Staples to Offer Low Cost 3D Printing Service
When available, consumers can simply upload 3D files in STL, OBJ, or VRML formats to the Staples website and Staples would then send the finished product via mail. The service called "Staples Easy 3D" will initially be rolled out in the Netherlands and Belgium in Q1 2013. "Other countries" will follow quickly, Mcor said.
The service will use Mcor's new Iris 3D printer, which was launched at Euromold 2012, which is currently held in Frankfurt, Germany.
"Given our market leadership in commercial print, why would we ever stop at two dimensions?" said Wouter Van Dijk, president of the Staples Printing Systems Division in Europe, in a prepared statement. "Customized parts, prototypes, art objects, architectural models, medical models and 3D maps are items customers need today, in a more affordable and more accessible manner. Mcor will help us to keep prices low, quality high and color brilliant as we meet the demand." Mcor said that the Iris printer supports "more than one million hues simultaneously as it creates photo-realistic physical objects from 3D data." The maximum resolution is 5760 x 1440 x 508 dpi.
If you don't want to wait for Staples, Mcor would also be happy to sell to a 3D printer beginning in December. Iris is priced at 11,300 Euros, which translates to about $15,900.
It's not stupid. Having a 3D printing machine in each and every Staples outlet at this stage is more egregious. It's not a proven business model, it requires significant fixed cost, including space/equipment, and it needs skilled manpower to operate such machine - for now. From business perspective, no sane and capable board member will approve such business strategy. Sometime later, maybe sooner than I expected, we maybe able to see those 3D printing machine at Target alongside Kodak photo finish machine we see today. But not now.
at $15K per machine plus supply cost it doesn't make financial sense to put one in every store - and since the print time can be fairly long you'd still have problems where one location would have a back log of projects while other machines sat unused - plus if a machine malfunctioned you'd have a location unable to process requests for a few days while the machine was repaired causing delays and loss of sales. So makes much more sense to have a central location with several machines so that jobs can be routed to the resources available in a more efficient manner.
"Sure, just upload it to our site!"
Last part apparently got cut...was supposed to say something about male genitals.
I think that is because they are more "hardware" type of stores than tech stores.
When is the last time you went to Home Depot or Lowes to buy a printer?
lol, im pretty sure that everyone's first thought was to send in obscene objects, for print; the thought of them printing, then rolling up a penis in bubble wrap, is hilarious.
As someone who use to work in a Staples Copy and Print center: Are you serious? $15,500 per device is way too expensive to deploy in every Staples center. Plus there is a rather limited footprint allotted to the copy and print center which is typically already rather crammed full of normal print supplies. Having the square footage to add such a huge printer, plus the bulky plastic supplies that it needs, would be monumental compared to the nitch use it will get. And to top it all off: Copy and Print Center employees can't even use photoshop... how do you expect them to know how to run a machine (and the software that goes with it) as complicated as this without having several mistakes along the way? It would be much more practical to have this work done at a central print house, and shipped to your store like they do with most specialty orders.
All that said... I think that the wall above my computer is missing a nice 3D map of skyrim...
you can build your own printer for 500
some newer ones can be built for 1000 and offer insnely good detail
and the best ones for home use are in the 2000$ range
now if you work in 3d and would love to print off what you make, these are a bargain.
we arent there yet for a 3d printer to replace injection molds but when they do... my god, you will see crap come WAY down in price, from either the original manufactures, or from 3d printers. as why would you pay 20-50$ for a part when you can make it for 1$
at some point they will pay for themselves, expecially if you use them much.
custom light switch panels...
custom mice...
toys/action figures
for people who are a bit more ambitious
working mechanical wonders
once these printers work, you will see a whole new era of children being amased by what they can build with little effort.
hell i could build a working plan that you could remote control with a 3d printer...
i cant wait for them to come down in price just a bit more... my buy point is 250$ for something hard to use, and 500$ for something easy to use, but quality needs to be procice, and somewhat sturdy.
But something should be said. I mean, why wouldn't Lowes or HD want to get into architecture design printing business? I would imagine a lot more hardware store customers would be interested in 3D printing for landscapes and build models than Staples customers.
I am sure their are going to be places in every city, that will have very good 3D printers, that will offer better service tan Staples!
For those who are interested in 3D printing, but don't want to wait for Staples to offer this to their country, you can check out Shapeways.com.