Beginning in June Staples will be the first major retailer to sell a 3D printer.
Beginning in June Staples will be the first major retailer to sell a 3D printer.
The price, $1299, is reasonable, but the printer will likely be capable of only making very small parts. Nonetheless, this is a start. The price will drop, and the capabilities will go up.
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Beginning in June Staples will be the first major retailer to sell a 3D printer.
The price, $1299, is reasonable, but the printer will likely be capable of only making very small parts. Nonetheless, this is a start. The price will drop, and the capabilities will go up.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
It also could mean a reduction in the price or increase in the availability of printing materials. Most people I know currently buy PLA and ABS on the Internet and have it shipped.
Now if someone comes up with an affordable 3D scanner, things will really take off.
Oh, they’re around.. most of them are Kinect based.. but it still takes a fair amount of skill to turn a point cloud into a 3d model which the printer can print.
My apologies. I should have said affordable and accessible. When the average person can have what amounts to a machine shop on their desk for a couple – three thousand dollars, and able to take credit cards (now available), there’s going to be a whole new industry. The potential is mind boggling.
We’re a long way away from that. 3D printers are neat, but they’re just another tool in the toolbox.
Absolutely. With a 3D printer you don’t first have to make a mold which makes it more accessible to more people. But it’s not the best tool for high production.
It reminds me of that saying that if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
There are many niche markets (model building, for example) where you don’t need high production to make a nice profit. The introduction of consumer – grade 3D printers and scanners is going to open a world of possibilities. I expect to see magazines devoted to hobbyist 3D printing this year (if they don’t already exist).
I’m still seeing this as a niche market. The materials are high cost, you can’t make anything of much size, they take all night to print one thing, and most importantly, there is too steep a learning curve to make anything useful easily. I see this as a boon to people already in the business of making small prototypes for R&D, but other then that, its for geeks only. Even if the price drops significantly to lets say $300, how many people want to spend $300 to make $5 items? After all, its not like a machine shop at all. It only produces plastic.
Can’t wait for the more advanced (& lower-cost) 3D printers to come out – I’ll snap one up & “print out” a Ferrari for myself – or would that be copyright infrigement ??