True, best hold off on the metal extruder DIY printers for now. As you said, eventually there will be a diffusion of the tech down into the personal use market, but for now best stick to service providers.
I've heard a lot of good things about Shapeways too btw; very reasonable rates for high quality prints of nearly any material.
I've been really happy with the service that they've provided, not just with the printing but with the store front end. A couple of my previous posts talk about how to go about designing something, preparing it for 3D printing, making a prototype on your personal printer, and then sending it up to Shapeways for broader selling.
Frankly, they make it easy.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Interesting..I've actually consider posting some of my designs up on Shapeways. Not sure really what's holding me back, but its good to hear that your experience has been relatively painless, I assume.
A little more motivation!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Well, if you really want the nitty-gritty, you can start here and trundle on through here, which should be far more than you ever wanted to know. [grin]
It does involve quite a lot about how to set things up on Shapeways though, especially in Part II.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Nice content, very detailed and well laid out. Sometimes being thorough has its advantages :). I'll send a follow your way and keep an eye out for more.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Great! I was just sitting here looking at some of my models and thinking about what might be useful to add to the pool of human knowledge. I'm thinking one of the other Raspberry Pi cases that I've tinkered with in the past might make a good, short post.
We shall see.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit