Posted on 09/19/2014 10:18:41 AM PDT by raybbr
Dremel has announced the first 3D printer to come from a major tool manufacturer, the $999 Dremel 3D Idea Builder. Dremel called it a desktop machine for the masses.
The 3D Idea Builder is a fused deposition modeling (FDM) machine that uses a printer head that melts and extrudes a plastic filament layer upon layer to build an object; the thinner the layers, the better the "resolution" or smoothness of an 3D object's surface.
Dremel's machine extrudes the melted filament in layers 100 microns thick - about the same thickness as a standard sheet of paper. The 3D thermoplastic filament, which looks like weed whacker string, comes on 1.1-pound reels that retail for $30. There are 10 colors from which to choose.
Unlike some other 3D printers, Dremel's build platform is not heated. Heated platforms help objects that are being printed maintain their shape by holding the edges down.
The printer has a USB port for connecting computers that run either Mac OS X 10.8 or later or Windows Vista or later software. It also has a full colar touch screen display for controlling various functions.
The thermo polymer filament used with Dremel's machine is limited to one type -- a common polylactide (PLA). PLA is a biodegradable material made from renewables such as corn starch. Other machines allow users to select more than one print material, such as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic, which is more durable than PLA but has an unpleasant smell.
For example, XYZprinting recently announced several sub-$1,000 3D printers that will use both PLA and ABS.
(Excerpt) Read more at computerworld.com ...
Home made Legos for my sons. Or, Minecraft stuff...
$30 for a 1.1 lb roll of the only material the thing will work with.
They aren’t exactly giving the thing away and what it can do is amazing but the consumables are awfully steeply priced for corn starch plastic.
Dremel does the same as so many others, their consumables are expensive. Even for their grinding tools.
I want an affordable 3-D copier. Put an object on a 3-D scanner platform and you press a button and the 3-D printer makes an exact copy while saving the information to a file for additional copies/refinements. Something around $3000.
Just like paper printers where the user cost is mainly in the ink/toner, the cost of the 3-D printers may also be in the consumables.
“...the $999 Dremel 3D Idea Builder. Dremel called it a desktop machine for the masses.”
On what planet?
It’s a glue gun mixed with a plotter with the same brain as a deskjet, and what comes out are mostly novelties.
I’ll bite when they are around 100-200 dollars.
The Ultimaker 2 can print layers down to 20 microns thick and has a heated print platform, but it costs almost three times as much.
The most exciting thing about this is replacing all of the plastic crap that breaks on consumer electronics. Imagine printing a new battery compartment cover for your TV remote? Got a plastic latch for an accessory bay in your car that broke? Print a new one! How about that plastic shifter knob on your lawnmower that broke when you got pissed off at your kid for leaving his baseball bat in the foot-high backyard grass? Print a new one!
And in a very short time, you’ll have 3D CAD shops opened on the web that sell schematics/blueprints for popular stuff for $5 for 10 prints, or something of the like. It’s only a matter of time.
Bad idea IMO. Cripples the printer for large / complex objects that require extra time to complete.
Build your own Prusa 8 or 10 for half the cost.
http://www.makerfarm.com/index.php/3d-printer-kits.html
I’m not really interested in spending more time futzing with a printer that has a problem than actually printing or designing.
Holding out for a Star Trek replicator
I’m currently looking for an affordable 3D printer for Lost Wax casting.
I’d sell you mine, but I only had enough parts to construct one...
Children’s eyeglass frames. They’re amazingly expensive, ($100 or more) and made out of thirty cents worth of plastic.
You nailed it. I’d bet lego peices must cost $100/lb
"This replicated food tastes like plastic!"
Check out the rep rap builds. There are several online where you simply purchase what you need (extruder, motors, etc.) and assemble. Kits are between $800 and $1500.
There is a gentleman on youtube who did exactly what you are talking about, but he used PLA (poly lactic acid plastic) printed by the printer. Then he followed the usual aluminum casting methods, which I assume are different from the lost wax process. And he had great (the part worked in his machine) results.
I can point you to several websites if that helps.
Not near the precision necessary for Lego. The tolerances are so tight it's almost unbelievable. Yeah, you could make brick-like things, but if you build anything of any significant size or complexity, you'd have to use glue to hold it together. Lego is actually pretty amazing stuff, which you'll recognise if you ever try to build anything with knock-off bricks.
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