ALERT! Venturi 3D - My New 3D Printer Company Launching Soon!!

[MR2 Fan]

:hard:

It's been nearly a year and the first prototype is still being finalized, however it will be completed in the next 30 days. We are going to a large conference in late March where we will be unveiling it officially.

I wanted to share with you what I've been working on....basically an entirely unique approach to 3D printing.

We are going to launch on Kickstarter in late March/early April with an early bird price of $999


Let me know your thoughts:

http://venturi3d.com/venturisynopsis3sm.png

[Crazed_Insanity]

Really? We can print out transparent parts now? Also carbon fiber parts?!?!?!

Anyway, good luck and congrats dude!

[MR2 Fan]

Really? We can print out transparent parts now? Also carbon fiber parts?!?!?!

Anyway, good luck and congrats dude!

Yep:

https://www.3dxtech.com/carbonx-carbon-fiber-filament/

https://rigid.ink/blogs/news/how-to-print-clear-filament-more-clearly

[Cam]

Cool! Best of luck to you and your new business.

Nitpick: Don't use those gradated horizontal separators. They look '90s Geocities. Perhaps hire a graphic design professional (or a better one) to make your promotional materials.

[sandydandy]

SPAM!

(Looks great, congrats. I wish you success!)

[MR2 Fan]

Cool! Best of luck to you and your new business.

Nitpick: Don't use those gradated horizontal separators. They look '90s Geocities. Perhaps hire a graphic design professional (or a better one) to make your promotional materials.

Yeah, I know....I really like them, but they are 90's Geocities to be sure ;)

I'm going to be updating that

[Cam]

:cool:

[Crazed_Insanity]

An artist's keen insight...

The looks of a 90's geocities site looks very familiar and at home to me..., but yeah, you probably don't want such an outdated look! :p

[MR2 Fan]

So the question is, does this look like a product you'd be interested in, and if not, what more would you want to see? (Noted we WILL have videos, more examples, etc. coming soon)

[Cam]

I'll be honest. I am not interested in 3D printing at this time.

[Jason]

As soon as I need 3D printing, I know where to go. Congrats on everything :up:

[Cam]

That is a much more diplomatic answer than mine. :lol:

[Jason]

Canadians are so rude :p

[Crazed_Insanity]

I'm interested but have limited time and money...

So far I've designed a piece of jewelry for the wife and printed it out thru shapeway...

For my occasional use, shapeway is probably all I need for now... not sure if I want to get a printer of my own just yet...

[MR2 Fan]

That is a much more diplomatic answer than mine. :lol:

:lol:

I totally understand. The challenge for me has been to try to appeal to people who already use 3D printers and want to upgrade (There's LOTS of very cheap and crappy ones out there now), and also appeal to those familiar with 3D printing but have not yet wanted to try it because it's too complicated.

I am trying to bridge that gap. I think I will be able to, once it's more obvious about the numerous practical things they can be used for reliably.

The focus with the 1,000 3D models is going to be primarily usefulness, along with toys, etc. for kids.

I am also confident that this will be the way forward and that....finally...major companies will start to use this type of platform to submit their own downloadable models.

Right now, we're in the "napster" era of 3D models with a lot of un-licensed ones there, and companies like Disney have started to crack down on models in places like Thingiverse.com

I really want to see a marketplace option open up where you pay $1-2 a model and know that it will print properly, every time. Then we'll see things like car part replacements, official marvel and star wars and video game related toys, and additions to your Ikea furniture and additions to things you buy from Amazon, etc.

[Yw-slayer]

Good luck, mate!

[CudaMan]

I don't know much about 3D printing, but one thing that occurs to me if you want to sell to people who don't know much about them is to show them why they need one in their life. Apple is great at marketing the iPhone this way. Show people something really cool or useful they can do with your product that is unique or they might not have known about.

[MR2 Fan]

Agreed, we'll have details about the individual 3D models coming soon

[Rare White Ape]

Wow, you’ve been busy!

Looks like you’re selling not just a printer, but an ecosystem for printing a whole heap of things that companies or rights holders might want to get on board with.

Couple of questions:

Can it still be used to print things of your own design, for example if a small company was to invest in one and use it for prototyping?

And what will the cost of raw materials be like, and how long do you expect they’ll last before needing to be replenished?

[Drachen596]

I think one of the coolest things right now is 3d printing for RC flying things. You can do the mutlirotor frames and a few companies offer the ability to buy the files to 3d print fairly large planes. (4 to 5 foot wingspan planes.)

Crash them and just reprint whatever broke. Pricing isn't bad for the files either.

[MR2 Fan]

Wow, you’ve been busy!

Looks like you’re selling not just a printer, but an ecosystem for printing a whole heap of things that companies or rights holders might want to get on board with.

Couple of questions:

Can it still be used to print things of your own design, for example if a small company was to invest in one and use it for prototyping?

And what will the cost of raw materials be like, and how long do you expect they’ll last before needing to be replenished?


Yes, it's fully open source, open software (meaning you can use any slicer) and open filament.


Raw materials like filament will be competitively priced, so PLA/ABS/PETG will be around $20 US per 1KG spool, and those usually last a good 20-30 small to medium sized prints. Other materials can be more expensive, but we're not going to price gouge anyone, it will be just a few percent above retail (to cover the cost of setting up RFID or QR code and enclosed filament spools)

[Kchrpm]

Wait, I could have 3D printed the radio control car frames I was designing as a kid? Interesting...

[MR2 Fan]

Wait, I could have 3D printed the radio control car frames I was designing as a kid? Interesting...

Yes, you could.


There's also an "OpenRC F1" project that's been going on for a while:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1193309

[Freude am Fahren]

I love the idea of being able to 3D print little bits and pieces of whatever (cars, furniture, etc.) that you can't get replacements for unless you buy larger modules. For example, the BRZ's side markers are held on with these unique little clips that can't be ordered. You have to replace the whole light. Not sure if you can actually print them, but you get the point.

[MR2 Fan]

I love the idea of being able to 3D print little bits and pieces of whatever (cars, furniture, etc.) that you can't get replacements for unless you buy larger modules. For example, the BRZ's side markers are held on with these unique little clips that can't be ordered. You have to replace the whole light. Not sure if you can actually print them, but you get the point.

I'm sure they could probably be printed. The cool thing is that almost any shape can be made, it's just a question of making it in CAD and needing support structures while printing (like long overhangs will need supports to hold them up during printing). Then deciding what are the best materials properties to print in (heat resistance, etc.)

[Crazed_Insanity]

For folks just wish to replicate something, probably also need a 3D scanner!

I think most people probably don't need a printer at home. Only for rapid prototyping companies that need to iterate components need to have a printer close by... for most of us amateurs, I think it'd be cool if we could simply take multiple angle shots of an object... specify how big we want it and what kind of color material we want... and then just have it mailed to us.

Do you think you can create an app for that MR2? ;)

[mk]

It seems that you'd like to be a hardware store but your brochure points towards a service consept.

Open source distributed manufacturing network would be nice.
Like send a design and manufacturers near you will contact.

ps.
I once tried to order few flip doors for "cold swap" HDD docking stations.
Minimum shipment was 1 TEU.

