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User: GameboyRMH

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  1. Re:Can't Wait... on MakerBot Gets $10 Million Investment · · Score: 2

    I considered a 3-seat layout, keep in mind that the McLaren F1-style layout makes the car wider and makes overtaking difficult, especially on the street.

    I'm planning a 2-seater that be easily changed between RHD and LHD. The only parts you'd actually need 2 of are the steering rack itself and some hydraulic hard lines (even then, you could probably get away with using soft lines to allow the master cylinders to be relocated, but I'd rather not).

  2. Re:Can't Wait... on MakerBot Gets $10 Million Investment · · Score: 1

    I'll just slightly overbuild and sand the panels if they can't be made smooth enough (as is almost certain to be the case). Then I'll paint over them (I wasn't planning to go unpainted, but that would certainly be a good option for an offroad vehicle - look at ATVs with this kind of body). I'm planning metallic black on black plastic. The Lotus Elise already has ABS panels so you can look at how bodywork is done on those. Many newer cars have some ABS panels as well.

  3. Re:Oh god, more delusions on MakerBot Gets $10 Million Investment · · Score: 1

    Yes I admit printing legos is far off. As for the cost of electricity and materials, those are low. Practice prints will only be an issue for people developing an object (and are becoming a non-issue entirely at a rapid rate as these printers become more precise). Most people will just download a design and send it to their printer so design time would be no more of a consideration in printing objects than it is in running Linux.

  4. Re:Oh god, more delusions on MakerBot Gets $10 Million Investment · · Score: 1

    I'm not talking about building crankshafts and helicopter blades with this. Does it really matter if your computer case/peripherals or motorcycle body panels aren't quite as structurally sound as injection-molded pieces? Does it matter what your furniture's frame looks like, and do you think the cheapo wood with pressed-on spike plates that is currently used is really that strong?

    I'm not saying it's anything like a Star Trek replicator by any means, but these aren't the flimsy prototype builders of the '90s either.

  5. Re:Oh god, more delusions on MakerBot Gets $10 Million Investment · · Score: 1

    Yes :-(

  6. Re:Can't Wait... on MakerBot Gets $10 Million Investment · · Score: 2

    I am not shitting you, I am seriously looking into building a custom car with 3D printed body panels and interior framework.

    I'd have to scale-up an open source printer (like an Ultimaker or Makerbot) to AT LEAST 6'x6'x3' build volume (although a monstrous 10'x10'x5' would be ideal to avoid unnecessary seams) and then I would design and print the ABS panels to go on a chromoly or stainless tube-framed car. The panels would be only for aerodynamic and weatherproofing purposes.

    Forming the body out of fiberglass is traditionally the most laborious part of building a custom/kit car, and then the fiberglass needs gelcoat, an awful paint that fades and cracks and looks like a kid's toy from the '50s, and then the fiberglass sags with age on top of all that. And if you damage it you gotta start all over again! And if you're on a small budget you're basically restricted to using the car itself as a mould so that is a real bitch.

    ABS panels are far more durable and if you damage one, you just print a replacement, and the color can be in the material itself - even if you want to paint it, you can make the material the same color to make scratches less visible.

    Interiors on custom cars often use some wood or fiberglass framework which is also a bitch and fiberglass looks tacky as hell on an interior. My plan is to use some printed framework and make a fabric-covered dash that zips open to be easy to work on.

  7. Re:Agree w/ all but the Lego bricks on MakerBot Gets $10 Million Investment · · Score: 1

    True, it'll be a long time before it will be possible to print blocks that will fit properly with official legos. But like I said in this post, if "PirateLegos" that are Good Enough can be built, they'll become the new standard.

  8. Re:Oh god, more delusions on MakerBot Gets $10 Million Investment · · Score: 1

    True that lego will have to be an exact copy to fit properly unlike the awful lego knockoffs, but eventually it will be possible.

    Anyways I think PirateLegos would become the new standard. Who cares if they fit properly with the expensive official Legos when you can have tons of PirateLegos for cheap? :D

  9. Re:dvd case on MakerBot Gets $10 Million Investment · · Score: 1

    Well it's at least possible to print transparent material:

    http://www.objet.com/3D-Printing-Materials/Overview/Transparent/

    Don't know of any DIY kits that can do this right now though.

  10. Re:dvd case on MakerBot Gets $10 Million Investment · · Score: 1

    You could definitlely make a DVD/blu-ray case, although you might have to go with snap-in hinges instead of the flexible plastic spine, and a good printer with good quality paper will make a real-looking insert.

  11. Re:Oh god, more delusions on MakerBot Gets $10 Million Investment · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hahaha idiot. You can print ABS plastic with these things, for starters. You can make real stuff with them. These will become the next common home appliance. The age of fragile prototypes is long gone.

