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3D Printer (1 Viewer)

I've been interested in these types of things for a while, there are some people doing amazing work with these things. Check out what goes on every year in the Maker Faire. They're able to print with silicone, food, just about anything now.

This stuff could be the start of a DIY revolution in a few years once it gets past the tinkerers into a more mainstream model.

 
These machines have been standard in almost every architecture/engineering/art school for at least a decade. The amazing thing is how much the cost has come down on some of these things.

And the more amazing thing is the scale at some of these things can print now. There are cement ones that can construct building parts.

 
These machines have been standard in almost every architecture/engineering/art school for at least a decade. The amazing thing is how much the cost has come down on some of these things.And the more amazing thing is the scale at some of these things can print now. There are cement ones that can construct building parts.
:goodposting: My dad's buddy owns one. He makes one-off samples for tons of different companies.
 
These machines have been standard in almost every architecture/engineering/art school for at least a decade. The amazing thing is how much the cost has come down on some of these things.And the more amazing thing is the scale at some of these things can print now. There are cement ones that can construct building parts.
I'm interested in knowing how one might invest in this industry, are there listed companies that are working in the home 3D printing business?
 
These machines have been standard in almost every architecture/engineering/art school for at least a decade. The amazing thing is how much the cost has come down on some of these things.And the more amazing thing is the scale at some of these things can print now. There are cement ones that can construct building parts.
I'm interested in knowing how one might invest in this industry, are there listed companies that are working in the home 3D printing business?
ZCorp and Dimension are the two biggest manufacturers.
 
Can you print body parts?
Already been done - March 2010
The printer is meant to be used in regenerative medicine. Instead of borrowing body parts from someone else — or yourself — the printer will just make a new part for you. The printer is loaded with cartridges of “bio-ink” a substance that acts as a kind of scaffolding for the cells to retain their shape. A sophisticated computer is linked to the printer that is pre-programmed with the 3D blueprint of whatever is being made. The computer instructs the printer to lay down two dimensional layers of bio ink and cells that eventually form into the 3D body part.

With the successful printing of a human vein, the scientists are looking forward to moving on to larger organs. Though the printing of an entire lung or heart is far off, the technology has been proven to be viable. In the near future instead of using plastics or metals to fix small arteries and heart defects, doctors could use real human tissue. Instead of borrowing skin or veins from other parts of the body to fix injuries they could just print some out. Instead of borrowing a liver or heart from a cadaver they could just whip one up. All they need are some healthy organ cells and they’ve got a replacement.
3D Bioprinters are in their infancy but they are on the way.Cool Article in The Economist - Feb 2010

 
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These machines have been standard in almost every architecture/engineering/art school for at least a decade. The amazing thing is how much the cost has come down on some of these things.And the more amazing thing is the scale at some of these things can print now. There are cement ones that can construct building parts.
:goodposting: These things are very cool and scare the hell out of me as far as my business is concerned. Hopefully it will be later than sooner that you can just download a liscense to print the fancy new pen Sanford just put out.
 
From the Economist article for those who are interested in how the 3D Bioprinters work and where it's headed:

Though printing organs is new, growing them from scratch on scaffolds has already been done successfully. In 2006 Anthony Atala and his colleagues at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in North Carolina made new bladders for seven patients. These are still working.

Dr Atala’s process starts by taking a tiny sample of tissue from the patient’s own bladder (so that the organ that is grown from it will not be rejected by his immune system). From this he extracts precursor cells that can go on to form the muscle on the outside of the bladder and the specialised cells within it. When more of these cells have been cultured in the laboratory, they are painted onto a biodegradable bladder-shaped scaffold which is warmed to body temperature. The cells then mature and multiply. Six to eight weeks later, the bladder is ready to be put into the patient.

The advantage of using a bioprinter is that it eliminates the need for a scaffold, so Dr Atala, too, is experimenting with inkjet technology. The Organovo machine uses stem cells extracted from adult bone marrow and fat as the precursors. These cells can be coaxed into differentiating into many other types of cells by the application of appropriate growth factors. The cells are formed into droplets 100-500 microns in diameter and containing 10,000-30,000 cells each. The droplets retain their shape well and pass easily through the inkjet printing process.

