A list of 5 ways to move the 3D printing industry forward

[iway]

Here's an article about [my opinion] a few ways to push the industry forward. My #5 point is already in use (sort of) by the new movie: Big Hero 6.

What do you think? What's missing or could be added to make this list better?

Link: http://www.lonestarfilament.com/blogs/n ... ry-forward

[JohnStack]

My personal suggestion is that you buy a Rostock and contribute as a member to this forum. Every post you have made (5, so far) is to sell filament.

Having a drawing is great, posting your projections about the industry is great - but this is actually a forum. People come here for help and to share ideas. Make a contribution somehow, ok?

How about the science behind happens to filament when it flexes?
Why there are fundamental differences between filaments manufactured at plants A, B, C?
Do you support the standard reel movement?
What are the different characteristics behind each type of nylon filament?
Will certain colors adhere differently? Does print speed affect adherence? How so?
Does layer thickness affect head friction?
Is there a minimum thickness filament will go?

All of these and more - as a seller of filament - might interest you. Quite certainly, they interest me. I would consider those contributions.

I'm not the thought police or a moderator; however, the "Welcome to our community" above IMHO only goes so far before it's worn out.

[jesse]

Do you work for Lone Star Filament?

Isn't this a conflict of interest?

[DavidF]

My filament can beat up your filament......
I'm waiting on some new bronze filled filament from colorfabb to try out. Specifically to see if it can be sintered after printing. Now that's a game changer for sure...

[JohnStack]

DavidF, How did those Yoda heads turn out and did Darth's lawyers show up at your door for casting likenesses?

[DavidF]

DavidF, How did those Yoda heads turn out and did Darth's lawyers show up at your door for casting likenesses?

They come out great, I have really refined the lost pla process and have been casting some awesome stuff.
As for Darths lawyers, they are far more busy trying to concur the universe than worrying about a give away.

[carter]

I dunno, They only joined 2 days ago, and are clearly busy starting a business. I imagine they joined 10 forums 2 days ago and are trying to drum up a business that purports to supply quality filament at a great price (time will tell though, and their selection sucks so far) That goal seems good for our community.

They added to my forum experience - I bought 3 rolls at a good price, and when I asked a question they replied in less than a day. They also sent me an email when my CC address did not match my home address and addressed that problem in less than a day too.

anyway, your article.

#1 if you're preaching to the business community, this makes sense. BUT, I don't think anyone in this forum is going to cheer the Idiotocra-tization of printing. 3D Printing isn't at the stage yet where people who don't like thinking can participate anyway. http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php ... iot#p32353

#2 I don't get it. Ink DOES cost $50 and I never print anything on paper. But look at the Cube - marketing and a proprietary filament supply seems to be working for them. not that I watch their stock prices. on a side note - did you know that the printing industry actually calls the refilling of ink cartridges PIRATING??? lol. I pirated a bottle of water from Dasani earlier today.

#3 I agree. thingieverse sucks. What you need is a free website, with industry cooperation, or at least consent to use models based on their products. BUT, this doesn't seem possible to me. if everyone had a 3d printer, then crAPPLE would start cracking down on Ipad .STLs. and why would my car company give me a model of my door handle when I can easily pop over to their dealership and pay them $100 for one? I bet, in 5 years time, manufacturers will start patenting all the negative space around/inside their products so you can't "pirate" accessories. All the consumer sales points for 3d printing seem to involve saving money and what industry wants me to do that? Now, If you could show Toyota how people might buy their car when they learn there's a bunch of printable accessories, THEN you might have something

I think the best thing we can hope for is a better organized version of thingieverse with a larger population of engineers. Unless you don't care about saving $, or customizing other peoples work and just like the inconvenience of printing - then you can d/l it on Itunes. Of course, They'll only have movie-sequel art and useless accessories for this year's Ijunk

#4 I got nothing

#5 see #1

[JohnStack]

They come out great, I have really refined the lost pla process and have been casting some awesome stuff.
As for Darths lawyers, they are far more busy trying to concur the universe than worrying about a give away.

I remember seeing that from you somewhere. Are many others doing it?

