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3D Printing
3D Printing Forum 3D Printers as "household appliances" in the near future?
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3D Printers as "household appliances" in the near future?

summerella
summerella over 12 years ago

A very interesting study on the potential for consumers to own a 3D printer for household uses.  Do you think this is realistic/feasible?  I want one for my house! image


 

"The team printed a variety of doodads for the study, including an iPhone case, garlic press, safety razor, perogi mold and spoon holder. Smaller mass-produced objects saved the least amount of money - a dozen 3-D printed shower rings cost $1.20 to print and $2.99 to purchase from a store. The iPhone 5 case cost 27 cents to print, a huge improvement over the inflated $20 price tags found in Apple Stores and other retailers.

 

Printing all 20 objects took about 25 hours and cost a grand total of $18 in plastic and electricity. The savings came out to between $294 and $1,926, depending on the quality of the comparable retail products."

 

http://whatsnext.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/31/study-at-home-3-d-printing-could-save-consumers-thousands/?hpt=hp_bn5

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  • Nate1616
    Nate1616 over 12 years ago +2
    I don’t see this as a mainstream household item for a few years but with that said it is a realistic/feasible idea. Currently the only consumer Printer (what I consider ones that are within a price point…
  • Problemchild
    Problemchild over 12 years ago in reply to fustini +2
    Since western Economies in particular seem to rely on intelectual property rights of all sorts, will we see a big dip in the econonomies of these countries expecially of the super size Corps such as Apple…
  • fustini
    fustini over 12 years ago in reply to fustini +1
    Nice link from jamodio ( https://plus.google.com/117542001281850354871/posts/FPXEorQrXNY ) UPS Stores to offer 3d printing! http://mashable.com/2013/08/01/ups-3d-printing/
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  • fustini
    fustini over 12 years ago

    Thanks for pointing that article.  I found this very interesting:

    Smaller mass-produced objects saved the least amount of money - a dozen 3-D printed shower rings cost $1.20 to print and $2.99 to purchase from a store. The iPhone 5 case cost 27 cents to print, a huge improvement over the inflated $20 price tags found in Apple Stores and other retailers.

    The key to adoption would seem to be showing consumers they can print these higher margin items on their own for less.  Also, as patents for higher resolution 3D printing technology expire, we may see affordable printers which can achieve the same level of detail and finish of a mass manufacturer project.

     

    cheers,

    drew

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  • fustini
    fustini over 12 years ago in reply to fustini

    Nice link from jamodio (https://plus.google.com/117542001281850354871/posts/FPXEorQrXNY)

     

    UPS Stores to offer 3d printing!

    http://mashable.com/2013/08/01/ups-3d-printing/

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  • Problemchild
    Problemchild over 12 years ago in reply to fustini

    Personally I think the price point hasn;t been met for day to day use and probably more importantly they are too complicated to produce original parts.

    Obviously sites like thinkyverse provide items but to be honest remember how 30 years ago they said that every one would become a programmer due to PCs....... how many of normal users program a PC???

     

    Unless they are integrated with scanners and some one can just put in an original and say I want another one I think it will beyond many people!

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  • Problemchild
    Problemchild over 12 years ago in reply to fustini

    Personally I think the price point hasn;t been met for day to day use and probably more importantly they are too complicated to produce original parts.

    Obviously sites like thinkyverse provide items but to be honest remember how 30 years ago they said that every one would become a programmer due to PCs....... how many of normal users program a PC???

     

    Unless they are integrated with scanners and some one can just put in an original and say I want another one I think it will beyond many people!

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