A second printing head is used to deposit scaffolding—a sugar-based hydrogel. This does not interfere with the cells or stick to them. Once the printing is complete, the structure is left for a day or two, to allow the droplets to fuse together. For tubular structures, such as blood vessels, the hydrogel is printed in the centre and around the outside of the ring of each cross-section before the cells are added. When the part has matured, the hydrogel is peeled away from the outside and pulled from the centre like a piece of string.

The bio-printers are also capable of using other types of cells and support materials. They could be employed, Mr Murphy suggests, to place liver cells on a pre-built, liver-shaped scaffold or to form layers of lining and connective tissue that would grow into a tooth. The printer fits inside a standard laboratory biosafety cabinet, for sterile operation. Invetech has developed a laser-based calibration system to ensure that both print heads deposit their materials accurately, and a computer-graphics system allows cross-sections of body parts to be designed.

Some researchers think machines like this may one day be capable of printing tissues and organs directly into the body. Indeed, Dr Atala is working on one that would scan the contours of the part of a body where a skin graft was needed and then print skin onto it. As for bigger body parts, Dr Forgacs thinks they may take many different forms, at least initially. A man-made biological substitute for a kidney, for instance, need not look like a real one or contain all its features in order to clean waste products from the bloodstream. Those waiting for transplants are unlikely to worry too much about what replacement body parts look like, so long as they work and make them better.
 
It's been an amazing few decades and they just seem to get more jaw dropping all the time. Science fact is so quickly catching science fiction. The possibilities are really just mind boggling with this tech.

The prices are only going to come down and the capabilities are going to go through the roof. In a historical sense it won't be long before you can easily turn out a complex device at home at a relatively low entry point. What do you think the world will be like when everyone can be a specialty manufacturer? What does this portend for the global economy? for the US economy?

 
It's been an amazing few decades and they just seem to get more jaw dropping all the time. Science fact is so quickly catching science fiction. The possibilities are really just mind boggling with this tech. The prices are only going to come down and the capabilities are going to go through the roof. In a historical sense it won't be long before you can easily turn out a complex device at home at a relatively low entry point. What do you think the world will be like when everyone can be a specialty manufacturer? What does this portend for the global economy? for the US economy?
I have no idea but I'm sure Tim will start a thread on this very subject at some point in the near future. Only then will we get some real answers.
 
It's been an amazing few decades and they just seem to get more jaw dropping all the time. Science fact is so quickly catching science fiction. The possibilities are really just mind boggling with this tech. The prices are only going to come down and the capabilities are going to go through the roof. In a historical sense it won't be long before you can easily turn out a complex device at home at a relatively low entry point. What do you think the world will be like when everyone can be a specialty manufacturer? What does this portend for the global economy? for the US economy?
I have no idea but I'm sure Tim will start a thread on this very subject at some point in the near future. Only then will we get some real answers.
Hopefully he does. Seems like something worth discussing. Things like this can be transformative technologies.
 
I use these things on a nearly basis at work. I have my doubts that they will ever viable in the distributed manufacturing environment for any engineering grade application. For starters, the final mat'l is not at all homogoneous, it very much has a grainy structure like wood and is very poor against the grain.

Imo, current state of the art is that this stuff great for visualization and checking fits and things like that, but not really usable for anything functional that requires strength or durability.

The technonogy has certainly come a long ways over the past decade though.

 
It's been an amazing few decades and they just seem to get more jaw dropping all the time. Science fact is so quickly catching science fiction. The possibilities are really just mind boggling with this tech. The prices are only going to come down and the capabilities are going to go through the roof. In a historical sense it won't be long before you can easily turn out a complex device at home at a relatively low entry point. What do you think the world will be like when everyone can be a specialty manufacturer? What does this portend for the global economy? for the US economy?
If you go far enough down the road, it seems like the money should be in three things: equipment, design, and ink. As the equipment gets better, we run into a new generation of issues - imagine if you bought a printer, then printed a copy of it, then returned the printer you bought to the store. Design is tricky, too, and intellectual property laws will need to be addressed. The real limiting factor will be the ink - especially rare resources.
 
