Ultimaker and Makerbot merge to form new 3D printing company
press.ultimaker.com
press.ultimaker.com
Edit: removed markdown
I understand that not having models in a centralized repository brings problems with discoverability. So maybe a better project would be a search engine for 3D objects hosted on the long-tail web?
Nope.
Its more like MediaGoblin[0], but decentralized like Fediverse[1].
The magic of Mastodon is not that it's a Twitter clone, it's that it's federated, so any Mastodon instance can share it's "Toots"(ugh) with any other Mastodon instance (or advantageously, not).
In my imagined server, you would host your own 3D Files, and that data would be federated to other servers. Prusa might host it's server that has thousands of users and hundreds of thousands of objects, but when someone does a search, my dozens of objects show up there too.
For background, in the 3D printer market there is a really big step function in 3D printers. The least expensive (and thus widely used) are the Creality printers which are made in China and evolve quickly as the open source market does, but seem to suffer from reliability issues. More expensive are the Prusa printers which are also open source, but rock solid in their operation and well supported. In terms of value they probably reach a good compromise between openness and capability per $ spent. Then in the "full commercial" mode (which has things that commercial users need like 24/7 on site repair, solid warranty terms and easily replaced parts that tend to have a usage lifetime (like extruders) are Makerbot (which was bought by Stratsys) and Ultimaker.
The first printer I ever bought was a Makerbot Replicator, which turned out to be the last fully open source Makerbot printer they ever produced. I chose it because Makerbot was a leader in the field and it had dual extruders so you could extrude an easily rinsed of "support" material as well as your main material and that made 3D printing complex shapes possible. It never worked well. I mean it worked as well as it could, but its best day wasn't really a good day.
I augmented it by getting a Prusa Mk3S, which has been an excellent printer. It fixed all of the issues that the Makerbot had, but lacked dual extruders so it could not easily use a separate support material. I've been very happy with the Prusa and got the kit to upgrade it to an Mk3S+ (basically better bearings) and it remains my "go to printer." However the combination of a lack of support material and the difficulty of printing ABS without an enclosure, lead me to get my third printer.
And I went back to Makerbot and got one of their Method-X printers. Their marketing makes it sound a lot better than it is, and it still requires manual build plate leveling which seems really lame for printer that lists for over $6000. My alternative choice in "pro" printers was the Ultimaker S5 (also a $6000 printer) but those don't show up on the used market nearly as much[1]. So I found a used Method printer before I found a used Ultimaker.
Sadly, the merger announcement seems to have Makerbot in charge of R&D which seems backwards. They are good at marketing, R&D not so much. Hopefully the combination will make a 3D printer company that can compete with Prusa, but if Prusa starts shipping the -XL printer, I think it is going to be a tough road.
[1] This is probably a better signal of usefulness than I give it credit for :-)
I feel like the story is a bit different in the SLA world, but I got out of 3D printing before it got really popular.
How well does this type of mergers-of-equals work out, generally? It seems like an inherently fraught arrangement, to have two CEOs, even if they nominally have different responsibilities.
The other problem is that Thingiverse is dated and not well maintained; it has received a lot of criticism from the maker community. Doesn’t bode well if their primary showcase is treated like an afterthought.
The combined company now has two very visible projects that don't make money: Cura and Thingiverse. Considering both will fall under the Makerbot guy, I think both will die.
Also, although fancier methods like SLA and MJF are way cheaper and more accessible than ever they still can't really compete with FDM for large cheap stuff so I think FDM will be around for a while.
It's possible, but:
- The Ender 3 is an "i3 clone", so in some ways still a Prusa - If your assumptions is right, it's probably just because of the price difference - The reliability you get from a Prusa is unbeatable even at much greater price points
Just to be clear, I'm not disagreeing with you, only adding context.
Note: I don’t own an ender. I have some no-name 3d printer. If I did it again I’d have gotten a prusa
If you’ve got a typical consumer 3D printer, you could be using OctoPrint anyway, just hook up a $20 webcam to it and you’ve got a camera on your octoprint interface, and in any number of mobile apps that monitor Octo.
[0] https://www.klipper3d.org/ [1] https://docs.mainsail.xyz/
What’s amazing to me is how Prusa, the undisputed leader in the space, is fully open source and continues to fully fund itself and research new technologies. They’re the antithesis of what Makerbot and Stratasys are, and are a successful company.
It was like that terrible time Apple tried to have clones. The clones just undercut Apple and made sales even worse, causing them to lose money faster. Except at least the clones paid some licensing fee.
Seems like they had to go closed or fold.
The only reason I even have heard of Ultimaker is because their software is actually pretty good. Hopefully Cura doesn't become a mess like Thingiverse or drop features because reasons.
[1]: https://www.creality.com/products/creality-ender-3-s1-3d-pri...
Says it all really.
3D design stores are still in infancy. There are either no items when I search for them or they are way too expensive.