I see that Maplin is about to offer a 3D printer for £700.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/3d-printer?u...ampaign=13P7-7

Any comments? Is it likely to be worth a punt?
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On Thu, 20 Jun 2013 22:17:51 +0100, Roger Mills wrote:

I see that Maplin is about to offer a 3D printer for £700.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/3d-printer?
utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaig n=13P7-7

Any comments? Is it likely to be worth a punt?

If Maplin want £700, it'll be a great deal cheaper elsewhere. That's why
I deleted their promotional email!

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Roger Mills wrote:
I see that Maplin is about to offer a 3D printer for £700.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/3d-printer?u...ampaign=13P7-7

Any comments? Is it likely to be worth a punt?

It's Maplin, so you can almost certainly get it for half the price
elsewhere. For example:
http://reprap.org/wiki/Build_A_RepRap
- looks like the Maplin kit is a Wallace clone.

The question is: what do you want to make, and out of what material?
Materials really matter. The PLA that many 3D printers use isn't very
strong - fine for an ornament or a phone case, but you'll notice the gears
and bearings on the 3D printer are made out of nylon which it won't print.
However, it may be a useful platform if you want to experiment with
the materials (will need printing head and software changes).

The other big question: how do you plan to design things to print? Are you
going to download other people's designs? How happy are you with designing
things in 3D CAD (either pointy-clicky or writing code)? It would be very
handy to be able to 'photocopy' 3D objects (broken something? No problem,
just photocopy a replacement) but I don't know of an easy way to do that.
I don't mean AutoCAD/ProE/etc (unless you really must) but it takes a
while to go from 'I want something this shaped' to drawing it and getting
it right in real life.

Worth downloading and getting familiar with some of the CAD tools so you
have a better feel for what you might do with it.

Theo

On Thu, 20 Jun 2013 22:17:51 +0100, Roger Mills wrote:

I see that Maplin is about to offer a 3D printer for £700.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/3d-printer?u...ampaign=13P7-7

Any comments? Is it likely to be worth a punt?

Possibly, it's a bit of an unknown quantity. You can roll your own for less. I
built one of these over Christmas 2010 for less than half what the Maplin one
is.

http://reprap.org/mediawiki/images/t...0px-Mendel.jpg

http://reprap.org/wiki/Mendel

I bought the plastic parts (3D printed) from an ebay seller - there are lots of
sources now for a number of DIY designs, fasteners/steel rod/threaded bar I had
most already on the shelf (you need hundreds of fasteners), steppers from ebay,
electronics using an Arduino I already had, with a shield based on this design

http://reprap.org/wiki/Pololu_Electronics

Stepper drivers an earlier version of these

http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1182


Now replaced all the electronics with this (expensive and less modular so if
something blows you need to be able to do surface mount repairs)

http://www.mendel-parts.com/index.ph...ng-opto-s.html


Lots of info here on more 'modern' DIY designs

http://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap_Options


If starting now I'd be tempted by this rather than the Velleman / Maplin kit

http://www.reprapcentral.com/vmchk/M...ypage.tpl.html

A heated bed and an enclosure is more or less essential to ensure good quality
prints. I only print using PLA, ABS stinks. The software is open source.

--

"Theo Markettos" wrote in message
...
Roger Mills wrote:
I see that Maplin is about to offer a 3D printer for £700.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/3d-printer?u...ampaign=13P7-7

Any comments? Is it likely to be worth a punt?

It's Maplin, so you can almost certainly get it for half the price
elsewhere. For example:
http://reprap.org/wiki/Build_A_RepRap
- looks like the Maplin kit is a Wallace clone.

The question is: what do you want to make, and out of what material?
Materials really matter. The PLA that many 3D printers use isn't very
strong - fine for an ornament or a phone case, but you'll notice the gears
and bearings on the 3D printer are made out of nylon which it won't print.
However, it may be a useful platform if you want to experiment with
the materials (will need printing head and software changes).

