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3 D Printer

10K views 48 replies 22 participants last post by  PCI 
#1 ·
I was watching this old house and saw a 3d printer in action. Have any of you seen this printer? It's an amazing device! It prints out a 3d model of your project, in color, to scale and with all the detail.
 
#38 ·
I don't know.... with the post with the metal printer and the gun printer, it seems it's not that far-fetched...

Guns aside, I can think of lots of things this would be useful for.... make your custom-size Tupperware... drink containers, IPOD cases, phones cases, unique custom trophies for all sorts of events, fence attachments, Christmas toys, jewelry, glass frames, picture frames, sun glasses, dinosaur puzzles, lamps, molds, etc.

But I guess in addition to the cost of the 3-D printer, the materials matter...
 
#40 ·
The technology will never replace the craftsman.

Even though the printer can make the model, it still takes a craftsman to know what the model should look like.

As an example, computers are not very good at synthesizing human speech or most other sounds in nature. However they are VERY good at capturing and reproducing ANY sound. A computer can accurately determine what I heard and it can easily duplicate it.

The same goes with this type of modeling. A 3D printer can be used to create a wrench but only a human being knows how to design the handle.
 
#44 ·
I can think of lots of uses for them, they just require the right materials and CAD software suites. For small scale stuff, I imagine you could also use it to print plastic onto a metal parts, so you have a wear surface that will last. The metal part could be investment cast using a pattern produced with the printer. Lots of possibilities, we;ll see how it works out.
 
#45 ·
I think that 3d printers have a great future ahead of them. Especially in the food department. In the future, we will probably have one in every home and it will be like an automated chef like in the Jetson.

In terms of use for the work my company does, the cost is just too much for us to want to invest in it but it could be useful in the future for making certain items like specially made brackets and such.
 
#48 ·
this lady is at the forefront of 3d printing. she's able to print with cellular material. different density and material within the same print is allowing her to create things that are insanely strong and dynamic, like structures found in nature. in the future she will print buildings that open up when its hot out and close down when its cold...

http://web.media.mit.edu/~neri/site/projects/projects.html
 
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