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?

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.

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

[PsyQo]

I bet they are printing a new webserver right now.

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?

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.

No problem

[jspoon]

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

Re:The uses are endless

[uNople]

Breast implants?

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:Can't say much more than

[Anonymous Coward]

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