All right, just watched the video. This Z-corp stuff has been around a while, and has some limitations. The material is startch and really isn't that strong. The stuff we use is from dimension, and uses ABS, which is much stronger. The 40 micron resolution they cite is better than what we can do, but i'm skeptical. The wrench they made is pretty big, doesn't have any fine details.

Also note: its not as easy as scan and print. Scanning like that gives no details on the internal workings...i.e. the shape of the channel that the moving bit slides in. There was a fair amount of hand-waving involved there.

 
All right, just watched the video. This Z-corp stuff has been around a while, and has some limitations. The material is startch and really isn't that strong. The stuff we use is from dimension, and uses ABS, which is much stronger. The 40 micron resolution they cite is better than what we can do, but i'm skeptical. The wrench they made is pretty big, doesn't have any fine details. Also note: its not as easy as scan and print. Scanning like that gives no details on the internal workings...i.e. the shape of the channel that the moving bit slides in. There was a fair amount of hand-waving involved there.
well ill just put my debit card away for now...
 
It's been an amazing few decades and they just seem to get more jaw dropping all the time. Science fact is so quickly catching science fiction. The possibilities are really just mind boggling with this tech. The prices are only going to come down and the capabilities are going to go through the roof. In a historical sense it won't be long before you can easily turn out a complex device at home at a relatively low entry point. What do you think the world will be like when everyone can be a specialty manufacturer? What does this portend for the global economy? for the US economy?
If you go far enough down the road, it seems like the money should be in three things: equipment, design, and ink. As the equipment gets better, we run into a new generation of issues - imagine if you bought a printer, then printed a copy of it, then returned the printer you bought to the store. Design is tricky, too, and intellectual property laws will need to be addressed. The real limiting factor will be the ink - especially rare resources.
Interesting thoughts on IP laws, Fred. But really, I think most issues that will arise are already addressed. For example, patent law doesn't care how you make something -- if you make a patented machine, you infringe the patent. But an interesting thought exercise to try and come up with holes in the current IP space with respect to these kinds of technologies. :popcorn:
 
Step 1: Buy 3D printer

Step 2: Print out copies of the 3D printer

Step 3: Profit

 
Can you print body parts?
We use them daily in the worlds largest prototype industry--dentistry. I've personally printed wax, alloys (silver palladium, cobalt chrome, titanium), and more and more polymers. Unlimited potential Imo.
A friend of mine does tons of stuff for Medtronic. He has quite a few rapid prototyoers and the biggest use is for initial medical design components. He makes a #### ton of money too.
 
Imo, current state of the art is that this stuff great for visualization and checking fits and things like that, but not really usable for anything functional that requires strength or durability.
, which is pretty similar to 3D printing, is used all the time for functional parts.
 
Do they ever catch guys there late night with the Victoria's Secret catalog?

 
It's been an amazing few decades and they just seem to get more jaw dropping all the time. Science fact is so quickly catching science fiction. The possibilities are really just mind boggling with this tech. The prices are only going to come down and the capabilities are going to go through the roof. In a historical sense it won't be long before you can easily turn out a complex device at home at a relatively low entry point. What do you think the world will be like when everyone can be a specialty manufacturer? What does this portend for the global economy? for the US economy?
If you go far enough down the road, it seems like the money should be in three things: equipment, design, and ink. As the equipment gets better, we run into a new generation of issues - imagine if you bought a printer, then printed a copy of it, then returned the printer you bought to the store. Design is tricky, too, and intellectual property laws will need to be addressed. The real limiting factor will be the ink - especially rare resources.
Interesting thoughts on IP laws, Fred. But really, I think most issues that will arise are already addressed. For example, patent law doesn't care how you make something -- if you make a patented machine, you infringe the patent. But an interesting thought exercise to try and come up with holes in the current IP space with respect to these kinds of technologies. :popcorn:
Otis you might retire soon enough that it won't impact you, but your job, your industry is going away. The entire argument about sharing music, sharing movies, etc. is eventually going to be about sharing blueprints. One day I'll be able pay a few hundred dollars in "ink" and will have a $50,000 Bryant Boat*. Technology is going to make IP irrelevant. Whether or not copyrights, patents, trademarks, etc are right or good for society, for creators and/or consumers is already a mute point in some industries and it is just going to continue. Sorry but the idea that information is going to be containable and the IP industry you live in will survive is just not feasible. It will be a while, but IP lawyers are going to extinct sooner rather than later.
 
