3D Printer Round-up: Cube 3D, Up! and Solidoodle

First off, awesome video and awesome article. I've been waiting for this sort of review for a few years now. I was in the middle of doing some work and saw this post to facebook. I immediately hoped over to my laptop and watched the video.

Here's my take,

The UP! mini, and the club3d seem great if you don't really plan on doing anything over the top, but the Solidoodle wins in my opinion. From a typical user perspective, i'd choose the Club3d for ease of use, but when it comes to 3d printing, i'm not looking for easy. I'm looking for the challenge of building something magnificent, while still having the ability to make a 6 sided dice at the same time, which I feel the Solidoodle can deliver.

I'd also like to look at the level of ease for repair on each device. These things are mechanical objects, they are going to lose calibration, and eventually break. From the video it appears to me that the Solidoodle would be incredibly easy to repair. Heck, it looks so simple that I think I could build a functioning clone in a few weeks. The club3d looks like the most difficult, with everything encased in a smaller plastic form.

For me, the club3d is the most marketable item on this list. It's ready to go the second you are ready to use it. However, for a technical person, or someone willing to learn, the Solidoodle takes the cake with simple design, easy access in case of repairs, overall cost, and advanced settings for the inquisitive designer.

Very nice review! I know 3D printers are taking off but it's still unique to see this kind of review.

My Dad is a Jeweler and has been using 3D printing since 2002 to print out wax models of jewelry rather than shape it by hand for the easy cookie cutter parts of jewelry. He doesn't own the machine himself (which is a large industrial expensive model) rather he designs the item draws it with basic measurements then pays for the operator to translate his design into the software and print it. It saves him hundreds of hours a month!

However, can anyone tell m a GOOD reason for the average joe to want one of these? What useful items can be printed? Paper-weights? Keychains? Not really sure what useful things can be made. I'd rather buy kids toys than print them. Printing logos and mini buildings is hardly useful other than the fun of it. Anyone have 1 real good example of use?

Also does anyone know of a way to make money off one of these printers? What could be printed from one of these 3 machines that can be sold for a profit?

@Sevags - Why would the average person "need" one of these things? As of today, there's no good answer. The technology is still young. Eventually though, people will be able to "print" replacement parts for just about anything though. Cracked remotes? battery covers? Whatever. You could also make customized containers for any type of project, etc.

As for profiting from one of these machines, I think that's a real possibility right now. Just in the holiday season, for example, what about offering customized Christmas ornaments? Making custom, 3D name badges, etc. The possibilities are there---it's all about imagining a product and marketing it well.

One commercial use with which I am personally familiar is making custom cases for nano PCs such as the Raspberry Pi and the APC.IO; and I can see the average joe wanting a 3D print of a family photo, to be hand-painted in realistic colors, for his office desk.

RTietjens:

One commercial use with which I am personally familiar is making custom cases for nano PCs such as the Raspberry Pi and the APC.IO; and I can see the average joe wanting a 3D print of a family photo, to be hand-painted in realistic colors, for his office desk.

Did you see the phone cases people made with the 3d printers?  I thought that was rather neat as well.

RT, The possibilities are literally limitless. From custom phone cases, to that little piece of whatever that broke off and it would be great if you could replace it, the technology is very powerful. I think the next big innovation we'll have in this area is the input side of the equation. Say you need to scan something in to be able to print it, not just the exterior visible structure but modeling for replication of a complex design. It should be interesting to see where this technology takes us!

Dave_HH:

RT, The possibilities are literally limitless. From custom phone cases, to that little piece of whatever that broke off and it would be great if you could replace it, the technology is very powerful. I think the next big innovation we'll have in this area is the input side of the equation. Say you need to scan something in to be able to print it, not just the exterior visible structure but modeling for replication of a complex design. It should be interesting to see where this technology takes us!

I was thinking about that earlier.  The ability to copy an item that is.  It really doesn't seem that difficult, as i'm sure it could be done using a calibrated measuring object and a Xbox kinect or something similar that can capture a 3d model. 

Interesting comparison, but you have failed to mention that 3D Systems (Maker of the Cube 3D printer) are currently suing the Kickstarter startup Formlabs, on what are seemingly baseless grounds: (http://blog.makezine.com/2012/11/21/3d-systems-suing-formlabs-and-kickstarter-for-patent-infringement/)

For people who wish to support the rise of these technologies, it's really, really important to know what their money will be put towards, pushing technology, or squashing competition, let an informed decision be had by all.

DrBlackadder, In general, I am totally indifferent to legalese like this to be honest. The level of bs and static about patent wars that we hear in the news these days is ridiculous and a waste of bandwidth in my opinion. We just pulled three low cost printers that we could get in for review coverage. I could care less about the patent wars but your insight is welcome here of course. We'll just stick to what we do here.

DrBlackAdder:

Interesting comparison, but you have failed to mention that 3D Systems (Maker of the Cube 3D printer) are currently suing the Kickstarter startup Formlabs, on what are seemingly baseless grounds: (http://blog.makezine.com/2012/11/21/3d-systems-suing-formlabs-and-kickstarter-for-patent-infringement/)

For people who wish to support the rise of these technologies, it's really, really important to know what their money will be put towards, pushing technology, or squashing competition, let an informed decision be had by all.

The EFF statement is most interesting, specifically:

"The Problem

While many core patents restricting 3D printing have expired or will soon expire, there is a risk that "creative" patent drafting will continue to lock up ideas beyond the 20-year terms of those initial patents or that patents will restrict further advances made by the open hardware community. The incremental nature of innovation in 3D printing makes it particularly unsuitable for patenting, as history has shown."

If patents need to expire before it's economicaally feasible to bring technology forward to market, isn't that proving that the patent system is shooting its purported mission in the foot?

EDIT: This should probably be in the Tech News forum, definitely not Off Topic.

Patent war or no patent war.  This field is obviously going to be a dog eat dog field until someone breaks through as the go to manufacturer for 3d printing.  As soon as prices drop just a little bit more and the usability is proven, these things will start popping up everywhere.

Great Vid!

Loved the comparison between the 3 but I was definitely a fan of the Solidoodle over the other two. It had the best price and capabilities if one is willing to invest a little bit of elbow grease which I think goes hand in hand with the nature of 3D printing anyways.

I'm just wondering why the MakerBot replicator series of 3-D printers wasn't included or compared to these?

Don't forget the Portabee!

http://portabee3dprinter.com

Under $500, sweet little machine

Um, isn't the Y plane generally used to describe the height attributes of objects, at least in computer 3D space.

Not quite.  It's a little different when you're describing a 3D print area.  Here's a diagram....

A pictures worth a thousand words as they say. 

We used to use Z, X, and Y plus and minus coordinates in the aircraft industry.

Oh the possibilities. Making my own action figures for my kids, based on their favorite game or cartoon character would be so cool. Instant art projects to paint your own person.

Solidoodle 3 is reliable ? Because has i know the wont give warranty for their stuffs. It seem the best printer for his price and potentials. Their waiting time still 9 months ?