3d printer

[cjcollier]

What do y'all think of the idea of a 3d printer? Aaron uses one at work. They call them "C&C machines." I don't recall what C&C stands for, but it basically takes a 3d model from a computer and cuts it into a piece of metal. I've been thinking about building such a beast

Comments

[mattwestervelt]

Actually, they're Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNC

I'd be super impressed if you built one. I'd want to use it too :)

[matthew]

There was just an article on (I think) the Make blog about building your own. It's surprising easy these days, and costs under $1k:

http://www.sci-spot.com/Mechanical/cnc.htm

[cjcollier]

You are the man. And not in the big brother sort of way.

[cjcollier]

Dude. I didn't know you had an LJ account :)

[brianfey]

I usually think of this kinda stuff in terms of the opportunity cost.

Can you provide something which will take this tool combined with others immensely more valuable? Or will be be replicating what others have done?

You only have so much energy...

[qijm]

Don't neglect the opportunity cost involved in forgoing a pleasurable activity, even if the mere artifact created by that activity could be obtained more cheaply by other means. It might yet be the cheapest way of having that obtaining that sort of satisfaction.

[brianfey]

I won't. :)
I just know there is only so much space in the mind and body and time for geek projects.
And that energy is best used for things which result in a great energy return. Returning skills, value, product, contact and good bucks.
I have seem many good geeks get off on some irrelevant product in an irrelevant language or technology set... sure they had some fun... but they could have hard fun and increased their energy and benefit.
But then... I am kinda a freak about such things... Most folks just wanna have a good time.

[cjcollier]

Based on what I've found, you can get a "hobby" CNC machine for around $1500, and you can build one yourself (what quality, I'm not sure) for $1000. If you build it yourself, you "own" the whole stack, and you're only relying on third parties for the parts you require to build your own. If you buy someone else's, they become the middle man. Six to one, half dozen to the other, I guess.

The other good part about "rolling your own" here is that any part of the whole can be replaced with the new hotness. When relying on someone else, you have to wait for them to fit the new hotness into their business model, create a few pre-production versions, have their users test it, etc, etc. You've seen what that does to web browsers. I(E)ck.

C&C = CNC, Computer Numeric Control

[anonymous]

Have a look at http://www.roboticsevolved.com/developer.htm, there is a complete dev kit set up