3D printers becoming affordable?

[Martijn Meerts]

http://www.k8200.eu

 

Not sure about the US, but in Europe the recommended retail price is set to 699 Euro, which makes this thing really, really interesting.

 

Of course, there's nowhere near enough info to figure out if it's usable for N-scale stuff, but hopefully once the thing becomes available, there's be plenty reviews and pictures of test prints so we can have a look at the resolution :)

 

Edit: the printed object in the video does look a little rough, but that's only 1 object :)

Edited July 9, 2013 by Martijn Meerts

[ToniBabelony]

These are the things that I'd like to have. Then again, it would also mean that I'd have to learn 3D CGI, since I'd be pumping out custom bodyshells all day long! Investments, investments... Oh all the Keisei and Shin-Keisei trains that would populate the layouts and collections of many...

[Nick_Burman]

These are the things that I'd like to have. Then again, it would also mean that I'd have to learn 3D CGI, since I'd be pumping out custom bodyshells all day long! Investments, investments... Oh all the Keisei and Shin-Keisei trains that would populate the layouts and collections of many...

Whoa there...I don't think this printer is able to print in the resolution modellers (especially N scale modellers) require...I fear printers of model-building resolution which are affordable to take home are still in the future.

 

Cheers NB

Edited July 9, 2013 by Nick_Burman

[Martijn Meerts]

These are the things that I'd like to have. Then again, it would also mean that I'd have to learn 3D CGI, since I'd be pumping out custom bodyshells all day long! Investments, investments... Oh all the Keisei and Shin-Keisei trains that would populate the layouts and collections of many...

 

I've done quite a bit of 3D modelling in the past, so I'll be able to pick it up quite fast again, depending on the software. Printing custom shells might be problematic though, and not just because of the resolution of the printer being too small :)

 

 

 

Whoa there...I don't think this printer is able to print in the resolution modellers (especially N scale modellers) require...I fear printers of model-building resolution which are affordable to take home are still in the future.

 

Cheers NB

 

I believe the nozzle is 0.5mm, so while not good enough for shells, it might be a nice way of doing custom buildings and such. Especially skyscrapers are often expensive, so investing 700 euro and then being able to just "print" them would actually be interesting.

[cteno4]

This is an extrusion stryene printer that won't give you n scale resolution. The best you can so are some rough things like stone walls and such. They work by melting a stryene filament to deposit little drops of plastic. One big drawback is they need vertical support for stuff so you can't float a flat horizontal surface. So you could not do a table right side up. If its simple like a table you can just print upside down, starting with the tabletop on the print bed and print the legs up then. If you do need something hanging out horizontally into space you need to slowly extend out a bit at a time in an arc. So if you did a car shell right side up, to do the roof you would need an arched roof inside the car to support the roof as its printed. I've talked to a couple of chaps with extrusion printers and wargaming ruins and walls is only what they think works near 1/150.

 

The photo liquid polymer machines do great shells. A number of nice trams are now being done by various folks for sale.

 

3d modeling still is the big chore. Bit of a learning curve for the software then a second one to do things in ways that work best in the printer, that's some learning (print shops are getting better about getting this knowledge out) and some trial and error for your needs.

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

Edited July 9, 2013 by cteno4

[ToniBabelony]

So I see... That's too bad... There are probably already other types on the market that can do this kind of detailed stuff though. One of my dreams however is to create moulds easily and make bodyshells, but that's a very costly affair and can best be done without 3D printers. Let's see what technology brings us. In the meantime, I should try to make an effort into 3D modeling...  Maybe...

[cteno4]

toni,

 

the print services are pretty reasonable in price these days and fine for smaller quantities and to figure out what works w/o large printer investments. the finer scale printers are still pretty pricy, even the cheaper high res ones are like $1-2K and not really quite full n scale resolution yet.

 

the 3d modeling part is where the learning curve is and just really takes practice. its one of those things you have to keep using to keep sharp. ive picked it up like 3 times and lost most of it each time as i didnt use it for a long stretch so have not progressed a lot each time! gets a little frustrating, so ive left it aside until i have time to keep at it and keep moving up the learning curve! also programs are getting better and better (but at times the mass of new features with release cycles can make things crazy). 

 

cheers

 

jeff

[ToniBabelony]

Hi Jeff,

 

Thanks for the info. The learning curve is what bothers me most. Actually modeling would be fine, since since it'd be putting blueprints in a 3D environment anyway. I'm not saying it will be easy, but it will certainly be easier than learning how to 3D model (I'm a freelance 2D artist and designer, so it all looks a bit familiar).

 

That 3D printing service thing becoming affordable is a great thing. I've found this small company that does printing for reasonable prices:  http://www.shapeways.com/shops/SpoorObjecten It's all Dutch stuff, but it certainly looks the part! They do a lot of N-gauge as well.

[cteno4]

toni,

 

3d modeling shouldnt be a problem for you, just time and practice. simple cheap fiddling can start with the free options out there. you can also keep watch as some of the bigger modeling programs will sometimes release older versions for free when they roll out new ones. try to get you hooked on their system so you will buy the latest and greatest.

 

shells are actually not so bad as its mostly 2d layout of the walls and then a little extrusion for details.

 

last bit then is turning the drawing into a print drawing, but the print services have been getting good at helping in this conversion process and dos and donts etc.

 

shapeways is great, ive used them a few times. they are here big in the states as well. their store front also allows folks to open their designs up to others. some folks pretty much do them for free others can charge quite a bit... 

 

you pay by the volume of plastic used so if you can make things with little plastic used prices wont be horrible. 464 n scale pigeons were only like $12!

 

anyhow you can probably start fiddling with very little investment. the other downside of owning your own printer are consumables and keeping maintenance up. A couple of the exhibit fabricators i work with have a bunch of more exotic tools and while it works well with the volume of work they do on them, they still have to remember the investment on keeping things working!

 

things should continue to come down in price! saw one thing on using dlp chips to flash whole print layers at once instead of a laser draw for each layer. 

 

jeff