WSJ: 3D printed chart of 3D printer sales

Hey everyone, just wanted to share a cool project we launched today at The Wall Street Journal (where I work). To accompany a review of the new MakerBot Replicator Mini, we designed a 3D chart about 3D printer sales that you can download from Thingiverse.

Here's our page with a fun animated video explainer of how 3D printing works (aimed at the general news audience): [graphics.wsj.com]

And here's the Thing on Thingiverse: [www.thingiverse.com]

Review of the Makerbot Mini: [online.wsj.com]

Oh, and by the way, I just finished building my Prusa Mendel IT2 RepRap.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2014 01:48PM by jonkeegan.

How about writing a piece on how Makerbot/Stratasys has a patent monopoly on 3d printed objects, and how they are patenting the obvious, things that one skilled in the art could solve.

I think you really can take ideas from the internet, and be the first to patent it without fear of losing a lawsuit.
[forums.reprap.org]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2014 01:55PM by A2.

I've got another idea for you to write about, Makerbot quality control issues.

Makerbot is having a lot of quality issues, the arms are warping, the bearings are too loose, the hot end is failing, and their customer support is lacking.

Read this chat forum for lots of examples of current Makerbot issues:

MakerBot Operators (Postings of what is not working with Makerbot printers)
[groups.google.com]

Makerbot: Worst user experience and customer care ever
After paying a few grand you expect the company that sold to you to give a damn.
Not so with Makerbot.
It was a huge struggle but we eventually got our money back following purchase of MBR2x
I'm a product designer and as I explained to the customer service agent, this product needed to go back to the drawing board, not be released to the public.
[groups.google.com]

I think focusing mainly on 'companies' (Makerbot) that sell 3D-printers, and then posting the story here on a mainly 'DIY' forum, is like swearing in church

Okay, bad comparison, as I would be happy to swear in church, if I'd ever go to one, which by itself could be called a miracle, but you get the point. Right?

---

http://www.marinusdebeer.nl/

You say stationary build plate right after you show the graphic of it moving up and down...and then proceed to move the head up and down. Someone who knows nothing about printers is trying to teach others, wonderful!

FYI, printers are still near that size. The 1980 - 2013 or whatever graphic you are using looks just like a powder printer, likely a Z-Corp. You are comparing it to a little Makerbot that is no where near industrial use or the same printing technology (Powder vs FDM), why not show a Stratasys Dimension or something by uPrint which are massive because of the heated chambers, dual extruders and have quite a large build area? That wouldn't make for deceptive marketing or allow you to promote Makerbot even further?

Yes I am fully aware of the community's feelings towards Makerbot. I thought the community could separate those feelings, when a fellow member of the community is sharing something that helps explain this to a wider audience (I've found this forum to be very helpful and supportive as I've been building my Prusa Mendel over the past few weeks). The context was an explainer for general consumers, which happened to accompany a review of Makerbot's latest model. It's not marketing, it's a review. My bad if people just don't want this stuff on the RepRap > General forum. The main thing I was excited to share was that we helped illustrate a novel use of this awesome technology, by using it to build a data visualization, which we haven't seen yet at another major news organization. We went through a careful iterative process to design our model, and we're proud to share this with the 3D printing community.

How is what to print an existential question? The "review" is no such thing. It is badly written marketing hype.

Is this model just of makerbot sales data or does it contain all assembled 3d printer sales?

---

WWW.ZATOPA.COM - Your Place for high quality 3D Printing Filament and accessories

Wow, I'm really surprised by the tone of this all. Really misjudged the nature of this community. Carry on.

Quote
GEOFFREY A. FOWLER
Yet I haven't yet found a killer practical application that makes a 3-D printer a must-have household appliance. You'll be disappointed if you're hoping to justify the price of a MakerBot Mini with fewer trips to Target.

Mr. Geoffrey A. Fowler didn't do his home work, and missed out on valuable academic research that would of helped him compose a more meaningful "review".


Life-cycle economic analysis of distributed manufacturing with open-source 3-D printers
Michigan Tech.

This study reports on the life-cycle economic analysis (LCEA) of RepRap technology for an average US household.

The results show that even making the extremely conservative assumption that the household would only use the printer to make the selected 20 products a year the avoided purchase cost savings would range from about $300 to $2000/year.

