laser sintering printers?

[cipher0]

There was on the news months ago that a higher quality 3d printing patent was about to expire and we could expect new type of home 3d printers to emerge: http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/28/che...-a-key-patent/

I still see nothing pop up in Kickstarter or indiegogo. What gives? I hopedwe would have something better than FFF/SLS by now.

[DrLuigi]

Multiple reasons,

Firstly well i don't think a indie company will be able to get a laser sintering printer together in 2 months or so,

Secondly its still something very expensive, with or without the license, i have heard that it will still be easily 3000-4000 dollars when homebrew (low-end)
I doubt it will be for the consumer very soon, if ever.

[LambdaFF]

Cleaning resins with isopropyl alcohol isn't very friendly already. But metal powders at home... you probably haven't got kids yet, I guess ?

[aWsomeABE]

I agree. I don't think we will see any SLS printers popping up in homes anytime soon. It's not only about patents. The technology is very complicated, using high cost parts, etc. It will still be expensive to create an SLS 3d printer. I don't see anyone being able to make one and mass produce it for under $15,000 each. At least not for several years.

[cipher0]

True, true. I guess the writers of these articles dont really know much about their subject?

[MakerTed]

The question is though, would normal people be willing to shell out $15,000 for an SLS printer, or would they just simply buy a Makerbot for $1400?