EEVblog #356 - Makerbot Replicator 2 Announcement

[free_electron]

i'm eyeballing these guys : http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/25111729/hyrel-3d-printer

This looks like a 'real' machine.

1) It is built by a company (35 years in business) that specializes in precision robotics for waferfabs. ( They make wafer handlers used in cleanrooms and know all about precision motion control and mechanics )
2) No rubber gearbelts with paperclips or clothespin 'tensioners' here. These guys use precision linear rails and ball/screw drives for the z axis. 
3) No plastic parts and certainly no 3d printed parts in the production machine. Everything is milled from solid aluminum stock and anodized. Other parts are steel.
4) Oversized steppers
5) a real controller board and stepper controllers with some 'oomph' behind it as opposed to an underpowered hard-whino and stepper chips that explode if you sneeze in their general direction...
6) swappable extruders. machine is dual extruder capable. the extruder head simply snaps into place. changing filaments is a metter of pulling out the 'print' head and putting the new one in place.
7) large build volume ( 200x200x200 )
turnkey operation. ready to run out of the box
9) partially OPEN, in the sense that it can be driven from open source 3d printing software. The machine itself is an 'appliance' , but the API is G-code so you can use whatever frontend you want and tinker with that. (which is what i care about. i am not interested in building my own 3d printer or software. i want to print things. first time right without fuss. i use screwdrivers , i don't want to make them nor modify them. this printer is a 'screwdriver' )
10) pc / mac / linux
11) optional enclosure
12 ) optional print server. no futzing with usb or sd cards. plug it on your network and submit jobs into a queue.
13) local color graphics touchscreen
14) upgradeable printheads for different materials

And, it's CHEAPER than the makerbot or the machine form MIT that uses a liquid medium, but it is made by people who know to build precision mechanics and electronics for motion control.

[EEVblog]

  No...not Chinese Engineering...its called using your brain...and i use good parts...not HungLo parts....if i said this on the adafruit forum, i be banned like a friend of mine...never will buy from them again

They ban people on the Adafruit forum?

Dave.

[Noize]

Looks very professional(the promotional video is well made).   If I had the spare cash to get a 3D printer, I'd get one of these.

i'm eyeballing these guys : http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/25111729/hyrel-3d-printer

This looks like a 'real' machine.

1) It is built by a company (35 years in business) that specializes in precision robotics for waferfabs. ( They make wafer handlers used in cleanrooms and know all about precision motion control and mechanics )
2) No rubber gearbelts with paperclips or clothespin 'tensioners' here. These guys use precision linear rails and ball/screw drives for the z axis. 
3) No plastic parts and certainly no 3d printed parts in the production machine. Everything is milled from solid aluminum stock and anodized. Other parts are steel.
4) Oversized steppers
5) a real controller board and stepper controllers with some 'oomph' behind it as opposed to an underpowered hard-whino and stepper chips that explode if you sneeze in their general direction...
6) swappable extruders. machine is dual extruder capable. the extruder head simply snaps into place. changing filaments is a metter of pulling out the 'print' head and putting the new one in place.
7) large build volume ( 200x200x200 )
turnkey operation. ready to run out of the box
9) partially OPEN, in the sense that it can be driven from open source 3d printing software. The machine itself is an 'appliance' , but the API is G-code so you can use whatever frontend you want and tinker with that. (which is what i care about. i am not interested in building my own 3d printer or software. i want to print things. first time right without fuss. i use screwdrivers , i don't want to make them nor modify them. this printer is a 'screwdriver' )
10) pc / mac / linux
11) optional enclosure
12 ) optional print server. no futzing with usb or sd cards. plug it on your network and submit jobs into a queue.
13) local color graphics touchscreen
14) upgradeable printheads for different materials

And, it's CHEAPER than the makerbot or the machine form MIT that uses a liquid medium, but it is made by people who know to build precision mechanics and electronics for motion control.

[hodx]

Yes Dave, they ban people all the time...they don't let anyone talk about there fanboys or put down there products....that show they have is just a infomerical to sell...they banned a retarded friend of mine for having a email that reflected that problem...did you see any video from the open source summit....looks like DIY Drones are going to follow Makerbot...with closed source hardware or software...Bre from Maketbot looked and talked a little funny....he was nervous...he said what was closed source finally....

[Dagon]

Looks very professional(the promotional video is well made).   If I had the spare cash to get a 3D printer, I'd get one of these.

It does look pretty good. The MIT guys seems to be getting a lot more attention though. They blew right past their goal.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/formlabs/form-1-an-affordable-professional-3d-printer