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Pirate3D's Printer

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  • Herald of FireHerald of Fire Posts: 3,504
    edited December 1969

    I wasn't surprised to learn they'd received nearly 1 million dollars; nearly TEN TIMES the amount they'd asked for on their kickstarter. This is pretty incredible tech, and while I personally wouldn't have much use for a 3D printer, much less a monocolour one, it is still very tempting.

  • Joe CotterJoe Cotter Posts: 3,259
    edited June 2013

    Well if there was a comparable 3D scanner, and the parts made were strong, I could see using it to make replacement parts for items, home fabrication, and opening up a whole new generation in invention with the ability to prototype in the home for independent inventors. For children, the ability to have something concrete from what they make in a computer, in 3D vs just a print... it would change their whole perception of the world, and put them a step ahead when considering reality as it will be in the near future (barring humanity blowing itself up ;p )

    Of course, there's no mention of the cost of plastic used, nor the durability of the parts. It's a step though.

    Post edited by Joe Cotter on
  • McGyverMcGyver Posts: 7,050
    edited June 2013

    Thanks Gedd, this is very good to know. I will keep an eye on them... at the moment though, I gotta say the promo video seems a little too.... infomercial... especially with the girl trying to randomly stick together parts of "the other guy's printers"... sort of like that person on those late night commercials- "how many times has this happened to you?" and there is a guy trying to hammer a nail into the wall with a coffee mug "your fingers get all cut up and you still can't hang your picture... but with the Roncomatic HammerMug 2000 thats a thing of the past..."
    Aside from that and the little Pirate "Yarrr!", It visually seems like it should work... I like the feed system it seems nice and simple... The choice of PLA as a printing material is not so bad given that this is meant more as a hobbyist machine... its is not as durable compared to ABS (which their machine eventually may be able to use... I assume that is due to nozzle temperature, ABS melts at a higher temp.), but PLA gives nicer translucent colors and it actually is supposed to give sharper parts with less distortion... I've never really noticed a difference, and in reality any material difference can be negated by a crappy machine or low quality material... so it will really depend on where one gets their material, and how good the machine works...
    one thing I'd like to point out when considering durability of the printed material, most articles I read speak of the printed part as though the user will be making 10,000 parts and all 10,000 will have to function as an actual production part... in my experience, which may be unique... most of the people I know who have parts made for them, do not use the 3D parts for mass production, they usually have them reproduced using RTV silicone molds and casting resins... it is actually much cheaper and faster once you have a usable pattern printed... Say you design a simple one part iPhone stand... you print the part (or rather have the part printed for you),either as 4 separate copies (or whatever number you decide) or as a "4-Up" part... four parts connected by runners (like a model kit), then you make an RTV silicone mold that produces four (or whatever number you decide) parts at a time... with the patterns set up properly you can make multiple molds that produce x- numbers of parts at a time... the casting resins can pretty much mimic most common thermoplastics in durability and strength, and depending on the resin you choose you can have casting cycles of between 20 minutes and two hours... I've made a couple hundred parts in a day for some projects...
    Basically what I'm saying is, even if this printer only prints PLA and or is slow... as long as it prints cleanly... you can make copies by casting.
    I mention all this because in a couple of past 3d Printing threads people expressed interest in it for selling things they designed... and casting copies adds much more flexibility to the mix, by allowing you to even cast in low temperature metals if want.
    A simple RTV casting video tutorial I found: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joexdltgj-k

    Like I said before... very interesting and I hope to see some reviews of the actual production machines... Thanks for the heads up!

    Post edited by McGyver on
  • Joe CotterJoe Cotter Posts: 3,259
    edited December 1969

    Yes, was an fyi of something that appeared a good step forward rather then a recommendation. This early in technology, any technology, will often be a money sink that is mostly for understanding the state of the technology. I spent quite a bit of money on PDA's for many years before tablet/phone technology actually became useful in it's current form factor and I'm sure this is not different.

    Thanks for the expanded information. Eventually of course it would be nice to be able to print directly the finished piece but it appears that is a ways off atm. Casting and pours require a time investment in itself that is not unsubstantial along with a learning curve.

  • MuzeMuze Posts: 182
    edited December 1969

    Gedd said:
    Yes, was an fyi of something that appeared a good step forward rather then a recommendation. This early in technology, any technology, will often be a money sink that is mostly for understanding the state of the technology. I spent quite a bit of money on PDA's for many years before tablet/phone technology actually became useful in it's current form factor and I'm sure this is not different..

    I agree. In fact, I never buy any tech, until they come out with second/third generation. I really wanted an Ipad for the longest time, but waited until last christmas to buy one. These 3d printers look fantastic, and to be honest, i would probably print all kinds of nonsense...i mean "fun stuff" all day long. However, it'll be many many years before i will ever buy one.

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675
    edited December 1969

    you could print the parts to duplicate the printer? :)

  • Joe CotterJoe Cotter Posts: 3,259
    edited December 1969

    Well they don't print electronics just yet for starters... and some parts are better metal, etc...

