The AllForge is being billed as a 3d fabricator that can make 3d objects in everything from candy to metal. Really interesting…
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Wow.
I have one question… how?
There have been so many “scam” kickstarters lately that I am starting to feel pretty skeptical of crazy claims.
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Barely skimmed… it is a CNC (router mill on XYZ gantry) I am guessing?
EDIT: Found their forums. It is an injection mold machine. You need to make the molds with something else before you can do anything with the allforge.
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Good find.
So not quite as instant as their teaser copy would indicate.
And also, Modti, which is apparently some parent company.
If I had to fill in the blanks, seems they use filaments as a programmable mold, which material is then cast in.
Perhaps even stranger is that they’ve been favoriting random tweets of mine
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I think this is a humbler sort of thing.
From a forum post by their CEO
The Allforge machines are what we call 3D Molding Machines. These machines will utilize 3D printed and/or other material molds in order for you to replicate all your plastic, metal, candy, and other parts - faster and lower cost than ever before.
You will either 3D print these molds yourself out of plastic, CNC them out of metal/plastic on your home mill, or we have teamed up with 3D Hubs to allow you to go on our website to order a 3D printed mold from a 3D printer near you
Hmmm… Humbler it may very well be, but it reeks to me of someone putting a lot of hype into something over substance. But that could just be the “screwed by too many failed, overhyped Kickstarters” me talking. 
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That’s an ironic statement considering that’s what Glowforge critics are saying about Glowforge…
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It seems perfectly reasonable to me. Though I always thought injection molding was pretty simple to begin with, and they certainly could have done more (like allow spinning the mold for doing hollow shells).
I didn’t look for their dimensions, and don’t remember if any pictures had a person or other size reference in frame. But I picture this thing as about a 2 foot cube at most. That would let you make quite a few things, and for many people would leave them limited by the size of their 3D printer for making the molds rather than the size of the Allforge. Still, bigger is always nice.
The main thing I see to watch for is information on what infill options are possible. If you are strapped in to proprietary substances, then it is possible to be a printer scheme (cheap machine, overpriced frequent refills)
The irony isn’t lost. What convinced me about the GF, though, was:
- Reading about the additional investor backing,
- Reading up about Dan’s background (I didn’t know much about prior to GF),
- Believing that Dan is sincerely as honest, straightforward, up-front and as practical an individual he can be within limits of a person in his position, NDAs and all that other stuff
- I can reasonably cancel my order up until the time it is shipped
So when I saw that AF was going to reveal “big news” on May 1st and they put out a model call-out for actors representing ‘DIY type people’, it just left a bad taste in the mouth.
But then again I never take a person seriously who stands with arms crossed in front of themselves with their chest puffed out in a ‘hero pose’. Heh.
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If I stuck with plastics and candy, I could just go this route:
I like the fact that since we can get a refund, we are defending the actual merits of the GF (and the team producing it) as opposed to attempting to negate buyer’s remorse.
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It’s probably an automated technique for getting a bigger following. Marketing industry often uses some algorithm to like tweets and other social media with specific words or phrases. You just used those words and got an auto-like.
They just released their kickstarter video on facebook and youtube. Doesn’t seem like a game changer to me, personally, but I appreciate what it brings. Could be a useful tool for those who want a home molding solution.
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The use cases for this and target market are pretty small.
Making the actual mold is going to be the most difficult step in this whole process. It takes a LOT of work to get your design to the point where you are ready to mold it.
Then are you really producing enough quantity to justify having a machine pouring said mixture into your molds for you? Doubtful. Once you have a good buck, without this thing you can make multiple molds from which to pull. I could have a bank of 20 molds all of the same thing curing at the same time. Empty, repeat. This can only hold 1.
I just dont see where too many people that are going to want this…
It got my attention at ‘metal’…
Considering these molds are plastic, Its looking like it might be metal infused resins (cold casting) or stuff like pewter which have a much lower temperature.
It’s only soft metals with a melting point of around 180F that’s lower that boiling point at most altitudes. Pity.
http://community.allforge.com/t/what-kinds-of-metals-can-be-used/253
Price guess: $1k