In another thread I wrote: > I should clarify my take on 3D printers: in the end, they'll win out > over subtractive technology. The end-game for additive technology is not > squirting out melted plastic or metal powder, but assembling objects at > the atomic or molecular level. Such fabrication already happens in > laboratories, but we're not at the point where that is practical for > production with million dollar machines, never mind affordable peripherals.
Along these lines, have you seen the recent stop-motion film IBM made by animating the motion of individual atoms? A Boy And His Atom: The World's Smallest Movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSCX78-8-q0 Elsewhere in that thread I asked: > What I'm wondering is whether the excitement around 3D printers will > create a sizable market for desktop computer controlled fabrication in > general, leading to nicely packaged, low cost table-top CNC devices. A Kickstarter project launched on May 5 brought attention to The Othermill, which is a desktop CNC. It has an open frame, home-brew look to it, but they do claim to have addressed the noise problem, so you can place it on a desk in an office environment. In summary it is small, quiet, mainly designed to cut PCBs, but can be used for other soft materials, possibly including aluminum. They don't know what it'll cost, but the Kickstarter pricing suggests it'll be in he neighborhood of $1000. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/otherfab/the-othermill-custom-circuits-at-your-fingertips An easy to use, affordable, computer controlled mill. Take all your DIY projects further with custom circuits and precision machining. What is the Othermill? The Othermill is a portable, computer controlled, 3-axis mill that is specifically designed for use at home or in a small workspace. Our objective is to build a mill that is compact, clean, and quiet enough for use at home, yet is precise enough for high level electrical and mechanical prototyping work. The Othermill will be at home on your desk, in your workshop, or on your kitchen table. What Can You Make With the Othermill? With our mill, you can produce custom circuit boards quickly and cheaply. [reliably cut 10 mil trace] ...it can also cut metal, wood, wax, and plastic. It is great for engraving and milling 3D shapes for jewelry or mold making. What Makes the Othermill the Premier Desktop Mill? -You can grab it and take it on the bus, toss it in your trunk, or put it in your bike basket. The Othermill is a ten inch cube and 15 pounds, so it is small and light enough to carry with you. It even has handles. -The Othermill is not a kit. It comes fully assembled and ready to use, right out of the box. The Othermill also has a transparent, approachable design that encourages modification. -It has a quiet, high speed spindle. Machines can be loud, and we've worked to keep noise to a minimum, so that you can work next to the Othermill in comfort. In addition to being quiet, the Othermill's brushless DC motor ensures a long spindle life. -Othermill uses the TinyG motion controller. We love TinyG because it's open source firmware and has a built-in g-code interpreter. Some highlight from their FAQ: How loud is the Othermill? The Othermill is super quiet. We haven't measured it exactly yet but it's about the volume of an electric toothbrush. What kind of computer do I need to run the Othermill? Othercam runs on Mac OS 10.7 or higher. However, you can run other CAM programs using tgFX. Will Othercam run on Windows/Linux? Not at this time. There are open source CAM programs like tgfx that run on these platforms. What will the retail price be? We don't know yet. There are a number of factors that influence the retail price. One of them is demand. Once we have an idea of demand, we will better be able to quantify the price. Can I make double sided PCBs? We are working on double sided PCB functionality for Othercam. It probably won't be ready for the initial release but it is in the works. Can I cut steel? Not at a speed you'd want to wait for, plus you'd need coolant and that just gets gross. How fast can it go? The maximum traverse speed (rapid) is 1,000 mm/min and the maximum spindle speed is 12,000 rpm. Cutting speed depends on materials and tools. -Tom _______________________________________________ Hardwarehacking mailing list Hardwarehacking@blu.org http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/hardwarehacking
