Re: [rp-ml] Desktop Factory

Adrian Bowyer wrote:

> Sooner or later someone (maybe even me) will introduce a machine where
> you just pour granules from any polymer supplier into a hopper in the
> top, as opposed to all this expensive cartridge nonsense...

I think that's a crucial question though.

If you can sell a machine for more than it costs to build and allow the
end user to use cheap bulk chemicals - then do you make more money than
selling the machine for half what it cost to build but setting it up
such that can only use chemicals that cost 20 times the market rate?

Probably not.

Clearly the 2D printer market believes that selling a printer that
costs $100 to make at a loss (for maybe $80) and then charging $50
per ink cartridge is a better business model than charging $200 for
the printer and selling the ink for what it actually costs (which is
about $5.00 per gallon). The only reason they don't cut the price
of new printers still further is that they traditionally come with
one ink cartridge inside and things would go badly wrong if the
cost of the printer got cheaper than the ink!

There are many markets where selling the machine for less than it
costs - then sticking people through the nose when they actually
try to use it is the best business model.

Think cell phones (Free phone with 2 year contract!), or video game
consoles (which sell at about half what they cost to make - but then
run games that cost $10 to make but which sell for $40).

I'm fairly passionate about NOT letting this happen to 3D printers,
but sadly, it almost certainly will unless something like RepRap
happens.

> And when did anyone last buy a maintenance contract on a £50 inkjet
> printer?

Indeed.
Received on Thu Aug 31 00:09:12 2006