
MakerBot’s New 3D Printer: The Thing-O-Matic - ph0rque
http://blog.makerbot.com/2010/09/25/announcing-makerbots-new-3d-printer-the-thing-o-matic/
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mmorris
I'm so excited to see these 3D printers becoming more and more advanced. The
disruption caused by the Internet so far will be mild compared to what these
things will do in the long run.

Seemingly this is a long way off, but when consumers can create many or most
of the objects they need using some raw materials and data from an open source
hardware design, the whole economy will have to adjust dramatically.

Great work guys!

~~~
StrawberryFrog
_but when consumers can create many or most of the objects they need_

I'm not seeing that soon. Many or most of the objects that I need are either:
1) Full of advanced electronics - phone, ebook reader, laptop, netbook etc.

2) Made of metal for strength - e.g. car or bike parts

3) Made from fabric - clothes and bedding

4) Edible

So when do these machines go past being fabs that can churn out plastic
trinkets? How many white plastic rabbits does one need anyway?

~~~
kiba
When I get my hand on one of those 3D printer, I plan to make a self
replicating lego train network _en-masses_ , completed with construction
legobots and the like.

The lego clone bricks will be the foundation for an entire robotic enterprise
to build a train network around my neighborhood, and then the next and so on.

That mean, lego assembly lines for building trains and various kind of
construction bots, and various scouting legobots that fly, crawl, and move on
the ground. Then it's time for the human to source electronics and plastic
supplies, as well find a business model for the train network I am going to
build.

It's an interesting project that seem to be multifacet, at least to me. Alas,
I am still on hacking my RC cars to become robot stage. Tommorow is
desoldering day and finally controlling the motor of my RC car.

~~~
Groxx
Just wait - one of them will go back in time and try to kill Lego Sarah
Conner. You'll see.

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janzer
No video of it in action yet? That's always the part I look for in 3d printer
articles.

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HeyLaughingBoy
I wonder how one of the major problems with these things will be solved. We
have a Stratasys ($30k+ unit) 3D printer at work and while it does a great job
of making a prototype overnight, the feature size still isn't small enough to
not notice ridges. I'd guess that the features are well below 0.01" but you
can still see a "pattern" on the end product that wouldn't be there if it
were, e.g., molded or machined.

RepRap is doing some interesting research with using multiple types of
materials like embedding wiring in the product, but the technology has a
_long_ way to go before it's consumer-ready.

~~~
steveklabnik
You should check out non - FDM processes; for instance, Objet machines have a
14micrometer layer thickness, so they're absolutely smooth coming out of the
machine. There's so much more out there.

Shameless plug: <http://cloudfab.com/fab_facts>

~~~
joshu
That is a nice summary of what is out there.

~~~
steveklabnik
Thank you. We tried. It's really unfortunate that even among people who know
about printing, they know about the top two or three processes, generally.
There's so much cool stuff happening in this space, the industry really has an
image problem.

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Luc
I'm having a hard time finding examples of things it prints. You'd think
they'd have a few impressive pictures of stuff they've printed with it...

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aberkowitz
To see examples of things makerbot, thing-o-matic's younger sibling, built you
can check out thingiverse.com

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app
I can't think of anyone who embodies the hacker mentality better than the
MakerBot guys. The polish on this version really shows. Keep it up!

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tocomment
That really sucks that the price increased. I've been waiting patiently for
years for the price to come down.

Btw I don't think it actually made that platic rabbit in the picture. I've
seen things the reprap has made and that rabbit is way too advanced looking.
Anyone know?

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beagle3
The price for the cupcake CNC (previous model) HAS come down while supplies
last -- you can get it really cheap. The Thing-O-Matic is a new, much improved
model.

I believe it made the rabbit; I've seen similar things made by cupcake, and
thing-o-matic is supposed to be even more preceise.

And last but not least -- it's all open source. Build one yourself if you
think the price is too high. I think their profit margin is very reasonable,
and if you try to build one from scratch it is probably going to cost you at
least as much in bill-of-materials-and-lasercutting alone.

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tocomment
I was implying they were marking it up too much. I just wish someone would
figure out a cheaper way to make 3D printers. Alas, I have no ideas.

~~~
steveklabnik
The plans are all open source, if you think the markup isn't worth it, you can
put it together yourself. <http://wiki.makerbot.com/cupcake>

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regularfry
Oh, my. Just as I was about to shell out for a Makerbot as well. Damn.

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beagle3
You can get a cupcake cnc (old makerbot) for half price while their supplies
still last.

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regularfry
Yes, but that wouldn't tweak my NewShinyometer quite so hard.

