On Sat, Jun 11, 2011 at 4:52 PM, Edward Bernard <yankeelena2...@yahoo.com>wrote:
> Well, you stated the things I found lacking: surface finish, extraneous > blobs, > process reliability and speed. I'm sure there are applications where > surface > finish are not important and that the technology is improving. So, I'm > still > holding out and waiting for the improvements or an alternative technology. > I should also amend my statement: I am impressed by the process, it's just > not > far enough along to get me to jump in yet. This is a common complaint about the RepRap and mostly comes from people who don't really pay attention to the technology. While it is still not a technology I recommend for general professional use, it has advanced to the point where the quality is approaching that of a $15,000 Dimension uPrint machine in many ways. The new Makergear Mosaic in particular is pushing the state of the art forward, but in terms of quality and in terms of price. See their home page for print examples: http://www.makergear.com/ FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) rapid prototyping will never be able to achieve the resolution that some other technologies can, but the printers are cheap, and the consumables are very reasonable. The Dimension uses the same basic plastic as a RepRap, but uses non-refillable cartridges, so they can get away with charging almost 10x as much as the material the RepRap uses (which runs about $70 for 5lbs). In addition, the $15,000 can only print in white ABS. The RepRap can print in dozens of colors and several different materials (though the two primary materials that yield good results are ABS and PLA). The Dimension does allow the use of soluble support material, though, so more complex models are possible. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ EditLive Enterprise is the world's most technically advanced content authoring tool. Experience the power of Track Changes, Inline Image Editing and ensure content is compliant with Accessibility Checking. http://p.sf.net/sfu/ephox-dev2dev _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
