[HH] 3D printing

[Drew Van Zandt]

>
> Its not about that. What is the value proposition for device? Are other
> forms of manufacture more cost effective? On the consumer level, would a
> consumer ever recoup the cost of the unit?
>
That depends upon volume.  A low-cost mold for making an ABS plastic part
 (assuming the part can be made via injection molding, which is not true
for many parts made by 3D printers) runs about $1500.  After that, the
parts cost a few pennies to make.  For comparison, a part using one cubic
centimeter of plastic (approximations):
Makerbot: 3 cents of material.  $1500 for the device
Injection molding: 2 cents of material.  $1500 for a mold.  $40,000 for an
injection molding machine.
uPrint: $1 for the material, $30,000 for the machine (approx).

The cheap $1500 molds for injection molding are only good for 10,000 -
15,000 parts.  A steel mold good for several million parts or more is about
$10,000.

The volume for injection molding to be viable in commercial production is
around 20,000 parts, plus or minus an order of magnitude depending on the
part.  It also takes a good bit of extra engineering to make a part
injection-moldable.

At the Artisan's Asylum, one of the projects already printed on the 3D
printer for a cost of about $50 would have cost roughly $25,000 to make the
first unit of via injection molding.  The machining to make it would have
been about twice that.

The cost to print a new plastic cover for a remote might be $0.50, with the
benefit being a cost savings of $30 or so - you can't buy just the cover,
you have to buy a new remote.  Should everyone own a makerbot?  No.  Should
every tinkerer?  Yes, probably, or have access to one.

The big savings, though, is time.  If you think time is free, then you'll
never see the value.  If you are aware that the cost of a 1-month delay to
market for most products is upwards of $10,000 and often as much as
$100,000, then perhaps the 3D printer will seem more reasonably priced.

--Drew
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