[guanu]

I'll only touch on a few things since I don't know how much I'm allowed to say since I work here... but you talk about cheap filament in that blog, and yes, people want filament to be as cheap as possible, but cheap comes with a cost... and that cost is quality... how do I know? well I know where you get your filament based on the unique spool design and the box it comes in that you have pictured.. how do I know? well I have used that filament, and we even used to sell that filament here for a while, and we stopped carrying it because it didn't meet our standards for quality... so now we carry higher quality filament, but it comes a little more expensive for better results... So I found it ironic that in your blog, point 2 was cheap filament, followed with point 3 that states quality > quantity.. sure you can get lots of cheap filament, but if your machine is down half the time due to a clogged nozzle or you are getting bad prints due to inconsistent filament diameter, its not worth it.

carter, you are correct that they are joining lots of places to get their name out, as I have seen them post the same stuff on reddit.. with the same advertising message that they posted in these forums...

just my .02

Guanu

[DavidF]

They come out great, I have really refined the lost pla process and have been casting some awesome stuff.
As for Darths lawyers, they are far more busy trying to concur the universe than worrying about a give away.

I remember seeing that from you somewhere. Are many others doing it?

Im sure there are quite a few trying it out, and I am sure they are hitting some hurdles, I know I did. But after 9 months of doing it you learn what works and what does not. Every cast is a lesson learned. Last month I did a mini maker fair in PA with Matt from printedsolid.com and brought some of the lost pla castings to show and tell. There were quite a few people who had heard of the process, and a couple who wanted to try it out. I was asked to teach a class at the local HS to show the process and wound up on local TV (surprised I didnt brake the camera) I have also been asked to write up a tutorial for Make magazine, still need to finish putting that together, on vacation starting tomorrow so maybe I can finish it up then...
Alot of the stuff I have been casting lately is propriortairy so I cant show you the cool stuff. Maybe sometime soon I will come up with something to be able to really show off but for now this is all I got...
[img]http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/g446/davidflowers1/Mobile%20Uploads/utf-8BSU1BRzA2NzcuanBn.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/g446/davidflowers1/Mobile%20Uploads/utf-8BSU1BRzA2NzQuanBn.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/g446/davidflowers1/Mobile%20Uploads/utf-8BSU1BRzA2NzMuanBn.jpg[/img]

[JohnStack]

It's very cool. Enough to make a living from it? Or is it sitting in the hobbyist column?

[iway]

OP here

How about the science behind happens to filament when it flexes?
Why there are fundamental differences between filaments manufactured at plants A, B, C?
Do you support the standard reel movement?
What are the different characteristics behind each type of nylon filament?
Will certain colors adhere differently? Does print speed affect adherence? How so?
Does layer thickness affect head friction?
Is there a minimum thickness filament will go?

Those are all great questions (and I do appreciate the suggestions for future articles), but they are mostly irrelevant for that article. The article wasn't very scientific and perhaps it appeals to the "business side" more so than the average hobbyist (as Carter mentioned). Nonetheless, I thought I'd make a contribution to the forum by giving a business perspective.

Every post you have made (5, so far) is to sell filament.

My activity in this forum, thus far, has been posting two new threads. One thread was giving a perspective on moving the industry forward, while another thread was promoting a sale. On the latter, I did my best to promptly answer community questions rather than just post and leave. Just so we are on the same page, this was not a case of 5 different threads about selling filament.

#3 I agree. thingieverse sucks. What you need is a free website, with industry cooperation, or at least consent to use models based on their products. BUT, this doesn't seem possible to me. if everyone had a 3d printer, then crAPPLE would start cracking down on Ipad .STLs. and why would my car company give me a model of my door handle when I can easily pop over to their dealership and pay them $100 for one? I bet, in 5 years time, manufacturers will start patenting all the negative space around/inside their products so you can't "pirate" accessories. All the consumer sales points for 3d printing seem to involve saving money and what industry wants me to do that? Now, If you could show Toyota how people might buy their car when they learn there's a bunch of printable accessories, THEN you might have something

Thanks you for contributing . Brilliant point about your 5 year prediction (patenting the negative spaces). If that's the case, I'd love to see a successful Mega Upload/Pirate Bay of 3d printing website get started.