4 ms·

If you had a 3D printer that could print objects up to the size of a car in an instant, what would you make? I'm thinking the best application for me might be

by mentos 13y ago

If you had a 3D printer that could print objects up to the size of a car in an instant, what would you make? I'm thinking the best application for me might be furniture. It would be really cool to flip my apartment every year by melting down my old stuff and printing new. Maybe a bike but it'd have to be one of those chainless designs.[0] But past that, I'm at a loss for what I'd make even with a magical instant printer. There are very few things that I use or want that could be made entirely of plastic. I've wanted to get a 3D printer but I feel like it'll end up going unused like my Raspberry Pi. Once in a while it'd come in handy but its not going to change my world. [0]-http://cdn.trendhunterstatic.com/thumbs/chainless-bicycle-nulla-minimalist-bike.jpeg http://cdn.trendhunterstatic.com/thumbs/chainless-bicycle-nu...

Crito 13y ago
I would look into replacing at many things as possible in my kitchen with printed items. Broken spatula? Print a new one. Friends coming over for drinks? Print some wine glasses[sic?] and plates. Half of a leftover chicken? Print a tubberware case the perfect size for it. I'd print perfectly sized cabinet inserts for all of my utensils. Outside of the kitchen, I could make bookshelves and cabinets that are only as big as I need them to be. There are lots of custom organizational things that I could make. Currently I buy all of these sorts of things from stores, so they are never quite optimal. If I had a shop I'd be making this stuff myself out of wood, but I live in an apartment. Of course I don't have room for a car-sized printer either...
- salgernon 13y ago
  My espresso machine has a feature where it will suck up milk through a tube to make foam. I figured to print a conical vessel to hold the milk and ensure that the tube would always be submerged to the bottom. Took not too long to design using openscad and print a few (the first was too small, the second failed to print halfway through. When the material doesn't adhere it ends up glob bing onto the end of the print head and makes a huge mess.) Ok, so finally, I have my vessel and I pour in some milk. And then I watch as the milk mysteriously disappears. Turns out that the print is not quite watertight and the milk oozed between the inner wall and outer wall of the cup, where there is a honeycomb-like space. (Most objects are not quite solid, in order to save material.) After washing it out, I figured I'd use it for pencils or something. But you know, you can never quite get the rancid milk out of a porous plastic object. At this point, I won't be quitting my day job to be a 3d designer, but I will say that I've had $2000 worth of fun and learning, so that was worth it. The printers at this point are pretty much able to print things that quality of something you would get for free in your breakfast cereal.
  - ijk 13y ago
    This is one reason why foodsafe 3D printing is yet another technical wrinkle. Shapeways added foodsafe-rated printing a while back, but just for ceramics, which may end up being the cheaper foodsafe compromise for the near future.

by mentos 13y ago

Crito 13y ago

I would look into replacing at many things as possible in my kitchen with printed items. Broken spatula? Print a new one. Friends coming over for drinks? Print some wine glasses[sic?] and plates. Half of a leftover chicken? Print a tubberware case the perfect size for it. I'd print perfectly sized cabinet inserts for all of my utensils. Outside of the kitchen, I could make bookshelves and cabinets that are only as big as I need them to be. There are lots of custom organizational things that I could make. Currently I buy all of these sorts of things from stores, so they are never quite optimal. If I had a shop I'd be making this stuff myself out of wood, but I live in an apartment. Of course I don't have room for a car-sized printer either...

salgernon 13y ago
My espresso machine has a feature where it will suck up milk through a tube to make foam. I figured to print a conical vessel to hold the milk and ensure that the tube would always be submerged to the bottom. Took not too long to design using openscad and print a few (the first was too small, the second failed to print halfway through. When the material doesn't adhere it ends up glob bing onto the end of the print head and makes a huge mess.) Ok, so finally, I have my vessel and I pour in some milk. And then I watch as the milk mysteriously disappears. Turns out that the print is not quite watertight and the milk oozed between the inner wall and outer wall of the cup, where there is a honeycomb-like space. (Most objects are not quite solid, in order to save material.) After washing it out, I figured I'd use it for pencils or something. But you know, you can never quite get the rancid milk out of a porous plastic object. At this point, I won't be quitting my day job to be a 3d designer, but I will say that I've had $2000 worth of fun and learning, so that was worth it. The printers at this point are pretty much able to print things that quality of something you would get for free in your breakfast cereal.
- ijk 13y ago
  This is one reason why foodsafe 3D printing is yet another technical wrinkle. Shapeways added foodsafe-rated printing a while back, but just for ceramics, which may end up being the cheaper foodsafe compromise for the near future.