Discovering The 3rd Dimension
FIrstly, sorry it has been so long since my last blog post. I had some stuff…
As you can probably guess from the title, I have decided to talk about 3d.
I am personally not a fan of 3d films. Not because they are mainstream and not because I want to be different. The glasses irritate my face and make it hard for me to concentrate on the film. Maybe when they get rid of the glasses, up the frame rate and eliminate strobing I will become a fan.
The thing I really wanted to talk about was 3d printing. You can have your own 3d printer for as $1,300. (makerbot) Think about what it means to have a 3d printer, you can print any spare item you need. Remember how the back of a gameboy always used to fall off and break? Well, now you can print a new one! Moved house and need shower curtain rings? Print some off! The printers at the moment can use many things instead of ink. They can use food, liquid plastic, hot resin, layers of paper or powders and glue. The powders can be any metal. Need a hip replacement? Print one out. New part for your car? Print one out. The possibiltes are innumerable.
Think about the consequences this will have on the manufacturing industry. There will be fewer jobs in an industry where all items are now created by printers. However, in a world where we are trying to be green we can all see the benefits of being able to email someone a physical item. Instead of having to ship an item across the world we can now just send them a file and they can print it off at their current location.
There are companies around now that will print things off in 3d and send them to you for a small price. (compared to buying a printer) Shapeways offer this service. It’s really fun and useful to be able to draw something out on your computer and have it delivered to your door. Prototyping has never been easier.