[MR2 Fan]

For folks just wish to replicate something, probably also need a 3D scanner!

I think most people probably don't need a printer at home. Only for rapid prototyping companies that need to iterate components need to have a printer close by... for most of us amateurs, I think it'd be cool if we could simply take multiple angle shots of an object... specify how big we want it and what kind of color material we want... and then just have it mailed to us.

Do you think you can create an app for that MR2? ;)

In 1980, most people didn't need a PC at home either.

The type of app you're looking for is photogrammetry and it's already available on several platforms. Autodesk's 123D Catch was one of them, but I think they stopped offering it.

3D scanning is good, but has a long way to go as it can only capture exterior dimensions, no interior dimensions and can be very tricky and time consuming.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Anyway, I think importing physical things into the digital world is an important part of the ecosystem.

Most people cannot do CAD...

If some guy wants to replicate a part he can't buy anywhere else, it'd be nice if he could just snap some pictures of it or scan it into the bit size information, preferably using his phone or something easy to use... and he can check the 'scanned' product on a screen to check it and be able to perhaps tell the app to smooth out this region or that to make sure the final product is the one that he wants and is also printable. And his part can become part of your library without you having to do anything!

If 3D printers are equivalent to a PC, then for now, it's lacking a user friendly input device. Whether a mouse or multi-touch screen or whatever.

Also, considering printing pictures... yes we have fancy injets that can print fancy pictures now, but cost per page would not be cheaper than if you were to order prints online. Whatever a home printer can do, surely somebody else will be able to do it better and cheaper online. So like I said, unless you have a need for rapid turn around, it won't make sense to purchase your own printer I don't think...

Unless you have created an i-printer 3 that everyone just can't wait but line up to pre-order from you! ;)

Anyway, don't mean to rain on your parade, but since you thought about a complete eco-system, just offering you some ideas of what you can possibly do(and as a consumer, what I'd like to see). Printer/Hardware really shouldn't be your core business.... unless your product is just so much fancier and better and greener like Tesla cars or much cheaper like SpaceX rockets.

If there are already lots of folks selling printers, you'll need a better ecosystem to out sell the other folks. That's how apple did it with their mp3 players and phones.

[MR2 Fan]

It's fine, every opinion counts, even yours :p




If 3D printers are equivalent to a PC, then for now, it's lacking a user friendly input device. Whether a mouse or multi-touch screen or whatever.


Well that's part of the plan, I didn't show off the interface yet, but we ARE going to have a much better interface than what 3D printers currently have (Typically just a 3 or 4 line monochrome LCD panel). Ours is basically a web-based interface on an android tablet, with full 360 degree model views and you can change the colors on the fly (it will then compare to ensure you have the correct color/material loaded)

Honestly, most 3D printing service companies take a while to ship as well. I've waited 1-2 weeks for orders from Shapeways and 3D hubs (When they didn't screw up my order and send it to print from North Dakota instead of locally).

Our printer is much better than any other printer currently on the market, especially for the price point. There are NO other 4 color/4 material printers on the market that are fully assembled. The closest is the Prusa i3 that comes fully assembled with an add-on multi-material Kit you have to build yourself, and the total price for that would be $1,350....ours is $999 early bird with $1,299 retail


Theirs

http://gtxforums.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=2985&d=1519243709


Ours


http://gtxforums.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=2984&d=1519243523

[MR2 Fan]

Almost missed this comment:


If there are already lots of folks selling printers, you'll need a better ecosystem to out sell the other folks. That's how apple did it with their mp3 players and phones.

THAT'S THE THING! There IS no other ecosystem out there. Every other 3D printer requires you to either create your own CAD drawings, or find models from various websites and do the rest of the fixing/orientation/preferences/programming yourself and hope that it prints correctly the first time. Even the most experienced 3D printer owners I know still get failed prints due to improper settings.

These repositories have over a million 3D models available for people with the time and patience to print them

Instead of that, we're taking that entire process of trial and error on our end and presenting the final gcode so it prints correctly every time.

[Kchrpm]

Yes, you could.


There's also an "OpenRC F1" project that's been going on for a while:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1193309

That is not nearly complex enough. I need a fully suspended car!

[MR2 Fan]

That is not nearly complex enough. I need a fully suspended car!

um, pick one?

https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=rc+car&sa=&dwh=95a8df8d9c6bcf

[Kchrpm]

Fully suspended IndyCar, friend. NEED IT!

Well, me from 20 years ago needed it.

[MR2 Fan]

So after all of your valuable feedback, I've decided that there's several things I need to change on the promotional side of things for this kickstarter

The layout style (Kickstarter kinda makes this limited unfortunately but there's ways around it)

First, I need to provide better examples of the 3D Models we will have available, I knew this was the case already, just a matter of determining the most popular models to promote :)

Second, There's a number of features that we're trying to cover in a short space, difficult to prioritize which ones.

Third, definitely need to show the comparison of other 3D printers on the market to show the kind of value being available.



Also, I know it is a fine line between promoting this printer to people who are aware of 3D printing already, I'm not going to promote this to people who are clueless about it, as it would be a waste of time FOR NOW. Once the kickstarter is successful and we can get more investment, ramp up production etc, then we can go further.

[mk]

Two segments then, have and have nots, of machines.

If market is matured so that machines are mostly there already then replacing them must be your goal.
Means probably that you need to give some/much with the new machine.

My intuition is that the situation is not even close to be there yet.

Few decades ago computers were "numbers inside", like speed and size and so on.
Now it's different and it might also be so for majorly of those who still don't have the machine.
If that really is the case then tooting hardware is a wrong way.

BTW, I got a new *phone*, 3310, it's a f*ing button bully but I'm in a marginal, maybe it's a generation thing.

OT
For promo stand you obviously need a laterally rotating gear with precession and counter rotating standing V inside it.

[MR2 Fan]

OT
For promo stand you obviously need a laterally rotating gear with precession and counter rotating standing V inside it.

ooh, I like that.

Regarding your other points, I agree...that's the line I'm figuring out. There's hundreds of 3D printing companies out there, but the overall market is still very small. I'm guessing about 1 in 500 people currently own a 3D printer in the modern world. I do think it has to do with three things, lack of understanding or awareness, not having compelling reasons to buy it, feel like it's too complicated to learn.

I can EASILY help potential customers with the first and third one, it's the "compelling reason to buy it" part. I'm hoping of this 2,500 printers we can at least get the "First in line" people who love new technology.

By the way, I already have 3 people, maybe more, interested in buying one where I work :)

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yes, for the sustainability of your business, you absolutely need to help people come up with a compelling reason to buy.

Frankly I'm not sure if it'll ever gain mass appeal, but maybe just target certain demographics like engineers and artists type that may have needs to quickly turn their ideas into physical reality.

Point is you need to focus on staying in business 1st before attempting to put a 3D printer in every home. Just like Elon didn't attempt to sell the model 3 before S and X.

[MR2 Fan]

still think you're missing the point Billi.....there's other 3d printers on the market for artists and engineers....ours is for everyone else

[Crazed_Insanity]

But what is the compelling reason for 'everyone' else to buy your printer?

