We’ve seen a rather huge rise in the interest and awareness of 3D printing in the past year, helped by the marketing efforts of those companies offering personal 3D printing devices. But what happens when your “normal” consumer acquires a 3D printer? Bioarchaeologist Kristina Killgrove of Pensacola, Florida writes of her experience with a personal 3D printer, in this case, a brand new MakerBot Replicator 2.
Her experience? Mixed, it seems. While technically-inclined printer operators are accustomed to “glitches”, the typical consumer may not. Veteran printer operators know that from time to time, “things happen”, resulting in failed prints that must be reprinted. There are tricks to persuade a troublesome print to succeed, but that comes with time and experience – something typical consumers don’t readily have.
What does this mean? Perhaps the personal 3D printer manufacturers need even more TLC as they continue to probe into the mass market.
Our advice to Ms. Killgrove: Try again, try different configurations, and please don’t use “Percussive Maintenance”!
