A 3D Printer On Every Desktop?

holy_calamity writes "Two Cornell researchers have designed an open source 3D printer that costs just $2,400. The self-assembly kit is part of what they call the Fab@Home project — they hope it will spark development of rapid prototyping for the consumer market in the same way the Altair 8800 did for personal computing in seventies." Here is a video showing a completed machine constructing a silicone bulb (16-MB WMV).
Update: 01/10 04:02 GMT by KD : The developers of this kit are at Cornell, not Carnegie Mellon University as the original post erroneously stated.

Comments

hmmmmm

[User 956]

A 3D Printer On Every Desktop?

I just circled my desk, and it looks like the HP Laserjet I already have exists in 3 Dimensions. Surely this means HP has beaten this other company to market.

Re:hmmmmm

[Surt]

I'm afraid that's just a stereoscopic projection trick, not real 3d. If you reach out and put your hand on 'top' of your printer, you'll find it's really quite flat.

Re:hmmmmm

[PRC Banker]

Three is a number under ten. Therefore it should be spelled out using letters.

You do realise that 10 is not under 10? Therefore why do you spell it with letters?

Re:hmmmmm

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, 38D is much more impressive. ;-)

I wonder

[User 956]

Here is a video showing a completed machine constructing a silicone bulb (16M-MB WMV).

Given the ungodly expense of regular inkjet cartridges, I can only wonder how much the refills for this thing will run.

Ink more expensive than gold?

[LiquidCoooled]

Or can you just print your own gold?

Linking a 16 MB vid from the /. frontpage...

[PsyQo]

I bet they are printing a new webserver right now.

Suddenly...

[Dr. Cody]

...the "40K" in Warhammer 40K isn't US dollars.

Re:The uses are endless

[Anonymous Coward]

C'mon! Silicon, 3D... We all know what we are going to print first!

Re:Where's the porn angle?

[JamesTRexx]

Download and compile your own Realdoll?

Re:Where's the porn angle?

[Sponge Bath]

I think you are better off investing the $2500 in hookers.
With that kind of money, even I could get laid.

Tea, earl grey, hot!

[McGoon76]

Nuf said...

Re:The uses are endless

[tverbeek]

Imagine typing in page after page of DATA statements for it, copied out of the back of Fabricate! magazine. Ah, those were the days....

Re:Buck would be proud

[kfg]

. . .buy a 3D printer and make another one for a friend . . .

Ok, but you'll need a . . .lathe.

KFG

Re:Amazing

[MyHair]

If I was very cynical I would say this could end capitalism itself :)

Capitalism will end when I can print a blow job.

Re:Boobstrapping?

[modecx]

I don't care what else it can do, as long as it can produce a nice pair of silicone tits.

No problem

[jspoon]

Whenever you get close to running out of material, print another cartridge.

Re:No problem

[numbski]

"Will, don't you see!?!? Chicken or the egg! CHICKEN OR THE EGG!!!"

while ($i==0){
    $i=0;
}

Re:The uses are endless

[uNople]

Breast implants?

Re:The uses are endless

[PitaBred]

I'd make a present for my girlfriend, but I can't find a cheap 3D scanner...

Re:Can't say much more than

[numbski]

Save your money. The API is pretty hosed. I sent a simple command, almost verbatim from the docs, only substituted my own object, and well, it didn't work! Here's the code snippet:

fab("Earl Grey, Hot");

Re:Amazing

[Frogbert]

In 30 years you might witness the end of large scale production of small consumer goods.

And witness the rise of overpriced 3D printer cartridge manufacturing!

Re:Can't say much more than

[Jon Kay]

> fab("Earl Grey, Hot");

Lemme guess - you got a liquid that was almost, but not quite entirely unlike tea.

Re:IP Issues to Hit Action Figure Market

[timeOday]

Dolls? Humbug. I'll be excited when the 3d printer can print up a working copy of itself. Then we can think about robot overlords.

Re:The uses are endless

[EXMSFT]

Ever get frustrated at the plastic parts that break and render something useless?

You bent my wookie!

Re:Can't say much more than

[Anonymous Coward]

If they put him in a miniskirt, he might then be hot...

Easy...

[cirby]

Print the mug upside down.

well, transistors aren't doable yet...

[alizard]

but there's been a system available for milling the copper off copper-clad to turn them into PCBs for at least a generation... but the last time I looked, it was a few K per system.

A talented hacker, or a small team, could design software, hardware, and test out of their own homes without expensive produciton costs.

I put together a team to do this a generation ago, using a BBS for collaboration and the first decent Mac schematic design package for software, though we were stuck with wirewrap for prototyping... but it makes a big difference even in wirewrap to have a machine-generated net list.

There are lots of companies that can take PCB artwork generated by various schematic design packages (usually Gerber format artwork) and will turn them into PCBs with an overnight turnaround if you're willing to pay for it. This is preferable because you can get them with solder masks. The price of schematic design packages have dropped quite a bit to... several in the sub-$100 range, and there are even free and/or Open Source Linux projects for this. (google is your friend)

It costs, but if your hourly rate is a positive number, one can consider them cheaper than wirewrap for any circuit of even moderate complexity.

I'd recommend for hobbyist-level projects that one accepts the size/weight penalties and use leaded through-hole components. . . otherwise, have fun and good luck dealing with soldering surface mount.