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I'm still sceptical of 3D printing. They're hyped so much with little to show for it - when did you last use something printed on a 3D printer? This is a techn

I'm still sceptical of 3D printing. They're hyped so much with little to show for it - when did you last use something printed on a 3D printer? This is a technology designed to bring affordable, easy manufacturing to your bedroom, it's been around for years now, supposedly widely deployed. Yet hardly anyone alive today has handled or used a product printed on one of these machines? From what i've read, the plastics suitable for printing do not easily make viable "hard wearing" products - although i understand various techniques can be used to improve this to some degree. The raw materials used are not cheap and there doesn't appear to be much scope for future cost reduction. Perhaps more worrying is the limited option to reuse existing materials. Until i start seeing and using products of 3D printing, colour me unconvinced. I'm sitting this revolution out.

ComputerGuru 14y ago
Honestly, I find the 3D printing to be most useful for rapid prototyping. No more sending schematics out, waiting for the results to come back via post, and repeating the cycle until you have something you're happy with and ready to take to the actual manufacturer. It's a better small CNC machine* for inventors and hobbyists. As much as its proponents will claim there will be one in every home which you'll use to re-create broken pieces of appliances, tools, and equipment and how you'll be downloading specs left and right to print your own odds and ends - the fact of the matter is that at this point in time and for the near future, this is not a realistic option. Price of the raw materials, time to creation (a whole day for small complex objects), price of the devices, cheap quality of the only affordable 3D printers (need constant adjustment, calibration, and repair), maintenance, etc. mean that it's another tool for the workshop and not a consumer electronic device like an office copy machine and especially not like your household printer or scanner (* actually, CNCs are better, more reliable, cheaper to work with, etc. but this is 3D so...)
salgernon 14y ago
I've decided to buy one for my family this year, couched as a Christmas gift. Ok, that's a lie, I'm buying it as a toy for myself. 32 years ago, my best friends father bought his family an apple II+ (and novation applecat modem!). Well, that's a lie, he bought it for himself. I think more than it being actually useful as a production device, I'm hoping that having direct access to one of these will instill in my kids the same sense of OMG this is magic, that I had as a kid. Or, it might just collect dust like any number of other things in my home. (Hmm, perhaps I could print some sort of dusting device...)
clarky07 14y ago
It's being used right now by manufacturers to make custom parts in things like jet engines. While "bedroom make anything" might be a ways off, it's being used now and will be used a lot in the not so distant future. http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/GE-to-Print-Fuel-Injectors-for-Jet-Engines-2.jpg/ http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/GE-to-Print-Fuel-Injecto... http://www.businessinsider.com/ge-buys-3d-printing-company-to-make-parts-for-jet-engines-2012-11 http://www.businessinsider.com/ge-buys-3d-printing-company-t...
- 3amOpsGuy 14y ago
  >> It's being used right now by manufacturers to make custom parts in things like jet engines. That doesn't appear to be true? They've announced they're intending to do it, they've bought a company specialised in it which suggests they're serious. I can't order a 3d printed fuel injector for my jet engine today? My point still stands. This is all just hype right now with nothing to show for it. Another poster made a good point that it's a cheaper, more versatile, home-sized equiv of a CNC router / lathe. Looking at it like that makes a lot of sense to me. It drastically limits the scope of such devices though from the current hype.
  - clarky07 14y ago
    Did you go to the link? The caption says "Image comment: This is a GE jet engine component created exclusively through 3D printing" Also, the leading company, 3 d systems, did 90 million in revenue last quarter. Not Apple numbers, but not exactly "nothing to show for it."
    - 3amOpsGuy 14y ago
      But it's just a prototype, a demonstration. It's not in use anywhere, it's not certified, there's nothing to say it even works yet. Searching doesn't turn up anything to corroborate that it's in use right now. As for the numbers, only to be expected in a hype game. To my mind in 10 years we'll look back and say 'do you remember 3D printers? How they were going to take over the world' sure there will likely be some design companies knocking out prototypes on them but Joe Punter won't have a 3D printer purchase on his shopping list this decade.

ComputerGuru 14y ago

Honestly, I find the 3D printing to be most useful for rapid prototyping. No more sending schematics out, waiting for the results to come back via post, and repeating the cycle until you have something you're happy with and ready to take to the actual manufacturer. It's a better small CNC machine* for inventors and hobbyists. As much as its proponents will claim there will be one in every home which you'll use to re-create broken pieces of appliances, tools, and equipment and how you'll be downloading specs left and right to print your own odds and ends - the fact of the matter is that at this point in time and for the near future, this is not a realistic option. Price of the raw materials, time to creation (a whole day for small complex objects), price of the devices, cheap quality of the only affordable 3D printers (need constant adjustment, calibration, and repair), maintenance, etc. mean that it's another tool for the workshop and not a consumer electronic device like an office copy machine and especially not like your household printer or scanner (* actually, CNCs are better, more reliable, cheaper to work with, etc. but this is 3D so...)

salgernon 14y ago

I've decided to buy one for my family this year, couched as a Christmas gift. Ok, that's a lie, I'm buying it as a toy for myself. 32 years ago, my best friends father bought his family an apple II+ (and novation applecat modem!). Well, that's a lie, he bought it for himself. I think more than it being actually useful as a production device, I'm hoping that having direct access to one of these will instill in my kids the same sense of OMG this is magic, that I had as a kid. Or, it might just collect dust like any number of other things in my home. (Hmm, perhaps I could print some sort of dusting device...)

clarky07 14y ago

It's being used right now by manufacturers to make custom parts in things like jet engines. While "bedroom make anything" might be a ways off, it's being used now and will be used a lot in the not so distant future. http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/GE-to-Print-Fuel-Injectors-for-Jet-Engines-2.jpg/ http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/GE-to-Print-Fuel-Injecto... http://www.businessinsider.com/ge-buys-3d-printing-company-to-make-parts-for-jet-engines-2012-11 http://www.businessinsider.com/ge-buys-3d-printing-company-t...

3amOpsGuy 14y ago
>> It's being used right now by manufacturers to make custom parts in things like jet engines. That doesn't appear to be true? They've announced they're intending to do it, they've bought a company specialised in it which suggests they're serious. I can't order a 3d printed fuel injector for my jet engine today? My point still stands. This is all just hype right now with nothing to show for it. Another poster made a good point that it's a cheaper, more versatile, home-sized equiv of a CNC router / lathe. Looking at it like that makes a lot of sense to me. It drastically limits the scope of such devices though from the current hype.
- clarky07 14y ago
  Did you go to the link? The caption says "Image comment: This is a GE jet engine component created exclusively through 3D printing" Also, the leading company, 3 d systems, did 90 million in revenue last quarter. Not Apple numbers, but not exactly "nothing to show for it."
  - 3amOpsGuy 14y ago
    But it's just a prototype, a demonstration. It's not in use anywhere, it's not certified, there's nothing to say it even works yet. Searching doesn't turn up anything to corroborate that it's in use right now. As for the numbers, only to be expected in a hype game. To my mind in 10 years we'll look back and say 'do you remember 3D printers? How they were going to take over the world' sure there will likely be some design companies knocking out prototypes on them but Joe Punter won't have a 3D printer purchase on his shopping list this decade.