3DPrinting
3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.
The r/functionalprint community is now located at: !functionalprint@kbin.social or !functionalprint@fedia.io
There are CAD communities available at: !cad@lemmy.world or !freecad@lemmy.ml
Rules
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No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia. Code of Conduct.
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Be respectful, especially when disagreeing. Everyone should feel welcome here.
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No porn (NSFW prints are acceptable but must be marked NSFW)
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No Ads / Spamming / Guerrilla Marketing
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Do not create links to reddit
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If you see an issue please flag it
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No guns
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No injury gore posts
If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe/ may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is ![](URL)
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It is a HUGE business in mechanical design spaces.
Low-quantity prototyping is prime realestate since injection molds cost 1500€ and rapid prototyping is not a thing without a bunch of money behind you.
My company does mostly medical devices and some consumer design doesn't have the equipment for high-quality 3D prints. We use a company called materialize that does extremely high quality sand-blasted or waterproof impregnated 3d prints as an example for low quantities. They made one prototype for us that literally sounded and felt like ceramic while being waterproof plastic.
It's good business. A run of 10 prints or so is also like 800€ or something, so they make decent money from it if they can automate the process as much as possible.