The Solidoodle is the first fully assembled 3D printer to hit the magic $500 price point.
Nobody has reviewed one yet, and the device makes some significant compromises in order to get to that price point. Given that, I won’t be among the first to buy one. I’ll reserve that decision for a time when we know what it can and can’t do. But if we look at history, that $500 milestone is important.
I bought my first monochrome laser printer for around $500 in 1994. It wasn’t as fast as a $1,000 laser printer, but it gave print speed and quality comparable to an inkjet at a lower cost per page. Today, you can get a better laser printer for less than $75. But in 1994, the days of laser printers that cost $5,000 and $10,000 wasn’t a distant memory.
Color laser printing followed a similar path. I remember gazing longingly at ads for $10,000 color lasers in 1997. I finally bought one in 2006 or so, and I think I paid around $400 for it. Today something comparable costs $150.
That’s one reason I’m reluctant to buy a 3D printer right now. A comparable device might sell for half as much in a couple of years, and in the meantime I’m not sure I’d get $250 worth of use out of it. I don’t know how much I’d design myself, and there isn’t a lot out there yet for me to download and print on it. I knew when I bought that first monochrome laser printer I’d use it a lot. And I’m on my second imaging unit on the color laser printer, so I’ve run about a case of paper through it.
Then again, I’m a writer, not a machinist. If I were a machinist, or a hobbyist in a field that has an active 3D printing community already, I’d probably have one on order now.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.
Dude, with one of these I could finally replace all the missing parts to my favorite old G.I. Joe toys!
Indeed you could. And that kind of specialty use is the appeal for most of the early adopters. And I expect in a few years, pretty much anyone will be able to buy one of these for a couple hundred bucks, and for a small fee, download and print all sorts of stuff like that.