Home Racing World

Oh I agree. It was intended to be on the humorous side.

I find it even more amusing that we can have these...but still not a printer that we can print white and make our own decals. ALPS is long dead and finding them along with the cartridges is getting harder and harder.

Agreed on both counts.
If I understand it properly, using a 3D printer requires that a skilled hand at orthographic CAD drawing provides the key element in order to get a proper fitment of the parts being made. So it follows that a 3D scanner is going to be what sells these things to the general public, as relatively few people will be willing to gamble a successful mastery of expensive CAD drawing software, followed by the expense of the 3D printer itself. Currently, there are 3D scanners in operation industrially, but hobby versions are rare, as far as I know.

What rant? That was very informative.

To borrow a blogger headline from a year ago:

Déjà vu All Over Again: A 2013 Home 3D Printer Is Like a 1983 Dot Matrix Printer

One day it may happen...but not now.

I found it. There are two of them one is $7500, the other, C711WT Color + White Laser Printer for only $3400US- what a bargain... The key is that they are for printing on textiles, apparently.

The C711WT I can get for between Aud 2500 and 3000. Sure it's not cheap against regular printer prices currently. But I have paid that much in the past for an archive quality A3+ high resolution inkjet printer. Like everything new tech, the price will come down when the patents run out. It is what was keeping the price of 3D printing out of reach for home use. But now that 2 of the major patents have expired the prices are tumbling.

When I saw the title I thought "Why would I need another Dremel? I have 3."
Then I opened the thread... :o

I guess I do. But not this year. Or next...

Scott

Given the issues others and I have had with guides, I wonder if there are parts that should not be fabricated this way? Casting is still a viable alternative. Print the master and cast the final product.

I think we sloters and other hobbyist like Model train guys can really put them to good use, but they are kind of being marketed with sort of a shot gun approach; just kind of throwing them out there to see what people will do with them. I was somewhat surprised to see them @ Fry's about 18 months ago, but even more surprised to see them @ a Home Depot about 4 months ago! I do think they trick or the thing that will sell them is the $1,500. scanner because most people won't be able to program something in a CAD program or Softworks.

Price will come down some more I think, but what's gonna really, put them on all our work benches is when those people (first adopters) who thought they were cool and bought them only to find they really had no real use for them, start selling'em on Craigslist for CHEAP!! Then we can all jump in! :music-rockout: