3 ms·

I know 3D printing will change the world, except prototyping does anyone see any other use case?

by diminish 15y ago

cdawzrd 15y ago
Repair. Plastic bit broken on your car / appliance / device? Grab a model from the web and print a new one.
- nixarn 15y ago
  Exactly! The material need's to get better, but soon instead of having storages of spare parts we cab just keep a digital record, and print up whatever part you'd need. Soon we could have a small store that sells any car part ever made.
PhilRae 15y ago
Your kid wants the latest toy- download the design and print. Christmas retail supply issues sorted. Hopefully in the future, the basic 3d printer will go beyond plastics and allow printing from some hardier durable material (nanotubes maybe), then you'll be able to pretty much download a design and print anything.
zacharypinter 15y ago
* Kitchen utensils - I'm sure there's tons of things at Bed Bath and Beyond that could be made by current or slightly larger 3D printers. * Desktop goodies/organization - paper inbox, laptop stand, pencil holders, phone docks, etc. If the material is strong enough (and the printers are big enough), I'd love to be able to print a cool lcd monitor swivel/stand (something like the ergotron.com products).
tathagatadg 15y ago
Remember this article sometimes back on HN http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2012/01/filesharing-site-serves-up-phy.html http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2012/01/filesha... I specially liked the idea of printing food. Not the glorious goal of ending world hunger(still need the ingredients right?) - but the fact that I won't have to drag my ass to kitchen. Write a cron job, that'll download recipe and print food!
jeffbarr 15y ago
Custom-made adapters, connectors, interfaces. Think of situations where there are lots of varieties in the two interface points,creating enough combinations to make production of all of them economically infeasible. You can combine two "ends" and print a custom part.
kristiandupont 15y ago
I could see this as a threat to LEGO..

I know 3D printing will change the world, except prototyping does anyone see any other use case?

cdawzrd 15y ago

Repair. Plastic bit broken on your car / appliance / device? Grab a model from the web and print a new one.

nixarn 15y ago
Exactly! The material need's to get better, but soon instead of having storages of spare parts we cab just keep a digital record, and print up whatever part you'd need. Soon we could have a small store that sells any car part ever made.

PhilRae 15y ago

Your kid wants the latest toy- download the design and print. Christmas retail supply issues sorted. Hopefully in the future, the basic 3d printer will go beyond plastics and allow printing from some hardier durable material (nanotubes maybe), then you'll be able to pretty much download a design and print anything.

zacharypinter 15y ago

* Kitchen utensils - I'm sure there's tons of things at Bed Bath and Beyond that could be made by current or slightly larger 3D printers. * Desktop goodies/organization - paper inbox, laptop stand, pencil holders, phone docks, etc. If the material is strong enough (and the printers are big enough), I'd love to be able to print a cool lcd monitor swivel/stand (something like the ergotron.com products).

tathagatadg 15y ago

Remember this article sometimes back on HN http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2012/01/filesharing-site-serves-up-phy.html http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2012/01/filesha... I specially liked the idea of printing food. Not the glorious goal of ending world hunger(still need the ingredients right?) - but the fact that I won't have to drag my ass to kitchen. Write a cron job, that'll download recipe and print food!

jeffbarr 15y ago

Custom-made adapters, connectors, interfaces. Think of situations where there are lots of varieties in the two interface points,creating enough combinations to make production of all of them economically infeasible. You can combine two "ends" and print a custom part.

kristiandupont 15y ago

I could see this as a threat to LEGO..