Friday, August 19, 2011

FAQ 4

Hi Guys,

Again, thank you very much for the interest in the project and all support. We have been working hard to bring this high resolution 3D Printer to all of you.

Before our FAQ, I would like to share a really nice thing with you. I printed some amazing bracelets (link) that I found through Google and posted here in our blog, however I didn’t know who created it.

I got the comment from him (Jesse Louis-Rosenberg) this week and I am very impressed with their work… check this out… http://n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com/blog/ I hope we can print some more of their work…

FAQ 4:

Q: There are plans to sell worldwide when it's ready?
A: We will be selling everywhere

Q: How much the 3D Printer will cost? (This is the main question we have received)
A: Unfortunately we don’t have the price yet as we are still finishing the design and material needed. We know that will be cheap, really affordable for a hobbyist, designers and home users.

Q: How much cost the resins?
A: The resin cost is quite high at this moment because of the volume, over 350 per litter. We truly believe that this can go down once the volume increases, this means we need big number of people using the technology to have good price for the resin. I hope this happens as soon we bring a low cost printer to the market.

Q: How much cost the software? Can I buy just the software?
A: The software price is still in discussion.

Q: Will the resin be open source?
A: Most probably not, because you can’t find the raw material easily to buy and some countries you will need government license to buy it. However the mixed material can be commercialized as resin. Additionally if we manage to buy together from one vendor we will reduce the price drastically.

Q: I would like to ask though, can you try to print a larger/heavier object (closer to the max theoretical dimensions you mentioned in an earlier post) so we can see what this design is capable of?
A: Answer in FAQ II - http://3dhomemade.blogspot.com/2011/06/thank-you-faq-ii.html

Q: Can you print wax models for jewelry? (Esta impressora serveria para fazer modelos de joias em cera?)
A: Yes, check the previous FAQs.

Q: Any dates for the commercial version available? (Há previsão para comercialização?)
A: We will start the preorder soon via crowd-funding (most probably within 2 months).

Q: From Teagus: would you be willing to run a figure i have modeled as a test?
A: Yes, but we are quite late with these requests as we have been testing the printer. If you don’t mind in waiting few weeks we will be more than happy to print. Please send me a comment with your email address and I will contact you.

Q: What kind of files can it import?
A: All STL files. Any 3D system can export 3D files to this extension also you can convert any 3D file to STL using free applications.

Q: Does the printer software add the necessary support structures automatically?
A: Yes, the software adds the necessary support structures, you don’t need to do it manually.

Q: how possible are moveable parts like ball bearings using the same resin material as a support?
A: Yes, you can print movable parts.

Q: Can the software set the wall thickness of a model? Or is that something that has to be handled while creating the 3d model?
A: Yes, the software will set the wall thickness.

Q: Do you think there might be a way to scale it up so that the same system could be used to create objects of a larger size but with reduced resolution?
A: See previous FAQs. This is possible but some implications.

Q: May I ask how long it took to print the sphere?
A: with 50 micros resolution around 4 hours

Q: very nice, are the resin materials safe for the environment? will they degrade with time, what are they made of?
A: Will answer this one once the material design is finalized.

Q: the last photo: there are tiny scratches on the surface, is there any way to do to achieve a much smoother surface or the resin(lost-wax type) can be modified after?
A: The surface is really smooth, you may not be able to see in the pictures. BTW, none of the objects received any type of finishing.

Sorry if I missed your question, I will answer more next FAQ.

Cheers,

Junior

18 comments:

  1. Hi, thanks for this FAQ. Day after day my enthusiasm increase. You set the expectations bar very, very high: great!

    You wrote that the final price of the Kit is still WIP. But may I ask you to anticipate a "range"? I mean something like "from 2.000 to 6.000$" or from "5.000 to 10.000$" ...

    I'm also curious to know if the Kit will be ready also fo the "technical inexpert" like me, that don't know nothing about electronics and soldering. Thanks.

    Best Regards,
    Mattia from Italy

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  2. Excellent update!