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sorry if a honda.
:lmao: These aren't that "new". I've been using additive manufacturing (SLA, FDM, 3D printing, DMLS) on a weekly basis for the past 15 years.
Then obviously you don't know what's cool and what to post. You should have been on this a decade ago.
I didn't realize there were that many nerds around here that thought it would be cool as I did. :shrug:
I thought that's all the FFA is.. :confused:
 
It's been an amazing few decades and they just seem to get more jaw dropping all the time. Science fact is so quickly catching science fiction. The possibilities are really just mind boggling with this tech. The prices are only going to come down and the capabilities are going to go through the roof. In a historical sense it won't be long before you can easily turn out a complex device at home at a relatively low entry point. What do you think the world will be like when everyone can be a specialty manufacturer? What does this portend for the global economy? for the US economy?
If you go far enough down the road, it seems like the money should be in three things: equipment, design, and ink. As the equipment gets better, we run into a new generation of issues - imagine if you bought a printer, then printed a copy of it, then returned the printer you bought to the store. Design is tricky, too, and intellectual property laws will need to be addressed. The real limiting factor will be the ink - especially rare resources.
Interesting thoughts on IP laws, Fred. But really, I think most issues that will arise are already addressed. For example, patent law doesn't care how you make something -- if you make a patented machine, you infringe the patent. But an interesting thought exercise to try and come up with holes in the current IP space with respect to these kinds of technologies. :popcorn:
Otis you might retire soon enough that it won't impact you, but your job, your industry is going away. The entire argument about sharing music, sharing movies, etc. is eventually going to be about sharing blueprints. One day I'll be able pay a few hundred dollars in "ink" and will have a $50,000 Bryant Boat*. Technology is going to make IP irrelevant. Whether or not copyrights, patents, trademarks, etc are right or good for society, for creators and/or consumers is already a mute point in some industries and it is just going to continue. Sorry but the idea that information is going to be containable and the IP industry you live in will survive is just not feasible. It will be a while, but IP lawyers are going to extinct sooner rather than later.
:confused:You couldn't possibly be more wrong. The more that these things can't be controlled by the sale of goods, the more the intangibles -- the IP -- becomes critical. Ultimately the IP becomes the only way to value/control the market for these things in a world where you can just copy and paste anything -- whether it be an MP3 like today, or a wrench or Ferrari tomorrow. Some of the IP issues become more thorny and complex, but the reasons for IP protection (to incentivize innovation and promote the progress of the useful arts) are still there, and you'll need IP more later than ever. If anything, I think it just becomes more important, and IP professionals end up being in more demand than ever.
 
