3D Printing On Demand 106
Iddo Genuth writes "The Netherlands based company Shapeways is beta testing a new service allowing people to print three-dimensional models. Customers can upload designs or use a creation tool hosted at the Shapeways website, then order a printed model of their designs for less than $3 per square centimeter. The printed items are shipped to the customer in ten days or less, bringing 3D printing to consumers and not just companies large enough to afford their own printers."
Dupe. (Score:4, Informative)
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/01/1344232
Reprap (Score:5, Informative)
The article says that "the cheapest three dimensional printers cost $20,000", so I might as well mention the hacker's alternative:
http://blog.reprap.org/ [reprap.org]
http://www.reprap.org/bin/view/Main/WebHome [reprap.org]
not only is this not news (Score:5, Informative)
Nothing new about this... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Reprap (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Reprap (Score:1, Informative)
http://hydraraptor.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com]
Re:Eh? (Score:4, Informative)
I'm planning on getting one in the new year.
Cheap!? (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.shapeways.com/model/6280/limbtaker_trophy.html [shapeways.com]
This bookend (21x22x23cm) is $7800. How is that anything close to cheap?
Wireframe objects without much mass are considerably cheaper, but any statues with heft are insanely expensive.
http://www.shapeways.com/model/6277/queen.html [shapeways.com]
A chess queen... $319. Seriously!
Re:Cheap!? (Score:1, Informative)
No, wireframe models would still require tons of support structure during the printing process. Most recently this is a solid gelatin that you wash off manually with a high pressure hose (kind of fun). The gelatin gets printed as little mountains/pyramids underneath the parts that would otherwise be pretty much floating on air. The gelatin is only a little cheaper than the hard plastic material per square (sp?) centimeter.
Re:Eh? (Score:5, Informative)
As always, the summary website is wrong. If you go to shapeways.com they explain:
How is your pricing calculated?
Our pricing is based upon the actual amount of material used in your model. So the actual volume of your finished object not the volume of the bounding box. If you click on the order tab next to any model the system will calculate the price for you. All prices includes shipping and handling.
Re:A new copyright battle? (Score:3, Informative)
The surface finish and material properties of 3D printer output is nothing like injection molded or machined plastics. If you want a weak, brittle copy in the wrong color with a rough surface, sure. But ain't nobody gonna be printing missing Lego parts with these.
Get a clue about how stuff is made (Score:4, Informative)
For those of you who have no idea how real, physical stuff is made, there's an entire industry of small "job shops" that will take your design and make a part for you. If you're anywhere near a industrial city, there's probably one in your neighborhood. Most will use machine tools, but ones with stereolithography machines [emachineshop.com] aren't that rare.
If you're in Silicon Valley and want to use a stereolithography machine, check out TechShop [techshop.ws], which has one of the better ones. It won't be busy when you visit.
Re:Reprap (Score:2, Informative)
Or you can purchase an inexpensive kit from Bits from Bytes [bitsfrombytes.com]