Printable View
Do you guys think that 3d printing will ever be as simple and easy as 2d printing is now? I mean where you can just find a design online, press print and the object prints. No setup, no slicing, no nothing. Just one touch printing. If you do, how soon will that be?
You know, that's a great question and one I've pondered a bunch. The whole process is a bit more complex fundamentally but I bet it gets pretty close. I can see a day where you just snap a canister onto a printer (your filament), take out one of your pretreated substrates (maybe not glass by then...but the same as loading a piece of paper), place that on the bed, and send your model over. Come back in a bit and pull out your part. I don't see why not.
What I do see is that the user is going to have to be a tiny bit more savvy than your standard Epson printer user. If you get a jam or some other issue you'll need to do some fast diagnosing to get things going again. Maybe print heads will become disposable and if you get a jam, you just pull it out and put a new one in. Who knows for sure. One thing we do know is that the more units that are sold (...the more ubiquitous the printers become), the cheaper each component gets. So there is reason to suspect that many of the components, filament, print substrate, heads, stepper motors, etc., could all be plug-and-play and disposable should one cause an issue. The printer could even be smart enough to say "head jammed...please replace and start new print." Or, "stepper motor failure, please remove and replace with new module and restart print." I expect we'll see Canon, HP and Epson fight each other to be the first to have a "click-and-print" 3d printer.
Stratasys are like that already. Load your model, add it to the pile of things you want to print and then click print. Some time later it is ready to remove from the machine.Quote:
Originally Posted by RobH2
I really do hope one day 3dprinting will be more 'slick'. There are so many variables that affect your print e.g. temperature conditions and filament quality and also quality of the printer. The 'press print' button seems to be the magic function that some users want to enhance their experience of using 3dprinters. When 3dprinting is more mainstream in schools and then these kids leave school and then buy their own printers then the industry will grow and you would hope by that time it could challenge 2d printing in term of ease of use.
I think what will need to happen is that volume will be able to drive price down to enable the mass public to be willing to afford a printer. In the paper printing world there seems to be a magic "price point" of around $100 that the public will tolerate. That's part of why ink is so expensive. It subsidizes the cost of the machines on some level. Sure, Stratasys makes some nice printers but they are not inexpensive. The only way to get a sub $700 that can print things larger than a teacup is to go RepRap and be willing to get involved. To me, that's half the attraction. I like tweaking and playing with the components. But, don't expect your grandmother to be learning GCode and setting Z-stops anytime soon.
But if we ever see a plug-and-play printer in every household, we'll need to see the printers that are nearly automatic come way, way down in price. Until that happens, the Stratasys and printers in that price range will continue to be used by businesses and very serious individuals who mostly buy those kinds of machines to make items that turn a profit or to create prototypes to facilitate design of products to be mass produced.
I believe it will happen. I think we haven't see the technology yet that will fill the need. I'm not sure that FDM is going to be the final resting spot. I expect that the concept of "everyone" having a 3d printer is sound. I'm just not sure what configuration and mechanism it will incorporate.
I can't think of any technology that has not made it down to the mass consumer, even things like ECG monitors are down there now.
Can anyone else think of anything that has not eventually made it down to us plebeian masses but has stayed up there for the rich? (Ferraris not included, they aren't a technology. :))
RobH2... I agree that FDM is not the final resting spot for mass adoption of 3dprinting at consumer level. Joshua Harker is mid development of a new 3dprinter supposedly it is a new way of 3dprinting, involving new technology according to his last kickstarter campaign....only time will tell what the end result will be.