HP 3D Printing Announcement

[brbubba]

I think they'll be aiming at the lower end of the price range. And it should also be full colour as well.

Not sure if the polyjet stuff needs postprocessing or not. I know some powder based systems do. That would put home users off.

I thought this as well, maybe in the $2k to $5k range. However, if they are using an i7, complete and utter overkill, it makes me want to rethink that estimate and say more in the $10k to $15k range.

[Joule Thief]

I thought this as well, maybe in the $2k to $5k range. However, if they are using an i7, complete and utter overkill, it makes me want to rethink that estimate and say more in the $10k to $15k range.

Unfortunately you're still off by an order of magnitude. This is going to be a 6-figure printer ($100k+). When HP says lower cost, they're comparing themselves to SLS/SLM printers that cost anywhere from $0.5-$1.5M. So by that standard, yes they will come in substantially cheaper. If you read their press release, HP is careful to say "lower total cost of ownership" or TCO, so they are also factoring in things like materials costs, post processing, system maintenance, and even powder recycling which they say will be much improved due to the lower energy exposure time. It's about much more than just the initial system price.

HP also mentions that the printer will be sold to commercial businesses and specifically that consumers will access these printers through "service bureaus". This is in no way going to be marketed or sold to the consumer segment, at least not initially.

[voxel]

Unfortunately you're still off by an order of magnitude. This is going to be a 6-figure printer ($100k+). When HP says lower cost, they're comparing themselves to SLS/SLM printers that cost anywhere from $0.5-$1.5M. So by that standard, yes they will come in substantially cheaper. If you read their press release, HP is careful to say "lower total cost of ownership" or TCO, so they are also factoring in things like materials costs, post processing, system maintenance, and even powder recycling which they say will be much improved due to the lower energy exposure time. It's about much more than just the initial system price.

HP also mentions that the printer will be sold to commercial businesses and specifically that consumers will access these printers through "service bureaus". This is in no way going to be marketed or sold to the consumer segment, at least not initially.

My guess is that HP will take a big swing at industrial market and if it goes well then over time will drive the technology down into consumer applications. the printer is just one piece of the puzzle. there must be a fully developed and seamlessly integrated ecosystem (3D modeling software, 3D image scanning) before non tech savvy consumers can really take advantage of this technology. take Apple iphone for example...it is very sophisticated technology but they made it really easy for the average person to exploit. we are not there yet with 3D printing for consumers...but we are there for industrial applications which is why HP is focusing there first.

[Feign]

I'm going to go ahead and make the prediction that by the time HP tries to bring their printer price below ten grand, there will only be a very few FFF printers over a thousand dollars.
By the time they try to break into the middle class home market, the majority of people who have any need for it at all will already own a multi-head FFF printer and a home filament extruder.

[brbubba]

I'm going to go ahead and make the prediction that by the time HP tries to bring their printer price below ten grand, there will only be a very few FFF printers over a thousand dollars.
By the time they try to break into the middle class home market, the majority of people who have any need for it at all will already own a multi-head FFF printer and a home filament extruder.

I'll still hold out some hope. Meg Whitman isn't an idiot so I'm going to try and give her a little more credit out of the gate, but clearly all bets are off.

[Brian_Krassenstein]

HP, the largest 2D printing company in the world, made waves six months ago when they announced their impending entry into the 3D printing space. Worldwide Business Director, Hewlett-Packard 3D Printing, J Scott Schiller, was present at this past week's Inside 3D Printing Conference in NYC, and revealed the latest news on HP's entry plan for their Multi Jet Fusion 3D technology. Schiller announced, in addition to new details about the platform's capabilities, that the first Multi Jet Fusion 3D printer will be ready by the end of 2016. While that's still 18 months to wait, it provides HP with more time to forge new partnerships, such as their already established partnership with Autodesk to integrate the Spark Platform. Also on HP's docket are the launch of a new 3D printing consortium, as well as illustrations of just what it means for Multi Fusion technology to be so much faster than existing platforms, announcements of other materials technologies, and more. Read about them in the full story: http://3dprint.com/59206/hp-multi-jet-fusion-update/

[curious aardvark]

Hmm well in 18 months it's not going to be faster than other platforms. Some of the dlp resin technology is already faster.

And this is an industry where somebody brings out something new every few days.

Don't think hp have quite grasped how fast this technology is moving (they DON'T seem to be using rapid prototyping themselves). They seem to be still looking at it as a conventional piece of technology.

ie: 3 years of development and then launch into a captive market.

I don't care how shiny and integrated (don't really like that word when it comes to software) their software is - at the end of the day it's the hardware that counts and they're really dragging their feet on that.
Big mistake.

[Brian_Krassenstein]

Last month Hewlett-Packard announced that they would be splitting their company into two separate companies. Now known as Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, the first would focus entirely on their server and data center technology while HP Inc. would focus on the printer and personal computer portion of the business. HP Inc CEO Dion Weisler has also separated the printer side of the business from the 3D Printer side and put senior VP of imaging and printing Steve Nigro in charge of a new 3D Printing business group.

[eel]

There several important parameters to be evaluated before we can conclude how competitive is the HP 3D printer:
1. How easy it is to clean the parts and handle the removed powder
2. How brittle are the parts. The HP strength demo with car lifting was not convincing. The real criteria is the brittleness of 1/2mm - 1mm walls and pins. This actually defines the fine parts printability.
3. How vivid are the colours.
4. How rough is the surface of the parts.

Without knowing those parameters it is hard to conclude whether this printer is just another industrial 3D printer comparable with SSYS or 3D System/Zcorp or a major breakthrough in 3D printing.

[Brian_Krassenstein]

Hewlett Packard, although coming out of the gate last year with great excitement and enthusiasm regarding their entry into 3D printing, is under a bit of a cloud currently with thousands more layoffs emerging as the company splits in two formally as of November 1^st. While layoffs are meant to offset debt, they further plan to use 3D printing as a new recipe for success and reinvention, as well as relying on printing and personal systems sales and support as an ongoing income supply. Read more at 3DPrint.com: http://3dprint.com/96040/hp-layoffs-focus-on-3d-print/