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http://www.3dhubs.com/trends

Just thought this was some interesting data.

Free marketing research. Cool. It's interesting that Europe is so far ahead of the US in adoption, and that the biggest selling filament colors are black, white, and the three primary colors.

626Pilot wrote:Free marketing research. Cool. It's interesting that Europe is so far ahead of the US in adoption, and that the biggest selling filament colors are black, white, and the three primary colors.

I was also surprised that Europe has adopted the 3D printers so far ahead of the USA, makes me wonder why that is the case.

It is a new 3D printing infographic has hit the wires, this one from Autodesk. The aim is to graphically highlight the benefits of 3D printing for small businesses. It’s a noble aim for such companies. The infographic points to the great and the good applications by using the full range of 3D printers available in market today, but then focuses in on the prosumer grade platforms and how they can bring value to smaller businesses.

Here's an article that discusses what can we expect to change in 2016 in the 3d printing world: https://mylocal3dprinting.com/blog/3d-p ... t-in-2016/

StefL wrote:Here's an article that discusses what can we expect to change in 2016 in the 3d printing world: https://mylocal3dprinting.com/blog/3d-p ... t-in-2016/

Very interesting thanks for the link

one thing that I find a bit surprising is how rare Deltas are in these lists

Well, think about it. Delta's are harder to calibrate, and there are really only 3 notable Delta's. The Rostock Max (V1 and 2), the Kossel, and the Kossel mini. Compare that to printers available that are plug and play (to a degree, they do still require tuning), and the much larger inertia for various Cartesian companies. Only recently with the Eris has there been much of an entry level for delta's (and the Eris isn't even out yet) I mean, look at that tiny boy printer that got spammed onto here (that may be a little unfair, but they posted marketing copy and didn't stick around to discuss, so while it's not delete worthy, it is kinda spammy) 200$ for a little Cartesian machine. There's a progression from essentially baby's first printer to a high end model. With delta machines, you've got rep-rap projects which require already having access to a printer such as the V3D and a number of Kossel variants, the Kossel kits, many of them from questionable chinese suppliers and rarely pushed by bigger printer storefronts, such as makergeeks. And then you have higher quality machines, the Orion, the Max, and the Max metal. But the Max and max metal are (you can now buy an assembled max, if you want to spend 600$ more and learn less). And while you can get a max for less than say, a Replicator X2, it doesn't look like a printer to many people, is from a smaller manufacturer (and a much better one, really), and is less likely to be on people's minds.

Stratasys had one thing going for it when it bought makerbot. There were a number of Cupcakes and thingomatics out there, and they had an instantly recognizable brand. When you see a rostock or a delta in the wild, it's very recognizable as well. But they are much larger, and because of the harder calibration, i think they get moved and shown around less. For example, for a 3D printing panel I attended, someone brought in a printerbot metal, because it was small and idiot proof. Another convention, they brought a stable of printers, including one Max, but where all the others were running, the max was static, and you were discouraged from touching it. I know the last time I moved my max I needed to do some calibration afterwards, and that was without lifting it itself, and within the same room. Now that I have an enclosure around it, I might be willing to move it around, but honestly, logistically moving a large printer is a bit of a challenge (infinite respect to Part-daddy and co for moving around the massive delta, that must be a right bitch to move and setup)

People "know" a printer looks like a box. So they buy boxes. And that's something i heavily disagree with. I've seen people who have half a dozen printers who may be able to explain the difference between CoreX/Y, gantry, and cantilever Cartesian machines who have never seen or heard of a delta. There are several makerspaces around me that don't know they exist, those are key exposure points. I don't expect SeemeCNC to do much about it, nor can I do anything big. I just mention them when people ask me about printers, and about half the time, people get really interested in them. We in short, need some delta evangelists.

Nice explanation Xeno, I recall the episode of the Big Bang theory when Raj and Howard had a box printer of the very expensive sort.... they need to have Sheldon and Leonard build a Maxv2 or a max metal that would bring in a lot of new customers...

the problem there is one that I saw when I was doing my research on 2d printers that got me to buy the v2 kit.

the folks with negative opinions (or the ones that you could follow a build thread right through to selling the assembled printer a few months later) (and this is true of the cartesian printers as well)
tended to think it was going to be at worst an ikea sort of assembly experience that when done they would treat it just like another printer in their office hit the print button on their design and a few min later they would have a working prototype part with no hassles.
another word they expect a sort of startreck replicator (mark 1) machine. I guess if you spend $85,000 for one of these you can get close to that http://3d-printers.ireviews.com/stratas ... 60v-review... but 3d printers for less than a few thousand bucks (and perhaps a weekend of assembly) are carrying with them this sort of ease of use advertising that is not there yet at these price points.... can you make near perfect prints? Yes and the work of mHackney is proof that it can be done but it takes a lot of hard work and learning (constant learning)

in short the 3d printing industry is being oversold and presented as if it is as easy to use as a standard office laser printer. in late 1984 I bought the first apple laserwriter it cost $7,000 1984 dollars about $15,000 today.... it was worth it as a tool and in fact is still working today on its third or 4th fuser assembly. but to get the best work out of it I had to learn the postscript language. the big difference was that any one in a office could hit print on their computer hand have their document WYSIWYG and desktop document printing was born. some of yu may recall the early output from those with no design background with many different fonts on a single page of a document.... some training was beneficial for them as well.

I know nothing about the other sorts of 3d printing having only researched the various FFDM systems; and perhaps the other types are already getting to this turn key level. Perhaps laser cured resin and SLS metals and the laser cut paper sheets and the various powder bed systems etc are going to get to the idiot proof holy grail level before the fueled plastic filament designs

but for now at the under $2000 level it seems to be a hacker and enthusiast driven tech.