Bill Bogstad wrote: > While a 3D printer and a CNC router/mill both require precise > position of their active "heads" and the object under construction, > a 3D printer does this in an environment where the only mechanical > load on the system is gravity.
True. I didn't mean to imply the two types of devices would use the same mechanical design. Merely that they are the same scope in terms of electro-mechanical complexity and cost. A 3D printer has filament heaters, spool motors, and needs to contend with the problem of making the fairly new idea of 3D printing work reliably, while a CNC needs beefier mechanics, but relies on well understood century-old techniques. As Drew pointed out, these devices exist, and have for a long time. As far back as the 80s there were computer controlled PCB routers. But since 3D printers came onto the scene, you don't hear them mentioned much. 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. (The sweet spot might actually be 3 to 5 years from now, when people have gotten a taste of 3D printing, and became frustrated by its limitations.) Any Kickstarter projects for building CNC peripherals? > Maybe if you scaled down the size of the routing bit to the size of a > dental drill, you could do it without really beefy stepper motors. > Hmm, that might be the way to go actually. A high-speed air motor is small, and light, but with the down side that its noisy and you need an air supply. One big advantage for 3D printers is that I'm betting the loudest printer is probably quieter than the quietest CNC machine. :-) The challenge to making a subtractive office-friendly 3D fabrication peripheral is going to be in making it quiet. Lots of sound proofing? -Tom _______________________________________________ Hardwarehacking mailing list Hardwarehacking@blu.org http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/hardwarehacking
