3D Printers (business)

[Cliron]

Guys,

My boss wants me to research 3D printers to buy/lease. The company makes a consumer medical product that is electronic and has a lot of small components running with a motor.

The printer would be used to make prototypes until the product would be manufactured in bulk (so I think he'd be wanting it for about 1-2 years).

The printer would need to be able to print at max 8' X10'' x 1.5'' shells, but more than likely would be printing small plastic components.

When I asked him if he wanted a consumer or professional printer he specified that the consumer printers wouldnt have the 'finish' needed. He told me he wanted a SLA printer (although I think he just heard about this type of printer and perhaps would be open to others if they had the same quality).

My limited research has shown that his expectation of professional printer cost (~10k) is rather off the mark (seems people are throwing around the 50k price mark).

Ultimately my question is if anyone has any advice on a particular type of printer, or a company that leases these machines out.

Its a bit of a long shot, but this forum has such a wide range of people I wouldnt be surprised if someone was a 3D printing expert.

[liggy 0]

Leasing for a year or 2 for prototyping isn't worth it.

Unless what you're printing is a main component for the medical equip and/or mass producing it, a 3d printers isn't worth it. If you're just printing out simple casing. outsource it. (I say this coming from a family who owns overseas factories)

or do both. Use a Personal 3d printer for spec samples, then outsource it for production. This way you can make what you want to spec AND have it in hand AND get it mass produce cheap.

Dunno if you've done material, maintenance, software licensing (autodesk, CAD, solidworks software is ridiculously expensive)


i'm picking up a $1k printer for personal shit, planning on selling some things on the side just to pay back the printer with change in my pocket.

only thing i have to worry about is replacement printer heads(every 300 prints?) and abs plastic rolls.

[liggy 0]

i haven't read up on the commercial stuff, 25k might be the ballpark range for leasing from the sound of it 50k (LOW MODELS) sounds like starting purchase price, but the purchase price would probably be way more. cousins just picked up a heat transfer printer for 15k. Slap any kind of production equipment with the words "commercial use" and people add two zeros at the end of the sticker price.

[Cliron]

I cant tell you how much I appreciate your response. I love this forum, there is literally a huge cross section of expertise here.

Printing needs would be either: shells or small component pieces (18 of them) that all connect to the motor.

I dont think we'd be doing more than 200 in 2 years.

I had suggested just getting a personal printer, but he was apprehensive of it based on the quality of the finished product....Is there a huge difference in say a personal 3D printer and a SLA one?

If there was a really good personal printer you could suggest under $10k, I'd appreciate it. However, I'm thinking it would be better to just outsource the printing/manufacturing of the components.

Given that you said that you've companies overseas, got any suggestions to begin my search in?

(As an aside, I dont get paid enough for this. I'm a psychology researcher and my boss always asks me to do the strangest tasks completely out of my knowledge base).

[Cliron]

I cant tell you how much I appreciate your response. I love this forum, there is literally a huge cross section of expertise here.

Printing needs would be either: shells or small component pieces (18 of them) that all connect to the motor.

I dont think we'd be doing more than 200 in 2 years.

I had suggested just getting a personal printer, but he was apprehensive of it based on the quality of the finished product....Is there a huge difference in say a personal 3D printer and a SLA one?

If there was a really good personal printer you could suggest under $10k, I'd appreciate it. However, I'm thinking it would be better to just outsource the printing/manufacturing of the components.

Given that you said that you've companies overseas, got any suggestions to begin my search in?

(As an aside, I dont get paid enough for this. I'm a psychology researcher and my boss always asks me to do the strangest tasks completely out of my knowledge base).

[liggy 0]

bleh lost my text...

Personal printers have an average .3mm resolution, but also have a .1mm high resolution settings. example would be solidoodle, i'm want to get this a my trial printer. simple basic and only 500 bucks. i'll move on to reprap once i get the flow of things and want to mod out parts for HQ equipment for better performance or a better printer head that standards .1mm and smaller if they come out with a better head later on, but seriously anything more detailed than .1mm must be some space age shit.

the only real difference between personal n commerial equip (generally in all fields of manufacture) is speed and consistency. 1 print in 10mins or 100 in 5 mins etc. But if you're only doing prototyping, save the money and just outsource it. there are many start up now, and more to come as 3d printers are getting more and more refined, efficient and practical. Reprap even has a "apple store" style store where you can walk in, print out w/e you want and walk out.

the only other difference is that between personal and comercial printers is personal 3d printers primary material is ABS plastic. where as commercial (tesla can play with their titanium printers =Q...) comercial can cater to w/e material you want. but again outsourcing works the same and might be cheaper. with ABS plastic i broke it down to about 35-65 cents a print 3"x3"x3"~6"x6"x6".

i wouldnt know where to start to find a manufacture/supplier. id say just contact either any of those custom 3d print store and maybe they can refer you. now that i think about it... outsourcing stateside might be better than overseas. Sure its might be 2cents a print, but shipping cost would be more and you'd have to wait the 2~3months for the shipping container to come into port, more if you are on the east coast because then you'll need a trucking service. unless you're company can get their on logistics, you're kinda boned there. ( we had UPS with a 85% discount)