Re: [Phys-l] 3-d printer

[Marty Weiss <martweiss@comcast.net>]

Chuck,
	Thanks for the quick reply.  My high school students, their parents, and a few teacher friends on our little high student/teacher/parents e-mail group were very interested in this whole topic also and I am passing along the info I received from you and the others.  The cost problem is one of our unanswered questions that you just cleared up.  Honestly, no one in this group of about twenty intelligent people ever heard of this before seeing this video so even though it has been out there for years it has not been publicized very much.

Marty


On Jul 15, 2011, at 9:30 AM, chuck britton wrote:

> The one at TechShopRDU etc. has a pretty serious 'Materials' charge.
> The cost of the machine is pretty steep too.
>
> Ours gets used for 'one-off' prototyping of parts that will earn 
> their keep in other processing machines.
>
> Some nice baubles and bangles have been made - but not cheaply.
>
> It's nice to have such a machine available - but it is FAR from being 
> heavily used.
>
> The LASER cutter on the other hand - is booked solid.
> .
> At 9:15 AM -0400 7/15/11, Marty Weiss wrote:
> > Ok, thanks for the info.   More Questions :  if this printer can 
> > make a wrench that works and is as strong as the demonstration 
> > shows, why don't we see whole industries built around the 
> > technology...  door knobs, locks, tools of all sorts, etc.  ... or 
> > is it just cheaper to make them on the traditional assembly line? 
> > Is this so expensive that the cost outweighs the convenience?  Which 
> > brings up the thought of a store keeping inventory... say a hardware 
> > store invests in a 3-d printer for a one-time investment.  The 
> > proprietor can then buy one of everything and make more on the 
> > printer instead of buying boxes of, say, wrenches at a cost 
> > involving the price of the tool itself, plus shipping, not to 
> > mention storage and shelf space. 
> >
> > Marty
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