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| Why we didn't have 3d printers before? |
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| beanflying:
Interesting that people see writing Gcode or an alternate machine instruction set as being the limiter it has been around in NC machines well before the 80's and well before 3D CAD let alone the Slicers we now have. Programming it in hard code from calculation and number crunching or changing the code manually was common back when I first saw it being used on a machine so it could be done in the 80's but the cost in time would be horrid and very limited but it could be done 'technically' but maybe not 'practically'. We are now just spoiled by the ease we can avoid even seeing the code in most cases let alone knowing what the instruction set is or how it works. |
| Domagoj T:
--- Quote from: beanflying on February 15, 2020, 04:30:51 pm ---it could be done in the 80's but the cost in time would be horrid and very limited but it could be done 'technically' but maybe not 'practically'. --- End quote --- The topic of the thread is not why there were no 3D printers. It's why there were no cheap 3D printers. |
| langwadt:
--- Quote from: donotdespisethesnake on February 15, 2020, 08:54:25 am --- --- Quote from: c64 on February 15, 2020, 08:00:36 am ---There is nothing complicated in the construction of a cheap 3d printer. Electronics is simple as well. We could already make them easily in the late 80s. Why? --- End quote --- I remember the 80s, I was there :) Contrary to what you say, back then the "electronics" was either not cheap or not powerful enough. Cheap MCUs like AVR and PIC didn't appear until about 1996. --- End quote --- could easily have been run from the parallelport on the pc you needed anyway |
| Mr. Scram:
--- Quote from: c64 on February 15, 2020, 08:00:36 am ---There is nothing complicated in the construction of a cheap 3d printer. Electronics is simple as well. We could already make them easily in the late 80s. Why? --- End quote --- Patents. It's as simple as that. |
| xrunner:
--- Quote from: beanflying on February 15, 2020, 04:30:51 pm ---Interesting that people see writing Gcode or an alternate machine instruction set as being the limiter it has been around in NC machines well before the 80's and well before 3D CAD let alone the Slicers we now have. Programming it in hard code from calculation and number crunching or changing the code manually was common back when I first saw it being used on a machine so it could be done in the 80's but the cost in time would be horrid and very limited but it could be done 'technically' but maybe not 'practically'. We are now just spoiled by the ease we can avoid even seeing the code in most cases let alone knowing what the instruction set is or how it works. --- End quote --- That's exactly what I mean. The amount of time it would have taken 40 or more years ago to calculate and write out hundreds of thousands of G Code instructions would have been impractical for the modern objects we are making with little effort now. Look at what ancient people did with their limited technology, but with the will power to do so (pyramids, et. al.). No one in their right mind would gather together a group of people with ancient technology to build another pyramid to match the ones in Egypt. Could they do it today? With the will power - sure, but it won't happen because we are spoiled now. ;) |
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