World's First 3D High-Def Color Printer

[MohandasKGanja]

3D printers have been around for a few years. The difference with this one is that it a) uses regular copier paper (and glue) to create the models. Which should be a lot cheaper. And b) it can print color on the object as it prints it. Example is shown below:

[Butterfly]

Does this mean we will be getting moar graphs, but in 3D?

[Chalet]

And I'm thinking it somehow comes out of the printer in real 3D. Hit me with the dumb stick.

[OrangeSlice]

Shh. Don't tell anyone, but I did too.

[Chalet]

^^ K. Let's start a club.

[MohandasKGanja]

I think this device is going to be the next tech device to fundamentally change our lives - kind of the way that the smartphone has.

1. Right now, if you break some little piece of something on your camera, stove, fridge, computer, etc., it's possible that you might have to throw it away. With this device, you can just download the design for the replacement piece from the manufacturer -- and print your own replacement piece. No more throwing away stuff because you broke a tiny essential piece.

2. Currently, there is a web site (Shapeways - Make & Share Your Products with 3D Printing) that 3d prints designs or ideas that you send to it. In the future, you will be downloading designs for items that you like and then print them yourself.


3. Print your own Halloween mask. I know that sounds kind of goofy, but it demonstrates the flexibility of what these devices can do


4. Create your own smart phone sleeve, or print one based on a design you liked/bought on the internet.

5. One manufacturer of 3D printers just printed a "3D bicycle". It basically was pretty fragile and flaky because it was made out of plastic, but they were able to peddle it around. And it proved the concept that you can theoretically make ALL components for a complex device from a 3D printer.


6. They are already figuring out how to "print replacement organisms". First up - kidneys. Imagine - no more organ waiting lists.


7. After this generation of printers, there will be ones that will mix different materials - metal, plastic, silicon - you will print your new cell phone, instead of buying it. They sky will be the limit. You will be your own manufacturer for small items.

[OrangeSlice]

That's so scary and so cool at the same time.

[Chilly Willy]

Coooooooool!

[whitetigeress]

The "future" is here.

[Chalet]

I don't understand.




But you can't print and use a plastic cell phone. You just can't.

[Tati]

I don't understand.




But you can't print and use a plastic cell phone. You just can't.

In theory, if you could print every component of it and then assemble it together, you could.



I want to get one of these for my household: http://www.makerbot.com/

And what happens when you can 3D print your own 3D printer? O.o

[MohandasKGanja]

I don't understand.




But you can't print and use a plastic cell phone. You just can't.

Just like with inkjet printing, you could have a printer head for different types of material - one for plastics, one for glass or some other clear composite, and one for metal and/or silicon. As the printer head passes back and forth, it would spray the material in picoliter droplets (or smaller) in the exact spot it needs to be. Different combinations of heads would make the casing, the printed circuit board, the CPU, and then the OLED screen and clear screen. I don't see the battery happening this way, but everything else could.

I think that currently, the screens for large-screen OLED TVs are actually printed by a printer onto a substrate. So, that part of the printing process is already in place. The part where metal would be involved would be the newest part, and would be a big challenge.

[MohandasKGanja]

Another interesting development - printing small buildings with a 3D printer:

3-D Printer Creates Full-Size Houses in One Session


The D-Shape printer, created by Enrico Dini, is capable of printing a two-story building, complete with rooms, stairs, pipes, and partitions. Using nothing but sand and an inorganic binding compound, the resulting material has the same durability as reinforced concrete with the look of marble. The building process takes approximately a fourth of the time as traditional buildings, as long as it sticks to rounded structures, and can be built without specialist knowledge or skill sets.

[ManxMouse]

[Brookie]

^^ K. Let's start a club.

I'm in - it was more of a hope than anything else.