3D printing setups: what are you guys running?

Hey there,

Does anyone know if there are 3D printing services available here in the States? I’m looking to take a model I built in 3ds Max and have someone actually bring it into the physical world. What kind of damage am I looking at in terms of pricing?

I know the FBI actually has a rapid prototyping machine—which is really just a fancy way of saying they have a 3D printer—but you’d probably have to give them a serious call first just to see if they’d even consider printing something for you.

I know there was... I can't quite put my finger on where exactly... but there was this presentation just a few months ago over at MIT...

But look, I’m not talking about printing some tiny little trinket here—this file is a massive 320MB .3ds model with roughly 3.5 million faces.

Man... I’ve gotta say, I am genuinely curious to see how this actually plays out.

Paul Morgan74 said:Damn... I’m actually curious to see how that plays out.

Like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7h09dTVkdw

fadedfox40 said:But I’m not trying to print some tiny trinket here—this thing is a massive 320MB .3ds file with roughly 3.5 million faces.

Honestly, none of that matters.
Most 3D printers have a build volume around 4x4x4 inches, maybe hitting 8x8x8 if you're lucky. With surface precision usually sitting around 0.004 inches, you can easily strip those 3.5 million faces down to 3,500—or even less—and frankly, nobody is going to notice the difference.
Besides, there's a whole spectrum of tech out there. You've got industrial laser sintering that fuses powder into metal, then you've got those cheap ones that stack layers of paper together—I actually used one of those for a college project once. Those budget ones end up looking kind of like wood.
Then there’s the micro-milling stuff, where they basically carve the model right out of a solid block of plastic using a five-axis micro-mill.

I’ve actually gotten my hands on those 3D printers myself, and yeah, okay, I get it—the tech is pretty wild. But honestly? I’m just not feeling the hype. It doesn't fascinate me one bit. I still can't wrap my head around the actual point of it all. Like, what are you even gaining by printing these tiny little plastic models? Is there a real purpose here, or am I just missing something obvious? Whatever, it doesn't really matter.☕

Moving this over to OFFTOPIC...

Keith Robinson78 said:I honestly don't even get what they're actually for.

Well, they're for visualization. Is that really such a weird concept? Not everyone can just wrap their head around a 3D model or figure out how different parts fit together in space.
Plus, you use them to make positive and negative molds for casting. And those laser systems that sinter powder to create metal models? They can print final, one-off pieces—like a custom dental retainer or some kind of medical implant that gets put right into the body.

John Cook72 said:They’re used for visualization, right? Is that really such a shocker? Not everyone can just wrap their head around a 3D model or figure out how multiple models interact with each other in space.
Plus, they're used to create positive-negative patterns for casting molds. And those laser systems that sinter powder to make metal parts? They can produce final, one-off pieces too—think things like custom dental prosthetics or specialized medical implants.

👍👍😍

Has anyone actually bothered to look into what these kinds of services are going to run me? I’m thinking about pulling the trigger on something similar myself, so I could use some insight on the pricing.

Here’s something that might be useful for some of you. I’d suggest checking on the pricing first, because students can usually snag a decent discount.

http://www.3dhr.net/3dtisak/

So I’ve got a 3D printer—one of those high-end industrial ones that can actually fuse metal—but even then, when you're trying to manufacture actual tools, it’s still a massive pain. You hit limits with the resolution and things just fall apart once you try to finish them. Not that I need to lecture anyone here; most of you probably already know this stuff...

I've seen some nonsense posted lately, but let’s be real—this equipment isn't cheap by any stretch of the imagination.

And for the students out there? Keep dreaming about discounts for now...

Hey everyone!
I'm running a quick survey to gauge how much people actually know about 3D printing technology and the general field. If you have a spare moment, it’s just ten brief questions.
I'll be publishing the results on my blog once they're ready, so I'll let you all know when that happens.

Survey link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FCDTD7F

Thanks!

So I’d probably just grab a cheaper printer, maybe something like a $667, just to churn out some tool prototypes and stuff—basically just enough to see if the design actually works. Any serious commercial stuff would be handled through partnerships using high-end industrial printers anyway.

https://www.geeetech.com/acrylic-gee...9pmopicfmodja4

It’s on sale right now, so it'd end up being under $667.

I can't find anything decent on Craigslist, except maybe this one:

http://www.craigslist.org/re-listing-example-link

I haven't called the guy yet, but honestly, it looks pretty solid to me—mostly because of the build volume it offers.

What do you guys think?