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Someonetoday at 10:01 AM3 repliesview on HN

Apple is 3D-printing Apple-like objects (https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/11/mapping-the-future-wi...), so one can hope this will trickle-down to hobbyist price points some time in the future.


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supermatttoday at 10:25 AM

There was a kickstarter for a $3000 SLS printer a while ago. Formlabs (who have over 50% of the SLS market) promptly bought the company and shut down the kickstarter - and gave backers a $1000 coupon towards their $30000 SLS printers...

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kergonathtoday at 11:08 AM

Each method has its limitations. The technique they use (melting powder with lasers) is completely different to what people typically do at home (using either photosensitive resin or filaments).

VBprogrammertoday at 10:26 AM

Working within the limitations of a medium is a skill as old as time. Often work arounds for the limitations become design features that people come to expect. 3d prints typically use more chamfers than fillets for exactly this reason.

Most of the hobby grade printers are FDM, it's unlikely we'll evolve beyond the limitations of layer lines being a few tenths of a mm. UV resin printers however aren't ridiculously expensive and they have small enough layers that it's completely doable.

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