Home Depot to Begin Selling 3D Printers in store and online

[Eddie]

Home Depot and Makerbot have reached an agreement which will put Makerbot 3D printers within 12 stores across New York, California, and Illinois, as well as on the home Depot website. The partnership may not add significant revenues to Home Depot's top line right away, but sets the company up for the future. More details on this partnership can be found in the following article: http://3dprint.com/9092/home-depot-makerbot-3d-print/


What do you guys think of this deal? Will this help send 3D printing into the mainstream? What does it mean for MakerBot's brand recognition?

[SimianSteam]

My first thought is it sounds like a nightmare for HD. Gonna have a lot of people buying them thinking they can just go home and start printing whatever they want, and then returning them when they find out there's more work involved.

That being said, I think it's a smart move on HD's part. They've already started positioning themselves in the Home Automation sector, and this kind of DIY is definitely the wave of the future. Hopefully it'll clear the way for companies to start offering 3D models of certain products as well as the physical ones. I wouldn't mind paying .10 for a model of a gear, insulator, etc that I could print myself instead of having to design it, or go down to the store to buy one.

[crowbar]

suv-inside-sinkhole.jpg

Maybe I shouldn't have printed my own drainage connector.

[Eddie]

Here is a video of inside one of these Home Depot stores. Pretty cool

[jimc]

oh boy. this is not good. one thing that makerbot does well is piss people off and this is just the beginning. people are going to have no idea what they are buying. i guarantee that 90% of the printers sold by HD get returned to HD and will leave a bad taste in the mouth of the unsuspecting buyer. problem is they are pushing these as being ready for prime time click and print and they are NOWHERE near that. they barely work right with an experienced person behind the wheel.

[vinnie]

Hopefully thats not the case jimc. Hopefully the techs on hand can do a good enough job explaining everything need in order to operate one of them. I notice in the video a lot of older people looking at it. They are probably computer illiterate as is. Hopefully these aren't the people that buy them.

I wonder how long it will be before there is an entire 3D printer aisle in Home Depot. I have to imagine other 3d printer manufacturers are going to want in on the action as well.

[jfkansas]

I could see it working if they hold classes to help people get started right.

But ya just any random person taking one home and think they are going to print perfect stuff right away is crazy.

[awerby]

I recently visited my local Home Depot and asked where the taps and dies were, only to get blank looks from everyone in the tools department. If they are depending on HD employees to educate people on how to make their printers work, I see a big train-wreck ahead.

[Feign]

It might just be your location, awerby, because I've never gotten a blank look from more then two HD salespeople in a row in my area.

They might want to pick some other printer brands and other filament providers posthaste though. But other than the short selection, I'd say they have a pretty good idea there.

[crowbar]

He is from Oakland, Cali. That should be some indications for the blank stares. But then again, you can't really expect shelving stockers to know anything about home repair or tools. I live nearby the city, I was at Sears about 10 years ago. I'm a tool nut and saw a mini scale aluminum floor jack and had to have it. I wanted this for my desk so I went to the tool dept to buy it, they had stocked it on the same shelf as the regular floor jacks. I brought it up to the checkout counter and the sales kid said "you know this is a toy and can't be used on a car right?" I was in disbelief.



I was at the Ikea in Emeryville, Ca. Its right next to Oakland. I was there to buy a cabinet to place my printer in. I told the sales girl that was working the area of what I needed and what I planned to do with it, to house the printer. Surprisingly, she knew of 3D printers and seen them used. She also warned me of the heat output from it if I tried to house it inside of the cabinet as I had planned. But I already took that into consideration with additions of fans and heat/smoke sensors.