Exhibition 3D PrintShow in London. Industry - a gold mine or a ghost hunt?
There are heroes, lyricists, and there are comics-cynics. I am from the second clan, the dark ones .
The open paradigm of RepRap gave the world the opportunity to assemble a 3D printer on its own without waiting for the products of corporations, but the dark ones quickly figured out and are trying to make a business of various sizes based on it.
Like moths into the world - fly to the intoxicating phrase "Welcome to the era of 3D . "
I managed to watch the meeting of the designated moths of various calibers for two whole days in London at 3D Printshow 2014, perhaps the largest world show in the context of 3D printing technologies.
')
Under the cut you will find:
So, let's begin.
After the previous exhibition in New York, 3D PRINTSHOW in London seemed like a breakthrough.
Either the organization and activity of the participants is much higher here, or the industry as a whole has grown over the last year and was ready to show finished products at a high enough level, but this time there was no desire to ask the question “Is this ALL?”.
Below is a panoramic photo of the exhibition hall.
Visual dominants of the show include Autodesk, 3DFUEL, Makerbot stands.
And if with AutoDesk everything is clear (100% successful company), with the Americans too (they were bought for an indecently large amount of money for the industry), then this is the value for the market of the very difficult FUEL 3D scanner with unpleasant tedious 3D scanning the second year remains a mystery to me.
At the entrance to the exhibition hall was going crazy.
People with bulging eyes - trying to draw something in the air with melting and almost instantly solidifying plastic.
This 3D Doodle deftly "cling" to the 3D industry, one of the few who could ride on this extremely difficult, in my opinion, market.
Makerbot was traditionally a tasty American booth. In contrast to the scorching standards of the standard for exhibitions of this format, 3D-models - presented nyashechnye printouts from the license files developed by the designers of the company.
Separately highlight the model Z18.
You'd be surprised, but this is the top sales in the company, and not personal persons and mini.
So the guys from BEST FILAMENT (Lyosha, hello), who have taken on the distribution of a similar product in Russia - perhaps MAYBE on the right track.
Personally, I, OOOOCHEN, liked the presence at the exhibition of WORKING machines for printing food (there were no such in New York).
Here there were at least 4 manufacturers:
But the "broken" of all DOVETAILED , the target printer for the molecular kitchen (Vitya Polyakov, hello!).
Can print berries, fruits with quite unusual flavors. Charged with syrups of all stripes:
The abundance of printers "for geeks and hippies" was pleasing to the eye, but on the other hand it hinted at the absence of serious breakthroughs in technology. The job of changing the printer went outside, not deep.
Wifi modules, crystal screens, built-in webcams, multi-colored or super-transparent futuristic colors are all add-ons, but NOT quality shifts.
You do not need to get upset, in principle, you can be glad that 3D printers are becoming unlike each other and attractive to different customers.
Before running to the manufacturers (DO NOT TURN WITH PACKERS) PLA, ABS plastic (this was one of the business tasks at the exhibition), I hung up at the bq stand.
News from manufacturers Witbox - turned out to be a lot MORE than I expected.
The open paradigm of RepRap gave the world the opportunity to assemble a 3D printer on its own without waiting for the products of corporations, but the dark ones quickly figured out and are trying to make a business of various sizes based on it.
Like moths into the world - fly to the intoxicating phrase "Welcome to the era of 3D . "
I managed to watch the meeting of the designated moths of various calibers for two whole days in London at 3D Printshow 2014, perhaps the largest world show in the context of 3D printing technologies.
')
Under the cut you will find:
- Non-objective review of exhibitors;
- Controversial arguments about the feasibility of entering the 3D industry for entrepreneurs;
- Some robots, PRINTBOTS;
- Spy photos of Arduino COMPETITOR;
- Light erotica in 3D.
So, let's begin.
After the previous exhibition in New York, 3D PRINTSHOW in London seemed like a breakthrough.
Either the organization and activity of the participants is much higher here, or the industry as a whole has grown over the last year and was ready to show finished products at a high enough level, but this time there was no desire to ask the question “Is this ALL?”.
Below is a panoramic photo of the exhibition hall.
Visual dominants of the show include Autodesk, 3DFUEL, Makerbot stands.
And if with AutoDesk everything is clear (100% successful company), with the Americans too (they were bought for an indecently large amount of money for the industry), then this is the value for the market of the very difficult FUEL 3D scanner with unpleasant tedious 3D scanning the second year remains a mystery to me.
At the entrance to the exhibition hall was going crazy.
People with bulging eyes - trying to draw something in the air with melting and almost instantly solidifying plastic.
This 3D Doodle deftly "cling" to the 3D industry, one of the few who could ride on this extremely difficult, in my opinion, market.
Makerbot was traditionally a tasty American booth. In contrast to the scorching standards of the standard for exhibitions of this format, 3D-models - presented nyashechnye printouts from the license files developed by the designers of the company.
Separately highlight the model Z18.
You'd be surprised, but this is the top sales in the company, and not personal persons and mini.
So the guys from BEST FILAMENT (Lyosha, hello), who have taken on the distribution of a similar product in Russia - perhaps MAYBE on the right track.
Personally, I, OOOOCHEN, liked the presence at the exhibition of WORKING machines for printing food (there were no such in New York).
