The Economist had an article the other week, about the rise of 3D Printing and its potential to upset a lot of assumptions. It was a cool discussion with lots of entertaining examples (such as the printed and playable violin on the cover), but one of the more interesting points was the rise of companies that are making this capability mass-available, including Shapeways.
I've been exploring the Shapeways site, and it's really quite neat. It's kind of like CafePress, only for three-dimensional objects. You design something; you upload it to the site; choose things like what materials to use; and hit "Print". A couple of weeks later, they send you your thingamy. You can sell stuff through the site, and even use them for mass customization: changing extra for one-off customized versions that people can buy.
It drives home that this technology is not only for real, it's approaching the mass-market level. Shapeways is a bit expensive and a bit inconvenient to use -- but only a bit, and it's easy to see how, with a few more years of maturing of the relevant technologies, this stuff could become routine. They already let you choose any of a number of materials (glass, stainless steel, plastic, faux sandstone, etc), to get the effect you're looking for.
Very tempting, and I may find serious uses for this -- for instance, for custom game pieces. A period-style chess set, made out of gold-plated steel, could be quite snazzy. (If a bit ferociously expensive...)
http://www.youtube.com/user/plswog#p/u/6/W9tnqHS2vFo
http://www.youtube.com/user/plswog#p/u/27/LBzyZSVK_Gs
http://www.makerbot.com/
I can easily see, in about 5-10 years, the price coming down to the point where anyone can afford one just as they have an inkjet printer now. The Makerbot would work great for plastic items and for checking the models before you sent them to Shapeways to be printed in other materials.
It's a gripping idea, isn't it?
Wow. Gonna drop some money there sometime soon, and there are things I have wanted that I could design....
And if I had the cash, I'd have bought a Makerbot already.
But the technology (and computer hardware) have become mature enough that I've seen kits to build your own 3D printer.
tried to use shapeways when it was still in beta
btw, interesting that your dad was also very taken by the same Economist article.
Some of the geometry toys I use to build models were impossible before 3d printing; they couldn't figure out how to mold them otherwise.
Timely topic
A 3D printer could give me something where I could test lighting options without having to climb up & down ladders to do so...
1. The prices are in Euros - not insurmountable - I could find a currency site and convert before ordering
2.There's a note that the buyer is responsible for paying customs duties outside the EU. That means that without doing some moderately extensive research I have *no idea* what that might add to my purchase price.
If you do order from them, I'd be very interested to hear some numbers on what, if anything, you end up paying in extra fees above the listed price. There's stuff other people have designed that I'm fairly tempted by.
If you end up trying it out, please let me know how it goes, and I'd even love to come see the results of the process to see what the resolution/quality is. (The resolution of these printers is one of the major two differences between brands according to my father the last time I asked)