Makerbot announces new 3D printer: Replicator 2
makerbot.com
makerbot.com
However the site then asked me to register before I could proceed, and in an approach that seemed to want to take me out of process. I stopped right there and didn't even click. I hate registering and see no need to register for something when all I want to do is purchase.
One of the easiest ways to improve your sales is to allow check-out without register. Let people buy and only ask them to 'save your settings' at the end and sales lift 5-15% from what I have seen.
Meanwhile I came here instead and read about the upcoming Formlabs release. Sorry Makerbot - I'll wait.
edit: Instead of replying to d23. There are a lot of things which I buy out of impulse, like "that would be cool to have". But if I have to go to excessive lengths just to buy the thing, I don't.
Our propensity to buy peaks at a certain value - say 10 points for me in this instance.
Every time an obstacle is placed in the way that propensity gets reduced by a value related to the frustration level. As the points reduce our propensity to buy becomes irrelevant in the face of the many other things going on.
They had already for me lost points for 1: not making it clear that the printer only uses PLA and not ABS (-3), 2: the fact that it doesn't accept ABS (-2) and 3: because only one color of PLA is available at the moment (-2). The unnecessary registration was enough to halt the process. (-6)
Note how relatively large the usability scores are versus the functionality scores. Being easy to deal with is absolutely paramount in commerce.
That's an unfortunate filter to have in place.
A 3D printer has been on my radar for a while, and I saw this as the first design that's refined and cheap enough for my purposes.
I do tend to make quick decisions, and $2200 is within my range at the moment.
True story: I had been looking at Mazda's twin-turbocharged RX-7. I already had a fire-breathing sports-car. I didn't really need this thing. But I really liked it.
I've been into R/C model airplanes my entire life and have always had a particular attraction to high-end, high-performance gliders.
One fine Sunday afternoon I was coming back from a flying session and decided to stop by the dealership to check out the RX-7 one more time. The sales guy pressured as they usually do. For some reason I put a stupid challenge on the table. I said: "I have a 2.5 meter glider wing in my car right now. If it fits into the twin-turbo RX-7, I'll buy it."
I drove the RX-7 home that day.
Impulse buys, almost by definition, can always be deterred by minor distractions. Cost, and other seemingly important factors don't really matter.
The apple store exists in part because people make large purchases on a whim, same for car dealerships, etc.
Resins fall apart (decompose, occasionally burst into fire) when you heat them up, thermoplastics melt. A FDM machine can't print thermoset plastics.
I've made $500 contracting a short 18 hour gig designing enclosures. I've made shelving. I've made chess sets. I've made heart gears that delighted others. I've made spool rollers, and desktop ornaments.
Get used to it. It's the quintessential 21st century malady.
I think the designer may have a higher-end 3D printer than we're discussing here - he mentions a 3D touch, and they start at $3500ish.
What the heck are they thinking?
They could have keep the spec of their first generation and try to figure out how to make it cheaper over time without losing quality.
Then again, I'm comparing it to milling machines and lathes; perhaps the market for low end 3D printing is sufficiently different that what I know doesn't apply.
That said, I think it was stupid of them to drop the kit versions of their printers, which more people could actually afford, although this is coming from someone in a "fly-over" state, where a mortgage payment on a nice house in the 'burbs is less than half the replicator2 cost. I suppose if you live someplace where the cost of living is much higher (New York City, for example), then spending $2k+ on a toy isn't really a big deal.
http://typeamachines.com/details
Disclosure - don't work for them, but I've met them at Noisebridge and perused the design. I've also built my own 3D printer, so I know a little about these things. The Type A design is a very good design! It's built for low moving head mass, thus high printing speed, but without the disadvantages of a Bowden cable.
I also went the build-my-own route because about the time my "buy silly toys" fund was up to where I could buy one, anything with a useable build envelope had a price increase pushing it beyond what I wanted to spend, and I wasn't really happy with the designs -- I really don't like that plywood & screw style construction. Using my own design allowed me to get away from those issues.
I think it's neat they're offering more advanced machines, but I'd also like to see them release a budget model.
I understand that your price range is lower than this but this is a tool not a toy, and as a tool with this kind of capability it is absolutely dirt cheap.
I think after reading about the Kickstarter, where the gentleman was being praised by some and chastised by others for deliberately trying to undercut makerbots, and reading about some of the other less expensive options, that maybe Makerbot would be trying to start lowering costs with new models. It's great that instead they've scaled up quality and performance, but still disappointing to the kid in me waiting for a CD burner.