I'm an engineer and I'm interested in 3D printing, but at the moment, I don't feel that compelled to pay $1000 for it at this time. I'd rather go thru shapeway because I'm only an occasional user. If you can't compel me, how can you compel everyone else? That's my point.

If your point is for educational use, perhaps you can market your machine to schools or something...

[Yw-slayer]

There are 3D printers in schools. I think it would be coll to have a printer which I could use like Spotify with a large catalogue of useful designs, maybe a marketplace where I could tender for designs, and almost idiot proof operation. Imagine 3D printing your own custom in-earphone tips because you've lost an old pair. This has potential. It can work if it's executed well!

[MR2 Fan]

The reason is because it's getting much closer to the "star trek replicator" than we've ever had.

Education is ONE of the uses, yes and we plan to promote that as one of them, however there's SO MUCH MORE. There will be 1,000 models in 10 categories of USEFUL 3D models people can benefit from daily, and we plan to increase that library, so within a year we could have 5,000 models and then 10,000 and so on until there's a massive library of models, and with that, we also plan to work with the likes of Disney and Ikea and major car manufactuers, and toy manufacturers, because it can completely change the landscape of things.

Yes, 3D printing has been difficult to pin down because there's MANY use cases, not just one or two specific ones. I keep going back to the PC market, but I believe it is relevant. The only people who were using PC's were businesses, engineers and tinkerers, until some compelling interfaces and other usefulness came out of it, and we saw an explosion of all kinds of uses, but they still had to buy the PC to get into it.

You can overpay for shapeways and wait a week or two for your product, but with ours, once you pay the $1,000 you have a machine that is ever increasing in value and the material costs goes down to a few dollars per print out.

[MR2 Fan]

There are 3D printers in schools. I think it would be coll to have a printer which I could use like Spotify with a large catalogue of useful designs, maybe a marketplace where I could tender for designs, and almost idiot proof operation. Imagine 3D printing your own custom in-earphone tips because you've lost an old pair. This has potential. It can work if it's executed well!

:up:

Agreed. I truly believe the reason that large companies haven't gotten into the industry is because it's not been easy to use, and second, the printers aren't very reliable. If we can improve the overall standards and "What to look for" in a 3D printer....such as, no longer being an out in the open thing with wires and hot bits everywhere, but enclosed, we can really expand the market and start to attract large companies to the fold.

[MR2 Fan]

I just wanted to add that I'm very happy that Billi isn't convinced, it helps me work harder :)

[MR2 Fan]

This is one of the things that is going on now. 3D models online are like the Napster era....many are using copyrighted objects and posting them for free. Big companies don't like that.

https://all3dp.com/disney-pulls-star-wars-models-from-thingiverse/

If only there was an alternate outlet for those companies to post their designs for a fee....sorta like an "Itunes" for 3D models....hmm....

[Rare White Ape]

It's not just 3D models. Places like Etsy are absolutely loaded to the gunwales with amateurish handmade crap that exists in copyright limbo, which I am surprised hasn't been looked at too deeply yet.

But beware of a big difference between Napster and Thingiverse and their ilk:

Napster users were sharing files that were created by someone else, then ripped into a lossy format, then shared freely, with no compensation to the original creator.

Thingiverse is different because the 3D files are an original creation of the uploader, they just take inspiration from ideas and designs that someone else owns the rights to.

I mention this because you want to create the "iTunes for 3D models" but the original objects do not exist in the first place like it does for music files that were copied wholesale. But that's not impossible to fix. When this gets off the ground and you build your audience, you'll be able to approach rights holders and licence the designs for people to print at home. I'm sure you've already thought of that, tho!

Imagine an app on your phone where you can customise a 3D model of your favourite Star Wars character; Vader's head on a Stormtrooper body, with Gungan legs or something, paint it all pink and send it over the network to the printer and BOOM out it pops. The kids would love it.

[Yw-slayer]

That's exactly the point.

[MR2 Fan]

It's not just 3D models. Places like Etsy are absolutely loaded to the gunwales with amateurish handmade crap that exists in copyright limbo, which I am surprised hasn't been looked at too deeply yet.

But beware of a big difference between Napster and Thingiverse and their ilk:

Napster users were sharing files that were created by someone else, then ripped into a lossy format, then shared freely, with no compensation to the original creator.

Thingiverse is different because the 3D files are an original creation of the uploader, they just take inspiration from ideas and designs that someone else owns the rights to.

I mention this because you want to create the "iTunes for 3D models" but the original objects do not exist in the first place like it does for music files that were copied wholesale. But that's not impossible to fix. When this gets off the ground and you build your audience, you'll be able to approach rights holders and licence the designs for people to print at home. I'm sure you've already thought of that, tho!

Imagine an app on your phone where you can customise a 3D model of your favourite Star Wars character; Vader's head on a Stormtrooper body, with Gungan legs or something, paint it all pink and send it over the network to the printer and BOOM out it pops. The kids would love it.


Yes, I agree...but the comparison is a valid one I believe. The question is, will those companies want to offer 3D models?

I think they will, but there are some caveats and I fully expect them to tread carefully at first. It also depends on the industry. Toys and non-functional models are one thing....functional replacement parts are another.

I think the idea, and this is further down the road, of companies no longer having to stock spare parts in warehouses, but can still make income from those spare parts, without them doing anything except producing the CAD file. That's about the simplest way for them to make money possible. They produce the "official" CAD file, we fully test it, they sign-off on the finished part and it's a done deal. We get a percentage of the model sales, and they get the rest, and no longer have to worry about inventory and packaging and shipping.

This also makes it potentially more eco-friendly as well :)

[Godson]

It will be more eco friendly. Imagine printing an Ikea setup instead of the travel and shipment to get it etc.

It would be huge

[Kchrpm]

You'll just have the travel and shipment of all of the raw materials and 3D printing equipment and maintenance tools.

[Godson]

You'll just have the travel and shipment of all of the raw materials and 3D printing equipment and maintenance tools.

Plastic is lighter than wood.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Anyway, going back to comparing 3D printers to PCs..., do you think somebody has created the 'Apple II' equivalent yet?

Or we've moved beyond that and waiting for the Mac now?

[MR2 Fan]

Anyway, going back to comparing 3D printers to PCs..., do you think somebody has created the 'Apple II' equivalent yet?

Or we've moved beyond that and waiting for the Mac now?

The Apple II equivalent is either the Ultimaker or the Prusa...top names in the industry, though the Ultimaker (for the same size and features) costs 3x as much. There's lots of other, smaller companies doing well, but none of them offer anything beyond hardware and maybe a basic slicing program for the models. The rest of the settings and testing and finding or creating models is up to the end user. Both of them are still using jog wheels and lcd screens, no full color display to showcase the models or touchscreens.

There are a couple of more industrial machines with touch screens, but there's not much extra they can do.

[Rare White Ape]

For in-home use I think the ultimate is an app for the average user to download onto their tablets or phones. Apps that compliment hardware items like these are usually free and are a great marketing tool that let curious buyers see what the machines are capable of.

