

Shapeways (3D Printing Startup) Raises $5MM Series A from USV  - replicatorblog
http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/595-Shapeways-raises-5M-and-opens-HQ-in-New-York.html

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tomkinstinch
There is a relevant (albeit vague) U.S. bill in committee to establish a
"National Fab Lab Network":
<http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-6003>

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dmvaldman
This is the future!!! I remember when I saw this website a year ago, and it
seemed then that the majority of items would be purchased for only the price
of the material used (could be mistaken about that). I can understand talented
people who want to make a buck going away from that "business model".

But imagine if even a little of the "open source" culture rubs onto this
community, prices could fall incredibly low for super interesting products. I
can really see this taking off.

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steveklabnik
While I certainly don't mean to dampen your enthusiasm, it takes more than
open source culture to get those prices to drop. This industry is an absolute
minefield for intellectual property. Just like 2D printing, 3D printing
manufacturers make roughly 70% of their cash from the sale of materials, and
this means there's no incentive for them to drop.

Of course, this isn't stopping people from knocking them off for cents on the
dollar, but still.

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dmvaldman
Yes but there is more than one reason to charge a lot for a product, one is
the material used (which I don't expect to change much), but there are many
others, such as creativity of design, utility, etc.

When you look at Shapeway's store you can see so much intricacy in some
products. With a $10 block of plastic I can make a product that would
otherwise sell for $100, now sell for $10.

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steveklabnik
Trust me, I'm totally on your side. Theres a reason this tech has been around
since the 80s, but things like the MakerBot has only happened recently, that's
all I'm saying.

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ghjklkjh
The reason is that the software was always very difficult (and expensive)

People that had, and could drive, Solidworks weren't interested in making one-
off bits of jewelry and the artists that were couldn't drive the CAD system.

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wccrawford
Wow. Everything is crazy expensive. $40 for a little plastic robot that
doesn't move? Even if -I- had designed it, I wouldn't pay $40 for plastic
printout of it.

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steveklabnik
Shapeways' prices are actually fairly competitive. 3D printing isn't cheap.

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wccrawford
My point wasn't the 3D printing cost. Or about 3D printing in general. I know
it can be really useful, and these would be good prices for those things.

My point was the objects available for sale. Like that robot. They don't make
sense, especially for that price.

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steveklabnik
Just woke up and saw this. Awesome. Congrats to Peter and everyone else at
Shapeways, this is great!

This just made my space a lot more interesting. CloudFab doesn't exactly
_compete_ with Shapeways, but when explaining what we do, we've had a lot of
people be very skeptical on the whole mass customization market. Hopefully
this makes people take it a bit more seriously.

