[HH] 3D printing

[markw at mohawksoft.com]

I have been watching these things for years, but unfortunately the tech is
still novelty grade.

Here is the problem: The cost of the tool is much higher than anything it
can produce. With all other tools the value proposition is the other way
around. You buy a $300 set of wrenches and a $50 book to save thousands in
auto-repair costs. You don't spend thousands of dollars in tools to fix
one or two small plastic gears.

Unless and until the value proposition gets inverted it will remain a
nerd-only curiosity. Yes, I want one, it would be cool, but they need to
bring more to the table to justify the expense.


> We hear a lot about 3D printing these days. Anyone here with hands-on
> experience? Does AA have a 3D printer?
>
>
> $300 3D Printer
> http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/28/is-the-300-3d-printer-finally-here-makible-thinks-so/
>
>   MakiBox is a riff on the open source RepRap 3D printer that fits a
>   print head and motor inside a box about the length and width (but not
>   the thickness, silly) of a sheet of paper. The MakiBox kit will start
>   at $350 while an assembled kit will cost $550.
>
>   The question remains, however: do we need 3D printers on our desks? If
>   not now, when?
>
>
> A Look at 3D Printing and Open Source
> https://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/542928:a-look-at-3d-printing-and-open-source
>   Arthur C. Clarke said "Any sufficiently advanced technology is
>   indistinguishable from magic." And it's still magical when you
>   understand how it works. 3D printers are here, they're cool, and there
>   is a large and enthusiastic open source 3D printer movement.
> ...
>   Maybe someday, instead of making little architectural models, a giant
>   unit will drive up to a building site and spit out a complete
>   structure.
>
> Not hard to imagine a printer that uses concrete as its medium to
> "print" buildings.
>
>   The open source printers we're going to look at spin out a melted
>   plastic filament that comes off spools, which gives the finished item
>   a woven appearance... Open source 3D printing is still in the hacker
>   realm. There are no prefab personal open source 3D Printers; you have
>   to build from kits or from scratch.
>
> Obsolete by the above announcement.
>
> After a good intro, the article loses steam once it gets down to the
> specifics, spending just two paragraphs covering available printers, and
> one covering the software. It mentions RepRap, Thing-O-Matic, and
> Makerbot Replicator for printers, and ReplicatorG for software, and
> Thingiverse and Google 3D Warehouse as model repositories.
>
>  -Tom
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