I think they are taking the p with their advertising on that item – showing gears, shoes etc. It may be the advertising chain of people are all believing the hype or have seen a few videos of the serious professional machines and don't realise the limitations of the product they are selling.

All up, though I am normally a fan of Velleman kits, I think there are going to be a lot of disappointed people seriously out of pocket. Another danger is they turn up at the local ME club looking for help and we have to put in a lot of work or at least explain they have wasted their money.

An expensive RepRap variant compared to this for example.

Russell.

Certainly more expensive, but the 200mm cube build volume is considerably larger too.

Regards,

Tony

Careful Chris or you might be spending your money very quickly! I think they do already use metal deposition techniques (or laser fusing) to create 3D parts in strong alloy steel.

Ian P

Not so Chris you need to think out of the box.

Model Engineer 4458 the one with the Lynx radial on the cover.

Inside there is a write up of this model in general, on page 853 it shows the cylinder head built up from PVC and then silicon rubber moulds were made, then wax patterens cast to go to the foundry for lost wax casting.

This is an ideal application for a 3D print model.

Another thing I though of was a while ago a customer of mine, large rewind company, had a small universal fan motor with plastic bell end that held the brushes and tail bearing.

Tail bearing siezed and melted the housing, tiny motor, just fitted into the palm of your hand but weird config.

Siemens wanted £900 for a new motor and 6 weeks wait. Managed to repair it but very time consuming but if it had burnt the brush holders away it would have been a nightmare to repair with an insulating material.

3D printing one would have been a doddle and paid for the machine outright.

Most home printers print in either or both PLA or ABS..pla is lower melt point and I have yet to find any production parts made in it..ABS is widly used…think leggo bricks… But pla can be removed by soak in hot caustic soda solution…so one could print mould..fill with epoxy then desolve mould….also maybe Lost wax process and “MICRO FOUNDRY” techniques. .this process is still in infancy so all the wrinkles have yet to be thought of let alone solved…btw printing in stainless steel and laser sintering have yet to hit domestic machines… but I can’t wait

Hi, the Velleman 3D printer may well be an expensive novelty for many who may well sell it on for less once the novelty has waned, but no doubt there will be those who will achieve positive useful results with it and even make mods to improve its fucntion. Could be a very useful low cost R&D for the developers of the machine once they get a bit of feedback.

It can be amazing what the outcome of the home experimenter can contribute to further the usefulness of such a tool with ideas that have been dissmissed or overlooked. Whatever, I don't think 3D printing in the home workshop will go away no more than CNC will.

I don't think that I'm likely to buy one anytime soon, if ever, though.

Regards Nick.

John

I would be very interested on what laser cutter you purchased
Bob

Sounds like the stencils we used to use with a typewriter to print our catalogeus back in the seventies.

Russell.