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First Factory Use Of 'Replicator' For Spare Parts

Posted by timothy on from the building-the-feed dept.

maddogsparky writes: "Over at Spacedaily, there is an article about how a 3D printer was used to fabricate a replacement part in a production environment--the first known case. They've also done some tests in NASA's vomit comet and are planning on a shuttle test for applications on the ISS or Mars trip."

1 of 239 comments (clear)

  1. Why is this news? by davey23sol · · Score: 3, Troll

    I don't understand why this is news. At Siggraph they have had the 3D printers for years. You can get 3D printers that plug into networks via regular Ethernet and you can feed it CAD files. They have shown full working models of things like engines. Check out Z Corp and a whole list of resources here.

    This is far from a "replicator." The items take quite a bit of time to built up. Even small items take over a day. Not an instant solution by far...

    --


    "Yes.. no matter what the culture, folk dancing is stupid." -MST3K