So what will I miss most now that I’ve left Shapeways?
My colleagues? No, what I will miss is the Shapeways Makerbot. We got a beautiful Makerbot Industries Cupcake CNC some weeks ago. Our Makerbot is quite noisy but we love it. Hans put it together for us and he is trying to add things to it all the time. We really wanted a 3D printer around the office and we’re very happy to have this now.
Our findings:
- The entire process of getting a Makerbot and putting it together is a lot of fun.
- Assembling a Makerbot is not difficult if you’re a Dremel owning techie type of person.
- Your Makerbot will not work all the time so you have to keep at it.
- You will get stuck but there is a great Makerbotting community out there to help you.
- Owning a Makerbot will make you feel like you came from the future.
Watch the rather noisy video of our Makerbot below (and I was kidding I’ll miss my colleagues a tonne!) .
😛 Can we order something made by this? 😛
Second that ! 😀
I remember the first time i saw Makerbot i immediately reached for my wallet …
But then i saw what comes out… :-/
Sure it’s a cool DIY/hobby thingy .. but not practical for real detailed 3D printing for my desktop.
Better spend those $700 or $1000 ordering your designs from shapeways.com with way more material options and way more fine detailed resolution…
My 2c 😛
True, you don’t use makerbot for printing “pretty” things.
But it is wonderful for functional mechanical parts or for other 3d printers/robot parts.
I find the price for producing those using other means a bit too high.
And it is a wonderful toy for hobbyist, always something to tweak and tinker about it 🙂
Wish I could afford one.
But somewhere in the future I will have finished my own color 3d printer using (infused) plaster and parts of an inktjet (see my blog for details)
Which would be nice for decorative objects.
Even so, I need money and more parts first 😛
Cool,
Keep us up to date on your full color 3D printer hack…..
When you say you’ll miss them a tonne, I’m guessing that’s a Metric Tonne, and not a US Ton right? :-P.
I actually meant a UK tonne.
Dude, I miss you too! GROUPHUG!
Well, insofar as ‘detail’ and ‘quality’ coming out of these things: It really depends on what you’re after. If you want to prototype, or generate prototypes for clients, it will do the job. It will also help to get a quick idea of how it will ‘feel’ when complete, as well as the suitability of some materials to the end product.
Remember Airfix kits? The parts, in general, were detailed: You still had to trim off a few bits (where it attached to the framework) as well as adapt others that didn’t quite match up (due to process failure or personal adaptation).
So a little work on the finished item seems to be part of it’s design… 🙂
A more ‘pro’ option is here: http://www.bitsfrombytes.com (I’m not affiliated with them) The BFB 3000, for under £2,000. Although I haven’t handled any samples from its output.
Both present further adaptations, I suppose it depends on how far you want to make a mess of things…! I believe there’s a Chocolate nozzle in the works for the BFB 3000.
Cheers,
Luis.
Joris, and we will miss you and your blogs a UK ton. All my best wishes with your next move.
Ann Marie
Shapeways has had it’s office Makerbot for a few weeks now, and after much tweaking, cursing and complaints of smell and excess noise, Hans has managed to persuade it to print the Bowie the Bunny.
The Makerbot compared to Shapeways Grey Robust (both