What a world, eh? A few people sent word that next Wednesday's special item is this 3D printer: https://www.aldi.com.au/en/special-...17-feb/wednesday-detail-wk07/ps/p/3d-printer/ Anyone planning to get one? I'm not, because the toy budget has taken a beating lately and to be honest I don't really have a need for one.. but I'm excited by what this means for 3D printing in general, getting ever-closer to mainstream.
Its a reasonable Prusa i3 clone, uses a slightly different PCB than a standard Atmega 328 and RAMPS, but all compatible. Here is a review of it, with a link to another guys channel for all the fixes:
Yay, i got in the screenshot on OzBargain for bashing my head against the noobs saying it required proprietary filament.
As long as the bits are smaller than 200x200x180mm, or can be made of pieces smaller than that and then glued together.
That's not how aldi works (you haven't shopped in aldi, have you). They are available until sold out. Maybe they'll have them again, maybe not. 2.
so how long will the part last. What if it's exposed to the sun? No issues with toxicity?? I'd be game but am not sure if there's a steep learning curve.
I'd say no, the output quality will never be great and require a large deal of finishing to look remotely passable. There are places online that can print out much higher quality parts, as long as you have the design/STL file.
I was going to include that literally 2 hours before I saw this thread, had commented to someone that I'd never set foot inside an aldi I knew they stocked cans of food from eastern europe. Just seems like they're close enough to having their own brand of these things, I'm sure some factory in China has no problem pumping out more next week. Will see if I can duck away from work, within easy distance of 2 stores in BNE, are they likely to sell out in minutes or what? I'd rather pay an extra $100 to shop online than be in a desperate crowd
The two most common filaments used are ABS and PLA plastics. ABS which is pretty much what Lego is made from. Its quite strong but it doesn't like sunlight. It will fade and become brittle after a few months. PLA is a biodegradable (under certain conditions) plastic made from plants. It can also be quite strong but it is more malleable than ABS and has a lower melting temp which can cause it to deform if exposed to heat (around 65 degrees, like inside a car). TPU can also be used, this is the stuff soft phone cases are made from. Its soft and rubbery but very durable. There are some carbon fibre filaments available too which look pretty sweet. Very strong and ridged. I would probably go with TPU, ABS or carbon fibre for car parts depending on the application. You can paint the ABS it to protect it from UV light. I would say it could last a long time if it was produced well and treated right. I have never done any printing but from what I can tell there is a lot to know. If you want to create parts form scratch you are going to have to get pretty savvy with some 3d modelling software.
If you get a printer that can do ABS (which the vid review above suggests to avoid doing so), then just remember that ABS is what they make Lego out of. Food for thought. Also depending on the plastic used you can sometimes "polish" the printed item to smooth out the fine rastering lines: http://hackaday.com/2013/02/26/giving-3d-printed-parts-a-shiny-smooth-finish/ A 3D printer could be a good little learning experience for you, but I don't think this is the platform to be doing it with.
They will not even fit each other, let alone proper lego I'll watch this space, but I refuse to stand in line in the morning to buy a 3D printer. I suspect they won't have enough stock to last - as usual with anything. Fark'em.
You can get them to fit but most people don't design the blocks to suit the printing process and run into issues because of that. Particularly if a PLA stock is used instead of ABS it can be pretty challenging to get the same feel as you do when putting lego together, although it is possible to print them and have them fit together (have tried the whole lego/lego man thing on my Ultimaker). Of course, also a lot of operators don't seem to have their printers tuned up particularly well, even though a lot of the newer printer in a box type things can be dialed in to do a reasonable job. Oh yeah, finally if you want to use exotic feedstocks outside of the material types recommended by the manufacturer (PLA, ABS typically) most printer heads aren't ready out of the box to take them on. Secondly it is recommendable to use a totally different head for exotics and not swap the material in the same head because you there's a bigger risk of head blockages.
