The next generation is already here..........

Started by Dragon_Trainer_ May 9th, 2014 2:18 AM
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  • 4 replies

Dragon_Trainer_

(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

Age 26
Male
In the Darkness....
Seen October 25th, 2016
Posted June 17th, 2016
342 posts
9.6 Years
I'm sure many of you must've heard about the new term that's been thrown for quite some time now which is 3-D Printing!(for those of you who haven't, feel free to click the link)

I would like to know from you all about the imaginative and out-of-the-box ideas that you have as to how it could be used.......... I will introduce another NExt-Gen based topic here after I get a good enough response for this one.............


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Tsutarja

Age 28
he / him
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Seen 4 Hours Ago
Posted 13 Hours Ago
27,327 posts
13.2 Years
I still think of 3D printing as a young technology, and it needs its time to develop and progress further before it becomes more mainstream. It's pretty nifty technology if you ask me, but it's also extremely pricey as well.

twocows

The not-so-black cat of ill omen

Age 32
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Seen February 19th, 2023
Posted April 30th, 2021
4,307 posts
14.2 Years
I don't think 3D printing is going to take off nearly as much as VR is going to. Why spend time and money making things when you can make virtual replicas for free instantly?

Most of the use cases for 3D printing are things that you can usually already get relatively cheaply, or at least more cheaply than the cost of a 3D printer. I do think some of its applications in medicine are pretty interesting.
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Oryx

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Age 30
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Seen January 30th, 2015
Posted December 27th, 2014
13,184 posts
12.2 Years
Most of the use cases for 3D printing are things that you can usually already get relatively cheaply, or at least more cheaply than the cost of a 3D printer. I do think some of its applications in medicine are pretty interesting.
When I visited AT&T's Foundry in Texas, on one floor their power cords were strips hanging from the ceiling, with spring-loaded pulleys to pull them back up once you were done with them. To pull them down, they could have just put some hanger hooks on the end of a stick, but instead they decided to 3D print hooks because it was cooler. So a few hundred dollars worth of materials later (not to mention the time wasted designing and printing), they had three hooks that could have been made by a few dollars' worth of material and time.

3D printing to me is going to be a business technology, not a personal one. They're not like normal printers; they will never be revolutionary to the point of a 3D printer in every home.


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Blu·Ray

Manta Ray Pokémon

Age 25
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Seen February 13th, 2017
Posted August 12th, 2016
382 posts
13.1 Years
Having once been really into the maker movement, I'll have to mention the fact that for Engineers and hobbyists, the 3D printer is one of the best things that has happened for a long time. 3D printers are perfect for prototyping and modding. It is extremely flexible, and the fact that you can design the part that you need and have it ready half an hour later makes it easier to create anything. Plus, compared to a CNC router which is commonly used in big corporations or amongst professional makers, a 3D printer is dirt cheap!

Most of the use cases for 3D printing are things that you can usually already get relatively cheaply, or at least more cheaply than the cost of a 3D printer. I do think some of its applications in medicine are pretty interesting.
Medical applications are huge! This is because of the enormous amount of flexibility when printing it yourself vs. having some mass produced part that not quite fits anyone. Think of it like shoes. When was the last time you had shoes that just fit perfectly? Shoes are always a little too short, or maybe a little too wide. But with 3D printing, you can make the perfect fit yourself! Of course you wouldn't do that with shoes, but apply the same logic to, say a CAST or an EXOSKELETAL ROBOT, and we are starting to get somewhere useful.

As for common adoption of 3D printers - Not yet. The technology is not yet ready for consumers, and the fact that, like with Oryx' AT&T hooks, the price of a 3D printer is not justifiable when looking at options like mass-production or plain old craftsmanship.