# 3-d printer down to $1300



## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Saw this this morning

http://www.slatev.com/video/how-print-bicycle/ 


A 3d printer you can make yourself for $1300. Company is called "MakerBot"


That's amazing. At this rate, they'll be down under $500 bucks in a few years. 

I know there are places which will take your digital file, print it, and then mail it to you. But imagine being able to do it yourself! Make your own figuresMake replacement parts. Fabricate buildings. Amazing


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## tacfoley (Jan 3, 2008)

This is great news for anybody who has paid $12-15 for a single model figure....or who wants to make replacement parts - the limit is your imagination. 

tac 
www.ovgrs.org


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## s-4 (Jan 2, 2008)

That is AWESOME! Thanks for sharing the link. 
I've used these machines before, but only with cornstarch...having ABS plastic is wayyy cooler.


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## Charles (Jan 2, 2008)

Add this tool to the mix and one can have a complete setup:

 3D Scanner


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

@import url(/providers/htmleditorproviders/cehtmleditorprovider/dnngeneral.css); It's very tempting. Assemble the kit, then start making all your parts. You could make prototypes for casting, or what the heck, just make the part and skip the casting. I wonder how precise it is? If you made a boxpox wheel model for casting, how close to dead round would it be? 

I could have a lot of fun with something like that. And do real work--the other day a knob broke on our toaster oven. I fixed it, but I could have made an entirely new knob! You could make a boiler shell to exact size!


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## wchasr (Jan 2, 2008)

While the company I work for does not have one of these, a sister division does (they charge us about $500 for a basic part printed) with a printing pace of about 8 x 8 inches. not sure of the brand of printere it is but the principle is the same. The "resolution" is NOT great on the parts we get. Good for somethings and can be smoothed by adding body fillers and sanding or by sanding the surface down. As you can see in the video it prints in layers. Essentially a dot matrix printer with a z-axis. Only instead of printing in ink it prints in ABS plastic. So you get lines on the outside and the part is not truly solid but rather a sort of honeycolmb effect if you cut too deep in it. Still some really neat capabilities there... 

Chas


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## kormsen (Oct 27, 2009)

my pc does not let me see videos any more, so i could not see what mashine was shown. 

but if it refers to this: http://store.makerbot.com/makerbot-thing-o-matic.html 

than i must say, that the price did not went down, but up. 
while the worth of the dollar went down about 20% from a year ago, this mashine went up 30%. a year ago this 3-D printer was offered by them for about 1000$.


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## neals645 (Apr 7, 2008)

Here's a link to the MakerBot web site. I want one!


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## reeveha (Jan 2, 2008)

Here's one that can self-replicate RepRap. The only problem some has to build the first one. 

Somewhere I was reading that Makerbot can self replicate (the parts at least) as weill.


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