10 Things 3D printers can produce right now | Hacker News Reader

10 Things 3D printers can produce right now

replicatorinc.com

Holy shit! Fuck webapps. This is the next huge thing without doubt. Once it becomes more affordable, it is going to change the world completely for sure.

So this is how patents will die, huh? (patents don't stop you from making something for your personal use)

> So this is how patents will die, huh? (patents don't stop you from making something for your personal use)...

I think you nailed a key insight here: physical objects will be able to be created with the ease of the way software can be created right now.

Also I think pretty soon some extremely light gel like alloy that becomes super-strong on exposure to air will be made and we'll be making much more than prototypes at home.

For sure, 3D printing is a neat technology, but people like Neil Gershenfeld at MIT's media lab are doing even more advanced things literally programming atoms to assemble in certain patterns which could then be used to make larger structures. the whole notion of "manufacturing" is going to be very different in 20 years.

Wow! Thanks a lot. Very interesting. I'll look him up and learn more.

Kirubakaran, Here is a video of Neil speaking at the Ted conference a couple years ago, he gets into some of the programmable molecule stuff. He is a true genius. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/neil_gershenfeld_on_fab_l...

Many people object to nanotechnology when they think that we can't self-assemble anything of significant size in any reasonable time.

I think that rather than it being "3D printing" vs. "molecular self-assembly", it will be a matter of joining the strengths of the two approaches together, with 3D printing helping to provide large-scale coherence and guidance (probably by embedding some sort of guide into the object for the nano-assemblers), and the nano-assemblies focusing on the small, detailed work like embedded circuitry or whatnot.

As cool as self-assembly may be, this hybrid approach will be much more practical, much sooner.

I think you are right jerf, 3D printing is an awesome technology,but it also is not the only awesome technology. print on demand, Laser cutting, cnc milling and embroidering all allow customers to manipulate different media. Hybridizing these tools will allow for greater choice more rapidly.

Haha, I'm with you, but I think webapps are actually going to be a critical part of this development, simple, lightweight tools that will allow you to create thing to your taste with little design or manufacturing expertise.

My main interest the last half year or so has been machine learning but fabbers,self-replicating machines, 3D-printers or whatever you want to call them is some extremely cool stuff.

Coupled with nanotechnology this is seriously gamechanging stuff.

Totally agree, when you think about the profound societal changes we've seen with P2P, Web Video, Social Media, etc. then think about how that may translate into the physical world we could be living in a very different world ten years from now.

I agree that the physical world will go through a revolution, but do you really think the changes will happen over the next ten years? I think maybe that's overestimating the impact in the short term. It's probably going to be a long time before you're going to be printing out the first usable objects (like the reprap's coat hangers, door handles and shoes) with minimal effort at, say, walmart quality and prices.

reitzensteinm, Revolution may be too strong a word, but I think thinks significant change ala what we have seen with social media is completely realistic. One think to keep in mind is that this list jut covers 3D printing, Laser cutting, CNC milling, Print on Demand, and other technologies can also enable personal fabrication. Where I see the big impacts are:

Health - If printing bone or at least better implants becomes acceptable this will be huge for the rising senior population.

Entertainment - With the rise of virtual worlds and video games, 3D printouts of your characters could seriously disrupt the action figure/ doll product categories which are worth about $4B/year. This assumes quality continues to improve.

Well, I think that in the long (very long) term this will result in the manipulation of the physical world as easily as we copy and manipulate bits on a computer today. And that will be an even bigger revolution (IMO) than the digital revolution has been.

But in the short term, the only place where this makes sense is for one off items, where it brings the cost of production down nicely. Just like FPGAs versus statically designed microchips (I'm not sure what the right word is for that), intersting niches will be advanced by printing, but advances in mass production probably will have more impact on global wealth.

Don't get me wrong - I'm going to be taking a holiday next year to build a reprap, so I'm a believer in this technology - I just think it'll be used in specific niches and by hobbiests for a long time to come.

PS - About Rock Solid, I'm cofounder and a developer, yes.

reitzensteinm,

What is your affiliation with Rocksolid? Are you a Flash developer?

RP (rapid prototyping, as it used to be called), is also used to make molds for invisalign braces, prototyping in all kinds of industrial applications, and now to make 3D printers (http://reprap.org/bin/view/Main/WebHome).

When I was in college I worked in a RP lab, and the major concern at the time was build materials. You could build parts out of metal on one of the machines (which could also build parts out of plastic), but you could not build parts out of both materials at the same time.

zCorp parts are extremely fragile, but can be cured hard (but are still more fragile than the other machines), and, at least at the time, it was one of the least accurate machines (but also was much cheaper and used much cheaper materials). The highest quality machines used lasers to either cure resin or melt a powdered form of the material. Both machines and materials were expensive.

In nearly all cases, significant post processing of parts was required to have anything usable when you were done. These are not like printers, where when you're document is done, you hand out copies. When you're part is done you sand. When sanding is done, you cure and/or seal.

I wasn't aware of the braces, thanks for the tip, will add that link as well. I agree with you about the need for finishing of the parts, though with effort you can achieve stunning results.