Here there were at least 4 manufacturers:
But the "broken" of all DOVETAILED , the target printer for the molecular kitchen (Vitya Polyakov, hello!).
Can print berries, fruits with quite unusual flavors. Charged with syrups of all stripes:
The abundance of printers "for geeks and hippies" was pleasing to the eye, but on the other hand it hinted at the absence of serious breakthroughs in technology. The job of changing the printer went outside, not deep.
Wifi modules, crystal screens, built-in webcams, multi-colored or super-transparent futuristic colors are all add-ons, but NOT quality shifts.
You do not need to get upset, in principle, you can be glad that 3D printers are becoming unlike each other and attractive to different customers.
Before running to the manufacturers (DO NOT TURN WITH PACKERS) PLA, ABS plastic (this was one of the business tasks at the exhibition), I hung up at the bq stand.
News from manufacturers Witbox - turned out to be a lot MORE than I expected.
- The Spaniards have made afigen brand teflon -touch coating for platforms 3D-printers.
Now THAT time, when PLA plastics with different properties is becoming more and more. Delamination, fuzzy fixation on the platform - a disaster known to many 3D printers. Methacrylate platforms generally hold well, but often require blue 3M wide adhesive tape and lose evenness during operation. Glass platforms do not have the disadvantages of the first, but without 3D varnish or other "shamanism" they also do not always take off.
Bq-shnoy coating mounted on top of the table (whether it is a Witbox, Prusa i3 Hephestos or any other 3D printer with a comparable print area), is long and comfortable.
The sweetest news regarding the new pre-premier bq products had to be blabbled by the demand of the marketing department of the company. Here: who had time - he ate it. Now be silent. Shhhhhh ... Official releases will be released within a month.
After bq passed the Ultimaker stand (Vlad, hello to you):
The stand is objectively pleasant and large (albeit without new products), but after seeing the demo 3D demo-printer, I thought, “Guys, you need bq teflon ...”
The fairy tale has a long effect, but it is not a quick thing to do.
Finally, I got to the plastic .
Abstracts-trends in consumption for FDM-printers, highlighted during the study of the stands of the participants are:- Environmentally friendly, non-toxic
- Fuck chine
- Diversity
The first point is in favor of the serious focus of manufacturers on PLA .
I found several samples of ABS at the exhibition, including unexpectedly in granules, but they are clearly not trend makers:
FUCK Chine-ichnosti Each of the manufacturers absolutely calmly, paternally responded to the mention of Chinese manufacturers.
“The lag in technology in this segment is very large,” they say.
"It is objectively impossible for them to make plastic of our level."
When we mentioned Russian production, they simply could not hide their smiles.
"Production? In Russia? You didn't seem to be at PLA'S REAL PRODUCTION. If there were such a question, they did not ask. ”
For what I bought, I sold it. Thanks to my partner's communication skills for these insiders.
Variety . Here - even manufacturers of consumables think more NOT in the context of the color gamut, but in the context of applicability.
Personally, I was inserted (among other things) - a chair recruited from elastic fragments of small size:
Clock:
And ... sneakers, no fools:
Having run large printers :
lawn printers:
and printers of a famous player in the 2D market, Roland:
I, as rooted to the spot, stood before this:
Eye-stopper worked reliably, and watching the video to the end, and then looking at the THAT, what happened:
I went on a string to be scanned for my3Dtwin .
Mechanics are not as simple as they seem.
Photographing takes place in the bright arena (seen in detail in the video ). At the same time, you take photographs of an INCREDIBLE large number of 2D cameras.
The result is approximately SUCH number of shots:
Then - partly programmatically, partly manually, all these images are formed into a 3D file (extension STL).
Further choice - you can either order the figure in the right size, or buy this file and print it in any online printing service: 3Dtwins , Shapeways - in the world, 3D.ru (Seryoh, hi), 3D-printus (Konstantin, you are THE BEST) in Russia.
Now I look at the files after scanning:
Let's see what will be the final result after 3D printing.
Compare, I intend to post on readiness.
In general, the review of large strokes can be considered complete.
Publish robots:
and printbots (printed on a personal 3D printer):
A lot of cool photos from the exhibition can be found in the official photo stream :
* * *Afterword
Since my last post on Habré, more than three months of intensive work in the industry have passed.
What can I say.
Rookies who run into the industry, STAY.
The market is overheated media, but does NOT have real demand, which can make businesses of so many people / companies profitable.
Any serious projects: Online platforms, Industrial 3D printing, Professional distribution - are far from being independent profitable projects. They may exist for venture capital investments, or they are financed by donor businesses.
The more I communicate with the industry players, the more I become convinced of the absence of long-term prospects for the production of anything in Russia (be it plastic or the printers themselves).
Companies with huge budgets, technologies, patent portfolios and a 100-year-old production culture are increasing their presence in the industry. To defeat them, playing on the field of the same technology - it seems to me unlikely.
The tale about David and Goliath is unlikely to take place here, if only the Iron Curtain of the USSR times is dropped to us.
Nevertheless, the industry is extremely interesting, a casino with the promise of a big win in the medium / long term.
That's just what numbers to put, and within what quantitative / temporal strategy - the question is even for sophisticated 3D market players.
In general, the search for a profitable model and a mass market is still more like a ghost hunt.
Someone saw them, everyone talks about them, but here they are ...
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/361811/
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