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3D Printing Article about "should you"

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by Geof, Nov 16, 2017.

  1. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Yea, someone who has now "been there, done that and got the shirt" I see.
    Yes, marketing is too aggressive on these things we call printers (rather than mini-fab-factories).
    Too many mental assumptions in play when you label it a "printer"...
     
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  3. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    What if they marketed CNC machines that way (and at those prices)? Think about it :)
    3D printing is (slightly) easier than that so... maybe one day.
     
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  4. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    exactly. not plug and play. Wont ever be IMO. Not FDM. to many variables. Even "close ecosystem" plug and play machines fail. If your microwave fails you get a new one, I dont see people having disposable enough income to replace a 3k ultimaker every fail :D even a 399.99 Robo when a print fails lol. not an appliance, wont be one :D
     
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  5. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Not with today's tech -- I agree (and tomorrow isn't looking great either).
    However just like regular printer technology went warpspeed ... I suspect sooner than we think there will be full on "replicator" functionality eventually. Not at these prices... but eventually.
     
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  6. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    I dont think so :D. The replicator didn't fail. lol. Same as CNC sometime crash. Only difference is unless the 3D Printer is the same cost and quality with available service technicians to come onsite and repair they will forever be a tool. :D
     
  7. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    That is the fundamental flaw in the "process" at this stage. The machines are too complex and the "process" that is used to create the prints is too complex in many cases. Sure, if you can find a model that is exactly what you want on some site (a la Thingiverse) then download and print can be less involved than creating your own "thing" to print. Even so there are usually other complications that make it not quite a consumer ready thing. Not yet :)
     
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  8. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    Indeed. would be like handing an injection mold to someone without training :D. And frankly all training on 3D Printing is...yea...what training? lol. jump in and hopefully are or will become technical enough to maintain and operate your machine. If unable to do so pay someone to do it for you, if you cant, pay someone to print you something, if you cant....play doh?
     
  9. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    I am not even sure what they expect to convey when they tell people that a 3D printer is "plug-n-play".
    What does that mean? The printer might be, but the process for obtaining a model, sanitizing a model, scaling a model and printing it and then post-processing it are .. not.
     
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  10. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    3D printers are (poor analogy, but closest I can get) in the state printers were before "word processors" became main-stream.
    If you want to typeset a book ... you were in for a long haul :)
     
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  11. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    RIGHT! I'm assumign they mean the cables play nice and plug in where they are suppose to. :D I recall just pressing buttons and being frustrated for a very long while :D
     
  12. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    the part that cracks me up is this push to print big. Honest to goodness...if I didn't have prototypes that large that had money coming in I dont think I could afford the fails. After 14 inches things just get damn expensive lol. even with $14/kg PLA. That adds up to not chump change quick :D
     
  13. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    I always break a print down into smaller parts and then assemble ... It is easier to deal with and like you said -- failures not as drastic.
     
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  14. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    indeed. Honestly the smaller the printer the more reliable the experience IMO lol. Silly as that is for me to say since most prototypes are gigantor pieces but when I fire up and run a small machine, its done quick. Fire up the gmax or type a...few days we shall see lol.

    To put it into perspective...just had a clog with bronzefill on day 3 of 9 with the gmax. owch.
     
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  15. Kilrah

    Kilrah Well-Known Member

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    Paper printers always pretty much worked decently though - the creation part of things was more complex back then, but once you got it what you sent out to the printer would just print no questions asked as long as you got ink/ribbon and paper.
    With 3D printing you can take a perfectly good model, perfectly good slicing settings, and still have a big pile of mess at the other end for a million different possible reasons.

    I actually have a similarly priced CNC router/mill and pretty much find using that more predictable than 3D printing. Yes there are process variables that need tuning but not as many.
    Mistakes break things, but it's usually obvious why and you can get away with about anything by staying conservative.
     

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