What can be made from 3-D printers? (a gallery)

[phantom power]

This really is beginning to resemble a rudimentary incarnation of various SF novels I've read where the design file is the only commodity. Once you have the rendering file, "manufacturing" is just an operation of feeding files to some automated device. In this case, that's a 3D printer, maybe in the future it will be nano-assemblers.

Also, note the photo of home-version.

From models of Les Paul guitars to toy robots, 3-D printers are churning out usable products. Here’s a look at some objects that have been made from 3-D printing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/what-can-be-made-from-3-d-printers/2013/01/07/1780dcce-591b-11e2-9fa9-5fbdc9530eb9_gallery.html

[bettyellen]

1. can the printer make a printer?

[drm604]

4. It can make a lot of the parts.

[Eleanors38]

2. Earl Grey?

[Posteritatis]

3. The home ones will probably take off nicely in the next couple years

There's a few fairly good ones in the under-$1K range, and a few extremely good ones for about twice that. I've been thinking of getting one sometime in the next year for a few projects..

[phantom power]

5. That's pretty affordable.

Not exactly pocket change, but about what my parents paid for our first home computer, back in the day. You're right, that's in a price range where individuals will start buying them.

[daleo]

6. Imagine what the "ink" will cost

Just think about it.

[Posteritatis]

7. Extrusion material's cheap; SL material's less so but in line with what I'd expect. (nt)

[daleo]

8. Consider the cost of ink for an ink jet printer

It comes to billions, if you were to fill a swimming pool. I expect the same sort of pricing would apply.

[Posteritatis]

9. Consider that I have *actually seen the prices* and you clearly haven't. (nt)

[daleo]

10. We'll see how this turns out, if and when it becomes widely available.

[jsr]

11. And the file for the part

It's not going to be all freeware.

[Occulus]

12. Already taken care of

Blender can export .obj

Buying the .obj? That's already done by modelers for stock clutter models worldwide.

What I predict will happen is that cheap home printers will come with proprietary software that either has .obj import disable, redefined, or buried as an undocumented feature. There's no way successful 3D printers will do away with the .obj file format, because too many people use that format in their pipeline already.

Note that Shapeways already allows people to upload and print models made in Blender.

[Yo_Mama]

13. What do you think is the best in the under 1K range?

I really want to get one.

[Kablooie]

15. Looks like the cheapest so far is still around $1700.

http://store.makerbot.com/replicator.html

There are supposed to be some coming out for around $600 but they aren't available yet.
http://deezmaker.com/

[Bosonic]

19. If you're not squeamish about assembling one...

http://www.reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://www.reprap.org/wiki/RepRap_Buyers%27_Guide

[Yo_Mama]

20. Thanks, I have been looking at RepRap

I appreciate the advice very much!

[Kablooie]

14. Check out Shapeways.com

http://www.shapeways.com

They print from your file and then you can sell your objects on their site.
Here are some examples:

[Bosonic]

16. A dress

http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/7/4077638/dita-von-teese-3d-printed-articulating-dress-shapeways-swarovski

[NickB79]

18. ..................

[Bay Boy]

22. Looks fake...

...dress looks good though.

[guardian]

23. An unusual paring

of plastic and silicon

[NickB79]

17. Assault rifles and AK-47 magazines!

http://reason.com/blog/2013/03/07/3d-printed-ak-magazine-unveiled-by-defen

[Bay Boy]

21. Isn't it disingenuous to call it a printer?

Isn't it more of a CAD-CAM?