Why Buy A 3D Printer? | Traditional Manufacturing Vs. 3D Printing

First of all I'm not suggesting the only answer is to stop all imports from over seas. 3D printer manufacturers must retain good relations with reliable trading partners to provide affordable printers at a reasonable price. It's called outsourcing and there's a reason more and more companies are doing it. However, 3D printers are in a category all their own compared to ANY other commodity traded. Simply because they are producers themselves. When a world full of informed people can make the decision to either ship and package each item individually, or ship an item to make potentially an infinite amount of other items, then the answer is obvious.

Secondly we made the website to primarily educate people of the advantages of 3D printing, and the direction it's heading. Yes I'm selling printers and filament from makerbot exclusively at the moment. That's just to simplify the business start up. I chose makerbot because they have a proven record of success through innovation and great customer service. Soon I will be offering other printers and hardware/filament/etc from other companies as well, in case you were wondering.

3D OZ, I'm sorry you purchased such an unreliable 3D printer. If you're interested in getting a new one, I can get you a makerbot at full retail price HAHA =]

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Originally Posted by WiZE3D

3D OZ, I'm sorry you purchased such an unreliable 3D printer. If you're interested in getting a new one, I can get you a makerbot at full retail price HAHA =]

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What and double my CO2 footprint? I couldn't bear the thought.
BTW: My 3Dstuffmaker has been extremely reliable, it started life as a basic, no frills filament printer but I was able to build my own upgrades and improvements, customising its function to exactly match my needs, can Makerbot do that for under $800?

MakerBot, the perfect printer for anyone not smart enough to know better.;)

Makerbot is not for someone who wants to spend as little as possible to get a 3d printer. When you buy a 3d printer, you're not just buying a universal making machine, you're buying the reliability, the ease of use, warranty, and the customer support from the company. BTW: try to be less antagonistic OZ.
Anyone else want to talk about the benefits of 3D printing over traditional manufacturing?

Alright, lets start fresh.
You are a little too evangelical about the future of 3D printing and your perception of the likely impact on traditional manufacturing.
You began your argument with reference to CO2 savings that are incorrect and mention multinationals as an entity to avoid while promoting one of the few domestic 3D printers produced by a multinational, but lets focus on 3d vs Traditional manufacture.

Thare are no benefits of 3D Printing over traditional manufacturing, you misunderstand 3D printing's place in the world. 3D Printing's real strength comes when combined with traditional manufacturing by rapidly producing prototypes and making the process of design development easier and available to all.
Ultimately the object designed and prototyped on a 3D Printer can only be efficiently mass produced using conventional manufacturing methods.
Creating objects layer by layer through filament deposition, resin polymerisation or any of the other print methods will likey never match high volume injection molding or many of the other conventional methods for efficiency.

Focus on the design enablement, the art and the one-off creation capabilities that 3D Printers offer instead of thinking that we are on the cusp of some global revolution in mass manufacturing, because we are not.
3D Printers are design prototypers, not mass manufacturers.

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Originally Posted by WiZE3D

What it's about is thwarting the outdated, over complicated supply chain, while simultaneously bringing business to local communities and sway away from multinational corporations that could care less about the consumer and only put into account the bottom line, instead of what's good for the community..

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I find this ironic statment really hard to chew up and swallow when you are selling Makerbot's products at full retail price, I don't know of a company that COULD care less about the consumer.

I could find many examples, but I find this is a good one, as it's actually from one of the original founders...

http://www.hoektronics.com/2012/09/2...r-perspective/

I must iterate, I am not trying to 'Troll" as you said regarding other users, but this is a forum and if there is going to be a healthy debate, it will be here.

I think the 3D printers makes the prototypes in a fast ans save way. But it will change the way what the traditional manufacture do. Also, it will save time and money for the designers.

But why 3D printers can not be the normal machines like computer in our daily life? This is because its profession. Not everyone can use the 3D printer or not everyone needs to use such device. It requires the skills on operating the machine. Also, it require the people to know the design for 3D. How many people know these?

I think the purpose of this topic should be like this: What 3D printer can bring convenience to us?

The truth is that 3D printer is still far away from many designers. This is because the cost and the knowledge on this areas. But the future of 3D printer is bright, isn't it?:p

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Originally Posted by Mjolinor

Give us a breakdown for the cost of making a 3D printer that is wholly constructed from parts and materials that are mined / sourced / made completely in the US.

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I think that this is an interesting start : how much of the components are actually made locally ? I leave in Europe but I think that the situation is the same in the US : our enlightened buyers and commercials have seriously dis-industrialized our countries over the last 30 years.
Anyway to commit to actual eco-friendly manufacturing you'd have to tell me that Makerbot has decentralized assembly plants all over the world and a dedicated procurement plan to ensure the green footprint of the components... I don't think I'll live to see that.

Let's put things in perspective: Back in the 1980s, there were people who thought VHS would ruin the movie industry. There were also people who thought home printers would bankrupt the publishing houses as they got better and better.

Now? VHS has come and gone, CDR, DVD-R, recordable BluRay, blah blah blah, it's faster and easier to copy a movie from your friend than ever before and nobody in the movie industry is even fazed by it anymore. There's a paper printer of some kind in almost every household (that has a computer anyway), and nobody in their right mind would print out a whole book rather than buy it unless it's a textbook with a ridiculous mark-up in price (Of course, tablets have made that obsolete, but back in my day yeah, printing and binding your own pirated textbook was actually a thing). Publishing houses are suffering more from a lack of public interest in reading than their ability to copy books.

3D Printing isn't replacing everyday products, but it will put on notice the companies that have an unreasonable markup on their proprietary plastic pieces, which has a lot more application outside of schooling. Much like the paper printers of old, I can see 3D printing being essential for the high school presentation projects and college-level assignments of the future.

Also, I'm old enough to remember when "experts" on the news were actually concerned that the hole in the ozone layer would let the earth's atmosphere leak out into space. The Carbon Footprint rhetoric just goes right by me like so much white noise.

It is now no longer possible to stick with the UK for manufacture. I recently designed a sensor for current , phase and voltage measurement on low voltage networks. I needed a PCB. Absolute minimum cost in this country was around £100 for 10 off. I found a Chinese company that would do it for no cost, including components and assembly. All I had to do when it got here was programme the PIC. They even put it in plastic boxes and did two iterations of the PCB due to changes after I got the first lot.

No one in the UK will do that without a guaranteed order or at least projections of numbers. It's time that country borders were removed and we all became human beings. :)

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Originally Posted by Mjolinor

It is now no longer possible to stick with the UK for manufacture. I recently designed a sensor for current , phase and voltage measurement on low voltage networks. I needed a PCB. Absolute minimum cost in this country was around £100 for 10 off. I found a Chinese company that would do it for no cost, including components and assembly. All I had to do when it got here was programme the PIC. They even put it in plastic boxes and did two iterations of the PCB due to changes after I got the first lot.

No one in the UK will do that without a guaranteed order or at least projections of numbers. It's time that country borders were removed and we all became human beings. :)

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I think you were talking about the costs of the 3D printers' parts. Yes, such parts may be very expensive and you will find it hard to find in your local. That is another reason why "normal" people can use the 3D printer.

Please note that most machines are produced or assemble in China. This is because China is a country which has its advantage on producing. You can find many factories can help you on producing. But not all of them have good quality guarantee. You need to make a research more in the market.