Interviews: Ask Bre Pettis About Making Things 69
As co-founder and CEO of MakerBot Industries, Bre Pettis is a driving force in the Maker and 3-D printing world. He's done a number of podcasts for Make, and even worked as an assistant at Jim Henson's Creature Shop in London after college. Makerbot's design community, Thingiverse, boasts over 100,000 3D models, and inspires countless artists and designers by allowing them to share their designs. Bre has agreed to set aside some time from printing in order to type answer to your questions. Normal Slashdot interview rules apply.
Materials (Score:2, Interesting)
It seems consumer 3d printers mostly deal with plastics. Will we see other materials soon? I'm specifically interested in printing metal objects.
Stratasys (Score:5, Interesting)
Stratasys acquired Makerbot a few months ago. Has things changed on the hardware or software side? What changes await for the future?
Will Makerbot release a cheaper FDM 3D printer?
Does Makerbot have any plans for an UV 3D printer, either laser-based or projector-based?
beyond novelty (Score:5, Interesting)
Mr. Pettis thanks for taking the time. Your 3D printers are nice.
My question:
What is needed to take consumer home-based 3D printing beyond novelty items? Specifically everyday home consumers not pure hobbyists.
Of course 3D fabricators are used for more than "novelty items" in several commercial and industrial applications, but for several reasons, not the least of which is cost of the 3D fabricator, most of what people make is just knick knacks, novelty items, and bric-a-brac.
What will we need to see technologically to take consumer home fabrication beyond things like action figures? Ex: making something like a flashlight or toothbrush