After watching the v3d teardown of h2d and a speaking with a few people who own laser cutters, I decided against getting h2d at this time.
Takeaways from the teardown:
- an engineering marvel. Definitely worth the money they are asking for it
- designed for mass manufacturing. Clearly shows the chops of someone who was an integral part of DJI. Reminded me of what it’s like to take apart an appliance, designed by a company that’s been mass producing tech for a very long time
- potential maintenance nightmare. Way too liberal in the use of adhesives. strong feeling that once stuff starts to break, it’ll be about replacing modules, rather than replacing small parts. makes me think of a regular printer or a fridge. If something breaks there, users most-likely would end up having to replace components, not specific parts. Might not even do it themselves, but call a technician or take it to a service center… except where are the BL service centers? where are the licensed BL technicians?
- a lot of complexity in design to accommodate “variable mission payload”. what if the non-printing-oriented components (e.g. fire sensors) start to break? will the machine let me keep printing or it’ll be the HP multi-functional situation, where you can’t use the scanner because the printer is out of yellow ink.
Takeaways from reviews and discussions about laser cutting:
- 40W laser is what it should come with by default
- “it’s probably ok to use the cutter on h2d, as long as you do it rarely” why spend a huge amount of money for something that i should be using rarely?
So I can’t help but wonder if something like “X2D” would be released that will be just a printer, not a swiss-army knife. Cheaper and more maintainable simply by the virtue of having less stuff that can break.
One thing though: unless Bondtech’s INDX will have yet-to-be-revealed limitations, it could instantly obsolete H2D’s over-complicated dual nozzle solution on launch. Hopefully it doesn’t have some weird limitations and BL licenses (or copies?) the design