New developments in 3D Printing

I haven't looked at 3D printing developments for far too long.  The sub $500 dollar printer that I predicted still seems to be 1-2 years away, which is a little frustrating as the technology is clearly ready, but doesn't seem to have been picked up by any major consumer electronics/computer manufacturers.

The $1,500 Cube 3D printer is the sort of product I was hoping for, but at a far lower price.  However, whilst we wait for the market to produce us a magic $500 miniature making wonder, there are other exciting products being developed that employ 3D printing technology.  The 3Doodler is one such product that is presently being crowdfunded on Kickstarter.  For a pledge of just $75 you can get one of their 3D Drawing Pens.  The pen is essentially a handheld version of a 3D printer head, that lets you draw 3D plastic wire objects.  Check out the video on their project page it's very cool.

Games Workshop vs 3D Printing

Games Workshop are having a bit of a Space Sulk.  They've got stuck into a guy because he sculpted some figures which were similar in 'style' to their own ranges, and then put them up as a digital files for fellow 3D printer owners to download and er ... print.  Further details can be found on Wired.com.

I've talked about 3D printers before, and although the technology still isn't quite ready for the consumer market, there is even less doubt that it is going to happen in the next 2-3 years.  It might have been a lot early than that, but it now seems likely that consumer models will ship with an intergrated scanner unit which will be able to photocopy objects.  Basically, you will be able to put a Space Marine (sorry "Future Soldier") into the machine, press copy and print out a few hundred of them.

You can see why Games Workshop are worried, but it's ludicrous going after a fan who has uploaded a similar, but original design in the 'style' of one of their figures.  The reality is, as soon as their customers get access to a 3D photocopier which can produce half-decent, cheap copies of their models, the Comany's current business model is finished.  They might mitigate the damage by getting into the market themselves, where they could at least sell digital copies of their models.

From my point of view, I don't want to print out loads of Games Workshop figures, or rip-off recent figures from Reaper, Otherworld, et al.   However, I do have plenty of old out of production Asgard, Ral Partha and Grenadier minis which I would just love to able to make copies of.

New Developments in 3D Printing

It's been a few months since I looked at how 3D printing technology is progressing.  The price of the MakerBot machine has dropped $200 bringing it down to $999 (still about £800 from the UK site I checked though).  I'm sticking with my prediction that by the end of 2012, we'll see a sub $500 consumer 3D printer on the market.

For a good snapshot on the different ways the technology is developing, take a look at the BBC video in the link below.  It shows three different types of 3D printers in action.

BBC Click Video

Make Your Own Miniatures with a 3D Printer

I remember seeing a technology news piece a couple of years ago which demonstrated how a 3D printer could produce a complex object from a computer model.  It was produced in a printer that could lay down hundreds of layers of hot plastic on top of each other.  At the time the cost of such a device was tens of thousands of dollars, keeping it very much in the commercial sector for the use of car designers and the like.  I was therefore somewhat surprised to open a newspaper yesterday and see such a machine.  The MakerBot, is now available in kit form for just $1,200.  I would estimate that the rate at which the technology is developing will see a $500 consumer friendly version of these printers by the end of 2012.  The current model would do a good job of printing out 3D dungeons, and an improved version might even be able to turn out detailed miniatures.  I'm sure that the consumer electronics giants will be taking a look at the market, but for the moment, one of the nice things about the Makerbot is that it's open source.