So maybe "budget model," is poor terminology? Perhaps what I'm hoping and waiting for is it to reach the diffusion point in technological change? It seems to have already begun, as there are less expensive options, but eventually I'd like to a reputable name like Makerbot putting out sturdy models most people can afford.
If you want a 3D printer and cash is an issue, look to building your own Reprap. Assuming you get it right the first time and don't need to buy tools, a total cost of under $500 for a Prusa Mendel is achievable. Obviously you have to build it, but given the target market that's often not a problem. Most people who want to build 3D printed stuff are generally happy to assemble robots too.
Or you can just buy a Solidoodle. I did.
http://store.solidoodle.com/index.php?route=product/product&...
The Makerbot 2 does look very nice and I like the high resolution and larger build area - but I'm holding out for one with dual extruders.
As for head drift and maintenance, no head drift and almost no maintenance required. I had to level the bed as it wasn't quite right when I got it (UPS clearly smashed the package as always, though, so it was probably right when it was shipped).
I think the manufactured steel-frame approach that Solidoodle and MakerBot have taken is superior in many ways to the cobbled-together threaded rods/hardware approach that RepRap designs take - you pay more for a large build area, but it's easier to get decent strength and much less fiddly in terms of setup (no adjusting bolts to make rods line up and the like). Sure, you can't make a copy with just a hardware store and a 3D printer, but for the price and functionality difference, I'll deal with that drawback.
I've printed a couple of decently complex models and what I've found is that settings and filament matter a -lot- more than anything else. The print head goes where I want it to and the extruder pushes the amount of plastic I request through the nozzle - beyond that, it's all about making sure the filament isn't expanding too much in the hot end via high quality filament and making sure there is -no- water in it, and getting the slicer to request the correct amount of plastic at the right rate.
EDIT: I originally said .3 vs .2 - but it is actually .3 vs .1 - so the R2 is much more fine. Still - $500 is a good price for this at all.
Can they both use the same filament?
If you get the heated bed option, yes.
Check out RichRap trying out different "resolutions" (layer heights) on his MendelMax printer with a Wade's extruder here to learn more about how layer heights work:
http://richrap.blogspot.com/2012/01/slic3r-is-nicer-part-3-h...
Base Model $499:
Everything you need to print - just add a computer!
Acrylic Build Plaform - good for doing small prints
70W power supply
Open design (no outer cover/door)
Heated Build Platform - allows you to build large prints up to 6x6x6" without bottom warping. 1/8" aluminum plate.
Upgraded power supply
Spool holder to hold filament (makes unattended printing much easier)
Interior lighting
Open design (no outer cover/door)
All the features of the Pro model plus an outer cover & front acrylic door to give your printer a finished look with clean linesVery useful, but the material cost is too high. The main change in the recent future are not the printers, but the "personal filamnet extruders" that are appearing now that will make material cost drop 10X when they are improved.
I might become interested once I'm able to pay for and download the new iPhone model and print myself one, instead of ordering one online or waiting in line for it. :)
I've got a Replicator, helped build a Cupcake when Bre and company were just starting their kit business, and used the Z machine a bit at Google as well. The "reality" of 3D printing is a lot less impressive than the hype. Sure like computers before them, 3D printing will change everything. But until recently (and maybe this changes with the Rep2) you would be lucky if you could make a full set of chess pieces in one go, and if they had been made in a factory in China they would have been discarded as too inferior to send to the customer. Current 3D printing enthusiasts (and I'm one of them) see "through" the obvious defects of the current systems to the systems they can be.
No 'regular' consumer would put up with a 10 hour print where the extruder head clogs in hour 9 and screws it up. But someone like me can say "I wonder what this wheel would look like on a robot, lets print one out" and having something tactile to work with.
3D printing is becoming 'real' at a relatively rapid pace, unlike some other technologies (looking at YOU OLED TVs)
They're getting cheaper and better, and great for hobbyists/tinkerers, but they're not really useful to the average consumer yet.
The biggest cost with the current crop of < $10,000 3D printers is time. Figuring out how to calibrate them and tweak settings to get perfect prints takes a lot of effort.
This is comparatively expensive for what it does: http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MC975LL/A
FOR YOU!!. People use to believe they really are the center of the Universe, so if they don't find something useful, NOBODY does!!
I know some professions in witch it certainly makes it 10*N times more useful.
If I bought one I'd think about how I could make money off it - a high-quality, reliable $2k machine would be more desirable than a less powerful $500 product.
Will this device come within my budget?
Might as well wait and see though, unless you're in a rush.
Looks like they're all MIT Media Lab grad students. That's probably a good sign.
Though I thought the same thing when I heard some of the most recent decisions.
