Bambu labs got me into 3d printing. It’s the most seamless and simple 3d printer and functions as basically an appliance. Huge leap for 3d printing and I suspect we’re closer than ever to making jt affordable and easy.
I replaced my old Elegoo Neptune with a Bambu A1, and what a huge difference! I hated FDM printing for years, but now I use it all the time. I'm upgrading my resin printer next year, and can't wait to see what advances have been made in that realm.
Really? It's been nearly 20 years since Reprap, it's hard to imagine it maturing any more. If I get one I'll probably treat it like a belt sander or something, a tool that sits in the garage with plenty of fresh air. Agreed that it's a little concerning knowing some people that sit in a closed space with a dozen of these running (at that point you can smell the hot plastic...) but using common sense with good ventilation goes a long way.
I currently have a detached garage that wouldn’t be a good place for a printer. If I had an attached garage I could see it being a different situation.
As far as development goes, it seems like there has been a lot of advancement in just the past 5 years. Seeing what some of the high end commercial printers are capable of, I think there is still a lot of development left for what home printers can do. The Bambu printers are bound to get some competition. There are also a few competing technologies, and I’m willing to give it some more time to shake out. It still feels very much like a hobbyist tool for people who want to tinker a bit. I want to design and print without a lot of fuss.
I can’t find the exact video I first saw, but looking around I think it was full color resin printing. They were printing photorealistic figures of 2Pac, and I think some video game or animated characters as well.
I’m not sure how resin stacks up in terms of durability for making parts, but from the perspective of being able to print anything and having it look perfect, it blew my mind.