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I think that when everyone is pointing to a technology as "the future", that's a sign it might not be, at least not the way they imagine it. If 3D printing is s

I think that when everyone is pointing to a technology as "the future", that's a sign it might not be, at least not the way they imagine it. If 3D printing is so great, where are the huge revolutionary changes? 3D printers have been around for several years. What are we waiting for, exactly?

xutopia 14y ago
I had a chance to play with a 3d printer. The quality of output was just subpar. If it was higher quality I'd find quite a bit of use for it. In the mean time it isn't worth the cost.
zanny 14y ago
> What are we waiting for, exactly? I'd say precision. We need mature manufacturing processes for home printers so they can be mechanically precise enough to create everything. A lot of it is just that the hardware is immature, and needs a few more years of finer grained manipulation development in both the printer design itself and the resulting printers capabilities. I mean, the precision extreme is that you can have a printer that arranges matter on a molecular scale. That is what Star Trek esque food processors are conceptualized as. If we can't get molecular, we should at least try as hard as possible to make it happen (though considering we are on a mm scale now, getting to the 0.1 nm or 100 pm scale (where a hydrogen atom is around) might take some time).
leoedin 14y ago
There is a lot of work going on to develop 3D printing as a mass manufacturing process. It is improving rapidly, but you have to understand that in the physical world progress is always slower than in software. 3D printing isn't a small change in manufacturing process (like more advanced CNC machining is) but a completely different approach. The level of investment, testing and iterating required to produce 3D printed components which demonstrate proven reliability and lower costs than existing processes is high. The aerospace industry are actively pursuing 3D printing as a manufacturing process. Selective laser sintering allows shape-optimised parts to be built out of titanium - something that we cannot do any other way - which will lead to upwards of 50% weight savings. It will make a huge difference in the weight (and so efficiency) of aircraft. The issue is that the aerospace industry operates on the principal of proven heritage. The 787 may be the newest large airliner, but there's nothing in it that we haven't been using elsewhere for 20 years. Space is even slower at adopting new technologies - reliability is key.

xutopia 14y ago

I had a chance to play with a 3d printer. The quality of output was just subpar. If it was higher quality I'd find quite a bit of use for it. In the mean time it isn't worth the cost.

zanny 14y ago

> What are we waiting for, exactly? I'd say precision. We need mature manufacturing processes for home printers so they can be mechanically precise enough to create everything. A lot of it is just that the hardware is immature, and needs a few more years of finer grained manipulation development in both the printer design itself and the resulting printers capabilities. I mean, the precision extreme is that you can have a printer that arranges matter on a molecular scale. That is what Star Trek esque food processors are conceptualized as. If we can't get molecular, we should at least try as hard as possible to make it happen (though considering we are on a mm scale now, getting to the 0.1 nm or 100 pm scale (where a hydrogen atom is around) might take some time).

leoedin 14y ago

There is a lot of work going on to develop 3D printing as a mass manufacturing process. It is improving rapidly, but you have to understand that in the physical world progress is always slower than in software. 3D printing isn't a small change in manufacturing process (like more advanced CNC machining is) but a completely different approach. The level of investment, testing and iterating required to produce 3D printed components which demonstrate proven reliability and lower costs than existing processes is high. The aerospace industry are actively pursuing 3D printing as a manufacturing process. Selective laser sintering allows shape-optimised parts to be built out of titanium - something that we cannot do any other way - which will lead to upwards of 50% weight savings. It will make a huge difference in the weight (and so efficiency) of aircraft. The issue is that the aerospace industry operates on the principal of proven heritage. The 787 may be the newest large airliner, but there's nothing in it that we haven't been using elsewhere for 20 years. Space is even slower at adopting new technologies - reliability is key.