What would you do with double the speed and capacity of a 3D printer?
Did you say DOUBLE???
That’s about the situation in which I find myself. I already own a 3D printer – MakerBot Cupcake #465, “Bender.“ 1 I’ve got him all tricked out with a couple of printed upgrades, MK5 plastruder, and an automated build platform. Well, today the last bits I need to finish my Thing-O-Matic arrived. 2 I’m very hopeful I’ll have it online and operational before the end of the weekend. The weather forecast for the California bay area says it’s going to rain all through the weekend. It sounds like perfect robot assembling weather to me.
However, I’ve had one nagging thought. Assuming all goes well, I’ll have two fully functional 3D printers in my home. I have no problem keeping one busy, but two?
What would you do with a printer that had an automated build platform and double the printing speed of a Thing-O-Matic?
- Photo courtesy of Vincente Alfanso [↩]
- Once operational, I intend to name my Thing-O-Matic “Flexo” [↩]
| Tagged with | cupcake, Cupcake CNC, thing-o-matic, thingomatic | 11 comments |
11 Comments so far
eCompositor
I would print twice as many things.
Dave Durant
Well, if you’re going to name it Flexo, you’re required to print up a goatee first thing and stick it to the front of the ‘bot. I want pictures, btw.
After that, send the bots to thingiverse.com and have them start printing more of themselves. That’ll keep them busy long enough for you to figure out what to do with 4 (or
bots printing at once.
Peter "Letsburn00" Hillier
I’d start printing things that are currently impractical. I think that as speed increases then things just start becoming more reasonable. Printing a plate instead of buying on is currently impractical, but with double the speed (and print space) then it suddenly becomes twice as reasonable. Currently its not fast enough, but then it might be.
David R
These guys are building a 3d printer like makerbot, except QUADRUPLE the build area, and significantly faster too (they have it running up to 150 mm/s feed rate, about 41 cc per hour):
http://blog.ultimaker.com/
I’ll be interested to see their plans & the price of their kits when they are ready.
Rashad Glover
Replacement parts are a must. Or build a Reprap.
Jacob
You are in an enviable position:) If I had an extra 3D printer lying around, I would donate it to the Engineering Club of a Community College. If you don’t know of any near you, may I suggest the Spokane Falls Community College Engineering Club of which I am a member. Here is their website:
http://www.spokanefalls.edu/Resources/StudentLife/Clubs/EngineeringClub.aspx
Have a great day, and happy building!
Jacob
Tmophoto
At that point they have graduated from being a fun toy/tool to something that gets put to work (at least one of them). Find or design objects that you can sell (parts and upgrades for printers or entire printers) and get them to work as much as possible each day. Also start to go for the all-time longest print with the automated build platform. Can you imaging the day when you can send an entire makerbot to get printed nonstop and it just works?
Things that are too big or too complicated are no longer. I would spend a few days calibrating the machines and try to get them to print the same so parts from the machines match
The Ruttmeister
I’d tear down my Cupcake to experiment with a bunch of upgrades, being able to still print when you do would be very handy.
I’m trying to figure a bunch of ideas inspired by Ultimaker, but its kinda hard to experiment when your parts are all busy being a working printer.
I have spare electronics, but still havent gotten around to ordering spare steppers and whatnot…
And its been raining here in the bay all week anyway!
Interested to here how it goes.
Sharron Clemons
I’d start printing things that are currently impractical. I think that as speed increases then things just start becoming more reasonable. Printing a plate instead of buying on is currently impractical, but with double the speed (and print space) then it suddenly becomes twice as reasonable. Currently its not fast enough, but then it might be.
Luis
I plan to get a stepper extruder working on the old cupcake and starting tricking the hell out of if, @David R the Ulitmaker was said by Erik to be available in Feb for ~$1600 with another ~$1200. Saw it at Botacon. Super awesome!
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