The Stratasys Mojo 3D printer system has only been out a couple of days and already critics are complaining that this technology still costs too much. Some have assumed the reason we don’t have their ideal affordable, accurate, fast, high quality, multiple material, highly reliable 3D printer yet is because corporations must make profit first, and this is somehow a bad thing.
So let’s look at this complaint from the other side. If an affordable, accurate, fast, high quality, multiple material, highly reliable 3D printer is so easy to make, how come the likes of MakerBot, Bits from Bytes, RepRap, and so on have not introduced one to the market? After all, they have broken the less than $5000 price barrier. What is stopping them from introducing a higher quality, higher accuracy, faster, multiple-material unit that competes with the high-cost professional systems? Is it a need for profits? That does not seem to be influencing them.
Are patents being horded? Probably not. Such companies have demonstrated sufficient creativity and innovation to find ways around patented technology.
Could it be that developing an affordable, accurate, fast, high quality, multiple material, highly reliable 3D printer is not as simple as those who want one assume?
Developing any system that is accurate, fast, of high quality, highly reliable and affordable is neither easy, fast, nor inexpensive to do. The cost of components, like precision grade ball screws and servomotors, are factors. High-quality components are not cheap. Testing is a factor. The time and effort to ensure components play nicely together for reliable operation is always a challenge. These are just a few of the challenges engineers must overcome to develop a good product.
Technology helps reduce the costs of development, but there are costs, and they are not small. It isn’t corporate greed that did not give you the less-than-$2000 accurate, fast, high quality, multiple material, highly reliable 3D printer that you wished for. Your dream has not come about because the technology is not there yet. Give it time.
Instead of lamenting that we don’t have a low-cost, super high quality system, we should be celebrating the engineering that enabled the introduction of a less than $10,000 high quality unit—this is a remarkable achievement!
(Note to those who don’t approve of corporate profits—if you own stock in a public company (i.e., a 401K plan), then you want a company to make profits. Their profits help fund your retirement. And if you work for a public company, you want profits—they pay your salary. Profit is a good thing.)
Leslie Langnau
llangnau@wtwhmedia.com
3DPrinter.net says
“Profit is a good thing.”
Thank you for saying that. Tired of people thinking that we would have all the innovations we have without the profit motive.
Undy says
Hi, just to be precise, profits do not pay salaries. REVENUES pay salaries. What’s LEFT OVER after paying salaries and other costs is profit, and it accrues to the shareholders, not the employees.
(Not that i disagree at all with your basic premise about cost of new technology coming down over time)
Jet Lag says
Yes, greed IS good!
Leslie Langnau says
So you are assuming that all profits are greed? Executive salaries may be greed, but generally a company cannot run if it doesn’t make a profit to pay back all the stockholders who loaned it money. No profit = no company = no jobs.
Leslie Langnau says
You are correct. Thanks for the precision.
Leslie Langnau says
I agree. Thanks for the feedback.
FightingFaultyFacts says
You have a few misconceptions about current low cost 3D printers – and you’re doing a huge disservice to your readers through your faulty argument about ballscrews and servos… No low cost 3D printer – not RepRap nor even Makerbot – uses ballscrews or servo motors…
FightingFaultyFacts says
You have a few misconceptions about current low cost 3D printers – and you’re doing a huge disservice to your readers through your faulty argument about ballscrews and servos… No low cost 3D printer – not RepRap nor even Makerbot – uses ballscrews or servo motors… Instead they rely on much cheaper lead screws and stepper motors – and it’s not because they’re just trying to cut costs (or maintain profits). Ballscrews aren’t needed because the current low cost 3D printers don’t have a need for thousandths of an inch positioning precision when extruding a 0.1mm or larger plastic thread – a little backlash wouldn’t even be visible. And there is abslutely no need for servo motors with a feedback loop because the force necessary to move the extruding head (or print bed) is ridicuously tiny when compared to the forces involved pushing a cutting head through aluminum or steel on a CNC milling machine (the place where ballscrews and servos are actually needed).
amyinnh says
Tick, tick, tick.