3–D printers are now
mainstream after they have been around for two or three decades. The big ones
at about $20k are out of reach for most of us, but people like J. Leno, car
collector and comedian or perhaps I should say comedian and car collector, who
is printing out car parts that aren’t manufactured any more (1, 2) can afford
to have one tucked away. Or Disney, who are printing toys with light guides and
led lights embedded which can respond to stimuli from outside (3), are becoming
innovators.
Smaller ones that cost $2k
or less are available for the dedicated technophilic geek (3, 4, 5, 6, 7) who
may want an absorbing hobby or may be trying to start a business. For example,
the entrepreneurs who came up with the idea of printing guns (8) but got shut
down, as it seems to require a license to do that. Would that also be true of
replica guns or some wild new design reminiscent of a Sci-Fi weapon?
Reprap (4) had a great idea
in that their first printer was designed in such a way that it could print out
parts to make another one. The prototype couldn’t do it all, but they are
getting to that stage and they hope to be able to include their printed
circuits in the print run. So we are seeing machines that can clone themselves ad lib and the growth could be
exponential.
The vision of the brave new
world of all robots coming along with their personal 3–D printers so that they
can not only repair themselves, but get busy and assemble their clones is very
definitely not just the figment of one’s imagination after too many hours in
the bar.
So now that we are able to say
“Have printer, will travel” as a promise to arrive on someone’s doorstep and
spend an afternoon printing the Christmas presents for the kids is fine, but
there is a snag. It’s all in the software. Not necessarily in the difficulty of
any coding – easy for a technophilic geek – but in the scanned in details of
the objects for the delight on Christmas morning around the tree.
Those files are where the
income streams will come from. Sites could be set up where we could pay a fee
and use them for a specified number of runs, or time, or for a higher fee
purchase them. The BBC report (3) indicates that files are already showing up
on Pirate Bay.
- http://www.webpronews.com/the-3d-printed-car-may-not-be-too-far-off-2012-08
- http://www.stratasys.com/Products/Overview.aspx
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19818815
- http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page
- http://deezmaker.com/bukobot/
- http://store.makerbot.com/replicator2.html
- http://www.webpronews.com/another-cheap-3d-printer-looks-to-kickstarter-for-funding-2012-10
- http://www.webpronews.com/diy-gun-project-put-on-hold-as-creators-have-their-3d-printer-seized-2012-10