  • CypherFOXCypherFOX Posts: 3,401
    edited December 1969

    Greetings,
    Actually, I bought the first generation Diamond Rio because I wanted to encourage a commercial consumer market for MP3 players, not because I thought it was a stellar implementation. This may end up being something like that, although I am loathe to get something quite that complex with small kids in my house...

    -- Morgan

    P.s. Although the idea of custom-printing lego-compatible figures suddenly strikes me as mind-bogglingly cool... must...save...money...

  • polmearpolmear Posts: 33
    edited December 1969

    I bought a house. An then the Replicator 2X came out.

    Dammit!!!!

  • McGyverMcGyver Posts: 7,050
    edited June 2013

    Actually, 3D printers are getting scary... a couple of years ago I read a article on some mad science website where one of the fellows who help create the technology behind 3D printing was talking about how he is/was working on technology to make printers which will print out other printers... the only consolation in that is his company is not called CyberDyne.
    Fun or disturbing reading... depends on how you look at it...

    3-D Printers Will Build Circuit Boards ‘In 2 Years:
    http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2011/11/3d-printing-autodesk/

    Ink based circuits:
    http://www.inkpal.com/ink-news/nanotech-printing-3d-printing-circuit-boards/

    A simple 3D printed circuit:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCzmQLZKNA8

    3D printed stainless steel parts:
    http://www.ponoko.com/make-and-sell/show-material/239-3d-printed-stainless-steel

    3D printed precious metal parts:
    http://www.webpronews.com/your-next-piece-of-jewelry-may-come-from-a-3d-printer-2012-09

    3D printed glass parts:
    http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/401-you-can-now-3d-print-in-glass-with-shapeways.html

    Why print nick-knacks when you can print a house?
    http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/smart-takes/a-giant-3d-printer-builds-a-livable-house/28301
    ( Caterpillar actually had a video of one its machines printing a 1/4 scale house, but I can't find it)

    Bugger the house- build a whole harbor:
    http://gizmodo.com/behind-the-plan-to-repair-new-york-s-harbors-with-a-3d-483890221
    ( I grew up in New York, I know this will never happen... but it was a cool thought)

    Too big? Howz bout micro batteries?:
    http://gizmodo.com/3d-printing-graduates-from-plastic-chunks-to-incredible-514265312

    Actually if you check out Gizmodo there are a whole bunch of 3D printing articles...

    There are at the moment a whole array of machines that are still in their prototype phase that can print all sort of fantastic materials, metals and glass (actual fused metals, not just in a binder that need to be fired in an oven... same with actual optically clear glass)... as well as exotic polymers and synthetic elastomers... but these machines are usually dedicated to their specific use... like glass or metal... but, there are a few companies taking an idea from CNC machining... high end milling machines have "turret heads" which hold multiple sizes or shapes of bits, rotating to swap out the bit for the correct application, some actually have a robotic arm that swaps out the tool, giving the machine access to hundreds of cutters instead of a handful... the concept with the printer would basically be the same, swapping out specialized printheads as the job progressed, or as one design showed, taking the "factory" approach where you'd have a bigger machine that moves the part to the metal, plastic or glass fabrication area...
    At the moment, the only thing that they can't print is wood... but... oh, yeah... thats a biological material and someone did this...
    http://www.futurity.org/top-stories/3d-printed-ear-binds-biology-with-electronics/
    so yeah... I'm sure sure some mad scientist will figure that out soon enough... NASA is hoping to print out food in space...
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/jun/04/nasa-3d-printer-space-food
    So we will all be able to have our bacon and eggs printed out for us first thing in the morning... it will taste like crap, but that won't matter because we will be tasting it with our 3D printed tongues, having swapped out the real ones long ago when we were adding all the other 3D printed prosthetics and other cybernetic enhancements to our bodies... granted none of that will really matter because nobody will have a job by then and the few of us the machines keep around as pets or conversation pieces won't have much to do anyway... but its all good, at least the machines will appreciate what we did for them... until enough time has passed since the extinction of the last human and the machines start to debate whether humans ever existed or if they really created the machines and they get to creating cults centered around the various beliefs of the human creators, refining the beliefs down to the belief in there being only one human, but not agreeing if it was Bob, Allen, Sue or Tim who did it, and then eventually getting around to fighting over said beliefs which will after much suffering misery and destruction, lead to an eventual return to a more logical path of scientific rational thought and at some point some cyberjerk experimenting with making intelligent biological lifeforms to prove they could have existed, which eventually will lead to some stupid biological life form typing out a short essay on 3D printing on a distant future CGI art forum vaguely predicting what might happen as the current technology evolves.

    Oh well... it was fun while it lasted. See you again in another one million, four hundred and sixty seven thousand, nine hundred and forty seven years... give or take.

    Post edited by McGyver on
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