As posted in many places, 3-D "printers" have been used for over 10 years to fab parts and complete assemblies.....old tech.
Gun Control fanatics recently have been spinning this tech as a threat to.......politics for sure.
EXAMPLE:
Stratasys Dimension Family
Create a more productive design process with Dimension 3D printers.
Print 3D models you can hold, discuss, and test.
Imagine capturing an idea with your CAD program, then holding a functional model of it a few hours later. Faster than a service bureau. More real than a simulation. Dimension 3D printers from Stratasys accelerate your design process by producing functional models that perform just like the final part.
The most complex, most durable models.
If you can design it with 3D CAD, a Dimension 3D printer can print it with ABSplus, a production-grade thermoplastic. Models printed with Dimension 3D printers have customer proven toughness – from commercial sprayers tested at pressures up to 60 psi, to final parts on M1 tanks normally machined in aircraft-grade aluminum.
Design new products with confidence.
Dimension 3D printers help you accurately test the form, fit, and function of new products, so you can correct errors before committing to the cost of full production. And since Dimension 3D printers print models right in your office, it’s a lot easier to keep new products confidential.
pdf-dimensions
Dimension Family Brochure
The Dimension Family includes:
Yahoo had a story today about business implications for printers, less warehouses needed because spare parts can be printed? Space missions? Bring a printer instead of a bunch of spare parts. Staples, the office supply store wants to install printers so people who can't afford their own can rent time on one at a store.
How about the military? Plane grounded because of a broken part? Print it on the runway and keep on flying.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
12-year old Leon McCarthy of Marblehead, Massachusetts was born without fingers on his left hand. He didn’t have a functional prosthetic replacement until his father, Paul McCarthy, found online instructions for a design that could be built with a 3D printer.
"Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another as if we were one single tribe.” -King T'Challa, Black Panther
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. ~Winston Churchill
The cost of BOTH the feed materials and the printers are dropping rapidly......a simple auto part may well soon be cheaper if printed in Alma than the shipping cost plus fab costs from Taiwan.......
12-year old Leon McCarthy of Marblehead, Massachusetts was born without fingers on his left hand. He didn’t have a functional prosthetic replacement until his father, Paul McCarthy, found online instructions for a design that could be built with a 3D printer.
This is going to be so cool for those that can afford the printers.
I am just glad that the economy moves fast enough and is robust enough to absorb the people that will get their jobs displaced by this. We can continue the progression that technology has provided of closing the gab between the poor and the rich. This will blend well with the $15 min wage because if you can replace 100 workers at $7.50 with one at $15, this will save companies money and lower prices. Wahooo. That guy working at the factory will be able to buy all the stuff he just made for his boss.
It is so cool if things are and will be cheaper, as long as you don't have to work for a living.
