Makerarm - sweet multifunction fabrication machine

I'm glad I didn't buy a 3D printer yet, because if I did the buyer's remorse upon seeing this would be immense:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1849283018/makerarm-the-first-robotic-arm-that-makes-anything

Does 3D printing (both filament & resin), laser etching, plotting, pick & place, soldering, foam cutting and light CNC milling including circuit board milling, and allows for custom tools if that missed anything...and you can set up more than one to work together.

Looks like a nice toy for a hobbyist. I'd worry about it's rigidity for any sort of "milling"

It seems to me it's a machine that can to alot of things. Usually a multitool like that is compromised in each of those areas though. It said "I can 3D print freely since I don't live in a box". Marketing bs. Mine doesn't live in a box either, but it is constrained by the physical size of the machine. This is similarly limited; the arm has a limit to it's reach. It's cool, sure, but they make it sound like it can print anything of any size because it doesn't have a framework. And it says it can print on any flat surface. I'm sure it can lay filament on any flat surface, but anyone that has a 3D printer will tell you, the print bed is critical. Most printing is done on a heated bed, which this does not have. Another thing, that "box" they are knocking helps keep the print from cooling down unevenly due to drafts. When that happens, the print can warp. If you have a good product, just tell us why it's good. Don't throw bs statements around simply because you want to dupe backers into coming off the thousand dollars that you want just to enter the game.

It does so many things, I wonder if it does any of those things well. If they already have two prototypes, why don't they just use those two to build two more and then have those four build four more and so on and so on. If one believes their video, they should be able to do that easily.

I think it will need a heated bed for 3D printing in filament. The advantage of not being "in a box" is that you could set up many of these and have a 3D printer with multiple print heads - if you space them out, it would effectively increase the build volume.

The machine wasn't made to be 3D-printable, I'm sure there are a lot of heavy metal parts in it that it can't produce, on top of the many chips and connectors for any circuit board.

GameboyRMH wrote: I think it will need a heated bed for 3D printing in filament. The advantage of not being "in a box" is that you could set up many of these and have a 3D printer with multiple print heads - if you space them out, it would effectively increase the build volume.

In theory, but not in reality. Let's say you have two of these things, arm A and arm B. When A hits it's limit on the X axis, arm B could not inhabit the same space at the same time to lay down a continuous bead. You'd have a seam where the limit is. That would make for a terrible looking print, and a SERIOUS weak point, if it would even stay together in one piece. You could, though, increase your over all print volume and produce twice as many parts at the same time. But you could do that with 3D printers.

I was thinking that if there's overlap between the print areas, the "seam" could have a zig-zag or castellated shape to minimize the weakness problem...might not do anything for the looks problem though.

GameboyRMH wrote: I was thinking that if there's overlap between the print areas, the "seam" could have a zig-zag or castellated shape to minimize the weakness problem...might not do anything for the looks problem though.

Due to the shallow arc of these, the arms would have to be sandwiched in crazy close to one another, right? I feel like you'd struggle to make something more than 15" wide anyway.

I suspect this machine does a lot of tasks, but does them poorly, unless you are looking at extremely small parts.

GameboyRMH wrote: I was thinking that if there's overlap between the print areas, the "seam" could have a zig-zag or castellated shape to minimize the weakness problem...might not do anything for the looks problem though.

I thought about that. But you need each layer to be a continuous string for the most part. I could be wrong though. Sometimes my printer will skip a part, then come back to it. But I think that's in the infill area. I'd like to try it though.

ProDarwin wrote: I suspect this machine does a lot of tasks, but does them poorly, unless you are looking at extremely small parts.

I'm right there with you. It's an awesome toy for the home hobbyist, but that won't cut 3/16" aluminum plate without a "million" 0.010" deep cuts.

Looks like a baby version of a industrial robot. That would be fun to play with. Depending on its speed might actually have uses in a small production environment for repetitive tasks. With used small industrial arms selling for $5k and up, they might just sell a few of them. It's got endless possibilities.

The cake decorating set up would be the bomb for something like a grocery store. Plop it down, make a couple of clicks and presto. No poor spelling, no shoddy fonts. Brilliant, and it would sell. Set it up in a glass display case and people would eat it up. Pun intended.

I like it. I have no use for it, but I like it.

take the same glass case idea, and make it a t-shirt maker. select size and art work, and watch the arm airbrush for 10 minutes. that would be cool.

-J0N