Posted on 12/18/2012 3:30:43 PM PST by null and void
3-D Printer ping!
Some day we won’t have to wait for delivery, we’ll just print our order. Of course there will always be those illegal file sharing programs and open source competitors.
:p
but of course
This is probably the future of manufacturing. With a big enough printer, couldn’t one “print” sections of a house, boat, car or furniture?
With a big enough printer one could print a skyscraper or ship.
Pretty cool, can’t wait for my husband to come home from work and explain the stuff I didn’t get.
It would actually be kind of cool. I wonder if a tiny Enterprise model wasn’t one of the first things they made?
Yep, you just have to buy the pattern from the copyright holder, or check the Linux pages for an open source version.
Open source aircraft? or pay for the pattern? choices... choices...
With a big enough printer one could print a death star.
Cool. GPS-jammers, EMPers, microwave denial systems?
““print” sections of a house, boat, car or furniture?”
as long as it’s made of plastic - or something that can be “printed”.
I am being proven right.
It will, but I think people should broaden their view a bit - 3D printing with plastics is just a very, very, very small part of the overall “additive manufacturing” revolution that is coming upon us.
Additive machining/manufacturing is going to revolutionize manufacturing and substantially lower per-unit costs. Now, instead of dragging in a huge block of material “X” and machining away 80+% of it into scrap, you’re going to have raw input material and you’re going to use only what you need.
Further, your need for tooling is going to go way down, as well as the cost for workholding devices (like vises, trunnions, clamps, tombstones, etc). All that stuff in a modern CNC shop costs big bucks and adds to the cost of equipment.
I'm still stuck on the "low cost hobbyist 3-d printer" ... where are these things hiding?
For hobbyists like railroaders it opens up a whole new world.
Why buy that specific HO scale part when you can make it at home? Why buy a plastic model kit? Just download the specs and make your own 1/48th scale B-17.
www.printrbot.com
I am looking art the plus model.
as long as it’s made of plastic - or something that can be “printed”.
Can't find the video right now but I saw one recently where they were 3-D printing walls for a house in concrete. On site. Full scale.
“The printer can create touch-sensitive areas in the structure that can be connected to a simple, printed circuit board.”
Eventually, we’ll probably have small 3D printers that can print the circuit boards along with the things they’re designed to control. Then things will really get interesting. Print your own Playstation 6 :)
Imagine if you could 3D print a tank, or a helicopter. Instead of shipping an entire army’s worth of hardware to fight a war, you could infiltrate men, a few big 3D printers (or just build them with smaller printers), and a few shiploads worth of material. All of a sudden, there’s a tank division in the enemy’s capital.
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