Affordable 3D printer
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The future is here . Affordable printer ready to print http://cubify.com/cube/
It prints using abs material which is usable for spare parts and makes short runs of products almost affordable. Retail price is $1300 and I believe it is possible to get it for as little as $800. -
nice..
i'd need something with a larger capacity but this is looking promising regarding getting something more in line with my price range not too far in the future..it looks like it could be a coffee maker
:coffee emoticon: -
I wonder how this stacks up to a Makerbot?
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The thing that I notice with these printers is the final output used in the sites are not representative of the actual printing process.
Mainly it's the level of cleanup involved afterwards. Most home printers build a scaffolding around the print that needs manual trimming and internally if it's enclosed.
I've an UP printer and while the output is highly customisable you really do need to forward plan a print.
Lately I've seen printers which use a secondary plastic made with corn starch that is dissolved afterwards in a caustic soda ultrasonic bath. This makes the cleanup a breeze but the cost spirals.
It's just food for thought for those thinking of making an investment.
Recently I printed a really organic shape with various openings and folds. The print took a few hours but the cleanup involved lots of trimming, sanding and drilling which took alot longer.
It like those old airfix kits but with 1000% more support structure.
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This one is different than powder fusing 3 d printers like zcorp ones. We have zcorp in our department and yes it need drying period than audition of glue....kind of tedious. This seems different.
http://cnettv.cnet.com/first-hands-cube-3d-home-printer/9742-1_53-50117874.html -
I'm interested in this at the moment. They were on the gadget show recently and the build quality was superb.
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This printer is in the gadget section of FOCUS July edition
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I got a look at the Cube printer recently and wasn't really impressed. Their target market is kids, and so the whole system from printer to the software used to run it is dumbed down and not at all customizable. The print quality was not great either.
For a printer in this home user/hobbyist class, I think most people would be better off with a Makerbot, or if you want to build it yourself for a cheaper price, look at a Reprap. If you want to see other options, here's a huge list of them: 3D printers under $1000.
These little printers can't really be compared to the commercial ones like Z-corp and the ones used by Shapeways and other 3D print services. The commercial printers often cost upwards of 100K, and have much bigger build space, better resolution, and better quality in general. The home printers are good for getting quick results for concept testing and for simple low resolution functioning parts.
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