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The Explosive Growth of 3D Printing
MojoKid writes "If you've ever attended a World Maker Faire, the first thing that strikes you is how organic the whole scene is. Inventors, creators, and engineers from all walks of life have their gadgets, science projects, and creations on display for all to see. Some of the creations you see on display range from downright amazing to completely bizarre. One of the big attractions, a technology area that has experienced explosive growth, is the land of 3D Printing. MakerBot took the open source RepRap 3D replicator project mainstream back in 2009 with the release of the Cup Cake CNC machine, then came the Thing-o-Matic and then a little bot called Replicator. With each iteration, improvements in process and technology are bringing better, more capable 3D printers to market, from MakerBot's new Replicator 2, to new players in the field like Solidoodle, Up!3D, Ultimaker, and Tinkerines. To watch a 3D printer in action is like witnessing art, science and engineering all working together in glorious unison."
The irony of your low-uid username and this comment is awesome.
Grammer Nazis - I mod you "troll" unless you actually add something on-topic. Yes, I know I have mispellings in my sig.
The Explosive Growth of 3D Printing
I thought we agreed not to print printable machines that print more printable machines. It's Second Life all over again ... IRL!
My work here is dung.
Already started.
Thingiverse has received DMCA takedown notices for a couple of models, some legitimate (Games Workshop probably has a pretty clear-cut case for copyright infringement), others resolved (over a Penrose Triangle based on a design from the 1930s) and at least one other which I recall, but can't find a link for where a parent printed up a replacement part for a broken toy but took it down at the request of the toy manufacturer (if memory serves).
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
Unless the technology improves substantially, 3d printed guns are going to succeed largely in stimulating the market for guns that you can operate with multiple missing fingers...
When 3D printers can print rifled steel I'll start worrying about it.
Oh plastic would work, once, for a single shot application. Start worrying when you can print out copper jacketed lead crimped onto a brass case full of smokeless powder, in other words pretty much never.
Another problem is in strength applications the printed plastic to handle a force of X pounds is, as a raw material, Y times the cost of steel. So to correct your post:
"When 3D printers can print rifled plastic at less than 20x the cost of traditionally machined steel at the same strength I'll start worrying about it."
Not to say its useless for gunsmithing. I think the idea of laser scanning a hand, and being able to print the exact "reverse polarity" image of the owners hand to make a truely personalized bolt-on handgrip is pretty interesting. Very soon, collectors will see boring cross hatching grips as an indicator of pre-2010's firearms. Perhaps grips with such detail that they match the wrinkles (or hair) of the owners palm. Also embedding logos (probably illegally copied, or course) and other art works.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
For the moment, costs and material limitations are probably keeping things on that front (mostly) in check. There are a few areas(like the Games Workshop figurines), where the price is quite high based largely on copyright and there is also a demand for numerous replicas(though, incidentally, I'm told that the real 'pirates' tend to use conventional mould-making and casting techniques, since those are reasonably efficient for small batches and far cheaper than a 3d printer that can capture fine detail properly).
There just aren't too many things that are made of dubious-quality plastic but are expensive enough to clone at current prices. Nothing like music where, even on dialup, the price of a CD worth went from $15 to ~$0...
Or as my French speaking girlfriend suggested: Faire is the French word for "To make" so it could be a play on words?
Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
So, does anybody care to speculate about the mid/long term distribution/ownership of these things?
I keep seeing the breathless predictions of 'desktop manufacturing, one in every household!'; but I also see that (among the people, friends, family, neighbors needing computer assistance, etc. who I have cause to know about) ownership of inkjets is actually falling, despite the fact that those are nearly free; because it's easier to just upload the pictures to some service that owns a $20k+ printer but will sell you a tiny slice of it for under 10 cents a print. Laser printers are holding the line, so far, among people who push paper.
As a technology, 3d printing is obviously here to stay; but the value proposition of actually owning one, rather than renting a tiny slice of somebody's much classier one over the internet, seem about as mainstream as the economics of owning a high quality large format photo printer or a machine shop. Definitely something that certain professions would lead you to do, and definitely something that a hobbyist would want access to; but not necessarily something that you would seriously consider owning...
Since all I looked at were completed objects, I can't say anything about how fast they were produced, how reliable or easy to calibrate the printers are, etc. What I mostly looked for were irregularities. In a 3D printed object, the layers are very visible. If you think of a cylinder, you expect the sides to be as smooth as possible, i.e., no protrusions or indentations. The layers should be completely horizontal, no glitches or waviness that make you think the printhead jiggled or anything. If you think of a sphere, the topmost layers should look like perfect concentric circles, and the top shouldn't look like it's about to cave in.
It was insanely crowded in the 3D Printer Pavilion, so once I decided that a vendor's objects were not the best, I moved on. But there were two noteworthy units: Sorry to say, the new Makerbot 2 was a disappointment, given that it's one of the most expensive units at $2800. The objects they had on display were some of the worst. The surprise winner, and the one I'm recommending to a nonprofit children's museum I'm working with that wants to buy one, was the Tinkerines Ditto. It produced the best objects, and at $900 in kit form or $1400 assembled, it was amazing bang for the buck.
Tinkerines is new to the scene, so they don't yet have a dual-nozzle head, nor do they yet support ABS plastic (the necessary heated base is still being developed), only PLA. But for our application, it's perfect. The people were really nice too, despite the crowds and the cacophony in the tent.
(Disclaimer: I have no connection with any vendor except as a customer or with Maker Faire except as an attendee.)
My company makes figurines and toys (primarily) for gaming companies.
With the advent of 3D printing, we can get the 3D resources from the client, print out the model in 3D within a day, with accurate dimensions, colours and precision, make changes, before we send it off to our factories to produce the molds for production.
Previously, each mold would cost around $5k to make, with each change costing hundreds of dollars - significant changes resulting in another $5k to restart the mold.
Cost savings aside, we also save about 6 months development time. The clients love it, because they can see a physical version of their model / figurine instantly; we love it because we can work easily with the client to make changes, and the factories love it because they have a final product and order without months of delays.
It might not help you, but it sure helps us.