

3D printed coffee cups - sanj
http://cunicode.com/one-coffee-cup-a-day/

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sanj
I've been looking for stackable coffee cups for a long time. The idea of
designing my own -- with the ability to make them hollow walled (!!) -- is
tremendous.

One interesting artifact of 3D printing: no volume discounts.

(pun intended)

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Luyt
_One interesting artifact of 3D printing: no volume discounts_

When you arrive at a design which is commercially feasible in larger volumes,
you'd use the printed design for making plaster casting moulds, then use clay
slip casting to produce the same cup over and over...

~~~
eps
Is something like this possible to produce on mass scale?
<http://www.shapeways.com/model/25846/ora.html>

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Luyt
Well, you can always find examples which are hard to cast. I was thinking more
of serially producing coffee cups rather than ceramic art forms.

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Luc
It's amazing how Shapeways has improved the quality of these:
[http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/1078-New-Ceramics-
is-...](http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/1078-New-Ceramics-is-Back-with-
a-Bang!.html)

I wonder how much handwork is involved in cleaning up the printed model and
applying the glaze (unless the glaze is printed, too).

~~~
nickpinkston
They're made by <http://www.viridis3d.com/ceramics.htm> The materials are dirt
cheap ;-) and I believe they were applying the glaze by dipping them in racks.

~~~
Luc
Yup, it seems Viridis3D are the ones doing the actual printing and firing. I
thought it was done in-house by Shapeways.

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jxcole
I love this. I have in my mind a future where we don't just use open source
software for our computers, but we use open source designs for our home
appliances and electronics. I have the feeling that, if done well, you could
get all sorts of very nice stuff for almost nothing. The next big revolution,
after the information revolution, will be the home fabrication revolution.

~~~
ralphsaunders
Somehow I think it's more likely that they'll get a flawed product and will
have to buy a replacement from a store.

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jfoutz
Yeah. Just like people always end up going to the counter at the airport
because those home-printed boarding passes are worthless.

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devs1010
I've printed my own boarding pass many times, never had a problem

~~~
zheng
There was just a bit of sarcasm in the parent, I think ;)

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marknutter
I'm interested to see what happens when these 3D printers become mainstream
and people start to "pirate" physical objects.

~~~
daeken
One of my favorite short stories is highly related: Printcrime by Cory
Doctorow ( [http://craphound.com/overclocked/Cory_Doctorow_-
_Overclocked...](http://craphound.com/overclocked/Cory_Doctorow_-
_Overclocked_-_Printcrime.html) ).

~~~
omaranto
On the subject of 3D printing and Cory Doctorow I expected to see Makers
mentioned, not printcrime. <http://craphound.com/?p=2371>

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MetallicCloud
Seems like a good idea, but the end result isn't smooth enough for me to get
one.

<http://cunicode.com/the-octocup-3dprinted-review/>

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Luyt
This is inspirational. I'm going to try to reproduce some of these cups using
traditional means: throwing on the potter's wheel, and some assembly when the
clay is leather hard.

For example, the 'half cup' isn't hard to make, and a great joke cup for when
you ask someone "Do you want another coffee?" and she answers: "Hmmmm, ok, a
half one then".

The octocup is easy too, just attach 8 handles to a standard cup, but the
effect is surprising. The 'double espresso cup' is the same, only two handles
vertically stacked.

And a cup with two bullhorns ;-) What would be a nice name for that cup? A
'Texas Cup'?

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vijayr
Very nice idea. Some of the designs are very funny (spouted cup, aroma cup).
At 50$+ a cup, I wonder who'll actually buy them. But as they say at the
beginning of the article, the intention is to experiment and not profit?

~~~
rsiqueira
I almost bought one, but the smallest one is $ 40.91 + $ 19.99 (international
shipping) = $ 60.90 a single cup. So I had to gave up.

~~~
wavephorm
Most of the designs don't look that great and certainly aren't worth the
price. But I don't think the point of the project was to really sell any cups,
rather than to show how far the technology and processes have improved.

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Luyt
I'd like a 'bullcup', a cup with two large bullhorns.

And a 'spongecup', where the inside of the cup is filled with a filament-like
structure. Maybe impractical, because hard to clean.

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marquis
My designer friends are salivating over this. Does the future mean a home-
fabricator as a household item, where we can create tools as well as edible
items? I can imagine it would cut down on waste. The business model, like an
iTunes for 3D models, will be massive.

~~~
alexchamberlain
The price has to come down dramatically before this will be a reality.

~~~
nickpinkston
It's less a factor of price for most things than just the material properties
of the finished product and the fact that most things aren't a blob of
material, but have circuit board, etc. that requires assembly.

That said - cups, jewelry, etc. that can be made at once don't have these
material/assembly issues. Jewelry only costs $20 more to do using 3D printed
patterned (as opposed to molded patterns), but with ceramic cups you're right:
price is the biggest hang up currently.

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sirwanqutbi
so much for 'cloudflare' the site's is offline.

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deepkut
These are unbelievably awesome. Christmas gift for that family member who has
everything x2?

