Chinese Printers- from the 3D China Expo 2014
Posted by Timaz
|
Chinese Printers- from the 3D China Expo 2014 November 25, 2014 04:59AM |
MakerWise
IdeaNow
Industrial Filament Extruder- about $20k USD, nice folks.
CNCALASER Triprinter
3Dgreat
Focus3D
Builder (Color mixing head)
Shaper
One of many giant printers, nearly all Ultimaker based, but some playing around with direct drive extruders like this one.
Locor- left over trend from last year. Basically these are shitty Replicators in a nice boxes, nearly all for OEM export since they basically fall apart instantly. Everyone in the Chinese 3D printing community hates these.
Manli 3D- one of the few remaining non-Ultimaker based designs there. No idea if it is any good.
RaspberryPi based photogrametric scanner based on this project .
Neoleaf
Doodle Dream- educational printer (shown with Doodle3D).
AIO Robotics- one of the great things about living in China is being able to buy Crowdfunded products months before the original backers ever get theirs. Or wait a few months more and usually the factory will start OEMing the product for 2/3rds the cost. Choose your China parters carefully and get local IP protection folks.
MakerPi- real solid printers. Seen many of these in the wild. Another Ultimaker carriage, direct drive extruder mash-up due the the popularity of soft filaments. Not sure that makes sense but we’ll know in a few months- printers here iterate at an insane rate.
One of only a few lonely Rostock derivatives that were around. As far as I can tell Chinese don’t dislike them so much as find the metal Ultimakers to be more reliable (not agreeing, just relaying the QQ buzz).
Last year it was a toss up between Ultimaker and Replicator derivatives. For obvious reasons all metal Ultimaker based printers have for the most part won out over Replicators in the past year and are probably about 80% of sales on the domestic market at the moment. The exhibits at the expo reflected this. There were also very few Rostock or Mendel based designs remaining (although they do a brisk business online as DIY kits).
Replicator based printers are still produced- but for the most part just for buyers who know the Makerbot name and want a knockoff. A Chinese hobbyist or small design company will typically be using a metal Ultimaker based printer at this point. These are pretty much built like tanks, have significant improvements and almost never jam. No-autoleveling on these designs is offered because they seem to rarely require it due to the rigidity of the design. The domestic Chinese market is basically consolidating around this design while iterating for reliability, speed and cost.
The Chinese 3D printing community and the real 3D printer factories know what designs are shit. Unfortunately there are a lot of factories who know nothing about 3D printers and just copy whatever they think will sell. So obviously there are lot of outright clones that are produced in China as well- but given their high failure rate those are mostly for export. The domestic Chinese market is much more demanding (COD on delivery- after it prints) so nearly all the derivatives have significant improvements for reliability. These are mostly shared through “Gongkai" - not conventional open-source unfortunately.
IdeaNow
Industrial Filament Extruder- about $20k USD, nice folks.
CNCALASER Triprinter
3Dgreat
Focus3D
Builder (Color mixing head)
Shaper
One of many giant printers, nearly all Ultimaker based, but some playing around with direct drive extruders like this one.
Locor- left over trend from last year. Basically these are shitty Replicators in a nice boxes, nearly all for OEM export since they basically fall apart instantly. Everyone in the Chinese 3D printing community hates these.
Manli 3D- one of the few remaining non-Ultimaker based designs there. No idea if it is any good.
RaspberryPi based photogrametric scanner based on this project .
Neoleaf
Doodle Dream- educational printer (shown with Doodle3D).
AIO Robotics- one of the great things about living in China is being able to buy Crowdfunded products months before the original backers ever get theirs. Or wait a few months more and usually the factory will start OEMing the product for 2/3rds the cost. Choose your China parters carefully and get local IP protection folks.
MakerPi- real solid printers. Seen many of these in the wild. Another Ultimaker carriage, direct drive extruder mash-up due the the popularity of soft filaments. Not sure that makes sense but we’ll know in a few months- printers here iterate at an insane rate.
