Very interesting article describing one of the next technology revolutions that will change everything, and is already here...as long as those in power don't screw it up. Star Trek meets the real world...

An Opportunity, and a Warning

The next great technological disruption is brewing just out of sight. In small workshops, and faceless office parks, and garages, and basements, revolutionaries are tinkering with machines that can turn digital bits into physical atoms. The machines can download plans for a wrench from the Internet and print out a real, working wrench. Users design their own jewelry, gears, brackets, and toys with a computer program, and use their machines to create real jewelry, gears, brackets, and toys.

These machines, generically known as 3D printers, are not imported from the future or the stuff of science fiction. Home versions, imperfect but real, can be had for around $1,000. Every day they get better, and move closer to the mainstream.

http://www.publicknowled...if-they-dont-screw-it-up

That is fascinating technology! Basically, this is the birth of bringing industrial technology to the average person. Amazing. I would have never even thought of such a thing before today.

However, if you want to make something really complex and useful, you have to actually have the proper materials, ie: if you want a titanium golf club, you have to have titanium. For the moment, those printers use some kind of plaster. And I got to thinking, what would people actually use this for if they are limited in materials? I looked on youtube and saw someone create a 3d mold of their face. And then it hit me like lightning. Guess what men everywhere would be using this technology for? What do men like that's 3d, fairly simple in shape, doesn't have moving parts, doesn't do anything, yet can still be used, and only needs to be made from one soft material?

3D prototype printing has been around for years. I used to use on when I worked for a company that designed prototypes. The professional versions are not cheap at all but the quality if amazing. takes a long long time for them to finish a print out but today's models can even print in metal. The grandules are covered in a UV activated adhesive and then after printed and fired so the minuscule particles will bind. Kind of complex and I have just glossed over it but you can create some really great stuff. I myself use a Sherline cnc mill to make master parts in machine wax and then I lost wax cast them. Works just as well and costs a heck of a lot less than a pro printer and it has a resolution of .0015

This place is gonna start looking like a scene straight outta hyperspace in a not very distant future^^

The funny thing is, yesterday i had a breakthrough designing something i want to get printed at shapeways