[MR2 Fan]

For in-home use I think the ultimate is an app for the average user to download onto their tablets or phones. Apps that compliment hardware items like these are usually free and are a great marketing tool that let curious buyers see what the machines are capable of.

Since we're doing a web-based and tablet interface, having an app is also something easy to implement.

Note: there are a few other printers on the market who have cloud based apps and a few models to print, but they are not pre-sliced and rely on "cloud slicing" to print....and it's not great quality from what I've seen.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yeah, I really think 3D printer popularity issues are more due to software rather than hardware.

Imagine if I can just use my phone and put on some markers and then just walk around and scan my car into a cad file and print that out?

Or put the phone into a vr goggle and with some easy to do VR tool and start building my own 3D objects and be able to manipulate it in 3D? (If my scanned car ended up with some rough edges, I can virtually sand those out?)

Also, back to my Apple II comparison, I remembered that couple of my cousins ended up getting them when they 1st came out... and they all got them because their dads wanted to expose them to new tech, not because they really need one.

Face it, nobody really needed a pc back then, and for sure nobody really need a 3D printer now. The compelling reason now will most likely be educational for now...

In the future, when it's ready to print out car parts, surely you'd get most of the folks attention here!

For now, you can perhaps appeal to lego enthusiasts here by showcasing some specially designed lego blocks... ;)

If I were a lego enthusiast, I'd definitely get a printer just for that!

[MR2 Fan]

In the future, when it's ready to print out car parts, surely you'd get most of the folks attention here!

For now, you can perhaps appeal to lego enthusiasts here by showcasing some specially designed lego blocks... ;)

If I were a lego enthusiast, I'd definitely get a printer just for that!



These kinds of printers can already print out car parts....skip to 15:26


https://youtu.be/_N2QNWNvPi0?t=15m26s

[samoht]

I follow https://twitter.com/FioraAeterna on twitter, I think she writes graphics shader compilers for a living and does a lot of cosplay, she's always talking about 3D printing to produce bits and bobs for her costume. She has 16k followers, maybe you could see if she'd like an extended loan of your new machine and talk about it ?

[Rare White Ape]

Another comparison to make with early PCs is the evolution of user interfaces. 3D printing right now is in that era where we are still working it out.

Computers have been powerful enough to do amazing tasks for a long time, but it’s only in the last five years that the software has been able to unlock that power for the average user. I put that down to the explosion of touch screen devices, and the interfaces and ease-of-use crossing back over into the PC space.

Microsoft is doing a lot in this department. The creators update for Windows 10 has got a lot of new ideas crammed into it; I was playing around with the new photos app while trying to import images from my phone the other day and the amount of things it does in organising your photos without even breaking a sweat is mind blowing. The hardware has been able to do it for years, but the software designers are only now catching up with the ideals of what we want computers to do for the average user, and it has been a long iterative process that is far removed from the lab coats and spec sheets field of hardware development.

What I’m getting at is a 3D printer can be capable as anything, but it’s next-to-useless to the home user without some sort of deep knowledge about how to engineer a useful part using the correct materials, printing in the correct direction to allow for stress, the right amount of thickness and so many more things that I wouldn’t know about unless I do five years at university. Which is where the vetting process for parts comes in, of course.

But I want to address Billi’s dreams of taking photos of an object and printing out a replica. If you play a game like Star Wars Battlefront, every prop, every ship, every costume that exists physically in the Lucasfilm archives (so exclude clone troopers and ships who were all CGI in the films) was scanned into the game using photogrammetry. It seems like an easy thing to do: take a lot of photos at every angle then allow the software to stitch it all together. But that was preceded by months of preparation beforehand, and followed by weeks of cleaning by an army of 3D modelling, lighting, rigging, and materials experts.

Hardware is capable of automatically generating complex models for us. Heck, the iPhone x’s Face ID scanner and internal gyros would be amazing for full colour photogrammetry, but I guarantee you that no piece of software exists that is smart enough to produce a model that is a decent enough reproduction of the real thing if the user wants to just take a few photos and print it out. That sort of functionality is more than five years away, and I hope that some smart cookies are working on it. For now we have novelties like Paint 3D in Windows 10 (elbows at MR2 Fan, hint-hint!) which is fun for kids to play with.

[MR2 Fan]

Let me go into some detail about why Billi's idea, while great, is a bit complicated.

scanning technologies like photogrammetry are great, but they produce surface models. Most video game assets are also surface models. They have no depth, like making a cube out of folded sheets of paper. That's fine for being in video games, but can't work for 3D printing, because anything you send to a 3D printer slicing program has to read a solid object. Any model has to be "water tight" with no gaps.

So first you have to get the raw data, then yes there are programs that can convert photos automatically, then you have to go into a program like MeshMixer and usually it has to be done manually to fill gaps and make a solid object.....

THEN you can take it to a slicing program where you modify a bunch of settings and test to see if it prints correctly.

[Crazed_Insanity]

You just need codes that'll convert surfaces into solid object. For example your 'cube' that's made out of surfaces... if your initial scan created a cube with only 5 surfaces because you couldn't scan the bottom surface, your code will have to automatically create the 6th surface to ensure all surfaces enclose the interior volume... and then just fill that volume to make it a 3d object. How difficult can that be?

Quick google also revealed that there are already a bunch of these 3D scanning apps on smartphones!
https://www.aniwaa.com/best-3d-scanning-apps-smartphones/

"My dream" is already coming true!

You need to take advantage of these apps to sell your printers.

[MR2 Fan]

You just need codes that'll convert surfaces into solid object. For example your 'cube' that's made out of surfaces... if your initial scan created a cube with only 5 surfaces because you couldn't scan the bottom surface, your code will have to automatically create the 6th surface to ensure all surfaces enclose the interior volume... and then just fill that volume to make it a 3d object. How difficult can that be?

Quick google also revealed that there are already a bunch of these 3D scanning apps on smartphones!
https://www.aniwaa.com/best-3d-scanning-apps-smartphones/

"My dream" is already coming true!

You need to take advantage of these apps to sell your printers.


Just leave it to the person with 14 years of experience in 3D printing ok? ;)

I already mentioned there are phone apps that do that back on the third page. Edit: I said "Several platforms" but phones are included in that. I was scanning using 123D catch on my iPhone 4 years ago

[Crazed_Insanity]

So... you gonna use these apps or perhaps partner with them to sell your printer? Or it's already part of your eco-system and I just missed it?

[MR2 Fan]

So... you gonna use these apps or perhaps partner with them to sell your printer? Or it's already part of your eco-system and I just missed it?

No, it isn't part of our ecosystem, it's a separate process that we're not being involved with right now as it is a major departure from our core business model.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Why do you think it doesn't have to be part of your ecosystem?

You don't think if you have a video demo of using regular smartphones to scan something... and then printing it out on your printer can help you sell more printers?

Plus, you can potentially have regular users building up your library just by using their phones. All without need for a regular CAD designer!

How will this hurt your core business? I'd think it'll only further complete your ecosystem and can only help you sell more printers.

If funding is the only issue, then perhaps this is something you'll need to add later.

Anyway, I'm just a bit confused why are you fighting this... as if it'll hurt your core business... or has nothing to do with your core business...