There was a lot of 3D printers demoed at Siggraph this year. Their technology is impressive but still not quite there in terms of quality (resolution and color). Most of the models produced, even with higher-end 100K$+ printers, still felt grainy as if the "3D DPI" is not high enough to create a layered object with smooth enough surfaces. Also, all the models that I've seen containing colors were hand-painted as the affordable printers don't have this feature yet. I think that technology is improving, but still aimed mostly at the engineering prototypes market for now.

jrbedard,

You are absolutely correct about the state of the art. I use a fairly nice Invision 3D printer and its quality is nice, but pieces straight out of the chamber have a distinct "wood grain" look. The machines are also somewhat unreliable.

However with some sandpaper and elbow grease you can finishe the parts quite nicely. I've sanded pieces from the Invision to the point where they are optically clear and nearly indistinguishable from injection molded parts.

The most successful applications of 3D printing beyong engineering models are niches. Figureprints.com can print out World of Warcraft characters for ~$150 because of the emotional bond people have to their characters.

Paragon Lake brilliantly figured out a way to make 3D printing a mainstream part of the jewelry manufacturing process.

yeah, at Siggraph the most popular company around 3D printing was http://www.shapeways.com/ with their social network around printable 3D creations and their easy-to-use 3D modeling software to design and customize artsy products.

For a great novella about the economic/political/social implications of distributed fabbing, check out Bruce Sterling's 'Kiosk' from earlier this year:

http://web.archive.org/web/20080115084153/http://www.sfsite....

Excellent referral. I'm a big fan of Bruce's work, this is a perfect style/content match.

Wow, what an exciting field to be in. It is definitly one of the big thing of the future.

Absolutely, there is a great article on the Ponoko blog (www.blog.ponoko.com) about a new printer by Desktop Factory being about the same price as the first Apple laser printer in 1985 (~$5K). Forget "Web 3.0" "Web 3.D" is way more exciting.

Can you talk more about what your company is planning to do with 3D? There was talk on here about starting a 3D printer startup, but it never went anywhere (yet)...

ph0rque,

My company isn't using 3D printing at launch, rather focusing on some other rapid manufacturing technologies. I'm just a 3D printing enthusiast. Feel free to email me if you want to talk more.

I've seen enough. I want one!

I thought that 3d printing was fairly limited in terms of materials. but if you use the 3d printing as just the first step from which to create a mold you can make metal objects too! this is great

Actually only the jewelry example used 3D printing as an intermediary step. The art example was crafted in metal from the start. plastic, ceramics, even bone are now "printable". The next big leap will be the ability to have multiple materials printed at one time, so you could get something like a toothbrush that is part plastic and part rubber.

How do they work? I can't picture how the art one is made.

they all work by building in layers, hardening some material and then using something else for a support structure (some use the unhardened building material, some use a weaker (or soluble) building material, some use the same material, in a thin lattice formation).

Its been several years, but I used to work at a prototyping company. They have a decent overview of the machines they use, which cover all of the major technologies: http://www.rpc.msoe.edu/machines.php

tocomment, there are a few different technologies that are grouped under the "3D Printing" banner:

"Selective Laser Sintering" is the technology used in the "Art" example. With this a process a thin layer of powdered plastic, metal, or cermaic is laid out on a platform, then a laser then hardens a portion of it. another layer is spread out and the process is repeated thousands of times. In the end you shake of the extra dust and your part emerges. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_laser_sintering

"Stereo Lithography" is another process, from Wikipedia: Stereolithography is an additive fabrication process utilizing a vat of liquid UV-curable photopolymer "resin" and a UV laser to build parts a layer at a time. On each layer, the laser beam traces a part cross-section pattern on the surface of the liquid resin. Exposure to the UV laser light cures, or, solidifies the pattern traced on the resin and adheres it to the layer below.

After a pattern has been traced, the SLA's elevator platform descends by a single layer thickness, typically 0.05 mm to 0.15 mm (0.002" to 0.006"). Then, a resin-filled blade sweeps across the part cross section, re-coating it with fresh material. On this new liquid surface the subsequent layer pattern is traced, adhering to the previous layer. A complete 3-D part is formed by this process. After building, parts are cleaned of excess resin by immersion in a chemical bath and then cured in a UV oven. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereolithography

"Fused Deposition Modeling" is a third technology that works like a very fine grain softserve ice cream machine. a print head goes over a surface laying down a thin, ribbon like string of materials eventually building up enough layers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fused_deposition_modeling

"3D Printing" is more like desktop printing in that you have a substrate and "pixel" of materials are deposited until your design emerges as a finished product. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing

Hope this helps.

Good times ahead for Blender modelers ( http://www.blender.org ).

Albert, are you a 3D modeler? If so, would love to talk.

I model with Blender, but I am not a professional modeler.

You just missed the Blender Conference in Amsterdam, this past week, where many gather.

My email is in my web page.

replicatorblog, I'm a 2D/3D animator - shoot me an email if you would like me to set you up with some talented modelers. Contact info in my profile.

Chris,

Amazing work, ill be in touch.

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