Do you think 3d printers will become commonplace in homes?

[alkemyst]

While 3D printing has come a long way, it has an even longer way to go before it could justify the cost for most people. Even if the high end printers right now only costs $100, there doesn't seem to be many practical uses for it in everyday life. I would buy one of course, but then after a week or two it would sit right next to where it is I put my Dremel. When they can make complex parts that will be a different story, but for the most part right now it seems like a really expensive toy.

But whats funny is if this thing actually took off, manufacturers would not have to pay for assembly, shipping or raw materials, but I bet costs will not go down.

When merchants stop offering the parts people need and only the raw materials and blueprints then the consumer will be forced into a 3D printer or take their blueprint to a facility to be printed.

This is fairly complex and low-end https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqfWTJC2DvM

Right now 3D printing is just a toy for most people. Many manufacturers are adopting it quickly for time savings and lower production costs.

 

[Phoenix86]

Related and interesting.

http://www.amazon.com/Materials-Indu...&node=16310191

 

[twinrider1]

...
Right now 3D printing is just a toy for most people. Many manufacturers are adopting it quickly for time savings and lower production costs.

Yes, a new tool for hobbyists to play with.
No, manufacturers of most items are not adopting it. It doesn't lower production costs.
It is great for prototyping, and it can reduce pre-production costs. And it's good for producing one-off, ultra low production items (medical applications), and it's another medium for artists to explore.
I look around my desk and see items like a router, a telephone, a pen, a battery pack, a monitor, a dial caliper, a 25' measuring tape. They are made up of multiple materials; metals and plastics of varying properties. I don't foresee a single machine that make a ready to use products that involves clear plastic, LEDs, spring steel, tool steel, battery chemicals, hard plastics, soft rubbery plastics for keypads and the overmoulded areas.
And if you could build such a machine, I'd have to maintain an inventory of how many raw materials?

 

[alkemyst]

Yes, a new tool for hobbyists to play with.
No, manufacturers of most items are not adopting it. It doesn't lower production costs.
It is great for prototyping, and it can reduce pre-production costs. And it's good for producing one-off, ultra low production items (medical applications), and it's another medium for artists to explore.
I look around my desk and see items like a router, a telephone, a pen, a battery pack, a monitor, a dial caliper, a 25' measuring tape. They are made up of multiple materials; metals and plastics of varying properties. I don't foresee a single machine that make a ready to use products that involves clear plastic, LEDs, spring steel, tool steel, battery chemicals, hard plastics, soft rubbery plastics for keypads and the overmoulded areas.
And if you could build such a machine, I'd have to maintain an inventory of how many raw materials?

GE, Boeing, Ford, Nike, Hasbro, Quite a few food makers, and jewelry makers.

What's your background in? I doubt engineering.

Just like a color printer can swap colors, future 3D printers will be able to swap materials.

It's a simple concept, it's just getting the device built.

 

[twinrider1]

Jetliners are relatively low production items.
In 2013...
Airbus delivered 626 commercial aircraft while Boeing delivered 648. And those were record years for both companies.
GE delivered approximately 4000 engines.

Apple sold over 150 million phones in 2013.

Ford is using it for prototypes and molds.

I can see Hasbro selling 3D machines, and a line of toys you make at home, similar to the toys where you poured a liquid into a mold to make monsters. Some companies will use 3D for their image, flagship stores using it for a high end niche product, but I don't see it being how they make the bulk of their products. Well, maybe shoes. They'd like to lose their sweatshop image. I can see getting to a point where all you do is add an insole and lace them up. Maybe even print the insole in place.
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I think it will let us do new things. But, on the whole, I don't see it replacing how we already make current products. We can make pop at home with Sodastream and it's simple as can be. But most of us still buy Coke or Pepsi at the store. Most people aren't interesting in assembling products.
I don't hate 3D. I just don't see it as the most cost effective way to make most of what we use today.
It would be cool for a local hobby shop to be able to print plastic parts for RC buggies, model rockets.

 

[Phoenix86]

Jetliners are relatively low production items.

That's awesome that you take the industry with the one of THE HIGHEST standards for production and dismissing the other massive industries currently using the tech, while simultaneously ignoring the fact that 3D printers have already been used in that industry.

 

[Howard]

This, I've also used both. IMO it's kind of an engineers tool or a power user at best.