As both upgrades and the components that are most likely to wear out in the RepRap can be printed and thus the lifetime of the distributing manufacturing can be substantially increased the unavoidable conclusion from this study is that the RepRap is an economically attractive investment for the average US household already

• Life-cycle economic analysis of RepRap technology for US household provided.
• Open-source 3-D printers recover material costs in less than 1 year, >200% ROI.
[www.sciencedirect.com]


3D printing for children: What to build next?
Department of Computer Science and Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA

One of the prominent areas of increased interest in 3D printing is in the realm of education:

This paper discusses a number of technological challenges to be overcome in making 3D printing truly available to children over the next decade.
[www.sciencedirect.com]

Quote
GEOFFREY A. FOWLER
A number of other upstart companies are starting to sell inexpensive 3-D printers, including 3D Systems

By what metric is WSJ defining 3D Systems as a startup? WSJ thinks ~2% of your yearly income an "inexpensive" purchase?

($1,000 Cube-3 / $52,000 median income) * 100 = 1.9% of your yearly income.

Median US household income.
[en.wikipedia.org]


The Myth of the Liberal Media: The Propaganda Model of News
You only need to watch the first 60 seconds.
[www.youtube.com]

That article is an advertisement by taking advantage of publicizing a product (all news is good news) in a massively popular paper.

@JZATOPA: The data is from Wohler's Associates (wohlersassociates.com), an consulting firm who tracks this as as sector, and it's for sub-$5k 3D printers, not just Makerbot's.

I also recall that you can find an older copy for free some where on line, the report doesn't change much year to year.

Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing
State of the Industry
Annual Worldwide Progress Report
ISBN 0-9754429-9-6

I am familiar with Wholer's, thanks for giving me the source.

---

WWW.ZATOPA.COM - Your Place for high quality 3D Printing Filament and accessories

@jonkeegan The attitude shouldn't be surprising. There is a great deal of animosity toward Makerbot and while much of it justified some of it is more torches and pitchforks. Makerbot/Strasys are what they are and operate legally under the law and rather than expending that amount of energy criticizing them it would be more productive to put that energy toward changing the system or developing better methods. Right now the ranting isn't productive in making the community a voice in facilitating change and if anything isolates any of the more pragmatic attitudes from within the community.

I think the printed chart is a nice touch and is something to which the public could relate.

@A2 What is this killer app to will lead everyone to have a printer? Saying printing household items is far too general. The reports thus far are based in theory and are pretty optimistic. They also don't consider other factors that are necessary to change in society before wide scale home printing take hold. One of the biggest factors is people willing to a) take the time to learn and b ) actually do it. That will need to be a fundamental shift in society. It's more about changing behavior more than any sort of technology.

The killer app for the computer was the Internet. While there was use in business apps and gaming, the real traction didn't start until online service then the Internet. I'd also argue that $1000 over a few year life cycle isn't that expensive. Big ticket appliances are a prevalent purchase with many if not most bought on credit in the US and amortized for use over at least a few years. I see these as more of a tool than an appliance. The real traction is for hobbyists and manufacturing at this point. Until the machines are more user friendly like a kitchen appliance it will be hard pressed to get non technical types to use them. I'm really bullish on 3D printing but I don't see a scenario yet where they will be as ubiquitous at televisions, or computers in a household setting.

I think something that would help lead more people to buying a 3D printer is if more companies (or any companies really) provided STLs that consumers can print out and replace common broken parts. (eg. a key on a keyboard, although that might not be the best example...)

Anyway, you can't really expect people to want to sit down learn how to model parts and mess with a printer. It literally needs to be as simple as clicking print on the file you want to print (like a 2D printer).

The printers also need to be EXTREMELY reliable. Like 1 in 1,000,000 breaks. If a consumer is paying $1000+ for an appliance, it should work properly right out of the box.

---

greghoge.com

HUGE 3D PRINTER PARTS SALE!!!

Quote
Geoffrey A. Fowler
I've been using two models from MakerBot, including the new entry-level Replicator Mini, on a quest to figure out why anyone might need one.

I haven't yet found a killer practical application that makes a 3-D printer a must-have household appliance.

It isn't yet as useful as the 2-D Print Shop from the '80s

A paradigm shift will be realized when the individual thinks in terms of how do I create some thing to solve a problem, from where do I purchase a solution to my problem, that's a paradigm shift of perspective. An expertise is required to be able to judge a cost benefit between the choice of a purchased solution or to make your solution. Without this expertise of value judgement, and a paradigm shift of perspective a 3d printer is just a toy.

It is evident in Mr. Geoffrey A. Fowler article that he has not "yet" made a transformative change to his perspective, if he had he would have provided an example of the value that a 3d printer affords him. To Mr. Geoffrey A. Fowler, a 3d printer is just another middle class thing, and he's not quite sure what this thing is good for in his life right now.

