Are you interested in 3D printing?

[aarongough]

Hello All,
My name is Aaron Gough and I am currently starting a new company that will be selling 3D printers.
Having used CNCZone as a resource for my research over the last little while I thought I would post here to see how many of you are interested in 3D printing technology.
Our machines will be capable of extruding complex 3D shapes made of 6/6 Nylon.
Have a look at our website for more information: HyperFabber
Thank you to everyone who makes CNCZone a valuable resource for all types of computerized machinery control!

[alexccmeister]

Some pictures of the prototype machine will be great.

[John Bear Ross]

Some resolution specs and a working envelope would be nice. Also, some sample builds.

If you can do 2 thousandths of an inch per vertical layer, you'd have my attention, and possibly, money.

Best,
John Bear Ross

[max_imum2000]

hello aarongough
i have followed the fabber and reprap projects since it was created.
in my opinon, till now i dont think it can sell with its current status.
its slow, unaccurate, no good software.
it will become mature , i am sure,
but till then , i will be waiting

thanks

[aarongough]

Thank-you for your replies!
I don't want to post any photos of the machine yet as it is in the very early stages of prototyping. I would expect to release somewhat final working data and pictures after the next version of the machine is built ( probably in about 4 months. )
The working resolution of the machine will be 0.01mm ( 0.000393700787" ) in both the vertical and horizontal planes. Test builds are forthcoming.

At the moment I am trying to gauge the amount of interest the final product will generate. As all of the development funding is coming out of my own pocket I want to be sure it is not wasted!
Any comments / suggestions / expressions of interest are greatly appreciated!
Also, if you are interested, please register your interest here.
A big thank-you to everyone who has already replied!

Best Regards,
Aaron Gough

[ConKbot of Doom]

That sounds like very good resolution, can it actually extude that small, or even close? The rapid prototyping machine I've worked with could extrude a .020 or so bead of nylon I believe, the X and Y resolution were very good, however you were stuck with .020 steps in the Z axis.
The software was very easy to use. Export a .STL I believe (stero lithography file) from autocad with the part in all positive coordinates, import it into a job, orient it on the base the way you want, and send it to the machine. It added all the needed bracing automatically, with no real CAM experience needed to make it work.

I would certainly love to have my own prototyping machine, though I know I cant afford one, not as of yet.

[aarongough]

Hey there!
At the moment the machine is not extruding that small simply because we made the nozzles bigger on the first prototype however we don't expect it to be a problem. The actual movement resolution of the XYZ carriage will be a fair bit finer than 0.01mm as to facilitate angled walls etc.
Our machines will be using a different file format... one that we have created to deal with the challenge of handling multiple materials within a single solid object. We are looking to release an open source CAD package with the machine that would be tailored specifically to it.
Thanks for your interest!
-Aaron

[Toivo]

how would this compare to the fabathome.org setup ($2,300)?

Cost-wise?

Does anyone think the fabathome could do nylon?

I'm looking for one that'll produce parts that are bigger than 8"x8"x8", something like a 24" XY with a 6" Z would be nice.

[aarongough]

Hi Toivo,
We hope that our machines will be released at about US$3,000.
While a little bit more expensive our machines will have multiple print-heads for fast production and will print nylon right out of the box.
Our initial release machines will have a work envelope of 12x12x12". we will produce larger models with lower resolutions later.

Theoretically the fab@home chassis could be adapted to produce nylon parts. To accomplish this you would have to produce your own tool-heads and probably modify the software quite heavily.

[SKAHT]

First of all good luck in your project. We own a Dimension 1200 3D printer and really like it. We are a small Service Bureau in the Houston area. We produce parts mainly for inventors and new product development companies. After having used our machine for a while now, I can see all the thought and engineering that went into its development. If you are successful, you will have surely have spent many, many hours in its creation. Good luck. I hope it works.

Just curious, why did you decide to use nylon. It has great properties, but it can be very fussy about the specific heat range at which it can be worked successfully. Our machine extrudes ABS, which is strong, fairly rigid yet easily shaped. What type of support material will you be using? Our machine produces layers of ABS at .010 or .013 . I think your resolution is way too thin. If it were say .001 or .002, then you'd have something. Thin layering takes lots of time. For prototyping, .005 would even be good. Contact me if you have any questions. We use our 3D printer on a daily basis and may be able to help you.

Good luck,

Scott, 281-455-6522 scottv@DSERapid.com

[Bhima]

Hi,
I’m very interest in FDM or “3D printing”. I’d be keen to use a greater variety of materials as well as being able to fab circuitry.

As a side note it would have to be OS agnostic, Windows only would be a deal killer.

[aarongough]

Hi Bhima,
our technology is a variant of FDM which will hopefully allow us the flexibility to extrude other materials... Circuitry and such is a while off yet I think, but we do have some plans in that direction.
As for OSs... the machines are going to be shipped with an onboard control computer that can double as a workstation. Because of the way we have designed the harware the controller does not need to operate in real-time. This means that the computer remains very usable as a design station or workstation even while you are printing...
We plan to ship all of our machines with Ubuntu linux installed which frees you from having to pay for windows licenses... we much prefer linux over windows anyway so it's kind of a given!
Good to hear from you!
Best regards,
Aaron Gough