I've worked with many of the more consumer brands, Lulzbot, Makerbot and the Cube. the Cube is by far the most trouble free and end user friendly but of course with that the least powerful. Printing off a simple chess piece takes an hour. Given the physical limits of how an extruder works these speeds really will not get any better, I think you will find a lot of this is still better done with injection mold or the more commercial grade 3D printers that sell in the tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars

The Cube also has pretty poor reliability and accuracy out of the box. What you get in easy setup, you lose in actual performance IMO. Still, the ability to print truly massive objects is not to be undermined.

 

[alkemyst]

Jetliners are relatively low production items.
In 2013...
Airbus delivered 626 commercial aircraft while Boeing delivered 648. And those were record years for both companies.
GE delivered approximately 4000 engines.

Apple sold over 150 million phones in 2013.

Ford is using it for prototypes and molds.

I can see Hasbro selling 3D machines, and a line of toys you make at home, similar to the toys where you poured a liquid into a mold to make monsters. Some companies will use 3D for their image, flagship stores using it for a high end niche product, but I don't see it being how they make the bulk of their products. Well, maybe shoes. They'd like to lose their sweatshop image. I can see getting to a point where all you do is add an insole and lace them up. Maybe even print the insole in place.
------------


I think it will let us do new things. But, on the whole, I don't see it replacing how we already make current products. We can make pop at home with Sodastream and it's simple as can be. But most of us still buy Coke or Pepsi at the store. Most people aren't interesting in assembling products.
I don't hate 3D. I just don't see it as the most cost effective way to make most of what we use today.
It would be cool for a local hobby shop to be able to print plastic parts for RC buggies, model rockets.

You are not seeing the future potential as this technology is refined. You no longer will need separate lines of molds, stamps, dies, etc.

These will become multi-nozzle and much faster just like the original dot-matrix printers took several minutes for an average page and later ones would fling paper so fast you practically couldn't grab it quick enough before the next page flew out.

 

[twinrider1]

Phoenix, I didn't cherry pick jetliners. Do you have Alky on ignore? The general discussion is mass production using 3D. Alky mentioned GE and Boeing (and Ford and Hasbro) as manufacturers going big into 3D production. My point was that, big as they are, they aren't mass produced...and don't support Alky's position.

 

[alkemyst]

Phoenix, I didn't cherry pick jetliners. Do you have Alky on ignore? The general discussion is mass production using 3D. Alky mentioned GE and Boeing (and Ford and Hasbro) as manufacturers going big into 3D production. My point was that, big as they are, they aren't mass produced...and don't support Alky's position.

I guarantee you companies are looking into it though.

They just need the gear to catch up to the speed they want.

They may lose ultimate speed, but they will need fewer specialized pieces, inventory, floor space, power, HVAC, workers, etc.

 

[Hugo Drax]

I would say 2040-2050 they should be common by then.

 

[Phoenix86]

Phoenix, I didn't cherry pick jetliners. Do you have Alky on ignore? The general discussion is mass production using 3D. Alky mentioned GE and Boeing (and Ford and Hasbro) as manufacturers going big into 3D production. My point was that, big as they are, they aren't mass produced...and don't support Alky's position.

No, I don't have him on ignore, but that's a reasonable assumption.

I realize he brought up those companies as examples of who is currently using them. My point is, the airlines are also the ones with the highest standards for parts. 3D will naturally be slowly be adopted as the equipment is capable of meeting those standards.

Who cares how long it takes to reach the high end. There's many-many-many other manufacturing segments it is getting into, right now. No needs to wait. Then, you completely dismiss those larger, more common markets, who are already using it.

If you can't see the tech being matured from being able to make a mold, to being able to make currently molded parts once speed and resolution are up to par, well, I'm just not sure how to respond to that. It's like one baby step away right now, and the tech is in relative infancy.

 

[twinrider1]

I believe a lot of companies are using it for pre-production. It looks like it's much faster/cheaper/more flexible than traditional tool & die work. I don't know of any companies mass producing products, or even components of products using 3D.

It just seems like modern mass production methods are going to be hard to beat. I'm looking at my cordless phone. The two shell pieces, a clear window, battery and associated wiring/connector/charging metal bits, rubbery number pad, circuit board with screen and a bunch of electronics. Sure it takes a lot of time to set up the lines, source the parts. But once the assembly begins, they start rolling off the line one right after another. I know they have printable abs and polycarbonate, but how close are they to printing transistors, capacitors, displays, batteries, etc.?
It would be cool though if it happens. A phone that is a solid unit, with no voids in it. The areas that were open voids now filled with battery material.
And 3D mold making just extends the usefulness of existing methods.
Maybe I just don't see it. I am a show-me kind of person. I'll believe it when they do it.