Quote
jonkeegan
Wow, I'm really surprised by the tone of this all. Really misjudged the nature of this community.

Ya, they really love their koolaid. God forbid people who want a good user experience and don't care about open source get an affordable 3d printer made in America.

Quote
goldenmongoose

Quote
jonkeegan
Wow, I'm really surprised by the tone of this all. Really misjudged the nature of this community.

Ya, they really love their koolaid. God forbid people who want a good user experience and don't care about open source get an affordable 3d printer made in America.

Good user experience, I'll let A2 post it but maybe you should read about the extruders on the latest generation and all the people who dropped $8k on a printer that still has no delivery time and support emails are unanswered.

Please no. I can't handle it with the fonts and different size fonts and colored fonts and bold fonts and the 4 links he posts over and over again.

Quote
A2
A paradigm shift will be realized when the individual thinks in terms of how do I create some thing to solve a problem, from where do I purchase a solution to my problem, that's a paradigm shift of perspective. An expertise is required to be able to judge a cost benefit between the choice of a purchased solution or to make your solution. Without this expertise of value judgement, and a paradigm shift of perspective a 3d printer is just a toy.

It is evident in Mr. Geoffrey A. Fowler article that he has not "yet" made a transformative change to his perspective, if he had he would have provided an example of the value that a 3d printer affords him. To Mr. Geoffrey A. Fowler, a 3d printer is just another middle class thing, and he's not quite sure what this thing is good for in his life right now.

That's the point. There is nothing to suggest that shift is going to happen. It's not happening with any other tools and if anything the trend is toward doing less rather than more. For example changing oil in a vehicle or even basic needs like cooking and clothing. The utility of printing something out rather than going and buying it has yet to be proven. That said, there are still great uses for the machines but it is more of a tool or hobby rather than something that will print random general items at will. There is already a solution for distributed printing in that some in the auto parts manufacturing sector (IIRC Ford has one) are launching pilot programs to print parts locally on demand rather than storing and shipping parts. It's that sort of app that will bring this technology to the consumer rather than selling everyone a machine.

I'm with Vega there, people seem to be wanting to do less over time, a change I view as negative. Personally, I think things should be made easier to we can put effort into other things, not so we can have less effort overall.
The only way I see 3D printing becoming widespread anywhere near printers is when the PolyJet is the common means of printing. That would be the most practical single-button-printing, make-no-thought I can see right now. Seems like it could shrink to the relative size, ease, and price range just above standard 2D printers in the distant, distant future.
I don't think any one of these printers that claim to be "the one that will put the 3D printer in every home" are what they claim. You still have to put creativity and mechanical tinkering into printing. The maintainance won't be like 2D printers where you buy and print. Things go through a lot more motion, a lot more grease and wear, and will require actually getting your hands in the printer during its life span unless you have that much money to waste buying another.
Just my thoughts and rants on "printer in every home."

---

Realizer- One who realizes dreams by making them a reality either by possibility or by completion. Also creating or renewing hopes of dreams.
"keep in mind, even the best printer can not print with the best filament if the user is the problem." -Ohmarinus

... not every household will have a 3D-printer -- it's enough to start with, when your local library installs one and one of the librarians take care of ...

With time and with growing material selection (glass, ceramics, metals, ... ) they will gain more and more of interest, so the future distribution could be similar to the development/distribution of desktop-printers

---

Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

In the US I see what Vicktor says already happening but not in the public libraries. Given the libraries are public entities and in most if not many cases they are getting the funding reduced and it's not likely that they'll be adding 3D printers. OTOH, public and private educational institutions are adding them right now. The local college where I take continuing education classes (TIG welding and Autocad and Solidworks, for example) already have a prototyping shop with some Replicators and a larger Stratsys machine. Same for engineering universities. We use the Techshop chain for some of our production and the Chandler, AZ shop is on a satellite campus of the ASU Technology and Innovation Center under the Polytechnic school. Ditto for local maker/hacker spaces like Syn Shop in Vegas. Back when I was in school we had shop (metal, wood, auto) and there were sewing and textile fab classes but these days budget cuts have largely eliminated those options. I see the maker/tinker/hacker movement as a return to that sort of thing. Not everyone will be interested just as everyone is not interested in becoming a programmer or network admin but these spaces will foster the sort of technical knowledge and curiousity that has been declining over the last couple of decades.