[MR2 Fan]

Let me go into some detail about why Billi's idea, while great, is a bit complicated.

scanning technologies like photogrammetry are great, but they produce surface models. Most video game assets are also surface models. They have no depth, like making a cube out of folded sheets of paper. That's fine for being in video games, but can't work for 3D printing, because anything you send to a 3D printer slicing program has to read a solid object. Any model has to be "water tight" with no gaps.

So first you have to get the raw data, then yes there are programs that can convert photos automatically, then you have to go into a program like MeshMixer and usually it has to be done manually to fill gaps and make a solid object.....

THEN you can take it to a slicing program where you modify a bunch of settings and test to see if it prints correctly.


Quoting myself so you can read this again...this is a complete departure from our business model. It's like asking why Apple can't compose your own music for you for iTunes.

[Crazed_Insanity]

So once I buy your printer..., how will I be printing out parts?

I don't know CAD and don't know how to create my 3D objects..., so I'm only able to print parts that are in your library? Can you explain how your ecosystem works?

If I want to print out a specific bracket or cabinet handle that I can't find from home depot that match the ones I have at home, how do I go about doing that with your printer?

[MR2 Fan]

So once I buy your printer..., how will I be printing out parts?

I don't know CAD and don't know how to create my 3D objects..., so I'm only able to print parts that are in your library? Can you explain how your ecosystem works?

If I want to print out a specific bracket or cabinet handle that I can't find from home depot that match the ones I have at home, how do I go about doing that with your printer?


Ok, let me make this as simple as I can for you.

We offer a printer....it does the same thing that every other 3D printer does....PLUS MORE....for the same price or even less than our competitors in the same bracket of features.

Our library of models will start out with 1,000 models and will be adding more on a constant basis, probably a few hundred every month. If you cannot find the bracket you want, then you might want to learn CAD or have someone help you. Or you can wait until we upload the bracket you want.

What you're looking for requires at least 3 different programs and a number of manual steps, that's why we are offering an alternative for thousands of objects that people will want.

If you've decided this is not for you, then GREAT, you can be content that you're no longer wasting time worrying about it. Otherwise, you're asking things I've already answered several times.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Will you at least consider combining those 3 different programs and figure out ways to automate those manual steps so that will compel me to actually want to buy a 3D printer in the future because of this easy to use scanning app?

Or you just don't want Billi to have one EVER because he's so annoying! :p

No more questions.

[MR2 Fan]

Will you at least consider combining those 3 different programs and figure out ways to automate those manual steps so that will compel me to actually want to buy a 3D printer in the future because of this easy to use scanning app?

Or you just don't want Billi to have one EVER because he's so annoying! :p

No more questions.

Sure, with a massive budget and lots of research we can do that....

BUT IT IS NOT THIS DAY

[Crazed_Insanity]

I understand money can be a huge barrier..., that's why I mentioned you should look into partnering with one of those app makers to see if you guys can collaborate without you having to research or re-inventing the wheel...

Your library of parts really should be more like youtube, rather than Netflix or itune. 3D printer community for now are mostly DIYers. They're not going to rely solely on you to feed them parts. Plus, how expensive will it be for you to keep an army of CAD designers on payroll just to create parts for your customers? Longterm perspective, having a easy to use scanning tool will be much cheaper for your company.

Anyway, my suggestion isn't meant for you to call off your product launch, but just something I thought you should add eventually. I do believe this is the main reason why 3D printing hasn't caught on.

Most people have these fancy nearly thousand dollar mini-computers in their pocket. We should put them into good use.

Good luck with your venture. I'm sure current 3D printer users would appreciate your better and cheaper printer. Hopefully someday you'll compel me to also want to buy one of your printers with a easy to use scan tool! :)

[MR2 Fan]

I understand money can be a huge barrier..., that's why I mentioned you should look into partnering with one of those app makers to see if you guys can collaborate without you having to research or re-inventing the wheel...

Your library of parts really should be more like youtube, rather than Netflix or itune. 3D printer community for now are mostly DIYers. They're not going to rely solely on you to feed them parts. Plus, how expensive will it be for you to keep an army of CAD designers on payroll just to create parts for your customers? Longterm perspective, having a easy to use scanning tool will be much cheaper for your company.

Anyway, my suggestion isn't meant for you to call off your product launch, but just something I thought you should add eventually. I do believe this is the main reason why 3D printing hasn't caught on.

Most people have these fancy nearly thousand dollar mini-computers in their pocket. We should put them into good use.

Good luck with your venture. I'm sure current 3D printer users would appreciate your better and cheaper printer. Hopefully someday you'll compel me to also want to buy one of your printers with a easy to use scan tool! :)

I never said we aren't going to use scanning tools to create models on the lab side.

You're implying that the end user should use scanning tools, then have it print their own 3D prints automatically. That's an ENTIRELY different scenario.

Edit: wasn't done yet. We've done the math, if we can expand our printer sales after the kickstarter, it won't be difficult to keep a few people on staff to do the models, it doesn't take an army of people, though we may need to increase the number of printers in our lab.


3D printer community for now are mostly DIYers

EXACTLY, that's why I'm trying to increase the number of people who own 3D printers, or is that to difficult to understand. There's a wide range of people who WANT to use 3D printers but are scared off right now, because they're too complicated. We're changing that.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yeah, after some thinking, while having a great phone scan tool would be awesome, increasing mass appeal for 3D printing..., it doesn't guarantee that you will end up selling more of YOUR printers.

I could still be using shapeway to print my part...

So yeah, it is probably more worthwhile for you to focus on creating better and cheaper printers for now and figure out how to complete your ecosystem later...

[MR2 Fan]

I wanted to dive in a bit deeper regarding the Lab setup as I feel it is the key to everything we're doing.


We will have the ability to:

• Slice models using different slicing programs to determine what is the best quality for each model
• Do manual supports to improve model print quality (overhangs require supports, leaving the software to do it automatically leaves lots of extra supports and mess when trying to remove them, parts are no longer smooth. Having the minimum required supports is a much smoother option)
• Experiment with multiple materials and combinations (Flexible and rigid in one part for example)
• Create custom rafts and structures for easier removal of parts
• Set up separate parts for certain models that are too large for the print bed, so they can be put together later on.
• Create certain kinds of adaptors and adaptor holes to affix models together



***Workflow Process

STEP 1: Create or use an existing 3D Model (that is under the proper Creative Commons License). We will be contacting ALL owners of the existing 3D models in advance to let them know of our plan to use their model and for what purpose. (There are around a million 3D models on Thingiverse.com already)

STEP 2: Determine the type of 3D model (structural, decorative, etc.) and the recommended filament types (structural models in heat will require something more heat resistant than PLA for example)

STEP 3: Determine the best way to print:

• Orientation
• Support setup
• Infill percentage (depending on the type of part)
• Adaptor holes
• Print speed
• Retraction Settings
• Print Temperature
• Layer height
•


STEP 4: Experiment by sending it to our lab printers, if the settings are uncertain, run a few different tests on different printers, until we receive the most accurate part, it will then be confirmed to be the proper quality by the owner of Venturi 3D as quality control starts at the top.