It's been an amazing few decades and they just seem to get more jaw dropping all the time. Science fact is so quickly catching science fiction. The possibilities are really just mind boggling with this tech. The prices are only going to come down and the capabilities are going to go through the roof. In a historical sense it won't be long before you can easily turn out a complex device at home at a relatively low entry point. What do you think the world will be like when everyone can be a specialty manufacturer? What does this portend for the global economy? for the US economy?
If you go far enough down the road, it seems like the money should be in three things: equipment, design, and ink. As the equipment gets better, we run into a new generation of issues - imagine if you bought a printer, then printed a copy of it, then returned the printer you bought to the store. Design is tricky, too, and intellectual property laws will need to be addressed. The real limiting factor will be the ink - especially rare resources.
Interesting thoughts on IP laws, Fred. But really, I think most issues that will arise are already addressed. For example, patent law doesn't care how you make something -- if you make a patented machine, you infringe the patent. But an interesting thought exercise to try and come up with holes in the current IP space with respect to these kinds of technologies. :popcorn:
Otis you might retire soon enough that it won't impact you, but your job, your industry is going away. The entire argument about sharing music, sharing movies, etc. is eventually going to be about sharing blueprints. One day I'll be able pay a few hundred dollars in "ink" and will have a $50,000 Bryant Boat*. Technology is going to make IP irrelevant. Whether or not copyrights, patents, trademarks, etc are right or good for society, for creators and/or consumers is already a mute point in some industries and it is just going to continue. Sorry but the idea that information is going to be containable and the IP industry you live in will survive is just not feasible. It will be a while, but IP lawyers are going to extinct sooner rather than later.
:confused:You couldn't possibly be more wrong. The more that these things can't be controlled by the sale of goods, the more the intangibles -- the IP -- becomes critical. Ultimately the IP becomes the only way to value/control the market for these things in a world where you can just copy and paste anything -- whether it be an MP3 like today, or a wrench or Ferrari tomorrow. Some of the IP issues become more thorny and complex, but the reasons for IP protection (to incentivize innovation and promote the progress of the useful arts) are still there, and you'll need IP more later than ever. If anything, I think it just becomes more important, and IP professionals end up being in more demand than ever.
The reasons for IP protection becomes more and more irrelevant as the feasibility of this protection becomes more and more expensive. This expense will just not be worth the price in the near future, but you are correct that in the short term your profession will be in great demand as the last ditch efforts to cling to the past really get going. When I can download a Ferrari from the future equivalent of a torrent site, posted by someone who use their 3D scanner to create the plans to share and then "print" this Ferrari for the price of the raw materials the IP is worthless. Whether or not that leads to more or less innovation is not really important to the discussion. Whether or not that leads to more or less moral society is not really important to the discussion. Absent a technological crash and return to simpler times, a new dark ages your profession is only going to be able to slow this down and will not be able to stop this.
 
It's been an amazing few decades and they just seem to get more jaw dropping all the time. Science fact is so quickly catching science fiction. The possibilities are really just mind boggling with this tech.

The prices are only going to come down and the capabilities are going to go through the roof. In a historical sense it won't be long before you can easily turn out a complex device at home at a relatively low entry point. What do you think the world will be like when everyone can be a specialty manufacturer? What does this portend for the global economy? for the US economy?
If you go far enough down the road, it seems like the money should be in three things: equipment, design, and ink. As the equipment gets better, we run into a new generation of issues - imagine if you bought a printer, then printed a copy of it, then returned the printer you bought to the store. Design is tricky, too, and intellectual property laws will need to be addressed. The real limiting factor will be the ink - especially rare resources.
Interesting thoughts on IP laws, Fred. But really, I think most issues that will arise are already addressed. For example, patent law doesn't care how you make something -- if you make a patented machine, you infringe the patent. But an interesting thought exercise to try and come up with holes in the current IP space with respect to these kinds of technologies. :popcorn:
Otis you might retire soon enough that it won't impact you, but your job, your industry is going away. The entire argument about sharing music, sharing movies, etc. is eventually going to be about sharing blueprints. One day I'll be able pay a few hundred dollars in "ink" and will have a $50,000 Bryant Boat*. Technology is going to make IP irrelevant. Whether or not copyrights, patents, trademarks, etc are right or good for society, for creators and/or consumers is already a mute point in some industries and it is just going to continue. Sorry but the idea that information is going to be containable and the IP industry you live in will survive is just not feasible. It will be a while, but IP lawyers are going to extinct sooner rather than later.
:confused: You couldn't possibly be more wrong. The more that these things can't be controlled by the sale of goods, the more the intangibles -- the IP -- becomes critical. Ultimately the IP becomes the only way to value/control the market for these things in a world where you can just copy and paste anything -- whether it be an MP3 like today, or a wrench or Ferrari tomorrow.

