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New Robo3d printers.

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by Dbeal, Jan 5, 2015.

  1. Dbeal

    Dbeal Active Member

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  2. drandolph

    drandolph Member

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    I was just coming in here to post that same link. I think the prices look good for what you get.
    R2 $1500 (Very Competitive. I don't have any complaint about this )
    R Mega $10k (Not as impressed price wise. Unless there is some special business support plan to go with it)
    R Mini $400 (Really good price point but it says it lacks WiFi? I'd add another $50 to the price and put WiFi back on. Single nozzle is fine)

    The one question I have for all of these printers is the HBP still on it? No mention of them and the photos are 3d renders.
    Delivery dates? Will current R1 owners get discount/priority on ordering?

    And finally when will I be able to order the Spectrom upgrade for my current R1?
     
  3. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    The color graphics display looks nice. That plus wifi makes me think they're using an ARM chip in there

    The R2 being $1500 is relieving, when they first announced it at 1500 I didn't see how it could compete against other gantry printers like the Flashforge, let alone proprietary ones like the DaVinci 2.0. I think $1500 is reasonable, though I'd prefer to see it at a $1200 price point.

    The R Mega is ridiculous. $10k is a lot of money and I'm not sure they have the reputation to float such a behemoth. Especially looking at those renders I don't think they've taken much thought into the mechanics needed for such long spanses. They should have one running at CES, so we'll see how realistic the render is. I think they need to cut that price in half to make sense. Didn't someone else launch a 1m^2 printer lately?

    The R mini I have no complaints on. The lack of wifi is a bit perplexing and hopefully something you can upgrade. Looks pretty nice even though they should have pulled more design ideas from their R2 design.

    I don't fully understand the Spectrom deal. Hopefully it's a clean solution, though I get the feeling it's going to be complex.

    Interesting that they're still pursuing makable. I wonder how they have time for that.

    I doubt we'll see a launch date anytime soon. This is just the announcement expo, probably won't see more info until another major expo.
     
  4. robert sanchez

    robert sanchez Active Member

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    I'm hoping they utilize the the E3D V6, or next gen E3D comes out with. That would allow the user to use more accessable parts and allow for easier upgrades.

    I also would hope that the R2 would be flex friednly to run NinjaFlex or other similar materials.

    Someone once told me the R1 is an 8bit system, not sure if true. An Arm processor would allow them to up their game significantly.

    I wonder if they will have the ability to control the environmental temperature? Or offer it as an upgrade.

    Can't wait to see them.
     
    #4 robert sanchez, Jan 5, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 5, 2015
  5. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    I doubt we'll see the E3D in their systems. It would be nice, but I think they'll stick with hexagon or perhaps something in house.

    I think you are correct at 8bit. It's fast enough for cartesian printers, but if you go delta it can't handle the kimenatic equations so it uses a simplified form.

    Environment temperature control is a few years out for cartesian printers because of stratasys's patent: http://www.google.com/patents/US6722872 Another 5-6 years before we see printers come with this stock
     
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  6. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    I agree. I think the price point on the E3D is just a bit too much for them to go there for bulk production.
    Sad, but reality. OTOH, maybe the Hexagon will improve :)
     
  7. robert sanchez

    robert sanchez Active Member

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    Bummer on the E3D's, you'd think with rolling out a new line, they'd be able to get a price break. Or possible license the design. Especially with the newer ARM core, they could take advantage of the volcano and the greater print speeds.

    Maybe hope for Flex friendly though.
     
  8. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    Problem with E3D is they're small scale manufacturing. Maybe a couple hundred per order. They're surprisingly reasonably priced for the scale, but for them to ramp up production for OEM they'd need a much larger setup making thousands.

    Hexagons are made in china with much less restrictive tolerances. So you get what you pay for in a lot of ways.

    You could run the Volcano on the hexagon btw.

    Flex friendly would be nice. I think more MFGs need to do this
     
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  9. Leon Grossman

    Leon Grossman Active Member

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    Hmm, it's good to see that they are moving forward into new designs. My thoughts in no particular order...

    R2 - For $1500 it needs to just work. At that price point, they can go with something much better than a Hexagon, like a Chimera or something they've designed. They should also use quality components as the weak link of printers like R1 is the shortcuts taken to meet the price point. Finally, the R2 is just a bit small. They should have aimed for 12x12x12. When the R1 was released the 10x10x10 volume was so ground breaking that even Robo 3D couldn't deliver on it. Now, this is a bit behind the times. Wifi, meh...

    R Mega - That's much more volume for gigabot pricing. I hope they're using linear motion rails, bigger motors and, overall, premium components. Cheaping out on the hot end here is not an option. This is the place to break new ground by achieving robustness not normally found in the hobbyist space.

    R Mini - There is no reason for this printer to exist. The build volume is too small to be useful for much and the mechanics can't be good enough at that price point to be truly trouble free. So, this printer will be a support headache without the profit margin to support it.

    I think these guys have their heart in the right place and I wish them luck. If the R2 were just a bit bigger, I would have put it on my shopping list if the components were as good as they should be.
     
  10. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Disagree here. There are some others in the same volume range and for smaller (desktop) sized application it is a good fit.
    Even the price is good compared to the other vendors at the same size range. Some people don't need a larger one :)
     
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  11. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    Personally, I'm not a huge fan of those small cheap printers, but they absolutely are in demand. this caters to the large mass of people that think 3D printing is cool, but can't really think of what to do with it. Look at how the micro did on kickstarter.

    I'd love to know what they're thinking with the RMega. Who are their target customers? Fascinating.
     
  12. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Indeed.
     
  13. k1e1v1i1n

    k1e1v1i1n Active Member

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    R Mega, Toys for the rich engineers?

    I would have loved to know there was a R2 coming soon, as I just got my R1 for xmas. Don't know if I could have waited but would have been nice having a choice.
     
  14. Leon Grossman

    Leon Grossman Active Member

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    @k1e1v1i1n

    I wouldn't be too worried about that as the fact that they are displaying renderings at this point indicates that we are months out from a release of R2.
     
  15. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    I believe they have actual prototypes of the printers at CES. Though no word for sure yet.

    That said I wouldn't expect the R2 until at least next fall.
     
  16. Dbeal

    Dbeal Active Member

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    I see the new Robo3d will have spectrom hotend and will offer an upgrade for the r1. This looks cool.

    http://spectrom3d.com/
     
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  17. Dbeal

    Dbeal Active Member

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  18. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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  19. k1e1v1i1n

    k1e1v1i1n Active Member

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    Working prototypes! maybe not so far off.

    But I am happy with the R1 if no other reason I have something to learn on before I get too $ invested. And I am sure i will. MC says I am 92 hours and 17 min in over the last 12 days.
     
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  20. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    They're still essentially showing z-axis swap type stuff. I bet it's more capable than that. I'd really like to see someone showing more 3 dimensionally colored things on these.
     

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