Fast Company: Solidoodle is a new effort from a former COO of MakerBot, Samuel Cervantes, aiming to bring the 3-D printer within reach of the average consumer with a price tag under $500. But it's not the only project in its class, and with at least a couple more systems on the way it's likely that 3-D printing will happen in your home sooner rather than later.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
The Home 3-D Printer Is More Real Than Ever--And Costs As Much As An iPad
Fast Company: Solidoodle is a new effort from a former COO of MakerBot, Samuel Cervantes, aiming to bring the 3-D printer within reach of the average consumer with a price tag under $500. But it's not the only project in its class, and with at least a couple more systems on the way it's likely that 3-D printing will happen in your home sooner rather than later.
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7 comments:
Can we get one? This is incredible, just the beginning of the school year was when I originally heard about 3D printing and the concept continuously impresses me. It great to see that such a thing is so relatively affordable. taking in to consideration that many designers and TDs have brought up to me is how much people utilize the lazer cutter but in reality once they graduate won't have access to one as regularly. Perhaps this availability of this piece of tech could translate to designers, and TD's for modeling and prototyping.
Is this the future?
I've been reading about 3D printing all year long on this blog and I had no idea until now just how accesible this was becoming. I'm not sure I think that 3D printers are going to be as common as regular printers just yet, but I think this could be a fantastic tool for small companies and designers.
Then again, I do wonder if this will be the next big thing. I remember when cell phone started to become more popular, it seemed totally far-fetched that they would ever be as commonplace as they are today. I have the same feeling about 3D printing. Who knows what could happen.
Also, we should totally get one.
This is amazing. I've known about 3D printers for some time but had no idea they had become so easily accessed and for so cheap too! I can see where this would be very beneficial for areas in the arts or engineering. It does sadden me though. I had hoped that at least model building would be the one skill that would remain to be done by hand. AutoCAD and laser cutting has taken over CMU SOD already. When do we get one of these?
This is amazing. I am fascinated by 3-D printers and I think that it is amazing that 3-D printers are getting to the point where they are affordable. I think that it will be very interesting when we get to the point where it is just standard for people to have a 3-D printer in their homes. I know that architecture has a 3-D printer and I think that it would be useful for the designers in the school of drama to have access to one. I think that it is nice that a designer would be able to be able to buy one and therefore have access to one outside of school.
I guess anyone can be fairly unlimited as to how they work and what they are capable of doing. We are living in an age of technology and I have no doubt that it is just the beginning and that I am going to witness this particular piece of machinery grow and evolve, which will be fascinating. It also raises a bunch of questions as to legal terms and copyright terms. I'm not entirely sure that we will continue to want to design or if we want to forever be stuck in a replication state of mind because machines like this make it too easy for us. Sometimes it is the manual process that teaches us something. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
I've been following the progress of MakerBot for a couple of years waiting to see if there would be a more affordable solution to having 3D printing capability. I've seen MakerBots working at Maker Faire and really liked their results. They're relatively fast for extrusion additive molding too. Now that the Solidoodle is pre-ordering for such an affordable price, I'm thinking of picking one up. My only complaint is that I wish it could be available in a kit version at that price, so I could build it myself and know every aspect of the machine so that I can fix it when or if it breaks down in the future. One complaint I have heard about the Solidoodle is its warranty - "Terms & Conditions
Products on this site are provided as is without any guarantees or warranty. In connection with the product, Solidoodle makes no warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, of title, or of noninfringement of third party rights. Use of the product by a user is at the user’s risk."
Basically, they are selling a product that has no guarantee of being functional at all - something I would feel more confident in buying if I could assemble myself.
Unfortunately, I don’t think I am nearly as fascinated as everyone else. I would be really interested to see what the tolerances are on the printer and how exact a model is possible. I think you would be hard pressed to find anything that you could make with a plastic 3D printer that you couldn’t make better with something else. With that said, it would be cool to have your own printer for home or personal use.
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