what this country needs ...

no 3D activity in el Salvador, but talking to the right people. because many patents expire in 2014, will we see significant changes to the reprap community machines? should we wait on our first purchase (of machines) to see what happens, or just go ahead. thinking of mendel prusa and mendel drake as our first purchase. need all the help I can get (to start off right). no experience myself, just a reader of everything and driven to see 3D here.

AFAIK, the allegedly key patents (or patent?) expiring in 2014 relate to SLS. How this will affect FDM is unclear. I don't think it's evem clear how much of a dampener the patents even are on SLS development. But even if SLS massively takes off and even if FDM suddenly gets a lot less popular because of it, it seems to me it would take a few years for this to happen.

Note that while I don't think patents will necessarily stop you developing something in house if you're careful in what you do, as the FormLabs example would seem to show, once you start talking to the public you're putting yourself at risk. So it's unlikely there are hundreds of products secretly developed waiting to launch the moment the patents expire. In fact for hobbyists and open source projects in particular, since they often rely on sharing etc, it's resonable to expect if (a big if) patents are hindering development, it's relatively thorough. (But it's perhaps also worth remembering that many of the patents referred to are US patents, they shouldn't be stopping people from outside the US doing stuff except that they can't work with people in the US.)

Anyway I think the main point would be that if you're happy with the limitations and nature of FDM, I don't see any reason to be too worried about what may happen in 2014 because of SLS patents expiring then. Of course consumer/hobbyist 3D printing is still in the rapid development phase, so whatever happens with SLS you can be fairly sure things will be fairly different in a few years time either way. It really depends on what you can afford and what you want. I admit I've been waiting since the earlish/Darwin days of RepRap, I keep meaning to obtain one but my financial situation and the fact I have no real plans on what to do with it other than have fun means I'm still without one.

appreciate ur reply ... I can't afford one either, but a group of elite here see benefit to development of 3D ..... though they haven't read a word or seen a video to support their view. so it's me they quiz. I'd like to start them out right. I see universities as the starting point .... professorship isn't what you imagine, I doubt there are many folks here that could build a kit. understand that I'm safe recommending FFF and mendel prusa/drake kits and see what happens?

Hi elsalvador, can you be more specific about what you mean by "I doubt there are many folks here that could build a kit"? What is it that people are missing? Are kits too expensive or otherwise not available?

You don't necessarily need a kit to make a low cost 3D printer. You can build a RepStrap, that is, "a 3D printer cobbled together from whatever parts you can find". You also might be interested in the W.Afate 3D printer project, which aims to build 3D printers from recycled electronics.

If you have access to a computer (which you probably do because you're posting this on the internet ) and basic tools, you can probably build a RepStrap. Assuming you have access to old junk electronics (printers, scanners, etc) you can probably find all the motors you need. It is time consuming, but with basic tools you can make a working extruder and hot end. My guess is the hardest things to acquire are probably the drive electronics (for example a RAMPS) and filament.

elsalvador: I personally think FDM is the way to go for now if you're just looking at getting started in the 3D printing field, even for universities and others like that. On the other hand, you may want to do a write up or demonstration with photos or videos showing how FDM works as well as the effect this has on prints. And compare it do SLS. And of course remember to add some relative costs of what you can do at the moment. Then you can show this to the elites and let them decide. (On the other I understand in some cases you may be expected to decide withouit feedback from them.)

As for building kits, if you mean professors or people high up in the university chain would have trouble building a kit, well I don't think this is that unusual in other parts of the world. Or to be more accurate, they probably could, but they tend to be busy with other stuff like paperwork, teaching students, preparing lectures, etc that they don't really get that much time for that sort of thing (it's not something they usually like, many would prefer if they had time to do all that sort of stuff). It's mostly the students and others lower down in the chain who do a lot of the more nitty-gritty work and that applies to all sorts of things including research work. I don't think it's really something you have to worry about since there should be someone who will build the kit. The main thing would be getting them the kits and getting them interested in building the kits, and making sure they have suitable instructions and help. Since Spanish is a very popular language, I imagine they should be able to get support even if their English is not very good.

there are some nice folks on this net ...... and I count you as one. Thank you.

RepRap has a lot of documentation and an active forum in Spanish:
RepRap en Espanol
Proyecto Clone Wars

you still serious about reprap here in el Salvador? I can probably help out - been trying to convince others that a techno-center - non-profit - for the training/teaching of the educators of this country and the region for the advancement of 3d additive technology and the building of a workforce capable of supporting any company that wishes to pursue manufacture in this region - could probably help you .... and maybe you could help me. local phone 2299 7307.