Some of the IP issues become more thorny and complex, but the reasons for IP protection (to incentivize innovation and promote the progress of the useful arts) are still there, and you'll need IP more later than ever. If anything, I think it just becomes more important, and IP professionals end up being in more demand than ever.
The reasons for IP protection becomes more and more irrelevant as the feasibility of this protection becomes more and more expensive. This expense will just not be worth the price in the near future, but you are correct that in the short term your profession will be in great demand as the last ditch efforts to cling to the past really get going. When I can download a Ferrari from the future equivalent of a torrent site, posted by someone who use their 3D scanner to create the plans to share and then "print" this Ferrari for the price of the raw materials the IP is worthless. Whether or not that leads to more or less innovation is not really important to the discussion. Whether or not that leads to more or less moral society is not really important to the discussion. Absent a technological crash and return to simpler times, a new dark ages your profession is only going to be able to slow this down and will not be able to stop this.
Here is where we disagree. Just because it's harder to enforce doesn't mean the protection is worthless. Plenty of copyright suits out there, cracking down on torrent sites, etc. You can bet that when we're talking about a quarter million dollar item -- and not a 99 cent song -- they will find ways to enforce, and penalties will be stiff. And I disagree that "whether or not that leads to more or less innovation is not really important to the discussion." It's absolutely critical to any discussion of IP.

 
I would imagine that if we could literally "print" something as complex as a car would see two things happen - one, you'd see the price drop dramatically, because you wouldn't need factories, and two, you'd see the designers bundle together the "ink" and the design in a single package. You still need raw materials and you still need the ability to cast them.

Still, the technology is a long way away from being able to create a precision machine, let alone one capable of operating safely at 180mph. And even when the technology starts to get good, I'd imagine that downloading a Ferrari from a "torrent site" would be about as safe as hand knitting your own parachute. There's a pretty good chance it would work, but do you really want to take that risk?

 
This was translated by Google. Woman had her jaw replaced with one printed on a 3d printer.

3D printed mandibular elderly womanPosted: Yesterday 12:03Update: Yesterday 12:12A 83-year-old woman with the replacement of her jaw last summer medical world first bite. It is namely for the first time that a 3D-printed lower jaw in a patient has been inserted. That made ​​the University of Hasselt (Belgium) announced on Thursday. In the first Dutch scientists also had a share.The lower jaw of the elderly woman was badly infected, so that removal was necessary. With the age of the patient in mind, was a tailor-made implant chosen instead of 'classical' microsurgical reconstructive surgery, which can last long and risky. The replacement of the jaw were swallowing and chewing movements and maintain a free airway.It is the first custom-made implant in the world to replace an entire jaw. Also be the way in which the jaw has been produced,, by means of 3D-printing of titanium powder, is unique. The method was developed by Research Institute BIOMED at Hasselt University, in cooperation with more surgeons of the Orbis Medical Center Sittard-Geleen and companies Xilloc Medical BV, Maastricht and Cam bioceramics BV of Leiden.The implant is slightly heavier than a natural jaw, but according to scientists is not disturbing. Because the jaw by means of 3D printing was made, it took only a few hours before that work was completed. Other methods take several days before an implant is done.,, Computer technology will cause a revolution in the medical world. We just need to learn to deal with,'' said Professor Jules Poukens of Biomed. 'In the future doctors and engineers together to design computer and the operating table. This is really innovative. "According to the University of Hasselt, the so-called,, patient-specific implants" in the future increasingly used.The patient underwent surgery in June last year in the hospital in Sittard-Geleen. The woman was a day later near normal speaking and swallowing. The healing process according to the researchers took a bit longer, but went through the appropriate antibiotics also progressing well.
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=nl&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.depers.nl%2Fopmerkelijk%2F627820%2FVrouw-krijgt-3D-geprinte-kaak.html
 

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