I think UV printing has a good chance of obsoleting filament printing. It's order(s) of magnitude faster print times and better resolution. In which case, you wouldn't need the x/y axis anymore, just Z. It's more expensive for printers right now, but I think prices have room to drop with higher volumes. It needs a projector, so thats a cost that filament printers will never have. but still I think they'll come down in price enough to compete, probably not head to head, but more like "a bit more money and a lot faster prints"
You should be able to put a laser cutter on any printbot. Milling, though, would need a sturdier machine than average. which might explain why these machines are quite a bit more expensive. The frame is solid aluminum and it uses ballscrews for movement. Greg On Fri, April 10, 2015 9:20 pm, Tom Metro wrote: > Have you been holding off buying a 3D printer? Now you can get a box > that does 3D printing, laser engraving, and CNC milling. > > https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/boxzy/boxzy-rapid-change-fablab-mill > -laser-engraver-3d-p > > > Introducing BoXZY, the most versatile desktop fabrication device on > the market. We built BoXZY so you can do more, better. This triple-threat > tool combines a 3D Printer, CNC Mill, and Laser Engraver in one compact > cube. By utilizing the quick-change heads, any maker can shape a block of > aluminum, hardwood, or plastic into intricate designs; 3D print complex > plastic shapes; or laser engrave into objects made of wood, leather or > plastic. > > > Currently crowdfunded to $700K of an $50K goal. > > > They were selling a limited run of discounted units for $1400 ~ $1600, > but the current tier is going for $2000 with two of the 3 possible heads, > or $2500 for all 3 heads. > > Granted all 3 devices need a mechanism to position a head on X-Y-Z axes, > but how much are you compromising by combining these tools. Is the 3D > filament printing going to be state of the art, or an after thought? (I'd > be more inclined to accept the idea of combining the CNC mill and laser > engraver as swappable heads on a shared platform while not compromising > either by much. At least not relative to what you'd get from spending > $1000 on each device separately.) > > > They include pictures of the aluminum housing for the product being cut > on a water jet. I'll be impressed when one of these desktop manufacturing > devices not only has the capacity and precision to make the parts for > replicating itself, but also the speed to make it practical. :-) (Yeah, I > know early Makerbots could partially self-replicate.) > > I'd be curious to know more about the 935 watt (1.25hp) Makita milling > head they are using. > > -Tom > > > > _______________________________________________ > Hardwarehacking mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/hardwarehacking > > -- _______________________________________________ Hardwarehacking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/hardwarehacking
