Makerbots

Ok, things have just turned a pretty significant corner.



I predict a significant number of expletives were just uttered. Maybe even by you.

--Patrick
 
Oh, I'm not saying the RIAA has anything to worry about right now, but the fact that this can be done at all portends great things. After all, this isn't just a demonstration of a 3D printer's resolution, but also the fact that someone took the time to write a D/A converter program that actually renders its output in meatspace.

--Patrick
 
I took a tour of a private science foundation nearly 10 years ago, and they had a lab that specialized in 3D printing. They used it for surgeons to have a model of organs or tumors that they were going to operate on. There were loads of plastic brains and tumors displayed in the lab. I remember thinking that the tech was super cool, but never even considered it for private use. Now, it seems like there are a bazillion uses.

I wouldn't mind getting one for doing furniture mock-ups before building the real deal.
 
Now that's a good idea! Imagine going to Ikea.com, downloading miniature 3D model files for their furniture, and then printing an office and placing all the furniture. You could readily see how things will look and fit in the room before buying anything. Sure beats 2D layout and design.
 
British police have seized a 3D printer and components "suspected to be a 3D plastic magazine and trigger."

except that they probably didn't really...

Update: In what could turn out to be a major embarrassment for the Greater Manchester Police force, the "3D-printed gun parts" could well be spare parts for a printer.

(via The Verge)
 

GasBandit

Staff member

Welp.

--Patrick
Yeah, but there's kind of a big price-related barrier to entry for metal "printing," isn't there? That gun probably cost tens of thousands of dollars. Easier to just buy a regular gun.

(also I notice the slide has a bit of a sticking problem)
 
Sourcing the materials for the capacitors might be a problem.
But that's the usual: Control the supply of ammunition, and you don't have to worry about the guns.

--Patrick
 
Tried my hand at making something with the 3-D printed they have at the local library. Unfortunately, the wheels on the model car screwed up the maker, and my session went for naught.
 
Some MIT students are researching printing in an important new medium: ice cream!


(via TechCrunch)

Apparently, they aren't the first ones to think of the idea...
 
Hasbro has partnered with Shapeways to allow fans to produce and sell custom, 3-d printed My Little Pony merchandise. They have started the website SuperFanArt as a gateway for this project. If it is successful, Hasbro will expand the program to include other properties.

Although the official debut is at Comic-Con, there are already designs from 5 artists on the site.



(via Make, the Shapeways blog, and the New York Times)
 
NASA has started making 3-D model files of spacecraft and planetary bodies available to the public. These include Voyager, the dwarf planet Vesta, and the Gale crater. Both Blender and .stl formats are available. Not all models may be practical to print, but they are refining them as they get feedback. The repository is here. (via io9)


Visualizations of some of the objects:


 
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