STEP 5: We take screenshots and photos of the final print, add it to our website and the final code is now available to the end user with images of what they will receive.


Each Lab technician will have access to the latest in CAD Modeling software, modeling tools and slicing programs, and the ability to send prints to up to 20-30 machines for print testing in an ongoing process.


Let’s assume that each model will require about 1 hour of pre-testing and slicing, it will then go to the printers with a few of the most common settings. The final result will come out in approximately 8-10 hours (printers can run all night). With the 10 month deadline, we need to be able to process around 5 models per day. A number of models will have very simple settings that don’t require a lot of pre or post work, or print time, so we may be able to ramp up to 10-15 models a day on some days.

With 3 techs running 20-30 printers each, we should easily be able to meet that goal.

[MR2 Fan]

Update:

In 2 weeks I'm going with the prototype printer to the Mid-west Rep Rap Festival, or basically the biggest gathering of consumer 3D printing people in the U.S.. 4 of the 5 biggest Youtube 3D Printing people will be there and profiling companies for their channels, so I should get a TON of relatively free coverage of the printer.

On that note the printer is nearly done....I ran into a few hurdles, but it's really coming together well, pictures coming soon.

Also, I've been re-designing the web-based interface a bit. This needs some clean-up, but I like the look

http://venturi3d.com/darkchoices3.png

[Rare White Ape]

Awesome :up:

Good luck with the show!

[MR2 Fan]

NEWS!!

Over this past weekend, we officially revealed the nearly final prototype of our printer at the Midwest Rep Rap Festival, basically the biggest 3D Printing festival in the U.S., located in Goshen, Indiana (at the fairgrounds next to the cattle auction).

This event has only been going on for about 4 years, the first year apparently was just a few people around a table discussing 3D Printing, this year they had 1,400 attendees, including some of the top designers, makers and youtubers in 3D Printing. I was really hoping to be featured in several videos, however our printer wasn't exactly, um....printing yet. I spent about 20 hours a day for the past week leading up to it, trying to get it working reliably, but just didn't make it.

HOWEVER, despite that, we had a great time and met a lot of people who provided positive feedback. In general they loved the design and form-factor "microwave-esque" was used a few times.

I noted to them that this IS a prototype and isn't the final model. The night before we were supposed to drive 18 hours to the event, the tablet mounted to the front of the printer....cracked the screen, forcing us to use a backup plan.

One of the people I met is Josef Prusa, who is basically THE man in consumer 3D printing. He's been making 3D printers since the beginning (around a decade ago) and I wanted to talk to him about my stealing...erm, borrowing of his multi-material setup. He was happy to talk to me (it's all open source after all) and I got some tips about what to look out for.

Here's the pics of our booth and the printer itself:

http://venturi3d.com/mrrf8.jpg
http://venturi3d.com/mrrf9.jpg
http://venturi3d.com/venturi3datmrrf6.png
http://venturi3d.com/venturi3datmrrf5.png
http://venturi3d.com/venturi3datmrrf4.png
http://venturi3d.com/venturi3datmrrf2.png
http://venturi3d.com/venturi3datmrrf3.png

[Crazed_Insanity]

Looks good man!

Except... you're advertising it as fully enclosed, but I see the top is opened!!! :p

[MR2 Fan]

Looks good man!

Except... you're advertising it as fully enclosed, but I see the top is opened!!! :p

You are correct! I made it a point to let everyone know this prototype is not finalized and that the cover WILL be on in the production version ;)

[MR2 Fan]

Proper front-end photo (Slightly photoshopped for clean up and added the touchscreen)

http://www.venturi3d.com/4251b.jpg

This is a much cleaner, more appliance look than most competitors in this price range.

Website is being updated constantly with new information about features...we're going to have WAY more than any of our competitors.

The only thing I could use now is a decent marketing budget.

[MR2 Fan]

Things are accelerating rapidly.

I had reached out the world's largest 3D printing filament supplier, Esun who is based in Shenzen, China.

After explaining that we may require 4 spools for each of the potential 2,500 printers (aka 10,000 spools), the CEO wants to meet me in person on April 28th. He's going to fly here.

Need to brush up on my Mandarin

[Crazed_Insanity]

You speak Chinese? Wow.

Don't hesitate to ask me if you need help... , but my Chinese is probably only 6th grade level. ;)

[MR2 Fan]

You speak Chinese? Wow.

Don't hesitate to ask me if you need help... , but my Chinese is probably only 6th grade level. ;)

not really, twas a joke.

I learned some cantonese when I visited Hong Kong but Shenzen is a primarily mandarin speaking area apparently

[MR2 Fan]

UPDATE:

Yes, the project is still going strong though I've been a bit too busy to post here, we're nearly ready for the kickstarter. The final hurdle of printing 4 colors/materials took a bit more hardware and software changes than anticipated, but it's finally getting there.

Additionally, I have come up with a way to edit the Gcode file (The file the printer uses to print) on the fly based on user input. No other 3D printer on the market has anything remotely close to this!

Basically we're using an SQL database and PHP to edit the gcode file. What that means for users is when they have a multi-color model, they can choose which part of the model gets which color with a couple of touchscreen presses and BOOM! the printer knows what filament to print each section with.

You can even test this feature out, here:

http://www.venturi3d.com/model3.php

The ability to preview the 3D model like this, choose a filament color (It knows the information based on a QR Code that you scan when you load the 4 filaments), and print exactly how it previews is light years beyond other printers on the market. :rawk:

[Rare White Ape]

Awesome!

Get that shit locked down with a patent (if possible).

[MR2 Fan]

Awesome!

Get that shit locked down with a patent (if possible).

This is open source, no patents, for several reasons. One, patents don't matter in China anyway, two, that can be a long expensive process, three, the 3D printing community as a whole is very much dedicated to open source things and get quite negative when something is closed source/patented.

Also, we're going to have an advantage with our online marketplace of models designed specifically for our printer.

[MR2 Fan]

Forgot to add that pretty much all of the parts we're using are "off the shelf" in a new form factor...we're not really customizing much except for the software side. Again, this is like how Xerox/Apple/M$ revolutionized the PC using the GUI, at least that's what I'm hoping

[Yw-slayer]

I hope it works out, mate.

[Kchrpm]

Can I give you $10 that you'll turn into $10,000?

[MR2 Fan]

Maybe but I'm not selling stock right now :)

[Crazed_Insanity]

No stocks? Can I just give you $10 and you give me one of your printers then? I'll beta test for you.

[MR2 Fan]

We've decided on the Kickstarter LAUNCH DATE: JULY 10, 2018

We are making lots of progress with the prints and everything else is practically ready to go.

Our next objective is to go to the East Coast RepRap Festival in 2 weeks and show off the updated prototype to another large group of enthusiasts.

Here is the latest 4 color print test...it's nearly done, just a few minor settings tweaks to go

https://ton.twitter.com/i/ton/data/dm/1004141820614533126/1004141812494356480/YLCvoaBT.jpg3052

[Crazed_Insanity]

I'm not seeing any images, wonder if it's because my company blocks it or something...