The other big question: how do you plan to design things to print? Are
you
going to download other people's designs? How happy are you with
designing
things in 3D CAD (either pointy-clicky or writing code)? It would be very
handy to be able to 'photocopy' 3D objects (broken something? No problem,
just photocopy a replacement) but I don't know of an easy way to do that.
I don't mean AutoCAD/ProE/etc (unless you really must) but it takes a
while to go from 'I want something this shaped' to drawing it and
getting
it right in real life.

Worth downloading and getting familiar with some of the CAD tools so you
have a better feel for what you might do with it.

http://www.powershape.com/software-downloads/index.asp

On 20/06/2013 23:41, The Other Mike wrote:
On Thu, 20 Jun 2013 22:17:51 +0100, Roger Mills wrote:

I see that Maplin is about to offer a 3D printer for £700.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/3d-printer?u...ampaign=13P7-7

Any comments? Is it likely to be worth a punt?

Possibly, it's a bit of an unknown quantity. You can roll your own for less. I
built one of these over Christmas 2010 for less than half what the Maplin one
is.

http://reprap.org/mediawiki/images/t...0px-Mendel.jpg

What do you make with it?

--
David

On 20/06/2013 22:17, Roger Mills wrote:
I see that Maplin is about to offer a 3D printer for £700.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/3d-printer?u...ampaign=13P7-7


Any comments? Is it likely to be worth a punt?

You need to ask

can it print in more than one material at a time?
If it can you can print soluble supports to allow more complicated objects.
If you can't you may not be able to print the object or you may need to
trim a lot of internal supports.

You can already buy 3D printers for about that cost or kits for better
machines for that cost, but you may get done for VAT and import duty
from some suppliers.

On 20/06/2013 22:17, Roger Mills wrote:
I see that Maplin is about to offer a 3D printer for £700.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/3d-printer?u...ampaign=13P7-7


Any comments? Is it likely to be worth a punt?

Almost certainly not. I would however be interested in seeing an playing
with a 3D printer in the North of England somewhere.

I think for the number of times I would want to print something in 3D
I'd be prepared to buy in the service rather than fight my own printer.


--
Regards,
Martin Brown

In article ,
Theo Markettos writes:
The other big question: how do you plan to design things to print? Are you
going to download other people's designs? How happy are you with designing
things in 3D CAD (either pointy-clicky or writing code)? It would be very
handy to be able to 'photocopy' 3D objects (broken something? No problem,
just photocopy a replacement) but I don't know of an easy way to do that.

My dentist does that when I break a tooth. (CEREC)
However, the software is probably very expensive, and the "printer"
is a tiny milling machine which makes up a new piece by milling a
small block of ceramic for 20 minutes while you go back into the
waiting room (or in my case, stand there and watch it being milled).

I don't mean AutoCAD/ProE/etc (unless you really must) but it takes a
while to go from 'I want something this shaped' to drawing it and getting
it right in real life.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Andrew Gabriel wrote:
My dentist does that when I break a tooth. (CEREC)
However, the software is probably very expensive, and the "printer"
is a tiny milling machine which makes up a new piece by milling a
small block of ceramic for 20 minutes while you go back into the
waiting room (or in my case, stand there and watch it being milled).

Sounds like there are DIY options:

http://makezine.com/2013/05/24/new-p...using-arduino/
http://hackaday.com/2011/12/01/cheap...te-impressive/

Something using a Kinect or similar might be one idea.

Theo

On 20/06/2013 10:54 PM, Bob Eager wrote:
On Thu, 20 Jun 2013 22:17:51 +0100, Roger Mills wrote:

I see that Maplin is about to offer a 3D printer for £700.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/3d-printer?
utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaig n=13P7-7

Any comments? Is it likely to be worth a punt?

If Maplin want £700, it'll be a great deal cheaper elsewhere. That's why
I deleted their promotional email!


I feel the same way.

It looks horrid. There are far better DIY machines at..
http://www.instructables.com/


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On 20/06/2013 22:54, Bob Eager wrote:
On Thu, 20 Jun 2013 22:17:51 +0100, Roger Mills wrote:

I see that Maplin is about to offer a 3D printer for £700.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/3d-printer?
utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaig n=13P7-7

Any comments? Is it likely to be worth a punt?