 

[fridgers]

3d printer funded for 3 million on kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tiko3d/tiko-the-unibody-3d-printer/video_share

They say retail will be $180

 

[fridgers]

Makerbot printers print medical pills

http://3dprint.com/64223/3d-printed-drugs/

 

[HeXen]

You could make army men for your kids, maybe parts for building airplane or car models instead of buying them at the store. Eventually I'm sure it'll be common to see them at your local Walmart but aside from some specific uses, I don't see them being a must have for most people.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I wonder if the copyright extremists will eventually crack down on 3D printers. If you 3D print something that you could have bought, it would probably be considered copyright infringement. It's not really any different than downloading music or movies. Hopefully that does not happen though.

I kind of want to buy one, now that the prices have been coming down, but I don't really have a need. I could easily create one though... especially if I get into robotics or something.

 

[jasonstevens584]

Not for the next 10 years or so.

 

[OverVolt]

It will only be worth it for legacy parts once a big enough database is built. The money is in the database, not really everyday items like cups. People need to stop prototyping dumb shit like plastic guns that explode after 1 shot and start making 1993 Toyota corolla door handles and 1998 subaru center console lids, and very specialty/niche items that can be bought on-demand and printed.

A searchable database of plastic replacement items is a must. Then have paid access to the database. I feel like exotic materials are a no go. Stick with cheaper plastics. You could probably restore the interior of an old car where parts are hard to find. Hard to find parts are going to be the niche.

 

[videogames101]

They're not worth shit imo, I built one of the first makerbots and spent hours tuning it. But the fact is, I didn't have anything to print. Then again, I hate hobbys and hobbyists so...

 

[sdifox]

They're not worth shit imo, I built one of the first makerbots and spent hours tuning it. But the fact is, I didn't have anything to print. Then again, I hate hobbys and hobbyists so...

So, self loathing?

 

[inachu]

When they can start selling 3D printers that use plastic/metal that is non toxic then I can see people buying them to replace everyday items.

 

[fridgers]

They're not worth shit imo, I built one of the first makerbots and spent hours tuning it. But the fact is, I didn't have anything to print. Then again, I hate hobbys and hobbyists so...

Check out thingiverse, there are tons of things to print now.

 

[fridgers]

Anyone else have any opinions on the future of 3d printing?

 

[Kaido]

I can see Hasbro selling 3D machines, and a line of toys you make at home, similar to the toys where you poured a liquid into a mold to make monsters. Some companies will use 3D for their image, flagship stores using it for a high end niche product, but I don't see it being how they make the bulk of their products. Well, maybe shoes. They'd like to lose their sweatshop image. I can see getting to a point where all you do is add an insole and lace them up. Maybe even print the insole in place.

...

It would be cool for a local hobby shop to be able to print plastic parts for RC buggies, model rockets.

I think that will probably be the biggest market...local, company-owned 3D printers for specific purposes. Like a bakery having a custom cupcake machine or something that would give accurate, personalized results with reduced labor. A lot of restaurants in my area are getting the Coke Freestyle machines, which basically have soda syrups in giant inkjet cartridges, along with flavor syrups, and inject them with a combination of filtered water & carbonation to custom-create a flavor to your liking (note: Peach Fanta is amazing).

So there are niches for this kind of stuff, but I don't think it's going to be as widespread as everyone imagines it's going to be. For example, if you wanted to 3D-print a simple kid's remote-control car, you'd need to do assembly, of course, and also have a huge variety of raw materials available...plastics in different colors, various metals for the shocks & battery terminals, rubber for the wheels & antenna cover, and so on. Doable? Sure, assuming you (1) download a working design, (2) are willing to assemble it yourself, and (3) keep a personal inventory of a bunch of different types of materials. Or you could just run down to Toys R Us and pay $80 for one that works instantly OOTB.

The last couple of companies I've worked at have used 3D printers heavily for physical visualization & prototyping, both in-house & outsourced. It's incredibly useful for stuff like that. I have several friends who have 3D printers & they are a lot of fun to tinker around with, and I'd even go so far as to say useful i certain situations. But right now the resolution stinks & it takes forever for even a small print to be generated, so as of today, they aren't exactly super useful. I've toyed around with the idea of buying one now that some of them are down to the $300 price range, but I'd much rather invest in a nice VR headset in a few months instead & just use an online print service like Shapeways if I want something 3D-printed.