Anyway, congrats on the great progress you've made so far...

[MR2 Fan]

I'm not seeing any images, wonder if it's because my company blocks it or something...

Anyway, congrats on the great progress you've made so far...

It should be showing up now

[Crazed_Insanity]

:up:

[21Kid]

Nice.

[MR2 Fan]

If any of you have 1 hour and 20 minutes to spare (everybody, right? lol) I was on a live-stream with a good friend of mine that I met a few months ago at a previous event.

He's the world's friendliest redneck and lives near me in Florida. He does a daily show and offered to host me to discuss my project. It's mostly just talking about things and showing a few prints that I've done so if you want to just listen to it, you can do that also. There is some technical stuff I get into but most I think is relatable:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTlE9pbmmYo

[MR2 Fan]

Here's a video from our most recent festival we just attended in Bel Air, Maryland. We're nearly ready for the Kickstarter. Latest estimated launch date is July 10th.

(Also:they say the camera adds 20 pounds right?)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYE1GHwpBOk

[MR2 Fan]

UPDATE,

There's a 90% chance we'll be launching our kickstarter on Tuesday, July 24th...just finishing up the last parts now and everything has already been approved!

Again, when we launch, if I can ask all of you to donate $1, or whatever equivalent in your local currency :p and help spread the word, it would help us tremendously!

Here's a photo of some changes since our previous prototype setup:

http://venturi3d.com/newventuriprofile1highlights.png

[Crazed_Insanity]

Looks good. Good luck man!

[MR2 Fan]

getting featured in places I didn't know exist yet:

http://microfabricator.com/articles/view/id/5b48db923d2d2eab6a8b4567/errf-18-new-products-make-their-debut

Edit: it was also on Hackaday :)

https://hackaday.com/2018/07/13/errf-18-new-products-make-their-debut

[George]

Very nice.

[MR2 Fan]

It's OFFICIAL!!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dig88zIV4AA1LCz.jpg

[MR2 Fan]

Our official launch is TODAY!!!!

Here's the kickstarter link which will be live in 15 minutes:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/venturi3d/2002301626?ref=532566&token=a2c56a6b

PLEASE consider donating at least $1 or whatever your equivalent currency is. The volume of backers is important for the first day and will help us get a lot of traffic and publicity.

Thanks!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w86IiVf0nyQ

[Crazed_Insanity]

Very nice!

Sent in my love and support for $1! :p

When the day comes that I need to frequently print stuffs out, I'll definitely get one from you. Good luck man!

[MR2 Fan]

:up:

[Crazed_Insanity]

If you guys include the model of that 3D printable gun, you can probably sell a lot of your printers!!!

[21Kid]

Done

[MR2 Fan]

If you guys include the model of that 3D printable gun, you can probably sell a lot of your printers!!!

yeah, not sure if it's good or bad that 3D printing is back in the spotlight right now!

[MR2 Fan]

We're at $9,300 after 2.5 days....and getting more media coverage daily, so it's a good start I think...I have a few ideas on how to ramp things up if we don't get a big breakthrough in the next few days....our goal is $180,000....or approximately 140 printers sold

[MR2 Fan]

Frustration...

Been tweeting messages out to people about our project...lots of people in the 3D printing community, but just getting a lot of silly backlash from people who choose not to understand what we're doing and just want to bash it publicly.

I love when everyone provides their "expert" opinion and yet they all disagree with each other. It really makes trying to do things to help the community a lot of fun. �� I've been 3D printing things since 2003...longer than most people even knew about 3D printing...believe it or not, we MIGHT just know what we're doing!

It's difficult to feel support for a project when all you hear is "I support you and I want you to succeed BUT...", they don't do anything to support us, they don't donate or spread the word, they just want to inject their opinion, even though it's usually based on bias and not actual facts. It's just difficult to be civil to these morons sometimes.

So yes, I knew this was something that would probably happen...it doesn't mean I have to enjoy it. Luckily I do have some VERY dedicated people on my side who love my project and want to help reply to people, etc.

Just now I literally had someone complain that our lead time was simultaneously too short and too long...like WTF?

Either help us push the industry forward, or get the f- outta the way.


.....sorry, had to vent.

[mk]

Are you expecting too much?

Is this international?
If so then Trump is not helping.
Also, Europe just went on holiday, weather is generally not helping eighter.

[Crazed_Insanity]

You can’t take in everybody’s opinions in like that dude. Try to remove emotional elements to see if the critics really make sense. If yes, then take their opinions and make adjustments. If not, then you just have to try to brush them off.

Elon Musk probably receives way more criticisms than you. Besides not financially supporting his efforts, there are lots of folks actually betting against him.

I have had my share of criticisms for your business. You are the one trying to make your dreams come true... so you’ll have to try to stay cool so that you can take constructive criticisms while ignoring the bad. Don’t gobble them all up and end up with indigestion! Realization of your dream requires you to stay cool so that you can make the right decisions...

Stay focused and chill dude!

[MR2 Fan]

Money wise it seems like a lot, but we only have to sell around 150 units, and comparatively these printers are at very good prices. I'm still modifying and adjusting things to make it all flow better on the kickstarter page.

It's a balance I'm doing right now, trying to appeal to hobbyists who are usually more eager to try new products that are open source and the new market of people who aren't familiar with 3D printing but want to try it out.

[mk]

I have absolutely no idea what these kickstarts, startups and so actually means at psychological level of receiving side but I do know that You must not be an idealist, you will burn.

Majority of people are dumb as fuck, ignore them.
Put aside TV-shop day dreamers also, you can't have or want their souls.

Start being pragmatic.
Create templates, at least for stupid comments.
Concentrate to info requests but have answer for everybody.
Be like Trump with his fake news, but this time bang away the truth, tirelessly, endlessly.

Hope you have enough time.

[MR2 Fan]

I have absolutely no idea what these kickstarts, startups and so actually means at psychological level of receiving side but I do know that You must not be an idealist, you will burn.

Majority of people are dumb as fuck, ignore them.
Put aside TV-shop day dreamers also, you can't have or want their souls.

Start being pragmatic.
Create templates, at least for stupid comments.
Concentrate to info requests but have answer for everybody.
Be like Trump with his fake news, but this time bang away the truth, tirelessly, endlessly.

Hope you have enough time.

Thanks, that is useful advice :up:

[MR2 Fan]

Update, due to several reasons, we've cancelled our Kickstarter temporarily and are going to re-group and re-launch later:

http://venturi3d.com/letter.html

[Rare White Ape]

:(

But then again:

:)

Here’s hoping attempt number two works out. Please keep us in the loop.

[MR2 Fan]

honestly, we started on a path of the 4 color setup but the further along we went, we realized that the reliability just wasn't there. The 2 color setup is SO MUCH less complex.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Realizing dreams can be hard..., but at least you’re taking steps inching toward it. Can’t say that for myself... :p

Keep at it. Good luck!

[mk]

When you return you propably need some hype.

How about a 3D-coating robot arm and tilting base plate.

[MR2 Fan]

Some good developments since this happened.

I've received 2 partnership offers from other 3D printing companies already to help us move to the next step. One of them is U.S. based and already makes printers that are very similar in specs to our existing printer layout.

