Two Color 3D Printer Under $2K

sdsester

I am lusting for this two color 3D printer I saw recently for no particular reason other than there must be something I could make if I had one. The price is under $2,000 and I have many other things to spend such money on. I was just wondering if anyone has one yet and what they are using it to make. I have sent files off for 3D printing at times so its not like I cannot find one handy.

The whole 3D printing craze is fascinating and taking off more quickly than I thought it would. It is raising all kinds of interesting intellectual property issues not unlike those surrounding the theft of music.

Assuming you had a 3D scanner or a pair of calipers and drawing software, do you have the right to make your own replacement parts, for example? There is one case I know of in the courts where a guy needed some part for one of those hideous Hummer sized baby carriages. The company wanted $30 for the piece. He 3D printed one and bragged about it. The company is suing him for copyright violation.

On a more positive note, it may not be long before less expensive versions of products we use may be delivered as 3D printer files for us to print out ourselves and put together. There are already dedicated 3D printer sites for people to sell what they make on the things.

In Germany, researchers are 3D printing replacement arteries and veins with incredible accuracy. If they can just get beyond system rejection.

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SPS-1

A 3-D printer would be a nice toy, but unless you had 3D design software (expensive) and the experience to use it properly, there is not much you are going to do with that printer. 3D scanner won't be cheap either, and I would expect that you frequently need to "massage" the scanned file with the 3D software to get it exactly like what you want.
Not sure if you have seen this http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page Looks like fun to build, but I expect the software is pretty primitive, and I am not sure if I could get it working properly after building it.

sdsester

Saw this today and it is rather cool. Staples is going to begin offering a 3D printing service that offers photorealistic color. It uses layers of paper.

http://www.wired.com/design/2012/11/staples-goes-3-d/

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