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Study Finds 3D Printers Pay For Themselves In Under a Year
Lucas123 writes "Researchers using a RepRap open source 3D printer found that the average household could save as much as $2,000 annually and recoup the cost of the printer in under a year by printing out common household items. The Michigan Technical University (MTU) research group printed just 20 items and used 'conservative' numbers to find that the average homeowner could print common products, such as shower rings or smartphone cases, for far less money than purchasing them online at discount Websites, such as Google Shopper. 'It cost us about $18 to print all [20] items... the lowest retail cost we could find for the same items online was $312 and the highest was $1,943,' said Joshua Pearce, an associate professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at MTU. 'The unavoidable conclusion from this study is that the RepRap [3D printers] is an economically attractive investment for the average U.S. household already.'"
I wonder... have they tried our Chinese friends?
Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
You forgot:
19. A 3D printer is invented that can make a full course meal in seconds, we call it a replicator eventually we don't have to do any real work anymore so Scotty becomes obese.
20. Since we don't do any real work anymore, soon it becomes popular to randomly speak in meaningless technobabble so that people can still feel important.
http://www.spike.com/video-clips/mr9tu4/cinemassacre-top-10-star-trek-technobabbles
21. But it's ok because people still end up making more sense than your rant just did.
Careful with names containing L slashdot.org/~AiphaWolf_HK slashdot.org/~AlphaWoif_HK slashdot.org/~AiphaWoif_HK
1) Print gun
2) Rob bank
3) Profit!
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Not only from China. There's probably plastic mines all over the world.
Don't mock the article. Here's what I found from a brief Google search:
Yearly spending per household 2009:
Housing – shelter – $10,023
Pensions, Social Security – $5,027
Food – food at home – $3,465
Transportation – gasoline, motor oil – $2,384
Shower curtain rings - $2,105
Healthcare – $2,853
You'd be surprised how much the average household spends on shower curtain rings. Shower curtain ring failure is an important cause of household injury, and has a high fatality rate. Also, you probably underestimate addictiveness of the shower curtain. While you may only need the ones that came with your shower curtain when you moved into the house 15 years ago, plenty of addicts blow through new shower curtain at a rate of dozens per day.
You may have heard of Narcotics Anonymous or the AA. There's also the SCA, and a non-spiritual group called Glass door which helps people get over this dreadful affliction.
While 3d printers may reduce the cost of the curtain rings, which may help financially, they will not be doing anything for the root cause of the problem. This is just another reason 3d printers should be banned from general use.
That's stupid, everyone knows it grows in the pacific ocean
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