    Thanks especially for answering my questions.
    Though, I worry about shipping costs of the resin once it is released. I am living in Korea and can imagine that shipping costs could get high very quickly. T

    here is no alternative resin that I could source locally that could produce acceptable results?

    Tim

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  3. Like Tim Im worried about shipping costs for resin. I know you can get some powders that make regular resin cure with UV. Would it be possible to do this with your system? That way we could order the powder and add it to a locally available resin.

    Great project. Looking forward to the release.

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  4. Hi I have a question about strength, I want to make parts for RC models so need some thing strong and that has some plasticity. In my experience most resins are fairly brittle. Could you tell me a little more about how the cured resin behaves?
    Alastair

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  5. Hi

    I wanted to know a bit more about the properties of the cured resin. I want to make RC parts but they need a certain amount of give or Plasticity. most resins I have come across are fairly brittle. Could you please give me an indication of the material properties.

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  6. @Thoutz: Not that I'm speaking for Junior, but I know a thing or two about UV-curing resins.. The "problem" with this machine is that (as far as I can tell) this is an unmodified beamer, which means that there isn't a whole lot of UV-output to play with. It's doable (I tested a bit with it a couple weeks ago), but it means that your formula has to be a lot more precise than: take some resin, throw in a photo initiator and stir vigorously.. Since chemists don't come cheap, I quite understand the "high" price for the resin..

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  7. Hi Junior, I asked previously about the maximum dimensions of an object you could print, and I do remember the maximum theoretical dimensions you quoted in FAQ II, which you referred back to, but you mentioned in that FAQ that you had not actually *tested* the maximum size... that's what I, and maybe others, are hoping you could do. Meaning, actually print something close to the maximum dimension (which you calculated from the projected area I imagine) and just, well, see what happens. I think the detail of your prints is incredible, but as someone who is interested in using this technology in a business venture, I would like to know if it will be able to meet a wide range of size/weight demands of customers who are printing things that don't have very thin walls for light weight, for example, which would be the case for some castings. That beings said, the level of detail in these prints is astonishing! You truly are doing something amazing!

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  8. You mention that the printer is capable of printing in wax. I assume it would be a special wax for this machine - how much would that cost per liter? Could you do a test print in wax and post photos of the resulting object to give us an idea of the machine's capabilities with this material?

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  9. The resin price is a bit of a bummer for now.

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  10. Some more questions for your next FAQ post:

    -What is the max polygon count/file size your system can handle?

    -How durable is your machine? If one ran it 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, how soon would the machine require maintenance/replacement of major parts?

    -Which part of the printer (excluding software) will be the most expensive and how durable is it?

    -How much energy does the machine use (watts/hr)?

    -Does the printed object have to be one manifold mesh or can it be several manifold meshes combined? (A character (one mesh) wearing armor (several meshes), for example).

    Thank you in advance for considering these questions.

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  11. Hello
    If you are interested by testing a model of a ring with stones like the ones place vendome paris let me known. I can sent you a file of one my creations
    thanks

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  12. Amazing what you have done, congratulations on your achievement!

    Q: How 'home friendly' is the print process with your printer: Noise? Fumes? Powder/Dust? Material Replacement? Does it need to be used in a garage/workshop or could it be used in your living room?

    Thanks!

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  13. I want on the list for pre ordering my e-mail is spacedisco101@yahoo.com or borobro@gmail.com Thanks

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  14. No action here for a few months - did this thing die out?

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  15. Such a nice collections of FAQs.
    I learn lot of thinks from here.
    thanks
    buddy
    First of all i would like to say your blog is nice and beautiful In short a destination where complete range of printing machines available.

    ReplyDelete

About the Project


I have been dreaming about having a 3D Printer at home for many years, but the ones with good quality are not affordable and the low costs just deliver poor quality. Sounds crazy but I decided to build a high resolution 3D Printer by myself at home (people actually said that I was crazy and this was impossible). The funny thing I never saw this type of machines in real life, and still haven’t seen one besides the one I built.

Now that I succeed building the first prototype, the target is to bring this low cost 3D Printer to every home, so we are developing the first affordable one with high resolution.

I hope you enjoy our blog, follow us and you can have this printer in your home soon.