Lamron
Benevolent Dictator
Posts: 5,214
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Post by Lamron on Jul 6, 2011 21:27:29 GMT -5
3D printing has been making big progress from lab protypes to actual ready-to-buy comercial units.
They're pretty expensive now, but so were the first paper printers. The price on these will probably drop dramatically over the next 10-15 years. Imagine buying something from Amazon, and they just E-Mail you a file for your printer.
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Major_A
LPmember
Name's Ash. [cocks rifle] Housewares.
Posts: 1,378
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Post by Major_A on Jul 7, 2011 16:42:38 GMT -5
That can't be real...Is it?
I was thinking it was going to be a weird looking CnC machine
or something.
A plastic powder printer...that's f'n phenomenal.
That's all I can say to describe it.
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Lamron
Benevolent Dictator
Posts: 5,214
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Post by Lamron on Jul 7, 2011 17:41:32 GMT -5
Not only real, but available for sale right now. This isn't some futuristic prototype dream machine. Bust out your credit card and they'll deliver one to your home or business. It doesn't even require some weird proprietary software. Its designed to accept the output file of most common CAD 3D modeling programs. You could have a 15" tall full-color statue of your favorite game character standing on your desk in a few minutes, just by ripping the right files. www.zcorp.com/en/Products/3D-Printers/ZPrinter-650/spage.aspx |
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Lamron
Benevolent Dictator
Posts: 5,214
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Post by Lamron on Jul 7, 2011 17:48:48 GMT -5
The level of detail and complexity is incredible. It didn't just make all these parts, and then they were assembled. It comes out of the printer fully assembled with moving parts looking like this:  |
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Major_A
LPmember
Name's Ash. [cocks rifle] Housewares.
Posts: 1,378
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Post by Major_A on Jul 7, 2011 20:16:35 GMT -5
WITH, moving parts?....that's incredible!
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RedRock
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Never ask what kind of computer a person uses--if it's a Mac, he'll say; if not, why embarrass him?
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Post by RedRock on Jul 8, 2011 14:25:40 GMT -5
That's very interesting.
But I object to the term "printer."
It's more of a plastic fabricator that just builds the models up one thin layer at a time by computer, as if it were printing thousands of layers of pictures and then joining the layers into a seamless solid, sort of like a cat scan does,, and then blowing or washing away any supports or excess plastic, rather than just pouring liquid plastic into a rigid mold where the plastic would then harden in the shape of the mold.
My problem would be the 3d files to input.
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