Be Excellent To Each Other

If you had a device that could print anything you wanted in a 10" cube from a hard plastic, what would you make?

Some background reading.

This has been on my mind for a few weeks, since I visited my friend Rupert (I think you've met him, Grim... and Cras) and played with his printer. It cost him about £500. It looks like this:



We went on Thingiverse and looked for demo objects to print. Ten or so minutes later, I was holding this ankh:



If you go back and examine the printer itself, you'll see it's made from:

1) standard off-the-shelf hardware like threaded bar and nuts
2) standard components, like the stepper motors that control the print head (it has a resolution of 1.3mm -- that's the finest bead of material it can lay down)
3) the control board
4) and special bridging pieces that join it together (the white blocks at the corners of the device)

Excellently, the bridging pieces are themselves produced on a 3d printer, and the first thing you are recommended to do once your printer works is to print spares in case you break them!

The possibilities are dizzying, but so far removed from my usual thinking that I have no idea what you could actually use such a thing for. So what would you make?

I'd print my own lego.

These things are so cool. Make a mobius band! Or, alternatively, a big plastic spunking cock.

A mate of mine runs the production/design part of a company that makes tripods for tv cameras. Had a look round there and they've got a hugely expensive version of one of these that has apparently saved them a fortune. Before they were paying other engineering companies, even overseas to make prototypecomponent parts for them from a form of CAD with weeks at a time turnaround. Now if they want to try something they just feed the CAD into this and produce the trial item same day. Massive potential for speeding up prototype/trialling in engineering businesses.

One interesting project I heard about was a school who, led by an artist with a technological angle, raided a local dump for scrap electronics then built robots from VCR components. They used a 3d printer to make the bridging pieces, the brackets and things that held the recycled bits and pieces together. That way they could easily make things to precise dimensions that would have taken hours of metalwork or woodwork to fabricate otherwise.

Yeah, I keep meaning to make one of those

Or this:
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/candyfab

What to make with it? Everything. Doesn't even matter does it. It's cool.

There's also the food printing option too.

There's some nice examples of stuff people have made on this page.

Edit -- I think this is what my friend has.

I fantasize about owning a 3D printer once a week or so.

When 3D printers can print themselves, man life will get fun and fast. Physical Piracy ahoy!

10" Simuloids.

Well, they kind of already can. And nothing much happened.
They're a fun toy and useful for some applications. But material is what limits them - they aren't "replicators" by any stretch of the imagination.

Yeah, imagine. All the small pieces of plastic tat you ever wanted beamed straight into your living room at the touch of a button.

Bookmarks for Kindles.

Well, not really. The interesting parts like the heating elements, the stepper motors, and the control board aren't printable, nor are they likely to become so anytime soon.

So China are making a gigantic 3D printer based on a Space station!

I would make a box.

I'd print out a 10" high replica of Dr Richard Gaywood.

Lifesize, huh?

BTW 'Dr Richard Gaywood' is my penis.

I'd make those plastic soldiers.

They have several very large very expensive 3d printers in the basement of my new employer... Hmmm.....

Isn't the downside here that you have to be good with CAD stuff?

You'll be fine, a man of your mechanical knowledge.

Rather, old bean.
\

I saw a cartoon in the current Private Eye, of a man holding a leaf blower and pointing it at the wind turbine which the leaf blower was plugged into. My kind of guy.

I almost photographed that and sent it you.

There must be a point at which you can increase the efficiency of the wind turbine generation to meet the increased efficiency of the leaf blower motor energy use.

have it near a forest, as more trees = more wind.

Unfortunately if you want extract 100% of the energy of the wind, you must stop it. Which means you can't extract any energy from it.

Also a leaf blower will only be about 5 or 10% efficient, so you're going to have to get well over 100% efficient in your turbine to make up for it. HTH.

It's pessimistic moaning minnies like you that are ruining this country's once-great innovative spirit. You don't see toot-sweets or mustache cups being invented these days, oh no.

All the good inventions are done

WHERE'S MY FLYING CAR THEN, EH?

Glow in the dark tampons.

I'd rather glow in the dark hoo-hoos.

Tangentially related, a new phrase I heard this week which has stuck with me: "a tightly packed kebab".

'badly packed', surely?

That may well be your preference, sir, but it would not be mine.

It's hardly complimentary however you look at it

Vertical Bacon Sandwich.

Gaping axe wound

What sort of files does it need? Can you convert QuakeII / Half Life models?

my favourite (from the list below)

Hungry Bellamy

http://www.listopia.co.uk/list.php?list=1

Anyway, 3D printer, being optimistically added to Santa's list.

For $200 I'm in.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pri ... 3d-printer

"No motors, electronics, or hotend"?

1) Buy 3D printer.
2) Print 3D printer.
3) ?
4) Profit.

I see that Mr Kissyfur has reached 2001.

More 3D printing, courtesy of Skyfall

That is pretty cool...

3D-Printed Records. Ropey quality but interesting nonetheless.