New 3D printer - Need for Speed!

1/ Excited that my new #3dprinter has arrived – a Bambu Lab P1P, and boy can this thing print!

I’m a big advocate for how #additivemanufacturing can transform industry, but even I was blown away by this next gen of printers – so a few thoughts on the coming 3d printing impact

2/ Firstly this thing is fast!?My last printer (via work) was a “professional” UltiMaker S3 with a pricepoint of >￡4.5k, yet prints that would have taken over an hour on the S3 can now be done at 20min on the ￡680 P1P at the same if not better quality

3/ That level of speed makes a big difference, things that would have taken days to print can now print in a single work shift– radically shortening the iteration process.?That means I can afford to prototype more and get feedback at every design step rather than just at the end

4/Stakeholder engagement is one of the biggest, but least celebrated use cases of 3d printing.?We live in a 3D world, and design in 3D, yet engineers still typically share designs as 2D drawings or renders, things many people struggle to understand

5/ Instead 3d printing physical prototype or scale models is a great, more inclusive way of sharing designs that anyone can understand/engage with, not just the unfortunately often un-diverse design & engineering team.?Eventually printed models will be a standard deliverable

6/ My first print has been a scale model of potential Platform Train Interfaces for a new train design. Even as an engineer used to reading 2D drawings it was a massive help in understanding potential risks, and even most useful for engaging with representative stakeholders

7/ Doing this in every design office is possible when the pricepoint is so low.?But the lower pricepoint will have even bigger impact for manufacturing.?With up to 10 times the speed at fraction of the cost the economics of 3d printing part production has radically changed.

8/ While the marginal material cost of 3d printing has been low, part prices have been driven by the capital cost of printers, leading to focus on maxing utilisation.?Previously capital costs made up >than half the cost of manufacturing – with latest gen that drops to a fraction

9/ That makes 3d printing viable for new use cases and even serial production, but the lower unit capital cost of printers dramatically lowers the barrier to entry for new entrants or scaling up of existing additive print farms. I look forward to the innovation that will unleash!

10/ A touted benefit of additive that I’ve been sceptical of is decentralising.?Printers were just too expensive, slow and difficult to use to see industrial users printing locally.?But the latest gen of printers are good enough that I could see them in every local workshop.

11/ I’ve previously got parts 3D printed for trains. ?The dream was having zero stock and print parts “on demand” but you couldn’t print fast enough.?But now you could spot a damaged part at start of night shift and have a new one printed on depot same night. Exciting times!

12/Being able to rapidly 3d model stuff and then “transform” it into physical reality (or VR) already felt like a superpower.?Now being able to do so quickly and cheaply is mindblowing.?The innovation in this space is only going to accelerate and I can’t wait to see whats next!