Philips Debuts 3D Printable Components To Repair Products (tomshardware.com) 35
Philips has launched a new initiative called "Philips Fixables," offering free, officially drafted 3D-printable replacement parts to encourage self-repair and sustainability. The program is initially available in the Czech Republic but aims to expand over time. Tom's Hardware reports: This is a new idea, so only one component is available right now for download. The piece happens to be a 3mm comb for one of their shavers, but Philips assures there will be more components made available for more of their devices over time. This isn't the release of a grand library of parts by any means, but it does showcase a shift in supporting communities in search of businesses that support repairable hardware. [...]
The official Philips Fixables web page has a link for anyone in the general public to submit a request to add a specific component. Philips will notify customers with a download link if the component they suggested is able to be shared to Philips Fixables. It's not clear what sort of turnaround time to expect for these requests and whether there are limitations on what components will be made available.
According to Philips, consumers must adhere to the recommended print settings for their components to get the best results. This is the only way to ensure the replacement part is sturdy enough to stand in for a repair. Compromising on fill space for time could make or break your user experience, for example, but if done correctly, a replacement 3D print can be a useful long term solution. You can check out the files over at Printables.com.
The official Philips Fixables web page has a link for anyone in the general public to submit a request to add a specific component. Philips will notify customers with a download link if the component they suggested is able to be shared to Philips Fixables. It's not clear what sort of turnaround time to expect for these requests and whether there are limitations on what components will be made available.
According to Philips, consumers must adhere to the recommended print settings for their components to get the best results. This is the only way to ensure the replacement part is sturdy enough to stand in for a repair. Compromising on fill space for time could make or break your user experience, for example, but if done correctly, a replacement 3D print can be a useful long term solution. You can check out the files over at Printables.com.
Good (Score:4, Insightful)
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Indeed.
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Love it and practice it every day. What's their business model though?
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3d-printed parts aren't very strong, don't have comfortable "hand," and won't last. The customer loyalty gained by letting people make a temporary part should be worth something, and it would be very rare that a person who can afford to replace the item is going to use 3d-printed parts forever.
Additionally, when a product breaks and you're mad you have to replace it, there is an emotional desire to switch to a different brand. This can save a lot of those situations, and instead of being angry at a product
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Unless you are nasty as a business, I think spare parts are more an obligation or service than a business model. The real business is in making the entire device. So if people know that they can make their own spare parts, they might be more willing to buy your device.
Especially electric razors are pretty solid and durable. They only things about them that wear out are the shaving heads and (if it is rechargeable) the battery.
Also, by publishing these parts themselves, the manufacturer is also communicating
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Do what? Be clear here, there's a difference between opening something up and putting extra engineering effort into creating something for the customer (which may or may not suit them).
I will bet good money that Philips will reverse track on this. They are paying extra for engineering effort here to create something a consumer can do. There's no business case for going through this much extra expense. It is the difference between publishing your project as open source, and publishing your project open sourc
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And that "rubbish part" will be fine for a lot of people who do not have the skills to design them themselves.
I am also more likely to buy something that can be upgraded , and repaired than something that can not.
The engineering drawings are already done and modelled in 3D, there is little to zero additional costs.
So... (Score:1)
You have to buy a 3-D printer (presumably from Philips) to print a part to repair your shaver.
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TFA says they partnered with Prusa.
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You can just ask a company to 3D print it for you. I just ordered a replacement part for an old joystick from China. 3 of them professionally 3D printed, about 60 cents each, plus 2 Euro shipping.
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The only piece that is available for now https://www.printables.com/@Ph... [printables.com] is the sort of thing that is sold 5.49 € original Philips https://ersatzteildirect.de/de... [ersatzteildirect.de] I expect the 3D printed plastic is going to be uncomfortable on the skin. I think the use case is you print the piece so you still can shave daily while you wait for the original to be delivered to your door.
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I was thinking of surface roughness, in particular at the edges. Moulded pieces are much smoother.
