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Inside the World's Biggest Consumer 3D Printing Factory
Sparrowvsrevolution writes "Much has been made of consumer 3D printers like Makerbot's Replicator and the open-source RepRap. But for those not yet willing to shell out thousands of dollars for their own machine, Shapeways offers 3D printing as a mail-order service. And its new Queens, NY factory is now the biggest production facility for consumer 3D printing in the world. Just one of Shapeways' industrial 3D printers, which use lasers to fuse nylon dust, can print a thousand objects in a day, with far higher resolution than a consumer machine as well as intricate features like interlocking and nested parts. The company hopes to have more than fifty of those printers up and running within a year. And it also offers printing in materials that aren't attainable at home, like gold, silver, ceramic, sandstone and steel."
If I front some capital, can I become the next Shapeways? Do I just buy machines people can't afford, and then print things on those machines, selling them at a markup sufficient to recoup my costs? Or is there something else going on?
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
I ordered the sintered steel thorn dice set from them for roleplaying games, and I have to say I'm delighted. I'd imagine in about fifty years home manufactories will be about as common as power tool sets are today, although if you want the best quality you'll have to go to larger producers. Mostly they will be used for short term, specialised, low stress, or artistic requirements though, I can't see anyone printing off high end tech like the latest laptop cheaper than it could be bought through regular channels.
Eh its all on their site. The steel dice that let me roll like Sauron cost about $12-$15 each, with the expected postage. Those were the most expensive ones though except the gold plated versions, so material used would be the main thing associated with the cost. http://www.shapeways.com/model/126266/thorn-dice-set-with-decader.html
Okay, what if I submit a design to print a 3D gun (or replacement parts for one)? What about the packaging for, say, a credit card skimmer? How about a timing circuit made entirely out of electrically-conductive plastic (so it doesn't show up on an x-ray scanner)?
Um, then you should receive a 3D gun, the packaging for a credit card skimmer, or a timing circuit. Haven't we gotten past this "make the tools illegal" crap yet? It's what you do with them, not the item itself that's problematic, and there are valid uses for all the above.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
They charge by the amount of material used, as a simple glance at http://www.shapeways.com/materials would show you.
Um, then you should receive a 3D gun, the packaging for a credit card skimmer, or a timing circuit. Haven't we gotten past this "make the tools illegal" crap yet? It's what you do with them, not the item itself that's problematic, and there are valid uses for all the above.
I've tried telling my government that... but they keep arresting, torturing, threatening, and imprisoning me whenever I do. I'm also on a whole bunch of watch lists, kill lists, security lists, lists of lists, databases of lists, lists of databases... I don't even know anymore whether I'm coded green, yellow, orange, additional screening, deportation... it seems like they come up with new ways to criminalize things every day. I don't know a single person who isn't a felon anymore... the only difference is, not all of them have been caught or pissed in the cheerios of someone "important".
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
before the MAFIAA turn their attention to these 3D printing outfits.
You've got that exactly backwards. Tea Party people hate government interference and enjoy usenet shootong on weekends. His comments are those of a liberal weenie.
In a banjs new industry, it's all about marketing, getting market share. Profits come later, after the market stabilizes and you are the market leader. So plan to spend a lot more on marketing than machines at first. Also, three months later, better machines will come out. Buy smart and plan to replace often. Better processes will also be developed, so budget big for research and development so that your process is better than the other guy's.
I challenge you to use a modern, fully equipped machine shop to machine a fully functional horse.
A horse is not low tech. It's taken 4 billion years of evolution and controlled breeding to make a modern horse.
Control + scrolwheel down works in most browsers
Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
Without an opening in the cavity you can't get the powder out. You're starting with a bed of powder and you're fusing parts of it together - if you try to make an unbroken shell you're just going to wind up with something full of your material powder.
Rich old people don't have poor eyesight, poor old people do. Rich old people can have their cataracts, nearsightedness, age-related farsightedness, and astigmatism completely cured for $15,000, the price of two CrystaLens implant surgeries.
I'm 60 and have one in my left eye, my vision is better than 20/20 at all distances. My eyesight (which used to be incredibly nearsighted as well as age-related farsighted; I had contacts AND reading glasses) is better than most 20 year olds. I now need no corrective lenses at all.
Hooray for technology!
You will be assimilated... if you can afford it.
Maybe Forbes is for poor old people who wish they were rich?
Free Martian Whores!