half was hidden from view (probably containing the wizard who made it all work) and the top half was mostly glass.

It was an amazing piece of kit, but the piece fresh from the machine was distinctly built of tiny layers. It needed to be 'finished' and polished to smooth out the little ridges before being put together into a prototype model.

It seems that these early retail ones for the home are at that sort of level of finish. I can well see them being a fairly common addition to the home by around 2020-2025.

[beefcake]

I pledged for one of these. Hope it doesn't fall through, or isn't a scam.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pirate3d/the-buccaneer-the-3d-printer-that-everyone-can-use

[Dewbakuk]

These ones. We get stuff done for work quite often with the proper ones and the quality is fine.

Fair enough, the issue with the home devices is economies of scale etc. Business will pay the £20k-200k needed for top level machines but in business the prices don't tend to come down, the machines just get better (older machines get cheaper of course and filter down through the levels of business). For the machines to get cheaper, they need the demand of the domestic market so that there is a need to improve and make cheaper etc to compete. Therein lies the issue, if people aren't buying them because they aren't good enough, then the companies can't see the demand...

Thankfully, our little niche hobby doesn't control the market   as our demands are frankly unreasonable at this stage. What's going to drive it now is people making phone cases, barbie doll furniture, stylised kitchen utensils, baby toys etc.

I'm seriously considering buying a 3d printer at this level. While it probably won't help my hobby that much and certainly isn't cheap, I can see it's uses and perhaps more importantly, I want my kids to grow up with access to this kind of technology from an early age.

[Gary Peach]

Want 1 just dont have the reddys.  The thing with them is to 'design clever'.  They would be great for all those details for buildings, doors, window frames, etc... 

I have a machine that cuts card and other materials and use it for leaf shapes, window frames, roof tiles, slates etc...

Then again I have x thousands of CAD package to work with.

PS.  if anyone wants to buy 1 Im happy to have a go

[Schlumpfsa]

I've just thrown my hat in to the peachy campaign  http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-peachy-printer-the-first-100-3d-printer-scanner/x/4828018

it uses a laser and light sensitive resin, but it's hard to tell how good the results are.  The stats say it can print 0.2mm, but the pics look a bit rough.  Won't arrive til next year, but the price is right - the early bird pledge is only $90 Canadian plus $20 shipping.  I've seen some things made with the deposition printers and the layering is very obvious, no good for fine detail like miniatures and small scenery items unless you use it to your advantage somehow.

[Red Orc]

... the detail isn't suitable for figures at all, probably not for scenery either...

How about stuff that's basically panels? Stuff like GW tanks, maybe?

[OSHIROmodels]

It would be easier to do it by hand.

cheers

James

[Melnibonean]

I've seen some great results and some very dodgy results but I guess it all comes down to how much you want to spend.

Maybe in the not-to-far future a home version could be used to produce terrain. I guess a shrewd marketer could start investing in CAD building designs to sell as downloadable files in anticipation of the 3d print revolution (if it ever comes  ).

[Sangennaru]

I pledged for one of these. Hope it doesn't fall through, or isn't a scam.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pirate3d/the-buccaneer-the-3d-printer-that-everyone-can-use

seems very interesting! As always, the quality is a great limit for a home printer today.