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Formlabs acquires Micronics
(techcrunch.com)
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this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2024
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They were in a very tough position, their printer was having major quality control issues, I think they probably needed money.
A lot of people (probably) would have chipped in and be happy with a half-backed first-generation product. People loved the Ender 3 and even accepted the Anet A8 which would catch fire if not modified because it was all they could afford/buy.
Look no further than Micronics sift bin. It was jankey but it was what it took to hit this price point and people accepted it.
All of the buzz was about SLS being finally headed toward enthusiasts and small businesses. Adoption/market size getting bigger and suddenly good SLS is affordable in the near future. All of this was killed with this acquisition as FormLabs is the wrong company for this trajectory. Even the fact that FormLabs is asking $4k for the * privilege * to use third-party materials is a strong indicator.
Do we expect anytime soon that FormLabs will beat what is already out there? Sinterit Lisa: $10k: https://sinterit.com/3dprinters/lisa/
My money is on that the next/first budget SLS will be made and engineered in China. I don't know who will be next but it likely won't be another startup in the west.
The whole ecosystem here in the West doesn't favour starting up. It's not easy to do it in China either, but the whole supply chain is there (as such also the knowledge/support) and the business environment makes it more likely for it to happen there.
I have an Ender 3, it works much better than this printer. Watch Strange Parts on YouTube, he was sent a review printer and couldn't get it to print despite being on call with the inventor/CEO himself for hours to debug it. Also, Ender 3 had a fire risk with the bed power/PSU connector too.
From the CEOs perspective, doing this he can at least get the Kickstarter backers their money back since they likely couldn't get the printer to a good state given all the issues.
Agreed, and don't forget how important it is how much cheaper skilled labor is in China.
SLS4All has an entire machine kit for $7,000
https://sls4all.com/store/inova-mk1-parts-set-del-oct24/
It’s no $4,000. But it’s open source, so a potential candidate for Chinese derivatives and a race to the bottom like we saw with the Ender3.