Criticized for overpriced parts, company gives away 3d schematics instead

Re:Criticized for overpriced parts, company gives away 3d sc... by jcampbell1 on Tuesday September 25, 2012 @12:14AM (#4568533)

I can't tell if you are being sarcastic, but I'll bite. My guess is never. CNC plastic printing has been around for 30+ years, and is only practical for making one of a kind parts. As soon as you are making something that 1000 people need, there is a better manufacturing method.

Maybe I lack imagination, but I cannot imagine a plastic piece of junk that need to be tailor-made poorly.

When the cost of a PC went from $30k to $2k, most people couldn't see the revolution happening. Maybe I am the same fool.

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Re:Criticized for overpriced parts, company gives away 3d sc... by pauljburke on Tuesday September 25, 2012 @04:16AM (#4569227)

>Maybe I lack imagination, but I cannot imagine a plastic piece of junk that need to be tailor-made poorly.

I know a bunch of people printing off models of their characters from the game 'City of Heroes' (incidentally if you ever want to see how not to close a service, check out NC Soft's behaviour over the last couple of weeks) before the doors shut and a lot of them would probably pay a substantial amount for a slightly better quality painted one.

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Re:Criticized for overpriced parts, company gives away 3d sc... by jonmrodriguez on Tuesday September 25, 2012 @01:38AM (#4568801)

For small-to-medium manufacturing runs, you could use a two-stage printer that first CNCs a metal mold, then uses it to injection mold. All of this off a 3D model and within hours.

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