I am posting here because I figure most people on this site are hobbiests and inventors who like cutting edge tech. More likely, someone on this site has at least considered making a prototype at some point.
I work on a few projects that require custom boxes/cases to hold the electronics. I am thinking about trying to mass produce a product and this requires a professional looking "shell" around the circuit. I have considered outsourcing but this is expensive. I stumbled upon the idea of using a 3d printer.
So, the question is, "does anyone own his or her own 3d printer"? If so, which one and is it worth it?
I bought a MakerBot Replicator 2x for about $2800 a few months ago. The thing is great I love it for doing side projects and messing around building little things. If I had to do it again, I would probably stick to a single extruder (I haven't used dual colors as often as I thought I would ) and would do all ABS instead of buying spools of PLA. I did quite a few ABS builds with limited failures (mostly from the build becoming detached which is easily fixed with slurry) and then I started to try doing PLA builds and the plastic just seems to come out all weak and stringy and the finish on the top layer is very rough compared to the ABS. The only downside I've noticed to the ABS is that it smells a little bit when it's running - but it's not overpowering by any means.
Thanks for the reply. The replicator is definitely one of the ones I was looking at. I was thinking of the 2x for the reason of doing PLA or ABS. After reading your comment I might just want to do ABS. I was worried about the smell. Do you use it inside your house?
I was also thinking of the Ultimaker and Makergear.
I find it interesting that a lot of these printers use an Arduino chip.
Yes I use it in the house, in a den I share with the roomate and he hasn't complained about the smell at all. I believe they do have 3D builds you can do to add to your Makerbot and then buy a particle filter and put it on to help with the fumes. Rep Rap has some good info, and how to print out / build another 3d printer with micro controllers etc, but in general when I was searching for "what is the best one to buy" it seemed hard to get a straight answer. Honestly I think the technology for "in home" use is just now becoming popular enough for people to become interested in it, but it's mostly people who know how to tinker, so in general they will be more lenient with reviews because if it breaks or needs adjustment they know how to fix it. It looks like as it stands right now if you want an out of the box ready to go system with support and website for builds (thingiverse.com) then MakerBot is the way to go. Now that I have my own, if any of my friends get one I would explore the cheaper ones. Just my opinion tho!
3D printing is pretty expensive for mass production and for the price of a good printer you could cover a good fraction the cost of the mold for injection molding. After that the actual cases are pennies a piece.
So it boils down to just how massive do you expect your mass production to be? Is it hundreds of units, or tens of thousands or millions?
Recently I've seen a very expensive 3D printer (full colour binder jet) and while the finished item is a nice toy with working interlocking gears, the surface finish was definitely not what I would like to see on a final product which is supposed to have a professional look.
Shpaget:
3D printing is pretty expensive for mass production and for the price of a good printer you could cover a good fraction the cost of the mold for injection molding. After that the actual cases are pennies a piece.
True, but in order to get to the mold stage one needs to make a final prototype. I've checked and this can be expensive. For the cost of getting someone to do it I can almost buy my own printer. Once I have a good prototype I can have a mold made for production runs.
I have a RepRapPro Ormerod, which is sold in kit form by RS Components for just under £500 (+VAT where applicable). I'm fairly happy with it, although I have made major changes to the firmware (btw the electronics is based on the Arduino Due), replaced a few acrylic and MDF parts by aluminium, and replaced the original unmodulated IR height sensor by a combined modulated IR + ultrasonic one (and I have sold around 50 of these to other Ormerod users).
Printing large parts with a 3D printer is slow, and therefore expensive in machine time. 3D printers are great for prototyping and for small production runs, but for a large production run (hundreds or thousands of copies), you will want to use injection moulding.
imsmooth:
True, but in order to get to the mold stage one needs to make a final prototype. I've checked and this can be expensive. For the cost of getting someone to do it I can almost buy my own printer. Once I have a good prototype I can have a mold made for production runs.
Even if you already did have a printer and that part didn't cost you anything, I think it would still be more expensive in material to print several thousand units than have them injection moulded.
Then you have thousands of hours of print time. Those cost too.
Edit:
All this being said. There could be alternative ways. Perhaps you don't need a custom case? Can you get by with something already existing? There are project boxes of countless shapes and sizes made of various materials, so unless your product absolutely can't be boxy and needs protruding parts, through-holes or similar features, using existing, standard enclosures might be the way to go.
Is there a maker group near you (you don't say where you are)? If there is, I'm sure you could get one of them to print your prototype for you (for the cost of the materials and a few pints of beer/bottles of wine). 8)
Much cheaper than buying your own 3D printer for a one off! $)