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A very interesting article for those not already in the know on the current state of desktop printing of 3D objects and the founder of MakerBot Industries, Bre Pettis, on Businessweek yesterday. A lot of interesting links there to other content on 3D printing, and information on the new upcoming new consumer level printer, the MakerBot Replicator, coming out in a few months (for just under $1800!).


MakerBot Replicator;


You can definitely see some added texture from the printing technology on the products there, but for me, who was not following this tech very closely, this is amazing. I was under the impression it was far, far more expensive to have this kind of tech in your workshop. At this price, which is well under the cost of a really high end gaming PC, we really could see a consumer level of adoption. Amazing.

By the way, something else that I found cool? In the comments section of the BW article, someone make a comment about "real manufactured goods", and someone from MakerBot responded, and put up a blog post on the topic! You do have to love a company small enough to care.

Anyone more in-the-know about 3D printers? How do these products/this company compare to the competitors?

It's pretty interesting. I'm actually in the process of having a ton of Necron Scarab look-a-like models (for own use) 3D printed from a professional quality 3D printer. That thing costs more than 200K $ I'm pretty sure since it's enormous in size and prints pretty much anything.

Would be fun to get more basic versions into the hands of normal consumers at affordable prices. I'm sure many people don't even know these machines exist.

Would be fun to get more basic versions into the hands of normal consumers at affordable prices. I'm sure many people don't even know these machines exist.

After a solid year of media buzz I'm guessing most people are peripherally aware of them. They're not particularly useful in this hobby aside from specific rare situations.

I find it amusing that they got Moot in for a headscan though.

It's only a matter of time before they are economically viable for miniatures companies I can't wait!

I can see a day where you buy a license from a company, feed said license into a scanner, and bang pow, you have 5 terminators printing up.

3D printers are still by and large printing out things that are somewhat grainy or "tiered" looking, so it'll be some time before they become a viable solution.

Everything I've seen doesn't look too bad, Even with what I assume would be an inherent tiered look (given the way they work) I'd still love one.

How much does it actually cost for the materials though?

the way things are going i can see these things being able to build at a almost nano scale, were a long way from that, but imagine it!

I imagine in 5 or so years the level of detail these things would be able to print on a 28mm figure would have GW worried.

It's too early now, but this technology is only going to get both better and cheaper.

I want one, but like most other people in this thread, will wait to buy until the quality of detail is better.

Therion wrote:It's pretty interesting. I'm actually in the process of having a ton of Necron Scarab look-a-like models (for own use) 3D printed from a professional quality 3D printer. That thing costs more than 200K $ I'm pretty sure since it's enormous in size and prints pretty much anything.

Would be fun to get more basic versions into the hands of normal consumers at affordable prices. I'm sure many people don't even know these machines exist.

Hey dude. Could you pm me with details of this company? Thanks

Brother SRM wrote:3D printers are still by and large printing out things that are somewhat grainy or "tiered" looking, so it'll be some time before they become a viable solution.

Depends. The cheaper ones, yes.
I work in a medical laboratory where one of the labs has a rapid prototyping machine that can produce models to almost 600 layers per inch. It's rather expensive and slow, but it exists in some companies and universities.

The technology is here such that it's possible. It's just not feasible enough to let anyone walk into a machine shop and drop a $5 on a set of Terminators.

Right now, I think that 3d Printing is viable in Warhammer (and 40k) games when printing vehicles and Terrain pieces.

I don't think we've hit the fidelity to make printing individual orks and such workable. But I can definitely see printing out battle wagons, Looted Wagons, Stompas, Dreads, Broken Buildings, wrecked cars, Bridges, etc. with 3d printing.

High end professional 3D photosensitive resin printers are completely capable of making models now. Games Workshop have at least one for prototypes as I spoke to their suppliers about it once. The technology is simple enough, but the cost of the resin is the prohibitive factor at the moment, with the average 28mm scale model costing about £20-25 of raw material to produce.

A number of smaller companies sculpt in 3D then get resin prints of their models to use as masters for creating a traditional mould for resin or metal casts.

Its funny that this stuff is just now hitting this hobby, the rc guys have been building and developing stuff like this for years now. The plans to make on can be obtained for free and mats are less than 500 usually. Just look at some lathes,these things are just cnc machines.

http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/16793/3d-printer/

http://www.bitsfrombytes.com/content/bfb-3000-0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aghzpO_UZE&feature=player_embedded


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1EWWt93Fxls#!


There are hundreds of these things.

Anybody think it would do a battlefront tank any justice yet? They don't have a ton of detail to start with.

Last year I was at the opening night of an exposition in a local gallery on 3D-printed jewelry. There was a man there with 2 small 3D printers that looked very much like the one in the OP (a bit taller though, they were cubes). He printed objects for visitors on demand.

He was personally more intrigued by speed rather than quality (and it was really awesome to see really complex stuff being built up in a few minutes) so the printed objects were definitely tiered, but he also had a few objects printed at the highest quality (and not just geometric stuff, there was an awesome miniature Venus of Milo) and to see the tiering on that you would really have to look quite closely under good light.

Looking at the quality of the best quality prints I wouldn't say they weren't good enough for characters or even more elite infantry (just yet), but for Ork or 'nid unit fillers there were just perfect.
The guy told me the printers themselves were build-it-yourself kits and cost about €1000,- each, the material used was a plastic wire on large spools. It cost just pennies per object to print.

These machines can be had for around $500. When someone releases the 3D files to crank a Warlord Titan out of these puppies I'll be all over it.

For a DIY version, jump in here:
http://www.reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page

One section mentioned that the older models might cost around £400 to build. Part of that is getting some parts printed by someone who has already built one.

Some DIY designs are here:
http://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=40k
http://www.thingiverse.com/image:112683 (Paint it in LGS, and you're all set)

adamsouza wrote:These machines can be had for around $500. When someone releases the 3D files to crank a Warlord Titan out of these puppies I'll be all over it.

I'm pretty sure at that point it's legit copyright infringement on someones part.

Let me rephrase that.

When someone releases the 3D files to crank out a model that's also suitable for use as a Warlord Titan I'll be all over it.

I imagine I'll be the one to buy it and then print out copies of the titan sized model for my less tech savy friends

treadhead1944 wrote:I can see a day where you buy a license from a company, feed said license into a scanner, and bang pow, you have 5 terminators printing up.

Like the Valve Source Developer's kit. That would be cool.

That's the dream.

Like Ebooks and MP3's. Low production cost. No risking capitol on inventory that may not sell. No shipping and handling, just downloadable content that sits on a virtual shelf and brings in profits.

As long as they skip the DRM nightmares and just deliver content at a resonable price, revenue will pore in.

I recently looked into self publishing Ebooks verses Big Publishing. You can make significantly more money self publishing aan Ebook at $2.99 than getting your book in print in Hardcover($24.99) or softcover (&7.99) per book sold.

This is an industry that can boom in this manner. Make a cool wargames model and put it on Amazon for $2.99 and make profits on it for years to come. Amazon sells virtually everything, so this kind of content will inevitabley end up there if there is a clear standard.

Common place 3D printers will be a knightmare for IP infringement and copyright issues. I like the idea of 3D printers but counterfit goods and copies will seriously erode those producers of game systems.