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My comment refer to the edges. The skin will feel the edges of the successive printed terraces (the skin . This problem can be solved by sand blasting but will add to the cost, and will make it not worth economically for as long as official or off-brand parts are available. On the website I quoted, the off-brand option for this piece sells for 5 € the pack of 3, shipped from Germany.
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Missing sentence: "(the skin is soft enough for the tool to enter the skin and make contact through the lateral side of the edges)"
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Can you explain how or why " the 3D printed plastic is going to be uncomfortable on the skin". What precisely do you think the difference is?
In the case of this specific part the comb is printed bed down. There are a few reasons for that, one of them being to make that final line as smooth as possible, but it is worth noting that first bed layer results in a smooshed drop being printed which if you run your finger along has a relatively sharp edge.
This may still work, and may not cut someone, but it would be far less comfortable than the injection molded original. Bonus points if your filament has moisture in it then the printed line is not perf
One Comb Attachment (Score:2)
Oh man this is pitiful. I just searched Printables for "philips fixables" and they posted exactly one comb attachment. There are more 3rd-party Philips-compatible attachments than there are official ones.
No wonder they didn't post a link. But for anyone who wants to see, here you go [printables.com].
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They started the program with 1 upload, now they actually have 3, and people are giving feedback about what they should do next. Sounds like it's going well!
Replacement part (Score:2)
Part, not parts.
No replaceable battery available, but the little plastic guide can now be replaced with a crappy 3d printed part.
Those layer lines look comfortable rubbing on your skin.
A smell step (Score:1)
Production-quality parts? (Score:2)
Are we at the point where an FDM printer can make production-quality parts? Everything I see is some organic shape like everybody's D&D character that only needs to sit on a shelf. SLA printers are better but in my experience you need SLS technology to really make sturdy parts and the surfaces aren't smooth like you'd get from injection molded parts.
Re: Production-quality parts? (Score:2)
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I am a mechanical systems engineer for a boat manufacturer that makes roughly 24 high end boats ($500k+/ea) per year. We use a lot of FDM printed production parts on our vessels and have had really good success with their performance. True, we have to design around the materials available and peculiarities of the process. But the flexibility for quick-turn, high mix low volume parts is fantastic. You won't find our highly specialized mechanical parts on Printables or the like though.
We aren't alone, I ha
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Significant parts of Prusa printers have been printed on their printers for years.
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Go back to the original. The original RepRap project that brought 3D printing to the early hacker hobbyist before it took off as an industry stood for "Replicating Rapid Prototyper". The "replicating" part of that means that printer could 3d print its own parts, 7 years before Prusa Research even became a company.
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Define "production quality". FDM has always been "production quality", but like every manufacturing technique it has benefits, downsides, strengths, and limitations. It's not a case of looking smooth, a production quality part needs to have the mechanical characteristics and production capabilities suitable for a part.
E.g. SLA printers look much better, but you can't print one with an enclosed space as it traps resin. FDM printers could print parts much stronger than SLA printers using materials such as nyl
DIY printing cheaper than replacement parts? (Score:2)
Presuming the DIY parts are the one likely to break, why not have a program for making, storing and supplying such replacement parts. Are they trying to look green but really hoping the self printing will be an obstacle? Granted, this is good for very very old equipment.
BTW whats's up with ./ titles on the post - I could not even finish a round English sentence?
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As has always been the case, slashdot borrows the title from the linked article.
Now get off my lawn or I turn on the sprinklers!
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They do. Here's the official part supplied by Philips compared to the 3D printed one in TFA https://ersatzteildirect.de/de... [ersatzteildirect.de] 5EUR. Mind you if you had a 3D printer you could make the same part for about 20Eurocents.
Miele also has a 3d printer part library (Score:3)
That looks pretty Ghetto ... (Score:2)
... as if it were my first attempt at using a cheap-ass plastic filament printer to print a brittle comb for my hairclipper.
I'm pretty sure my local hackerspace can come up with a better version of this within a few hours simply by measuring/scanning the clipper and/or other combs and using a better printer.