One of only a few lonely Rostock derivatives that were around. As far as I can tell Chinese don’t dislike them so much as find the metal Ultimakers to be more reliable (not agreeing, just relaying the QQ buzz).
Last year it was a toss up between Ultimaker and Replicator derivatives. For obvious reasons all metal Ultimaker based printers have for the most part won out over Replicators in the past year and are probably about 80% of sales on the domestic market at the moment. The exhibits at the expo reflected this. There were also very few Rostock or Mendel based designs remaining (although they do a brisk business online as DIY kits).
Replicator based printers are still produced- but for the most part just for buyers who know the Makerbot name and want a knockoff. A Chinese hobbyist or small design company will typically be using a metal Ultimaker based printer at this point. These are pretty much built like tanks, have significant improvements and almost never jam. No-autoleveling on these designs is offered because they seem to rarely require it due to the rigidity of the design. The domestic Chinese market is basically consolidating around this design while iterating for reliability, speed and cost.
The Chinese 3D printing community and the real 3D printer factories know what designs are shit. Unfortunately there are a lot of factories who know nothing about 3D printers and just copy whatever they think will sell. So obviously there are lot of outright clones that are produced in China as well- but given their high failure rate those are mostly for export. The domestic Chinese market is much more demanding (COD on delivery- after it prints) so nearly all the derivatives have significant improvements for reliability. These are mostly shared through “Gongkai" - not conventional open-source unfortunately.
|
Re: Chinese Printers- from the 3D China Expo 2014 November 26, 2014 07:41AM |
Thanks for your pictures, and your comments. Especially the comments are good, as I have no idea what's going on in China yet we are using a lot of parts that are shipped from China.
I see the same thing happening that I see in my own country, The Netherlands. A lot of printers are just copying the Ultimaker systems and there is barely any innovation on the technique nowadays. '3D-print shops' pop up out nowhere in every city and all use the same boring format.
The technology is meant for prototyping, and while it can be used with a bit of effort to make beautiful non-prototype objects, most of what I see around me is just people ordering a 3D-printer bracelet, you know, the one that you can flex a bit. Or these parametrically shaped vases
yeah, or busts of action figures.
I guess as with all new technology, maybe the technological advances have gone quicker than the knowledge of how to use these technological wonders. I think we need 'Learn to 3D-draw' shops instead of these printer shops just creating the next clone.
In the Netherlands, a lot of people don't know what printer is good, and they end up buying a kit that doesn't function. It's sad really. Even the Makerbots have a lot of flaws.
The Builder and Shaper printers look good, and I just love the filament guide in the Neoleaf (acrylic window).
AIO Robotics has some kind of spinning platform? Don't see that often, besides in the self-built printers.
Nice roundup with good info. Thanks for your contribution!
http://www.marinusdebeer.nl/
I see the same thing happening that I see in my own country, The Netherlands. A lot of printers are just copying the Ultimaker systems and there is barely any innovation on the technique nowadays. '3D-print shops' pop up out nowhere in every city and all use the same boring format.
The technology is meant for prototyping, and while it can be used with a bit of effort to make beautiful non-prototype objects, most of what I see around me is just people ordering a 3D-printer bracelet, you know, the one that you can flex a bit. Or these parametrically shaped vases
yeah, or busts of action figures.I guess as with all new technology, maybe the technological advances have gone quicker than the knowledge of how to use these technological wonders. I think we need 'Learn to 3D-draw' shops instead of these printer shops just creating the next clone.
In the Netherlands, a lot of people don't know what printer is good, and they end up buying a kit that doesn't function. It's sad really. Even the Makerbots have a lot of flaws.
The Builder and Shaper printers look good, and I just love the filament guide in the Neoleaf (acrylic window).
AIO Robotics has some kind of spinning platform? Don't see that often, besides in the self-built printers.
Nice roundup with good info. Thanks for your contribution!
http://www.marinusdebeer.nl/
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.