I'm not too familiar with 3d printers and hadn't heard anything like this about Makerbot before -- anyone know what the conflict there is about?
Makerbot disputes that investors caused them to change but "For the Replicator 2, we will not share the way the physical machine is designed or our GUI" http://www.makerbot.com/blog/2012/09/24/lets-try-that-again/
Basically, they're very keen on other people releasing their stuff as open source hardware so they can use it, but refuse to release their own stuff. It also doesn't help that certain prominent, business-owning members of the community called anyone holding Bre Pettis to the standards he expected of others terrorists and claimed to be standing up for "polite discourse" by doing so.
Funny enough they were starting to be a lot less interested in the deal when they heard I had a patent on it. I even tried the "look, you've covered your behinds, I'm covering mine" angle.
(I do have a patent on the design, but I'm choosing to not enforce it - http://robots-everywhere.com/re_wiki/index.php?n=Main.LCheap... if you want to either buy one, or download the designs for one)
It's not fast.
FWIW, I not only provide the design, I also provide the design (and a video) of the jig I use to make them.
If you're going to do the copper thing make sure to get some kind of fume extraction going, metal vaporization is an excellent way to poison yourself!
A poor mans version of this would be amazing:
http://www.thefabricator.com/blog/direct-diode-lasers-enter-...
Poor: a few thousand $ for a head.
There are certainly things I like better about the Solidoodle, such as the ability to use a sheet of glass on the bed, which allows me to use ABS/Acetone slurry to make parts stick to the bed, the ability to tweak all of the CAM settings, the mechanism for feeding the filament into the hot end is easier to work on, I've never had a clog on the Solidoodle, and there are several power users who have shared improved designs for various parts of the machine.
But if I need to make a part that has to be within tight tolerances, or have a good surface finish, I prefer to print with the Makerbot.
Does anyone know of a sub $3000 open source FDM printer that can print as well as a Makerbot?
The question of why I suggest avoiding makerbot is complex and not just about open vs. closed source. I will elaborate that in a future article in detail, since it raised quite a lot of questions.
I'm posting this only because I think it's a legitimate answer to an important question... Is there an affordable printer that prints as well as (or better than) a MakerBot?
I have been using the FlashForge Creator and Creator X to make 3D printed prosthetic devices, and I'm thrilled with the quality. All of the photos and videos I have on my blog at 3duniverse.org were printed on the Creator or Creator X printers. I'd say these printers print better than the MakerBots, which we've been testing side-by-side.
The FlashForge printers range in price from $977 for the original Creator to $1349 for the latest Creator Pro. The printers come fully assembled and include two full spools of filament.
But note that I only started selling them after falling in love with them through hundreds of hours of direct hands-on experience with them. I haven't yet found another printer on the market that has better price/performance value.
The moral is they will eagerly drop support for your $3000 purchase in just a few years.