With backing from a very open-minded businessman and the help of a few key people in addition to me, we have started the design of (yet another) open source printer.
This time, we explicitly target prosumers and advanced hobbyists. Still, the printer may still suit a few tinkerers, because it is open source, which is a central part of the project. Price tag is secondary: we want reliability and features first: it shall hide all what makes life “interesting” on a reprap, but it shall implement all what makes life easier for productive work.
The software we are already using to design the printer is also opensource, so that everyone should eventually have access to the data. This is important to all of us.
We have a short survey that we would love to share, in order to meet expectations, and to know your opinion. Would you like to contribute?
Since we are still at the design stage, some questions are technical: feel free to skip them if you feel uneasy.
Thanks again for any contribution, including in comments here!
@Marcus_Wolschon because it tries to put many “new” features in one case, which impacts all the geometry most notably. And b/c of this I found no suitable base (+ commercial issues: open source but with a real company behind – I should make this clearer).
Each and every choice is to be weighted. This is exactly the first question of the survey (you see? I even ask if it is a good idea!)
@Neil_Darlow yes, I saw it in action two weeks ago at the 3D print show in Paris (I did not have enough time as I was invited as a moderator … and not as a visitor!). It is a very good and sturdy printer indeed, but it has regular limitations (we want to offer a tool changer, and hardware automatic calibrations e.g).
One of the advantages to using an open develpment model is the ability to test and validate designs with users. It’s where the “fail early, fail often” maxim for startups comes from. More difficult to do with hardware but the essence of it is the same.
Get a a working prototype (or at least an animated model) with a specific feature set and see what people think. The advantage of the open model is not to beat it with flow charts and meetings. Technology in and of itself isn’t the issue, it’s how the technology has been implemented with regards to specific human-machine interfaces.
@Marcus_Wolschon because it is fully open source, so no patent and free access to the design, and the community benefits from what may be improved in the process (and there is room for this). Both software and hardware.
I can understand your point though, it looks like the one between CC-BY vs CC-BY-NC.
@Marcus_Wolschon , because @Jeremie_Francois contributed a huge load towards the community and I totally would love to see him making a living from working in 3D printing
@Marcus_Wolschon A good example of being an open platform is Lulzbot. I think the best way to do it is trademark your product name and protect that while providing others with the docs. For example I could call one of my machines the “Wunderboxx” and while legally that could be the only one called that, anyone would be free to make one with the docs I provided and even sell them. They just couldn’t call it a “Wunderboxx”.
Hardware designs aren’t protected by a copyleft or NC type designation. In a legal sense the copyright on the design files does not apply to hardware. Software is different, those licenses do apply but for this kind of hardware they don’t.
@dstevens_lv exactly! Interestingly, the guy who asked me to help with the design is a hard core admirer of @LulzBot ! They are extremely transparent and at the same time they are doing great as businessmen. Another example is @Sanjay_Mortimer , who is documenting in detail what he is selling at E3D, and even why he designs the way he designs what he is selling. And he also makes a good profit. But I feel very fine with this: some business practices are both very sane and very positive for the community imho. Money brings food for some who try and explore, and the community benefit from them when they are open (and ONLY when they are open).
@Bill_Hearn hi there. Sorry nope yet, this project in on a 100% halt because of lack of resources & time on each side. One of the prototype did print something, at a very early stage. And I still hope to bring my own prototype to a fully workable printer.
I will ask the project sponsor if I can release the ideas, statistics and files. Some were, like the “tribed” as highlighted by hackaday months ago. I improved it since, but it remains to be published alike.
I think I/we owe it to the voters & the community anyhow.
