Markus,
Thanks for the JPEG comparison of part quality variables on two machines at widely opposite ends of the price point. It proves price will not necessarily provide a better result. My point was not to group all of the lower cost 3D printers together ( I really hate the word cheap). I stated "Some do it well others don't. Poor mechanics, design and software contribute to these variables." I've seen better results and reliability from some of the lower cost machines than a machine twice the cost and vice versus. Yes it takes an operators skill to make the adjustments to run a finer layer and/or lower speed but if its poorly designed just to make a quick buck on a hot market, you only get so far.
John Mullen
Rapid Prototype Manager
Hasbro, Inc. 1027 Newport Ave. Pawtucket, RI 02862
401.727.5194
johnmullen_at_hasbro.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Markus Hitter [mailto:mah_at_jump-ing.de]
Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2013 4:16 PM
To: Mullen, John
Cc: rp-ml_at_rapid.lpt.fi
Subject: Re: [rp-ml] Comparison of ABS parts from Stratasys and Others
Am 27.06.2013 19:42, schrieb Mullen, John:
> Some do it well others don't.
Thanks for all the answers, let me pick this one as an example.
You see, some do well. And that's the most important difference between these self built printers and the $2000 and up models: you have to choose. There is so much choice (rubbish to excellent software, rubbish to excellent mechanics) to the extent there isn't even a brand. Reading things like "this cheapo printer printed ..." makes me cringe a bit.
Which software, which controller, which extruder, which layer thickness, which head moving speed ... ? For example, reducing the layer thickness to get smoother surfaces is a matter of a minute, but you have to know about this and you have to do it. Accordingly, considering one of these printer models to print at a fixed, given quality is pretty pointless.
BTW., none of the two initial writers asked for software comfort, accuracy or build time, so the sturdiness of the mechanics doesn't matter much. Even the weakest printer can print accurate if it prints slow and (almost) every printer can print fast if you don't care about accuracy.
This picture was discussed a year and a half ago in the RepRap community, showing a print of a (back then) well tuned cheap printer vs.
an expensive one at standard (the only possible?) settings. You can see a substantially higher quality on the cheap one:
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6190/6129585407_2d4609e003_o.jpg
You get the point? Thanks :-)
Markus
Blog post I picked the picture from:
http://blog.reprap.org/2011/09/tipping-point-of-print-quality-open.html
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Dipl. Ing. (FH) Markus Hitter
http://www.jump-ing.de/
Received on Thu Jun 27 2013 - 23:39:36 EEST