While I've seen a few neat things of novelty value, most of the actual things that I would want to make would require metal or harder plastics, and a lot more precision than these things are capable of.
And I'm fairly happy with the cost: I've put together the higher end Cupcake, and was severly disappointed with how hard it was to use well. This should allow some really neat rigs, or at least make excellent (instead of merely approximate) prototypes.
Replicator 1 was 40mm/s, which was slow at the time, and glacial now. (Tuned Prusa Mendels do 250mm/s, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz56RY6OjM4 ORDbot does faster than that) If they're not talking about the head speed, then that means it'll be lower than 40mm/s.
That and they still use 1.75mm filament, which is 40% more expensive than 3mm filament, and offers only slightly better print quality, again, at the cost of print speed.
I also don't know why they're talking up the 100 micron layer height. Ultilimaker printers will do 50 micron layers pretty easily.
As an owner of a Thing-o-Matic I was fairly disappointed with my Makerbot. I know people that own Replicators that were also fairly disappointed. Unless there are some significant improvements in this version of the Replicator I will not be buying my next 3D printer from Makerbot. I would much rather buy an Ultimaker or one of the several other startup printer companies that are now out there. The cost of the Replicator also runs very close to the 'home' version of many commercial 3D printers.
This is because it has to be extruded. Turning a kilo of ABS pellets into a kilo of 1.75mm filament takes a surprisingly long time, and monopolizes a fairly large machine for the duration.
1) Makerbot replicator 2 ($2200): http://store.makerbot.com/replicator2.html
The new makerbot replicator is in all black, and the casing seems to be made of metal. They've also moved from ABS plastic to PLA plastic, as ABS tends to shrink when cooled, and as a result, it's easier to get failed prints that curled off the platform or cracked with ABS. It's got a slightly bigger build volume, and the default resolution is now 100 microns, rather than 270 microns in the first Replicator. I'm not sure how fast it is to print at that resolution.
There's a tour here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emt8LJSXry0&feature=youtu...
2) Makerbot replicator 2X ($2800) http://store.makerbot.com/replicator2x.html
Dual headed extrusion, though in my experience, there aren't too many models that take advantage of this. They've positioned this model as something for those that 'like to tinker and be on the cutting edge'.
3) Makerware software: http://www.makerbot.com/makerware/
This is actually pretty neat, since the slicing software you use to prepare models for printing is currently really slow (skeinforge), or fast but doesn't handle all cases well (slic3r).
4) MakerBot announces new retail store: Opens at 298 Mulberry St., New York. mbot.co/1sz
And I think this will help educate the public about what 3D printers can do.
If this model holds up to be a no fuss printing experience, I think we might begin to see consumers thinking about getting one.
That's not a good thing - that means you can't really print functional parts with this, only demos.
PLA has too low of a glass transition temperature, so parts will deform if you leave them in a car, or outdoors in the sun in the summer.
Plus it starts to degrade if exposed to temperatures of around 100F especially if in a humid environment, giving it a limited lifetime.
i.e. if you want to use this to print parts for your car or your computer you can't.
ABS is a bitch to work with. Makerbot is making as many moves as they can towards something that's a consumer appliance. And if PLA can help them get there with an 80% use case coverage, so be it that you can't print parts you can leave in your car.
Slic3r has been improving at an incredible pace, you should try the latest one.
The conveyor task engine is Open Source. So if you want to write your own plug in slic3r (or anything else) first, go for it!
That is a betrayal of MakerBot's founding principles.
That being said, this still looks amazing, and if I had lots of money and could actually use it, I'd be all over that.
Then again, they all build their own printers, so they wouldn't be buying from him anyway.
Still too much for the average person but someone with some production capacity will bring this sort of device down in price.
That is the RepRap project's thing as far as I know, not Makerbot's.
Or are their parts printed separately and then hand-assembled?
Generally, PLA is stronger against stress, but breaks quickly, whereas ABS is less strong against stress, but bends before breaking.
http://www.protoparadigm.com/blog/2012/06/3d-printer-filamen...
The replicator 1 was pretty kickass when they had a demo @ Disrupt SF, but had some noticeable lines.
PDFs of the press releases for anyone who prefers to read.
They've also got a lot of 90 degree overhangs, which FDM machines don't like. (It's essentially a hot glue gun in a gantry. The plastic doesn't freeze instantly when it leaves the nozzle, it stays molten for quite some time. If you print over thin air, it'll droop.)
And if you could print it, the bottom layers might delaminate and break off every time you detached it from another brick.
As for a flowerpot, no way. PLA's made from corn. Keep it warm, wet and in contact with soil, and it'll turn into compost within a month.