What with me being a really big nerd and all, you would think that I'd consider a project like Fab@home to be really cool. A 3D printer you can make at home with readily available parts on open source software! Faboo!
It just doesn't do anything for me. I can't help but think that the desktop CNC mills that I mentioned earlier are a better way to go right now. They are also driven with OS software and the hardware costs are similar, but you can make finished quality metal or plastic parts instead of slopping looking stuff made from hot glue.
Part of me wonders if Fab@home wouldn't work much better if they had based the unit around a desktop CNC design like Sherline produces. They could have replaced the cutting head and motor with an injector unit. Unfortunately I think their simple syringe injector design itself may be why the final part quality isn't impressing me much.
UPDATE: The RepRap project seems to have the right idea. Mostly. It's aiming for a final cost of about $400 and you can build things out of actual plastic. But I really would rather not have to make my own circuit boards. The Tommelise project is trying to emulate RepRap but it's even cheaper because he's using wood instead of metal. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I think I'd really prefer to have a metal frame and the RepRap metal frame design isn't difficult to produce.
UPDATE2: Sears sells (or perhaps sold since it isn't on their website anymore) a CNC woodworking mill for ~$1800. Interesting, but still not what I'm looking for. I'm rarely going to want to work large metal parts. I'm not trying to build a car here. On the other hand I live in a house (or will when I have something like this), so working large wooden parts is great. I suppose I could turn out some pistol grips with this, but...
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