LOL it reminds me of my first printer. It had its own data base of prints and was all wireless. I wonder if it will work better than the Tiko.
that is kind of cool, first ever Lego printer 
it has a price breaker feel to it if it’s reliable. it’s so small it should work ok if they didn’t pick crappy parts.
This is the type of printer that gives 3D printing a bad name.
If you go through the Indiegogo page, you’ll see that the printer offers “an online cloud collection of thousands of sliced files, which you can send to the printer directly to instantly start 3D printing instead of having to learn complicated slicing software.”
So when somebody wants to do their own design, suddenly things get complicated in terms of learning Tinkercad or some other design tool that’s recommended to them by a friend and then they have to figure out slicing.
The end result is a 3D printer dumped in the basement and a family that thinks that designing their own things are for “smart people”.
Rather than providing a cute 3D printer, companies have to come up with software that makes design, slicing and monitoring the printer simple and intuitive.
I dont know about that. I think most people who would buy this want an appliance and a library of stuff to obtain from it. Think star trek replicator, Need a spoon. Pick one from their catalog… and it appears… well in 8 hours it appears this is a step closer, after something like this one day becomes a sucess, some big player will dump a billion dollars in it and itll be in every home.
If you are some that wants to design your own spoon, that could mean many things. In it’s most crude form its learning design tools and some basic design principles and the tools to print, like you say but it could also be pick a bowl shape, handle, size, and colour from the web store and click print. It’s still personal design but on rails. All the stuff you would normally need to learn in canned in the process.
The tiko was the same. It generated its own network and had its own pre sliced files. Good and not at once. 3d printing has a lot of issues to me a small cheap printer is not really a problem if it works reasonably well. The printers sold that need massive changes to print so so out of the box with fake conformity and certifications full of bad cloned bits represent the worst. the consumer should not be beta testers for 1/2 baked designs.
I agree some of the high-end (more expensive) printers still need some dialling in. For the most part, it’s not a maintenance thing just a get-it working initially thing. Generally speaking, the technology is just not quite there yet.
Take out of box
click print
Print success
We as consumers have to deal with things like this all the time, TVs get smashed in shipping, Cars that have a weird “clunk”, clothes that have a seam that’s not complete.
I would be the biggest advocate of a printer that “just works”. and I speak up when I find one that is very close. The worst part is consumers in general want inexpensive. If company A sells it for $100 and company B sells it for $120 most of the time people will buy from Company A.
Now I am not saying this is always the case as I know who I am speaking to. But if you don’t 100% understand what you are getting you will almost always go with the cheaper unit, (I do all the time) However understanding what you are buying is a part of it as well.
If you buy a printer that will only work with a specific filament, will only work with a specific slicer, will only work on days that end in Y and so on, that printer is predictable because it’s been tested and proven that it works. The manufacturer can guarantee that it will do what it promises to do.
HOWEVER, as a thought experiment let’s say that this fully functional printer that always works, will never fail only prints spoons. What happens if you need a fork? it’s untested, unknown if it will print a fork. Is that printer still a good deal? It will print flawless spoons but no forks. Interesting thought though, What is more, important is Single vision production that always works Or multi-vision creation that requires parts and repairs sometimes.
I know what most of us would choose I think because we are all Makers, Inventors, Creators and we sometimes make things harder for ourselves because we can. The problem comes when someone buys a printer, Expects it to print anything the fact is the technology is just not there, there are still way to many variables to make all 3d printers “predictable”
A big part of the problem is that this industry still sees itself as a “hobby” and there is no Steve Jobs or Elon Musk driving it.
Along with well made, reliable and high quality output printers, there needs to be a simple and intuitive UI for users as well as a development software chain that just works. Mixing and matching design tools as well as slicers along with having the ability to drive different parameters (that can also be superceded on the printer itself) is not an experience ready for the big time.
It’s fun playing around with printers, but I got into it because I needed parts (prototype and production) for my business. I would have loved there to be 3D printer products that were as simple to install and use as a paper printer.
Hopefully, one day somebody will make one.
I think it’s going to be a necessity. the Steve Jobs type has to be able to have some protection and a lot of money too. I’m thinking something like Amazon is going to be the one to finally do it.
I think a first step might be in manufacturing. so say you have production equipment. you are, say Honda Motors or Toyota or Ford. Right now these places have automated stores for the millwrights to get the things they need to keep the plant operating. basically a caged area they swipe into and get whatever they need like a sensor or a sprocket for a production machine that needs it in a repair. it works because they are standard parts and a third party can visit twice a week to keep it stocked. The problem is, it only works for purchased off-the-shelf standard things. as 3d printing advances, I can see a day that the cage contains a device that could replicate repair parts as well. Like proprietary wrist parts for a Fanuc robot for example, instead of having to wait days or weeks for one to arrive from the manufacturer. So if they own Fanuc then Fanuc could provide the designs all up to date by part number, in a closed system that protects their IP, and the mechanic can have his part by lunchtime.
Right now everything in the world is manufactured to be shipped in containers and to sit on store shelves with the labels out. This constrains the sizes, shapes and the design of the things around us and the way things are manufactured. This model as we’ve seen with covid, could be rendered null in something like a pandemic, where nobody is perusing shelves and having things delivered or set aside for pick up… if at least all the hard goods could be produced locally on machines like this, it would eliminate a lot of waste and the necessity to travel, or for it to travel to get to you. This is the next logical step, I think. transportation and logistics is big business and the people that make stuff want that money for themselves.
The world is going to be very different 50 years from now.
I agree, Even thought there are people making good money doing it its still classified as a hobby, I still believe that parts stores will become a thing of the past and company’s will just sell you the STL file and be able to print a replacement part.
I’d love to be able to order parts online and make (print) them at home.
We’ve got a long way to go before that can be done.
I agree, we are not there yet but,
My own personal opinion is that its coming. If you need something specific out of Peek or something that the average homeowner cannot print there will be print shops up all over the place that will gladly print your STL for you.
I can already see common parts for appliances popping up on thingiverse for Samsung fridges and Bosh dishwashers.