Beam It Down From the Web, Scotty (Wow! 3-D Printing)

[mcscajun]

In a few years....You will be able to download three-dimensional plans online, then push Print. Hours later, a solid object will be ready to remove from your printer.

It’s not quite the transporter of “Star Trek,” but it is a step closer.

Three-dimensional printers have been seen in industrial design shops for about a decade. They are used to test part designs for cars, airplanes and other products before they are sent to manufacturing. Once well over $100,000 each, such machines can now be had for $15,000. In the next two years, prices are expected to fall further, putting the printers in reach of small offices and even corner copy stores.

The next frontier will be the home. One company that wants to be the first to deliver a 3-D printer for consumers is Desktop Factory, started by IdeaLab, a technology incubator here. The company will start selling its first printer for $4,995 this year.

Bill Gross, chairman of IdeaLab, says the technology it has developed, which uses a halogen light bulb to melt nylon powder, will allow the price of the printers to fall to $1,000 in four years.

Picture of the 3-D printer and more at link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/technology/07copy.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1178540916-uksrsz6nihdIqjiBa11Xlw

[MrModerate]

1. I think we're talking the "replicator" of Star Trek . . .

rather than the "transporter."

But I've always thought they were supposed to be based on similar technologies. True Trekkies/Trekkers (I've never been able to remember the difference) can correct me.

[JHB]

4. Not really that, either...

...since what's copied is only the shape, not the substance.

This sort of thing has appeared already, in "Jurassic Park 3" and elsewhere. This just seems to indicate a home version is on the horizon.

[arcane1]

7. correct, on both counts

:)

[NoodleyAppendage]

2. Well, this should make for very interesting "copy your ass" at the office.

I can see the porn industry using this to their advantage.

J

[gatorboy]

3. My wife would kill me but I got to get one of these.

The modeling hobby just got a little more interesting.

[tridim]

5. They're also starting to print living tissue with modified ink jet printers

Just replace the ink with cells and start printing layer after layer until the part is built up.

This'll probably be superseded by nano-bots in the coming years, but for the time being it's amazing technology.

[mcscajun]

8. True. I saw an article on that last year or the one before.

I don't think (please no!) that we'll be seeing that particular technology in the home any time soon. :hi:

Yet, that would be closer to the Food Replicators.

[Gold Metal Flake]

6. Another leap forward for internet porn!

Seriously, this could save thousands in rework dollars for those companies that require lots of custom tooling for custom projects, such as those in the aerospace industry. Quick models of tooling would allow better communication with the floor and provide training aids (assuming the floor wants to listen to the Engineering Dept. on that particular day).