Snowy, Wow you are a grouch! LOL
Let me dissect your response:
1. A brief amout of research will find that even college students have been using these printers to produce proof of concept prototypes for various people and making a profit off them. Enough to assist with their college tuition. I also do not believe they are being used to the extent that they could, or that I would in order to produce items. I also do'n think that any buyer of items wishes to have the item within moments. Even with the big commercial grade units there is a lead time, the least of which would be a range of 1-3 days that I have found.
2. I understand that finer detail means longer print times, believe me when I say that this is not an issue to me. What is is the level of detail achievable, nothing more. Thanks for the extra info on the time, though. Explaning the detail achievable is easy to explain for someone who owns one. It's like trying to decide which TV has a better screen quality by watching a commercial about the TV's on your crappy one. You have nothing tangible to compare. YOU own one, you should be able to describe how good or poor the quality of the print, or detail, is because you can physically see it. I cannot.
3. And yes, cost effective, this is self explanatory. again, a brief amount of research into 3d printer will find units from a few hundred up to many thousands, plus there's other printing types, like SLA, SLS, LOM, EBM, DLA, etc. Many of these can start in the 10 of thousands and surpass hundreds of thousands, I'm certain you can understand that I am looking for the best build time, highest resolution, largest build volume, most versatile unit for the money for a person on a budget.
Lastly, I already said I was on a budget, this means little disposable income. Something like this is a major expense for many people and not considered a "toy" to fiddle with. And again, even if it is a little income, it must provide some kind of return for it to be feasible, hence the questions that I posed, which is not unreasonable. I have answered many such posts to others about other things that I knew about, so I know it's possible without making the person feel like they're getting their chops busted.
Thanks to all of you who answered my post. MSURunner, the best way I can explain this is: I am a wood worker as a hobby. I bought a cheap lathe to make bowls and rings and other things. I make them for fun and give them away as gifts. I outgrew my lathe in less than 3 months and have spent more money buying accessories trying to expand it's capabilities to see if I can do other things that would have been better spent if I had just bought the better unit in the first place. By getting a cheap lesser unit, it might show me some possibilities, it will not grow, nor show me just what the most I can expect is nor show me things could be possible. It would jut show me a basic idea, and again, I don't need another hobby. I have an excellent plan, I am well versed in plastics (been making my own molds for years). Mold making is EXTREMELY time consuming by hand.
And filip, I am in teh Tech industry and know of several ways I can make this work as a side business. Again, time is not an issue, quality is.
Daid, I was just shown this website tonight, thanks!
Thanks again for all your input. I really appreciate it.
