Slashdot Mirror

My colleague Bathsheba Grossman sells a "Klein Bottle Opener":
http://bathsheba.com/

If you get it monogrammed at this point you may not get it in time for Christmas.

I reckon the group most affected by this will be patternmakers. This is already a dying art, now designers can print a pattern directly from their desktop, with shrinkage rates and draft calculated by software. I've worked a bit in a foundry - our guys were more mouldmakers than patternmakers, and the amount of work it takes to make a mould that allows a clean finished part is phenomenal. This technology could take most of their work away - except for the most tedious final polishing.

We are still a long way away from people making bootleg Fisher-Price at home, but I'm sure that day will come. Hopefully the manufacturing industry can cope with it better than the media companies have with their product!

Also, see http://bathsheba.com/

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey is a great scan of the visible universe.

You can view it in Google Sky, NASA makes the raw data available, and you can even get a 3D crystal etching of it.

If you want to find out what's going on with people creating 3D works that are meant for 3D printing/replication, and what the implications of copyability are, check Bathsheba Grossman's work:

http://www.bathsheba.com/

Maybe we can get her to make a comment on cheap duplication. I think she's already getting some effects from service bureau-level duplication (Shapeways).

Maybe not in plastic, but some good 3d printed sculptures and math models

Maybe not in plastic, but some good 3d printed sculptures and math models

I'm surprised there hasn't been mention of Bathsheba's work, "exploring how math, science and sculpture meet".

I found someone making topological sculptures (weird knots, cross-caps, etc.) in bronze using a metal fabber

Bathsheba Grossman http://www.bathsheba.com/

This is already in existence (not that it isn't incredibly cool!). Here's a link to a fellow slashdotter's sculpture site; he has an article describing the technology. Oh, and the art is really neat.. I don't know him, nor do I own any of the pieces though I would like to.

http://www.bathsheba.com/sculpt/process/index.html #3dprint

Not just plastic

http://www.bathsheba.com/sculpt/process/

In part:
To start with, the design is laid down, one layer at a time, in stainless-steel powder held in place by a laser-activated binder. You can see the layering on the finished pieces, it is the source of the characteristic texture of my work. Each layer is .004" to .007" thick.

The steel granules are so fine that they feel like very heavy, cool flour. During the build the extra unbound powder supports the piece, so no extra structure is needed to handle undercuts. The powder is very flowable, it's not caky like cornstarch, so removing this extra supporting powder from the finished model is quite easy. It slides off with a little shake and a light brush, and it can be poured out of interior spaces.

...in plastic or resin, starch, what haveyou.

Here's some DNA that's 6" big:
    http://www.bathsheba.com/crystal/dna/big.html

If that's too big for you, they also have:
    http://www.bathsheba.com/crystal/dna/

Here's some DNA that's 6" big:
    http://www.bathsheba.com/crystal/dna/big.html

If that's too big for you, they also have:
    http://www.bathsheba.com/crystal/dna/

http://www.bathsheba.com/ it is way cool.