3D printed coffee cups

[sanj]

I've been looking for stackable coffee cups for a long time. The idea of designing my own -- with the ability to make them hollow walled (!!) -- is tremendous.

One interesting artifact of 3D printing: no volume discounts.

(pun intended)

[Luyt]

One interesting artifact of 3D printing: no volume discounts

When you arrive at a design which is commercially feasible in larger volumes, you'd use the printed design for making plaster casting moulds, then use clay slip casting to produce the same cup over and over...

[nickpinkston]

Are you saying you're trying to make them hollow for a dewar effect? I'm not sure if they'll let you do a hollow wall as it's really annoying to get the excess powder out from enclosed volumes (via a small hole usually).

With 3D printing - you do get volume discounts, but Shapeways has always reached the max of these discounts. After this, the companies need to start dropping machine/material prices and engineering for less labor in the post-processing.

[Luc]

It's amazing how Shapeways has improved the quality of these: http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/1078-New-Ceramics-is-...

I wonder how much handwork is involved in cleaning up the printed model and applying the glaze (unless the glaze is printed, too).

[nickpinkston]

They're made by http://www.viridis3d.com/ceramics.htm The materials are dirt cheap ;-) and I believe they were applying the glaze by dipping them in racks.

[jxcole]

I love this. I have in my mind a future where we don't just use open source software for our computers, but we use open source designs for our home appliances and electronics. I have the feeling that, if done well, you could get all sorts of very nice stuff for almost nothing. The next big revolution, after the information revolution, will be the home fabrication revolution.

[adestefan]

> I have the feeling that, if done well, you could get all sorts of very nice stuff for almost nothing

High quality raw materials have a high cost.

[ralphsaunders]

Somehow I think it's more likely that they'll get a flawed product and will have to buy a replacement from a store.

[marknutter]

I'm interested to see what happens when these 3D printers become mainstream and people start to "pirate" physical objects.

[daeken]

One of my favorite short stories is highly related: Printcrime by Cory Doctorow ( http://craphound.com/overclocked/Cory_Doctorow_-_Overclocked... ).

[alexis-d]

It reminds me this discussion: Is Printing a Gun the Same as Buying a Gun? (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3019163)

[MetallicCloud]

Seems like a good idea, but the end result isn't smooth enough for me to get one.

http://cunicode.com/the-octocup-3dprinted-review/

[Luyt]

This is inspirational. I'm going to try to reproduce some of these cups using traditional means: throwing on the potter's wheel, and some assembly when the clay is leather hard.

For example, the 'half cup' isn't hard to make, and a great joke cup for when you ask someone "Do you want another coffee?" and she answers: "Hmmmm, ok, a half one then".

The octocup is easy too, just attach 8 handles to a standard cup, but the effect is surprising. The 'double espresso cup' is the same, only two handles vertically stacked.

And a cup with two bullhorns ;-) What would be a nice name for that cup? A 'Texas Cup'?

[vijayr]

Very nice idea. Some of the designs are very funny (spouted cup, aroma cup). At 50$+ a cup, I wonder who'll actually buy them. But as they say at the beginning of the article, the intention is to experiment and not profit?

[pavlov]

I just ordered several cups as Christmas gifts. I have a few relatives for whom these should be just perfect -- the combination of 3D printing, unexpected topologies and coffee is like a holy trinity that touches on all their interests :)

[rsiqueira]

I almost bought one, but the smallest one is $ 40.91 + $ 19.99 (international shipping) = $ 60.90 a single cup. So I had to gave up.

[josephcooney]

All of the ones I was interested in were 'not for sale' (like the Deer Cup http://www.shapeways.com/model/279127/one_cup_a_day___day_25...). Disappointing.

[angstrom]

Coffee is my weakness; I damn near bought the Kryptonite one.

[Luyt]

I'd like a 'bullcup', a cup with two large bullhorns.

And a 'spongecup', where the inside of the cup is filled with a filament-like structure. Maybe impractical, because hard to clean.

[Samuel_Michon]

I would use a modeler that uses solids, like Vellum Cobalt or SolidWorks (both on the list). However, those aren't free or even low-cost. However, they make creating objects like coffee cups a lot easier and they're a lot more precise.

Edit: The post was removed, but the question was: which program to use to design coffee cups with for ordering with Shapeways.

[nickpinkston]

One was put on http://Thingiverse.com, so I'm sure there are FDMed ones (RepRap, Makerbot, etc.) - but there are actually nice looking ceramic ones.

[marquis]

My designer friends are salivating over this. Does the future mean a home-fabricator as a household item, where we can create tools as well as edible items? I can imagine it would cut down on waste. The business model, like an iTunes for 3D models, will be massive.

[Luyt]

Don't forget that for useful household ceramics you need a lot more than just a 3D printer alone -- You'll need equipment and materials to glaze, and a ceramics kiln (which you can't fire in your kitchen).

[alexchamberlain]

The price has to come down dramatically before this will be a reality.

[sirwanqutbi]

so much for 'cloudflare' the site's is offline.

[deepkut]

These are unbelievably awesome. Christmas gift for that family member who has everything x2?