Yes. The proof is in the pudding. I can only speak to cartesian bots. A couple of annoyances I’ve seen: when anyone complains about dimensional accuracy of a given bot, they just haven’t dialed it in. On the flip side, deltas - I hear - are difficult to dial in dead-accurate dimensional parts for any size part. If true, that can’t be glossed over.
Also, when people show a print on a printerbot that lacks surface quality or appears to produce lower quality than my team here gets, what do you do with that. A printer in the hand of a less-than-expert person doesn’t really speak to what is possible, just what was achieved by that person. That one is tough. Many experts could take any printer- even bad printers and make them sing. How do you qualify the value of the user whose hands it is in?
Ease of use is often overlooked.
Price or the value proposition is often under-reported.
Support or customer service is often overlooked.
Company track record or community reputation is often glossed over.
The relative speed of a print is often misinterpreted by the newbies… Like, “10 hours is better than 9”… Is it really?
And who is really neutral? Not me, I admit. I have a limited scope of experience and a dog in this hunt.
Truly unbiased reporting is tough. But I look forward to the comparison. I applause these efforts, b/c my hope is that the community will benefit.
The 3D printing landscape is changing. Old assumptions are being challenged. New approaches are emerging. One good example is the transition Printrbot is undertaking to move to 32 bit arm and completely new (open source) firmware with a special emphasis on ease of use and user friendliness. The statistical comparison of manufacturer-published specs has become less and less useful. The nuance of ease of use is making a slow march to the forefront. Technical specs matter less now. The plateau of the hardware itself is evident and software is the new battlefront, in my opinion. In a year or so, no one will argue that 8 bit Marlin is good enough, or that repetier, etc (in its current form) is ok.
I, for one, am ready to swallow any bitter pill necessary to move this 3D printer thing beyond the maker movement and into the realm of the average consumer. Why? Not for reasons of profit, but to help consumers discover their inner-maker and experience the pleasure of tapping their own creativity.
Stink, that read like a marketing shpeal!
Keep making, on whatever machine you have!
Brook
if there ain’t video and in-person Demi’s, it didn’t happen, right!?