3d printed metal gun.

[blackeagle603]

How about printed body parts?

3D bioprinting

[Dub_James]

I read a comment somewhere (don't know if it's truthful or not) that the patents on this process are soon to run out. I do know that some patents on plastic 3D Printing are also running out or will soon.

[Draven]

I read a comment somewhere (don't know if it's truthful or not) that the patents on this process are soon to run out. I do know that some patents on plastic 3D Printing are also running out or will soon.

A good chunk of the original patents ran out several years ago, hence the sudden appearance of these lower-priced hobbyist printers.

[esa5444]

They used a half-million dollar machine to make something that was made in the early 1900s by machines that were turned by a leather strap connected to an overhead shaft run by a steam engine...

Here's a few points to burst your bubble:

1. This "rapid prototyping" is not rapid. I would guess that, for example, a slide of a 1911 will take roughly the same time on a 3d prototyper as it would one man on the leather-strap-steam-engine set up in 1906.

2. Home "hobbyist". Not really. This process requires a vacuum or inert gas environment. It probably requires some advanced technical training to operate and run. It requires a lot of secondary equipment. It also probably requires a post-job heat-treat. Can you do it in your garage? Sure, but by that time you will find that you might as well open a full-fledged machine shop; the cost of new space will be trivial.

3. Forged vs cast. The topic of millions of man-years of internet flame-wars. Well, this process is as good as a casting. Nothing is going to make it better than that. Ever. And you're going to be paying a good factor two or more for raw material compared to forged steel bar-stock and the local steel distributor.

So, yeah, this is nice, it's new, it's innovative. And it will not displace traditional manufacturing very much. It's a niche application for people who can't design forms easy to manufacture (50% of the time this is incompetence more than actual necessity) and for NASA who probably saw "new, expensive, laser, shiny" and decided to manufacture the toilet seats out of it (probably cheaper than what they pay now..)

[blackeagle603]

It's about time, tooling, NRE and ROE. Don't misunderestimate the market for complex one off's and mass customization. 3D bioprinting is the ultimate in mass customization.

The niche will expand inversely to the cycle time -- the break pt will move down with the costs and cycle times. Throw a viable nano tube material into the mix and the roof will blow off.

[blackeagle603]

This 3DP stuff isn't just about end products. I can see our Mfg Eng's going nuts with it to build tooling, jigs, fixtures etc.

[Aesop]

It took Orville and Wilbur Wright over 4 years and countless design and engine changes to get one lousy manned flight of a mere 40 yards, after spending thousands of hours and dollars. Which is how we know now that powered air flight will never catch on, and their experiment, however "successful", will have no impact on traditional train and steamship travel, which are much faster, simpler, cheaper, and safer.

The Duke of Norfolk pointed out that even though the matchlock can propel a projectile quite forcefully through plate armor, there is no chance whatsoever of the complicated, expensive, dangerous, and noxious new gunpowder technology displacing the conventional longbow in His Majesty's forces anytime in the foreseeable future, because there is no shortage of yew trees, deer sinew stings, bird feather fletchings, or strong English arms to pluck a string.

Follow-up interviews after successfully time-travelling to interview Sioux leaders Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse confirmed this estimate that rifles are a passing fad, but simple bows and arrows will triumph forever.

[Aglifter]

Aesop, I don't think anyone is claiming it won't be very useful, it's just that the physics involved mean that it's very unlikely people will be 3D printing wrenches, etc any time soon - at least, not for large scale production.

Now, if someone comes up w a way to 3D print graphene, that's another story - but still, not likely to be used to make things like wrenches.

[blackeagle603]

re: graphene and carbon nano tubes for 3D printing circuits with high enough conductivity to be useful (will have other applicability)

Most of the work is currently being done in Universities such as Rochester Institute of Technology, Loughborough University (and a few other institutions). I'm missing a Bay area conference related to it in interconnects this month.

[Aglifter]

Yes, yes, all that high-profit nerd stuff…

I'm thinking race car parts…