Honestly even at this price point I don’t see much use for a machine like this for hobbyists. Plastic SLS printing only has a few advantages over the significantly cheaper and widely supported FDM machines most of us use. SLS printers can create overhangs and do “print in midair” tricks that FDM can’t because the partially completed part is supported by the unfused powder, and they theoretically produce parts that are isotropic, i.e. there is no difference in layer vs. planar adhesion and they are as strong in the Z axis as they are in the X and Y. This might matter for mechanical parts, but it’s not terribly important for the vast majority of people who are just cranking out low-poly Pikachus and Deadpool busts or whatever.
Yes, I can definitely foresee this being a mess. You know how people clutch their pearls over microplastics? SLS powder is microplastic, factory made, in a bucket.
It would be a different story if we could get a metal-sintering SLS machine at this price point. Even if it could only do aluminum, that would change everything.
Honestly even at this price point I don’t see much use for a machine like this for hobbyists. Plastic SLS printing only has a few advantages over the significantly cheaper and widely supported FDM machines most of us use. SLS printers can create overhangs and do “print in midair” tricks that FDM can’t because the partially completed part is supported by the unfused powder, and they theoretically produce parts that are isotropic, i.e. there is no difference in layer vs. planar adhesion and they are as strong in the Z axis as they are in the X and Y. This might matter for mechanical parts, but it’s not terribly important for the vast majority of people who are just cranking out low-poly Pikachus and Deadpool busts or whatever.
Yes, I can definitely foresee this being a mess. You know how people clutch their pearls over microplastics? SLS powder is microplastic, factory made, in a bucket.
It would be a different story if we could get a metal-sintering SLS machine at this price point. Even if it could only do aluminum, that would change everything.