Comment by iamwil | Hacker News Reader

Comment by iamwil | Hacker News Reader

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They announced 4 things:

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.

It can only use PLA? No option for ABS?

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.

The option for ABS is for the previous Replicator 1, and Replicator 2X.

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.

ABS prints fine with a heated glass build platform.

Only for small prints. For larger prints, it doesn't stick very well.

The 2X model still supports ABS: http://store.makerbot.com/replicator2x.html

Makerware still uses skeinforge. They have an alternative slicer with it but it's also very slow. They've also gone dramatically closed source with makerware, and appear to be violating skeinforge's agpl3 license.

Slic3r has been improving at an incredible pace, you should try the latest one.

MakerWare can use both Skeinforge (highest quality settings) and Miracle-Grue (medium and low quality settings). We are still in Beta, so interfacing slicer engine (like slic3r, netfabb, ) is still underway.

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!

Why is MakerWare closed source? It seems to go against everything Makerbot claimed they stand for. Did Makerbot outsource development?

No, they outsourced funding.

So why is the front-end proprietary?

That is a betrayal of MakerBot's founding principles.

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