They will progress in the same way that laser printers have.

10 years and we will all have one.

Have a look here:

This is worth a watch from Jay Leno.

Geoff – Would love one of those!

Edited By OuBallie on 02/10/2013 14:32:18

**LINK**

Got an Email from Maplin the other day about an UP unit they sell online, this seems to have a similar object build size.

Not seen the Sun, so do not know about any other features.

Edited By V8Eng on 02/10/2013 16:06:07

The printer in Currys is the Cube from Cubify in the states which sells there for USD 1532, about a grand at current exchange rates so the "retails at £1950" is the usual rip off exchange rate or just marketing bu****it.

Both that one and the Maplin offering are standard filament melters which can be put together from kits by many suppliers starting at around £300, mine completed this year was £280 complete.

Most of the work on 3D printers seems to be done by enthusiasts or small start-ups so innovation and rapid development ought to follow. There is definitely room for improvement in the engineering in many of the designs.

After playing for a few months now my feeling is that this level of machine can not offer the resolution needed for our uses – I wanted to print masters which I would "lost plastic" cast but the finishing required renders it uneconomic.

I have still to source software which will let me mill on the unit using a dremel like head and machinable wax which might be better – the print head seems to be the "weak link" in the concept at present.

Andy

Edited By AndyP on 02/10/2013 16:16:27

By chance, I have just read the pullout mag from the ECONOMIST Sept 7 – 13 2013 Pages 11- 13, where in China, they are Printing wing 'spares' on a 12 meter long printer (Blimey, did they mean wing SPARS), fuselage frames in titanium. An F18 fighter has 90 parts 3D printed and the F35 a wopping 900 parts that could be made this way. Materials include ABS, metal and ceramics making it possible to make printed circuits – Real ones.

I wonder when we will see a copper boiler made this way ?

Bob H

I have done quite a bit of research over these 3D printers as I have identified a niche market in the repair industry where one of these would be a godsend.

However not all machines are built equal. I have been to see and play with the rep rap machines and the UP! Mini which I regard at both ends of the affordable spectrum.

The reprap machines are a joke, yes they work to prove the concept but the quality / accuracy of them is pathetic.

In the recent issue of MEW the photos of the parts made were terrible, not square, layers not lined up, fuzz and stringers all over.

The demo of the UP! Mini was far in front, not only could this machine calibrate itself to compensate for size and out of squareness but the quality was head and shoulders above the 4 Repraps I have seen.

Perhaps it boils down to you only get what you pay for ?

One thing that is glossed over is that you must be very proficient in solid modelling or drawing in 3D. Without a decent 3D model you can't print anything unless you do all the silly freebies like lego bricks they give away.

Don't even think about a printer until you can meet this requirement.

Edited By John Stevenson on 02/10/2013 19:03:04

I must admit I was impressed by the UP! and would get one if I had a spare grand or so and fewer claims on it!

Neil

You don't need to spend thousands of pound on CAD software like SolidWorks or Inventor – there is a good choice of hobby-priced software that does the same job with no loss of quality.

Martin.

I think for the vast number of users attracted to 3D printing it could be classed as a gimmick. You only have to look whats available on Thingyverse to see what i mean.

Over Christmas my grandaughter, big Dr Who fan, printed out a Tardis kit, 60mm sides, 120mm tall.

Took the best part of 8 hours to do all the bits and probably used £10 worth of filament and she's got something you could get from Poundland.

In this case I'm not bothered, it's my grand daughter and it's a learning experience but look on there and decide what you want to print.

For myself I have printed a compound gear that I cannot make in the 50 minutes it took and will be fine for the limited use it's needed for.

I have also prototyped some internally toothed gears that will work OK in plastic as a prototype, the two gears I needed are about £30 each from HPC but one is special in that it;s the same diameter as it's mate but two teeth different and the wrong PCD for a stock gear.

At the moment I'm not set up to do internal gears but proving this concept will allow me to set up to do metal gears.

Working on an electronic board over Christmas that has 4 different IDC sockets on it so ordered the plugs and leads before Christmas. Bit of a mess ordering as some are in 1's, some 5's and some 10's

Came to wire it up and spot the deliberate mistake

There are 5 plugs, I missed the 6 pin one against the blue cap, RS is shut, so is Farnell but hunt round on RS's web site and find a 3D drawing of a 6 pin IDC connector.

Print it out, 7 minutes once warm, and rob some pins out of one of the spare sockets and way to go.

Want a box for it ?

Traceparts this time, all the major manufacturers are supplying 3D files for free because if some lazy designer puts them into his / her design they are guaranteed sales.

So find a box, download the drawing and away you go.

Ok the quality isn't as good as liquid polymer but hey, what quality do you want for a case that you don't have to wait for.

Guys,

I think that I understand the issues regarding accuracy and resolution etc but would any anybody who has one of these machines recommend their use for making casting patterns? Are they good enough for that purpose?

Phil H

Andrew,

Totally agree. In my line of work – we have got into multi million £ heaps of trouble because somebody tries to be clever with tight tolerances that are not necessary.

I find this subject quite interesting because I once wrote a paper on how Rapid Prototyping equipment will eventually be used for production rather than just prototypes. I wrote the paper for part of my degree – in about 1999!!!

Phil H