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I'm going to need to save this article for the next time I get into an argument about 3D printing. Like the author, I love the technology and have enjoyed the

I'm going to need to save this article for the next time I get into an argument about 3D printing. Like the author, I love the technology and have enjoyed the parts that I've made with it. However, the technology is over-hyped and often treated like a Star Trek replicator. I've seen discussions of 3D printing nuclear food, microprocessors, and even living things. To a degree the technology reminds me of Visual Basic. The technology makes it very easy to make something that looks like what you want, but it doesn't bring you any closer to actually making what you wanted.

deleted 14y ago
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jacquesm 14y ago
Visual Basic earned large numbers of people large amounts of money and allowed them to make exactly what they wanted. Specifically, what they wanted was a solution, quickly that they could cobble together themselves without having to hire some person that would tell them all the time how what they wanted was not possible.
- rprospero 14y ago
  Ah, I hadn't meant to denigrate Visual Basic, though I can see how my comment could be taken that way. My reference to Visual Basic rather comes from a large number of projects I saw that equated the GUI with the functionality. For example, I played with am "80% complete" program to translate between English and Latin texts. The New, Open, Save, and Exit buttons were all working. As soon as someone wrote the method for the Translate button, the program would be complete. Visual Basic and 3D printing have both given thousands of people the opportunity to do things quickly and independently that they'd have never had the opportunity to try before. However, they've both also suffered the hype of those who assumed that their understanding of the surface was an understanding of the whole.
hvs 14y ago
I hated using VB as much as the next guy (VB6), but I built a number of business systems that ran for years. Your analogy is false.
- nahname 14y ago
  Ouch. Defending VB in this case really speaks poorly of 3D printers.
  - leoedin 14y ago
    No it doesn't. The analogy was flawed from two sides. Firstly, VB was (is?) a perfectly good solution for producing functional systems which solve problems. It's not very nice, but to say that it doesn't bring you closer to what you wanted is downright false. It does - that's why so many functional applications are written in it. Secondly, I'd argue that the same statement applied to 3D printers is also false. Just because the output of hobby level plastic extruding printers is limited to certain shapes and materials doesn't mean that the process as a whole is flawed. I've played around with titanium springs, brackets and other interestingly shaped pieces which simply couldn't be produced by any other manufacturing process. 3D printing (in particular selective laser sintering) is going to produce a step change in the aerospace industry. Finally, as an aside hobby and low cost plastic 3D printers are very useful for some applications. Producing brackets and mounting plates is considerably streamlined with a 3D printer. It's a useful technology for particular applications. Its not the fault of plastic additive manufacturing that journalists are getting more excited than they should be about it.
toufka 14y ago
Um, it can. I work in a lab that is 3D printing live mammalian cells to build living tissues.
- guizzy 14y ago
  Yeah, but that's different. Just because it's based on additive manufacturing techniques doesn't mean that it's even close to being the same kind of machine as a Reprap or Makerbot. While they rarely outright lie, what mainstream tech news love to imply is that desktop hobby 3D printers will soon do that stuff. It's about as ridiculous as implying that because cars are built by robots, soon your Roomba will be building a car.

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jacquesm 14y ago

Visual Basic earned large numbers of people large amounts of money and allowed them to make exactly what they wanted. Specifically, what they wanted was a solution, quickly that they could cobble together themselves without having to hire some person that would tell them all the time how what they wanted was not possible.

rprospero 14y ago
Ah, I hadn't meant to denigrate Visual Basic, though I can see how my comment could be taken that way. My reference to Visual Basic rather comes from a large number of projects I saw that equated the GUI with the functionality. For example, I played with am "80% complete" program to translate between English and Latin texts. The New, Open, Save, and Exit buttons were all working. As soon as someone wrote the method for the Translate button, the program would be complete. Visual Basic and 3D printing have both given thousands of people the opportunity to do things quickly and independently that they'd have never had the opportunity to try before. However, they've both also suffered the hype of those who assumed that their understanding of the surface was an understanding of the whole.

hvs 14y ago

I hated using VB as much as the next guy (VB6), but I built a number of business systems that ran for years. Your analogy is false.

nahname 14y ago
Ouch. Defending VB in this case really speaks poorly of 3D printers.
- leoedin 14y ago
  No it doesn't. The analogy was flawed from two sides. Firstly, VB was (is?) a perfectly good solution for producing functional systems which solve problems. It's not very nice, but to say that it doesn't bring you closer to what you wanted is downright false. It does - that's why so many functional applications are written in it. Secondly, I'd argue that the same statement applied to 3D printers is also false. Just because the output of hobby level plastic extruding printers is limited to certain shapes and materials doesn't mean that the process as a whole is flawed. I've played around with titanium springs, brackets and other interestingly shaped pieces which simply couldn't be produced by any other manufacturing process. 3D printing (in particular selective laser sintering) is going to produce a step change in the aerospace industry. Finally, as an aside hobby and low cost plastic 3D printers are very useful for some applications. Producing brackets and mounting plates is considerably streamlined with a 3D printer. It's a useful technology for particular applications. Its not the fault of plastic additive manufacturing that journalists are getting more excited than they should be about it.

toufka 14y ago

Um, it can. I work in a lab that is 3D printing live mammalian cells to build living tissues.

guizzy 14y ago
Yeah, but that's different. Just because it's based on additive manufacturing techniques doesn't mean that it's even close to being the same kind of machine as a Reprap or Makerbot. While they rarely outright lie, what mainstream tech news love to imply is that desktop hobby 3D printers will soon do that stuff. It's about as ridiculous as implying that because cars are built by robots, soon your Roomba will be building a car.