    And corporations will be up in arms. Want Lego? Why pay $30 for $1 worth of blocks when you can print them for a couple dollar's worth of material. Want a body kit or some lightweight/cheap replacement body panels (although even common cars now have plastic body panels) for your car but don't want to pay so much? A printer with a big enough build volume can do that too, and you can get an exact copy of a commercial product. Want a custom computer case or a copy of an expensive commercial model? Knock yourself out. Want some cheap/custom furniture? Plastic built into the right structures can be very strong. See: milk crates. Except it won't look ghetto because that will just be the under-structure of your custom furniture.

    This will do for many physical objects what computers did for movies and music - including making it easy and cheap for anyone to produce it.

  12. Re:Takeaway - more portable wireless.... on Fukushima Robot Operator Tells His Story · · Score: 1

    I wonder if there is really a market for these because they could be easy and cheap to build. Something like a Wowwee Rovio but with stair-climbing treads instead of those cheapo omni-wheels. Once the robot has a proper wifi adapter the rest is just software. If everything can run from an ARM dev board (like a Pandaboard or Raspberry Pi) you can stuff a big battery in them and they'll run for a long time.

  13. Re:Free and open on Smartphones: the New Home of Crapware · · Score: 1

    has crappy app selection

    LOLWUT?

    When the N900 first came out it generated a lot of interest but people thought there were few apps for it because there were few apps in the Ovi store.

    The Ovi store is where the commercial cruft goes. The good stuff is in the community repos.

  14. Re:Solution: go Apple on Smartphones: the New Home of Crapware · · Score: 1

    A media player that uses proprietary transfer methods and is tied into a particular company's music store is hardly comparable to a browser...

  15. Re:Apple on Smartphones: the New Home of Crapware · · Score: 1

    iTunes isn't crap? I'd say that's subjective, to be generous.

  16. Re:Apple on Smartphones: the New Home of Crapware · · Score: 1

    On my N900 I could uninstall my desktop manager or even my kernel with a single command :D

  17. Re:2 Words on Smartphones: the New Home of Crapware · · Score: 1

    Damn, the Droid 3 had good hardware, I was hoping to get one and put MeeGo/Cordia on it if they ever unlocked the bootloader.

  18. Re:Total Nonstarter in the US. on Russia Approves Siberia-Alaska Railway · · Score: 1

    Uh, 21st Century, Dude. The Cold War is over. Also, for them rooskies to invade the American Heartland, they have to go through this country called "Canada." You may have heard of it: second largest land mass, first nation of hockey, best part of North America? Yeah, that place. Pretty big buffer before you get to the "American Heartland."

    Americans think the big gap in their maps between Alaska and the continental US is connected with portals. So you walk off the eastern border of Alaska and come out in North Dakota (that's why their weather is the same, duh).

  19. Re:But what... on Russia Approves Siberia-Alaska Railway · · Score: 1

    Yes because transport by hovercraft is sooo affordable, I'm sure they'd have no problem lifting the loads that the trucks pull, especially on long uphill stretches...

  20. Re:Too narrow a cause on Does Religion Influence Epidemics? · · Score: 1

    One religion that surely influences epidemics is Scientology. In the wake of the Haiti earthquake, they were out there telling people to avoid all that nasty "Western" medicine and try homeopathic cures. Which involve drinking lots of water. And we know what drinking the water in Haiti can do for you...

    http://news.discovery.com/human/amid-desperation-fake-cures-and-false-hope-in-haiti.html

  21. Re:elements from HL universe on New Video Brings Portal To Life · · Score: 1

    Yeah, would have been good for GLaDOS to chime in near the end with "nice try, Chell" or something like that.

  22. Re:Epoch Times founded by Falun Gong on Chinese Propaganda Accidentally Reveals Cyberwar · · Score: 1

    LOL that was hilarious, especially the Matrix screensavers, the thermal-vision view of a guy typing on a keyboard, and the random inclusion of everyday Outlook tasks.

  23. Re:Nothing new on Using Tablets Becoming Popular Bathroom Activity · · Score: 1

    Also, anecdotally speaking, in my experience it's not uncommon to hear people talking on the phone from bathroom stalls. BTW if that's you... yeah, I'm the guy who walks around flushing all the toilets during your phone call. I feel it's important the person at the other end of the call know where you are.

    Wazzup bathroom-caller-bustin' buddy! (^_^)/\(^_^)

    When I hear someone doing that I pee right into the middle of the bowl and rip a loud fart if possible.

  24. Re:ipad is great kid pacification device on Using Tablets Becoming Popular Bathroom Activity · · Score: 1

    Can't be any worse than have the same discussion with a Tea Party member XD

  25. Re:Laptops on Using Tablets Becoming Popular Bathroom Activity · · Score: 1

    That is fucking disgusting x_x think about what you're getting on your devices by using them on the toilet.