Have you been holding off buying a 3D printer? Now you can get a box that does 3D printing, laser engraving, and CNC milling.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/boxzy/boxzy-rapid-change-fablab-mill-laser-engraver-3d-p Introducing BoXZY, the most versatile desktop fabrication device on the market. We built BoXZY so you can do more, better. This triple-threat tool combines a 3D Printer, CNC Mill, and Laser Engraver in one compact cube. By utilizing the quick-change heads, any maker can shape a block of aluminum, hardwood, or plastic into intricate designs; 3D print complex plastic shapes; or laser engrave into objects made of wood, leather or plastic. Currently crowdfunded to $700K of an $50K goal. They were selling a limited run of discounted units for $1400 ~ $1600, but the current tier is going for $2000 with two of the 3 possible heads, or $2500 for all 3 heads. Granted all 3 devices need a mechanism to position a head on X-Y-Z axes, but how much are you compromising by combining these tools. Is the 3D filament printing going to be state of the art, or an after thought? (I'd be more inclined to accept the idea of combining the CNC mill and laser engraver as swappable heads on a shared platform while not compromising either by much. At least not relative to what you'd get from spending $1000 on each device separately.) They include pictures of the aluminum housing for the product being cut on a water jet. I'll be impressed when one of these desktop manufacturing devices not only has the capacity and precision to make the parts for replicating itself, but also the speed to make it practical. :-) (Yeah, I know early Makerbots could partially self-replicate.) I'd be curious to know more about the 935 watt (1.25hp) Makita milling head they are using. -Tom _______________________________________________ Hardwarehacking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/hardwarehacking