If Maplin want £700, it'll be a great deal cheaper elsewhere. That's why
I deleted their promotional email!

print file for Glocks appearing soon then ?

On Friday, June 21, 2013 8:28:42 AM UTC+1, Martin Brown wrote:

I think for the number of times I would want to print something in 3D
I'd be prepared to buy in the service rather than fight my own printer.


Where abouts are you? Manchester Hackspace has one:

http://hacman.org.uk/

On 25/06/2013 17:06, wrote:
On Friday, June 21, 2013 8:28:42 AM UTC+1, Martin Brown wrote:

I think for the number of times I would want to print something in 3D
I'd be prepared to buy in the service rather than fight my own printer.


Where abouts are you? Manchester Hackspace has one:

http://hacman.org.uk/

Thanks. I live actually over in the North East but have to visit
Manchester fairly often although not usually on a Wednesday

There seems to be a Hackspace in Newcastle which I also visit fairly
often but again not usually on Wednesdays (but it is a bit nearer).

I know both cities fairly well so apart from finding somewhere to park I
don't see any problem finding them if I am in the area. Thanks again.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On Tuesday, June 25, 2013 5:22:51 PM UTC+1, Martin Brown wrote:

Thanks. I live actually over in the North East but have to visit
Manchester fairly often although not usually on a Wednesday

There seems to be a Hackspace in Newcastle which I also visit fairly
often but again not usually on Wednesdays (but it is a bit nearer).

I know both cities fairly well so apart from finding somewhere to park I
don't see any problem finding them if I am in the area. Thanks again.


The Manchester one is a two minute walk from the Arndale NCP car park.

I would be tempted to just pop down (to either) if you had the time
on any day, I would imagine that if someone is there, they'd be over
the moon to show off to you :-)

It's really cool that they sell it in a very cheaply. But I'm wondering if it can support different types of filament materials. Have any of you tried it? My friend has been asking me about this machine because he plans to purchase one soon; however, he is quite hesitant that it might not print rubber or nylon from 3d2print.net. What do you think guys?

On 20/06/2013 22:17, Roger Mills wrote:
I see that Maplin is about to offer a 3D printer for £700.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/3d-printer?u...ampaign=13P7-7


Any comments? Is it likely to be worth a punt?

If you are anywhere near Manchester the Maplins on Regent Road at the
shopping mall with the big Sainsbury's has one on demo. Or rather did
last time I was in there together with a few things it had printed.

I haven't got one but was considering it. OTOH for the number of times I
might need to 3D print I think one of the online services might actually
be more cost effective. See a previous thread of mine here.

£700 would buy a fair amount of printer bits with (a lot) less hassle.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

In article , Martin Brown wrote:
I haven't got one but was considering it. OTOH for the number of times I
might need to 3D print I think one of the online services might actually
be more cost effective. See a previous thread of mine here.

£700 would buy a fair amount of printer bits with (a lot) less hassle.

And give you options for better resolution, option of larger pieces, far
more choice of materials, etc..

Having your own would be fun though. And if you were doing a lot of
test print, modify design, test print, modify design cycles, having
immediate results has obvious advantages.

For $100 http://www.peachyprinter.com/ has to be a contender for 3D printer
as toy to play with.

But they keep getting better and cheaper, if you aren't sure, I'd wait
and see how some of the "coming soon" ones turn out:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26945020
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-3d-...ews-17552.html

wrote:

It's really cool that they sell it in a very cheaply. But I'm wondering if
it can support different types of filament materials. Have any of you
tried it? My friend has been asking me about this machine because he plans
to purchase one soon; however, he is quite hesitant that it might not
print rubber or nylon from 3d2print.net. What do you think guys?

If you have a local 'hacker lab' or 'maker faire' group you might be able to
get access to one. I wouldn't be surprised if art colleges, some design
studios etc also have them.

From what I've read, as you might expect, the cheap ones aren't very good -
they can only create small items, perhaps only use a small set of types of
filament, and don't have a very good mechanical precision - so maybe ok for
ornaments / jewelery, but not for making - say - parts for new machines.

--
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