Cupcake 3D Printer Upgrade Path
Easy path to upgrades
Here’s one of the things I love about open source projects – clear to understand and consistent upgrade paths.1
To put this in perspective, I have a name brand GPS unit. Shortly after buying it that company released a new version that was thinner and had some new features. Alas, no such upgrades were available for my unit. And, really, that’s just silly. My unit has a processor, memory, a small hard drive, and a GPS receiver. Why shouldn’t I be able to just update the firmware to get these new features? 2
Last month brought lots of cool new upgrades for MakerBot printers as well as a brand new printer, the Thing-O-Matic. Since MakerBot Cupcake CNC’s are an open source project, you have an opportunity with your printer I don’t have with my GPS. The parts are designed to be modular, updated, swapped out, and hacked. Unlike with my GPS, a 3D printer owner need not ever worry about being left behind by upgrades. With the designs online, you can even source (or print!) all the parts you need.
Now that I’ve picked up all the upgrades for my own Cupcake, I can highly recommend them. The MK5 Plastruder gives an extremely smooth extrusion and the Deluxe Filament Spindle Box box gives you tangle and hassle free filament feeding. The Automated Build Platform has worked for me admirably as a heated build platform – but I expect it will work better as I get the hang of it.
| Tagged with | abp, automated build platform, filament box, mk5, open source, upgrades | 5 comments |
5 Comments so far
Twotimes
Hey Makerblock,
The TomTom is the only GPS that allows you to switch between qwerty and alpha key layouts. Isn’t that lame that no one else does that?
MakerBlock
@Twotimes: Totally, totally lame. I suppose it will never make any difference now. My phone has more updated maps, better traffic detection, better re-routing, and can play Tetris. I’ll probably never buy another stand-alone GPS again.
Chooch
I think that’s the problem with most companies, they need to make things modular and upgradeable, but they still think that most people won’t take apart a laptop (or insert other consumer good) and take out the video card (or other part) and look into upgrading it to a better, faster, stronger part.
Nemorem
Glad to see, not everyones upgrade ends in disaster. My Mk5 died before printing a single object and it should really have made me realize: “Never change a running system.”
Nevertheless, when will a z axis upgrade hit the cupcake? Can’t wait to swap them
happydayengineer
A story about why I not only stepped off the soapbox, but disassembled it (and made an awesome bed from the parts).
I used to be 100% for modularity, upgradability and absolute serviceability. I’d go as far as scoff at products that didn’t have these qualities. I got my mech engineering degree because I wanted to “do it right”. I had some awesome internships along the way, built some cool things and later started working at a startup with friends, making a few products.
Going through the R&D, cost down and now kicking off the mass production phase overseas has forced me to step down from the soapbox. Some things I have learned:
-Modularity can serve to the detriment of the design
-Sometimes, a top-down approach is appropriate over a bottom-up
-Stop complaining about price: China is cheap – but not as cheap as you think
-Cellular Manufacturing – it’s the future (Thanks Henry Ford, but the line isn’t as efficient)
-As long as Wal*Mart is the number 1 retailer in the US, don’t expect serviceability and modularity to be top priority
To the last bullet – another example:
Will you buy a new car? I sure won’t. Let someone else experience that 1st year depreciation :p That said, I have NO RIGHT to complain about the design of said car. That car was designed for the consumer that bought it new. Company revenue isn’t driven by sales of a 1999 Honda Civic
At the end of the day, sadly, most people will not take apart that laptop (nor are they interested). That same group of people will never say anything public about it either. An arguably loud minority, however, will take apart their laptop to replace the $6 CCFL tube (raises hand!).
I wish it weren’t so, but apple didn’t sell over 7.5 million iPads in an incredibly short period of time because people want to hack and take things apart (I’m sure there’s an inclusive subset, however). They sold 7.5 million because the device targets people that are consumers.
I do think anyone that wants to get into product design/development totally should! Scale for 1000′s per month and do it! You’ll have to make sacrifices, eat ramen and compromise all over the place.
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I bought my standalone GPS not because it had an upgrade path that would make it thinner and have more features in the future.. I bought it because, like so many others, it was cheap and there’s an upgrade path for what matters (maps!). My standalone device is over 2 years old… I’ve replaced the battery and upgraded the maps. It has the processing power and features of a 1998 GPS… In related computing terms – I don’t expect my Pentium II desktop to have an upgrade path to a quad core P4.
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Lastly – this is totally not meant to be a rant. The tldr punch line: Markets can be segmented. If you want it, someone else probably does too BUT, there are other people who want different (and as Wal*Mart shows, there’s more of them then there are of us and they’re going to be served first