makerbot2 coming out, question about some claims

[gorobei]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3o6pcbhylmQ

around the 2:20 mark he starts talking about pla material and using less power than the previous bot for pvs. did he mean pvc?

i'm not that familiar with the makerbot series, is it only one compound or can you use 2 different plastics(1 for object, 1 for support structure)? can it do abs?

for ~2000$ and turnkey operation, it doesnt look too shabby. but the makerware multi object pass seems like they are over-promising or glossing over the bug/design fix stages.

 

[CycloWizard]

It could be poly(vinyl siloxane) which is commonly abbreviated PVS. I just saw a press release about this and am thinking about buying one for my lab. Hard to beat for that price. Of course they are making the process look very straightforward - that's just marketing 101. From what I've heard, their software is relatively painless but you may have to play around a bit to get everything just right. I don't recall whether their printers will do multiple materials, but there are other (much more expensive) options that will.

 

[gorobei]

they are showing a bunch of tall objects to point out the new and improved volume, but the increase is in area for (X,Y) and not depth for Z. without support structures anything without a flat side cant ever use the 11" max X length as its vertical axis. just seems very disingenuous.

i would prefer something with ABS capability, but dual extruder nozzles have their own problems. if they have worked out cooling rates of PLA with no warping, such that they feel they can get their "100 micron" resolution, i might give them a try.

does that look like a glass platform tray or acrylic? the laser etch of the maker logo and slight fluorescing on the edge is confusing me.

 

[SilthDraeth]

Makerbot advertises that it can print with ABS. I have never used one, but have been eyeballing them anyways.

Not sure if the dual extruder model can use one material for support, and one for detail as asked above.

There is also
http://www.ultimaker.com/

A bit more affordable and from some reading, supposedly makerbot2 is catching up to, or maybe just not surpassed the ultimaker.

And for the budget minded, with less detail you can get a Solidoodle for around $500.
http://www.solidoodle.com