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!"
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.