One thing that's not covered in this particular article, but has come to light recently, is that MakerBot Industries is paying people to make parts for the MakerBot. http://blog.makerbot.com/2009/08/06/makerbot-is-pioneering-d...

My (serious) question... can I run gingerbread, or some other bake-able substrate through one of these? I have a molecular gastronomy inspired art project in mind...

Candyfab! http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/candyfab

http://candyfab.org

The MakerBot can't print gingerbread, but they did create a "Frostruder" a printhead that deposits cake frosting. The Fab@Home project also lets you print with liquefied chocolate.

Fab@Home dream project: chocolate easter bunnies with anatomically correct frosting organs.

How much does it cost to run?

When I looked into these devices in May, the ABS material was $25 per cubic inch. Most of the professional machines are designed to be run 24/7. I.e. if they stop running for too long they get clogged with goo and have to be serviced by a technician.

If you're in the Bay Area, TechShop in Menlo Park has professional versions of these machines and often hosts seminars where you can learn a lot about them for free, or for a moderate price ($30).

I can't imagine it's that much. Here it says $30 for 5lbs, http://store.makerbot.com/plastic.html

How many cubic inches does five pounds get you? Hopefully many?

This page contains the video of one in action: http://www.makerbot.com/

I don't know if it's less expensive to build it yourself but I think Makerbot sells parts for repraps also.

http://reprap.org http://reprap.org/bin/view/Main/PartsSupplies

The Utah teapot is used in 3d demos because of it's topological properties, though it does make a cameo in Toy Story.

This is a huge leap. Last time I checked "affordable" 3d printers did cost 15k dollars.

It's a price vs quality thing.

Makerbot is a great thing though because it makes this affordable, whatever the quality, some manufacturing capability at low quality (resolution, material choices) is better than none at all.

Exactly right. The MakerBot is not a threat to Stratsys, Objet, or any of the other big 3D printer companies, but it does open the door to any school with an engineering bent and the ability to run a profitable bake sale.

It helps teach the principles of 3D printing, give people a good reason to pick up CAD skills, and hopefully will produce a cool product or two.

I would say it actually helps the high-end fab manufacturers by creating an onramp into the world of 3d printing.

You're also able to lease many of them now. It's usually about the cost of a car payment. A Dimension machine would run you just under $300/month.