3D printers are certainly hot technology these days, with machines like the Printrbot, MakerBot and Cubify launching on a regular basis. But while most of these devices focus on building something from the ground up, Roland DG has unveiled a new machine that does the exact opposite. Rather than slowly building a model by adding layers of material, the iModela iM-01 3D Modeling Machine carves its creations down from a larger block of material, like a small, automated sculptor.
iModela can create a 3D product from common crafting materials like plastic, balsa wood, wax, or foam. The machine's spindle motor is also built to accommodate a variety of milling attachments, allowing users to have greater control over how their creations turn out. The whole thing can even be packed up into a portable carrying case for easy transportation. The device was created with hobbyists in mind, though design engineers could definitely get some use out of it.
Users can create a 3D model with the included iModela Creator software by either downloading files online or sketching out their own designs. Pre-made designs can be found and shared through the iModela website's online community, where tips on using the machine can be shared.
The iModela 3D Modeling Machine sells for US$899 and can be purchased from the product's website. Check out the video below to see the milling process in action.
Source: iModela
So - at *half* the price of a Makerbot, this doesn\'t seem too bad a deal for a hobby CNC. But I\'m rather appalled at how laborious it seems to use. It\'s agonizingly slow, considering it seems to be just cutting foam in the demo, and apparently you have to set up the data by hand in three separate steps: cutting, roughing, and finishing. This is definitely *not* a \"load the model and push a button\" kind of machine!
And yes, it looks well designed and glossy, and the fact that the whole thing folds out at the end is very cute. But they couldn\'t be bothered to install a switch to cut off the power when the case is opened?
They\'ve also skipped the tool changes - this box is just a mini version of an \"MDX\" (I\'ve got one), same software and everything. Tools are just plain voodoo. They go through all this neat roughing through to finishing stuff, but there\'s no automatic or calibrated tool-height system (the printer is entirely 100% \"dumb\" - no brain, no sensors) - you have to manually guess that stuff with buttons, so it\'s going to take you 3+ attempts to get it right (if you\'re lucky) on any \"production\" run. Oh yeah - and it takes all night to do one \"print\", and is ultra-noisy, and the mess it makes is pure insanity (looks neat in their demo, because they didn\'t show you the guy with the paintbrush clearring the cuttings from the model for the 10 hours it would have taken to make that blob).
Nothing special.
The purpose was to make parts for all manner of machines (Auto\'s to Zero\'s) rather then stock and ship them and of course create new WORKING designs. Something no present 3D machines seem to attempt in the range below $8k (except making gaskets and foam parts).
The problems we overcame? Low cost high performance ball screws, linear scales and tools, tool change.
There was no market, no interest, no body who even understood what we were about. In 1995 we went on and used some of the ideas at the nanoscale to nanomachine semiconductor related things these machines which helped make microprocessors, sold like hot cakes for thousands of times more money.
Go figure.