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I wonder if LEGO can stave off the doom 3D printing presents since blocks are the easiest the things to replicate. They do a lot of tie-in based LEGO sets that
by jayfuerstenberg 14y ago
I wonder if LEGO can stave off the doom 3D printing presents since blocks are the easiest the things to replicate.
They do a lot of tie-in based LEGO sets that I believe are protected by copyright. However, their basic blocks lost their patent last year so it's open season for those!
http://boingboing.net/2011/10/21/expired-patent-of-the-day-lego.html http://boingboing.net/2011/10/21/expired-patent-of-the-day-l...
- stevenrace 14y agoPart of the success and 'feel' of LEGO are due to the close tolerances - ~.01mm. This is an order of magnitude (or two) greater than my RepRap Mendelmax on it's best day. However, it will be a great boon to the LEGO community - as they will now have greater access to non-structural, unlicensed parts such as guns [1] and the ilk. [1] http://www.brickarms.com/ http://www.brickarms.com/
- jayfuerstenberg 14y agoTrue. I read once that only 4 bricks in a million are defective. Who knows, LEGO's .01mm accuracy might become the mark by which 3D printing measures itself someday.
- olefoo 14y agoI'd bet that day comes by the end of the decade.
- evoxed 14y agoHere's to hoping that Lego pivots into a foundation for educational, manufacturing, structural, (etc)... research while investing in 3d printing and bringing the tech up to and beyond their current spec. Optimism!
- jpdevereaux 14y agoMaybe they can start selling plastic and part plans?
- Avshalom 14y agoA dramatically smaller LEGO could still probably make a living off selling model design/instructions and Mindstorms software.