3D Printing The Future With A Replicator Is Still Sci-Fi, But Here’s A Start

3D Printing The Future With A Replicator Is Still Sci-Fi, But Here’s A Start

The dream of the Replicator — a machine that can create or copy any object — has mesmerised us ever since Star Trek used one to conjure a glass of water out of thin air. Yet, like so much other sci-fi tech invented by show business, it’s always been just out of reach. The 3D printer company XYZ Printing wants to change that.


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Welcome to the future.

Using It
First, a confession: I am an at-home 3D printing noob. The only 3D printing I’ve ever done has been remote, through a lab at school used super-accurate machines that could churn out incredibly detailed models at the drop of a hat. So, faced with setting up my own device, I was nervous.

The AiO turned out to be incredibly easy to set up, despite the shockingly vast array of packaging materials and extra parts that came with it (it barely fit up the stairwell of my turn-of-the-century apartment building). Although the user manual could benefit from some bigger, clearer illustrations, the setup is basic enough that it didn’t take long to figure out the machine without them.

The AiO in scanning mode.

XYZ’s own software, likewise, is as easy as pie to use. The company supplies two separate applications that are linked by an export feature — one for scanning, and one for printing. There aren’t many options for editing models in situ, but there are plenty of free programs, like Google SketchUp, which will do in a pinch.

Before we get to specifics, here’s a brief rundown of how the object creation process works. You open up the model space in XYZ’s scanning program, then start the simple process of scanning an object. The program raises the print bed — where models are made — up to the top of the device, then asks you to place the object you’d like to scan on a black circular tray at the base of the device. This disc rotates as two 3D scanning modules — one on either side — cast a thin red laser onto its profile, recording the data and constructing a 3D model. The whole process usually takes about five or six minutes.

Once you’ve got your model, you can save it or send it straight to XYZ’s printing program — where you’ll be able to customise aspects of the printing process, like shell thickness and speed. Depending on the size of your model, the AiO will crack out an object within a few hours, on par with other desktop 3D printers out there.

Like

Regular 3D printing fans may scoff, but there’s nothing quite like watching a 3D printer churn out a model. It really does feel like magic. XYZ’s printer is fast and fairly intuitive — and compared to other models I priced out, it’s shockingly cheap. If you were to buy XYZ’s Da Vinci 1.0 without the 3D scanner, it would cost you $US500. Comparatively, MakerBot’s cheapest printer, the Replicator Mini, costs $US1375.

Prints from the AiO’s bed.

Unfortunately, there’s a very simple reason why XYZ’s printers are priced so low: They only work with the company’s proprietary filament spools, so you have to use ABS or PLA filament bought directly from XYZ, which only comes in 13 colours. One 600g spool of filament will cost you $US28 from XYZ, while a 1kg roll from other online retailers costs roughly the same amount. That means you’re paying more for filament, and if XYZ ever goes out of business, you’re out of luck.

If that’s a risk you’re willing to take, XYZ’s printer is more than serviceable: It’s accurate, fast and quiet. The fineness of its prints depend on the speed at which you print and range from 400 microns to 100 microns, similar to the print resolution of a MakerBot Replicator 2. That seems surprisingly good for the cost.

But this isn’t just a review of a 3D printer. It’s also a review of a 3D scanner. Which is where I ran into some problems.

No Like

3D scanners like the one inside the Da Vinci AiO work by shining a laser on the profile of a particular object, then recording the 3D shape based on the resulting data feed. I’d used 3D scanners before, and knew that glitches and errors in the technology are more than common. And as I scanned objects from around the house, it was clear that AiO’s scanning technology still leaves a lot to be desired.

One of the things that had intrigued me about replicators in pop culture is the idea of creating replacements for useful items, like small doo-dads from around the house, or even an extra key for a padlock. But unfortunately, the scanner doesn’t do very well with reflective technology — the best read I was able to get on my laundry key was awash in glitches:

Likewise, a replica of a pencil holder on my desk came back garbled:

But a few objects ended up working like a charm. I had great luck with simple geometries and single-colour objects, which as XYZ’s fantastic support explained to me, are the best for scanning.

For example, AiO returned a serviceable scan on a skull candle that XYZ included as a sample object. When I scaled it down and printed it — not wanting to waste my precious cartridge of filament — it turned out a pretty good likeness:

And a wood-and-rubber stamp proved to be easy for AiO to replicate too:

Though XYZ was more than helpful with tips and guidance, it was disappointing not to be able to scan things that seemed truly useful to copy. I learned that AiO’s scanner doesn’t do glass or transparent materials, or anything reflective. It also doesn’t deal well with high-contrast objects, or complex geometries with holes. So soon, I was looking for matte, non-reflective, monochromatic objects to scan. My dreams of printing headphone caddies, keys and other objects proved too ambitious.

As a test, I decided to compare the accuracy of the AiO’s printer to its scanner. I downloaded a free shape off of Thingiverse and printed it out. So far so good; the AiO churned out a clean model in no time. Then, I stuck the printed model back in the scanner and asked the AiO to scan what it had just printed. The final product was passable, though nowhere near as crisp and distinct as the original:

More than anything else I scanned with the AiO, this image is a perfect representation of how, while 3D scanning is seriously cool tech, it has quite a ways to go before it will be a useful tool in your fabrication lab.

Should You Buy It?

If you’re interested in 3D scanning specialist willing to make a big bet on an emergent technology, the AiO might be worth your time. But if you’re a hobbyist interested in 3D scanning and printing, it probably makes more sense to spend your $US800 on a higher-quality printer — one for which you can buy filament from any third party seller — and experiment with other 3D scanning options on the market.

The AiO is an exciting idea, and some of the time, it delivers. But the inconsistency between the accuracy of the printer and that of the scanner make it hard to imagine many useful applications. It was frustrating to find I was able to replicate certain items perfectly, while others were complete fails. At this point, our real-world Replicator still has one foot in science fiction. Hopefully, it will make the next step into our world soon.


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