I'm thinking we are too "upmarket" for the average consumer even at the price points we had. Something smaller, simpler, maybe under $600 with most of the same hardware would probably be a better fit, and keep the same database idea. And MAYBE start pitching to well-known companies to have their 3D models offered on our platform sooner rather than later.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Who do you think is the 'average 3D printing consumer'? Probably mostly hobbyists/tinkerers, right? IMHO, those people are far from 'average'! ;)

3D printing(replicator) for sure has a future, but probably still at an infancy stage. Compare to home PCs, it's probably at the Apple IIe stage... might even be prior to that! Assuming you're Steve Jobs and your printer's Apple IIe...

What's Apple IIe's killer app?

Mostly for educational purposes or games, right?

So I think you should gear toward edutainment uses for your printer.

For sure I ain't never going to give you $600 to by an awesome printer just for myself, but I just might buy one for my kid if it has huge educational values... plus I can occasionally print a few things for myself on the side.

Anyway, just my 2cents. Good luck man!

[MR2 Fan]

I agree but I also think a HUGE part of that is that there's currently no big companies offering 3D models for download/use with existing products.

Imagine if Disney/Marvel/Lucas, Ikea, Samsung, Black & Decker, Kitchenaid, Whirlpool, Toyota, and similar companies all started offering 3D models IF they knew the models would print correctly on a reliable platform? There's plenty of usefulness once the larger investment starts to happen, for replacement parts, custom add-ons, etc.

For those companies there's practically no cost involved! They have simultaneously a new marketing platform, a new way to offer replacement parts without keeping inventory, etc.

That's the goal we're reaching toward.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Maybe you should partner with UPS and its stores... so that each store can have one of your fancy printers... and then you partner with other companies that have to constantly deliver 'parts' that can be reproduced by your printers... so that these companies can 'digitally' ship parts. And the casual buyer will simply walk to a UPS store to pick up his stuff without knowing whether if this part came from China or from a 3D printer! ;)

Still, that'll probably need a lot of capital investment...

Out of the companies you threw out, IKEA stands out as the sole company that fits my 'imaginary model' the best. They have parts to ship and they have stores all over the globe! Would it be cheaper for IKEA to just ship some of their smaller plasticy products using traditional ways or could you help IKEA realize savings by buying your printers for each of its stores? If you can put a printer in every IKEA store... then you can probably put a printer in every UPS store later on... then I'll probably have one in my house someday when they become cheap and useful enough! ;)

Now, if your dream comes true, Speedpimp will be out of his truck driving job... well, I suppose Speedpimp can always deliver larger non-plasticy products in his truck! :p

[MR2 Fan]

you mean like this?

https://pressroom.ups.com/pressroom/ContentDetailsViewer.page?ConceptType=PressRelease s&id=1463510444185-310

[Crazed_Insanity]

Wow, my idea was so 2016! :|

BTW, how is that working out for UPS? How come I've never seen any 3D printers in my local UPS stores? Or I just wasn't paying attention...

[MR2 Fan]

Wow, my idea was so 2016! :|

BTW, how is that working out for UPS? How come I've never seen any 3D printers in my local UPS stores? Or I just wasn't paying attention...

I think it was too early for them

[Crazed_Insanity]

So this digital shipping idea didn't work out?

I guess 3D printing remains as a tool only for home hobbyists or design labs that needs rapid prototyping?

Anyway, I think your library idea is still a good one. Surely average consumers are not CAD jockeys and cannot design their own parts.

Now, besides having a huge library of cool parts, I still think it'd be nice to combine some sort of versatile scanning device so that consumers can scan their own stuffs to print out. With fancy inkjet printers, consumers can print out their own photos. With your own 3D printer at home, average consumers today probably just don't have too many things to print out...

Besides scanning tool, do you think your team can perhaps also create a simple and cheap version of CAD interface? Using VR goggles and allow users to simply gesture to draw up stuffs in 3D space?

Okay, this time I googled myself... looks like they already have that!
https://www.designnews.com/design-hardware-software/makevr-brings-virtual-reality-cad-design-makers/183138957556768
So partner with these companies perhaps... to build a more complete ecosystem for you future product...

The more complete your ecosystem, better the chance of success!

So far, I've only been printing out metallic jewelries for my wife. Home printers can't really print out metal parts, right? So I'd just task shapeway.com for my occasional use... Now, if I can just insert my smartphone into some cheap goggles and hold on to some spatial pointing device to draw up my own stuffs, I'd probably be more inclined to buy my own 3D printer.

[MR2 Fan]

For anyone who cares, I just found a Brilliant article that is absolutely BRUTAL about the current industry and points to exactly what I've been trying to do with our project:

https://3dprint.com/222599/the-3d-printing-octagon/

[MR2 Fan]

(IF a mod wants to update the thread title to "The Venturi 3D Printer Thread" that's cool)


NEWS: We're in the early planning stages of working with another 3D Printing manufacturer who just does hardware, BUT their hardware is nearly identical to ours. I met them at the first festival we attended back in March and after our kickstarter was cancelled, their founder reached out to me.

Basically they already work with schools and businesses but have 2 possibly BIG contracts that are asking for software like pre-sliced models. The other company doesn't do software, and we do. So we can work together, we can provide the software/tablet, and they can provide the printer. They can also build printers for us if we go that route as well, saving us the whole struggle of building a warehouse, etc.

BTW, the two companies I won't name yet, but they are a mining firm and a motorcycle company...arguably the MOST popular motorcycle company in the U.S.

[mk]

Remember Digital Research.

[Rare White Ape]

Honda?

[MR2 Fan]

Remember Digital Research.

I remember that very well actually...first PC had DR DOS installed

[Crazed_Insanity]

Harley-Davidson?

[MR2 Fan]

I can neither confirm nor deny :)

[Crazed_Insanity]

Your use of smilie is indicative of Billi's answer being right, right? ;)

[Godson]

... Ducati...

[balki]

This guy just found out how to put the entire 3D printer industry out of business:
http://img.memecdn.com/3d-printers_o_2882937.jpg

[MR2 Fan]

That joke is very old and actually, the whole consumer 3D printing industry came about due to the "RepRap" program which was designed to have a lot of the parts 3D printable.

Recently, a friend of mine has started printing the whole frame of the printer and we're getting closer to a fully printable 3D printer, only saving for the electronics and some rods, the hot end and a few other pieces.

So, in that situation, the profit will be from the printable, licensed models ;)

Here's my friend Walter (Aka Kuntry 3D's) printed printers

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DgKUwsTWkAIxdq7.jpg

[Crazed_Insanity]

Saving grace is that a 3D printer cannot print another printer of of the same size! Must be smaller baby printers.

Anyway, profits will mostly be from licensed software rather than hardware IMHO.

[MR2 Fan]

Saving grace is that a 3D printer cannot print another printer of of the same size! Must be smaller baby printers.

Not exactly, if you look at the frame on the left one, you can see that it was actually assembled from smaller prints and glued together. I'm actually working on an option to use those extrusions that have an insert where you just screw them together for stiffness and build the printer that way.