

Next Year’s 3-D Printers Promise Big Things — Really Big Things - replicatorblog
http://www.wired.com/design/2012/11/big-3d-printers-euromold-2012/

======
micro_cam
I expect ski boots to be the first consumer breakthrough 3d printed product.
Personalized fit matters immensely, so much so that it is common to pay
someone to grind and stretch an existing shell and/or to use exotic heat
moldable or vacuum fit liners.

Further they are fairly expensive and one of the main cost of producing a new
model is the cost of producing molds in each shell size. The market is also
large enough to justify significant investment but also very receptive too new
boutique products.

(Any one with a 3d printer feel free to use this business idea so I can buy a
pair and stop my feet from hurting.)

------
breckinloggins
It's fun to imagine the type of replicator a Type I civilization might be able
to produce. Imagine a machine that takes hydrogen and energy (or just energy)
and builds, from the subatomic particles up, all the elements needed for
production (just as stars do). Then, using a combination of scaffolding,
precise placement, and self-replicating nano-structures, creates any object,
organic or otherwise. Who knows, we may ultimately figure out how to
manipulate a more fundamental physical substrate than just "packets of energy
orbiting each other" and so create exotic but stable condensates and states of
matter we can now only imagine. This would be something akin to using the
hypothetical "quantum foam" as a sculpting material.

Granted, this all requires physics that aren't currently understood and may
not even exist, and the amount of energy required would be staggering, but a
true "anything replicator" would surpass the Star Trek vision into something
that needed no "raw materials" at all except energy.

~~~
KaoruAoiShiho
Might not even need energy, require information only.

~~~
archivator
Well, there's work to be done (quite literally), so unless we discover the
laws of thermodynamics don't work, energy will always be expended.

~~~
robertk
Not if you can set up a framework where physical objects are equivalent to
reversible computations (and hence energyless).

------
gdubs
Last night at dinner, a friend was telling me about how Jay Leno (an avid
classic car collector) was restoring old vehicles through 3d printing. Found
the clip on YouTube:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzA_7tkKmM0&feature=youtu...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzA_7tkKmM0&feature=youtube_gdata_player)

------
ComputerGuru
All on one page: [http://www.wired.com/design/2012/11/big-3d-printers-
euromold...](http://www.wired.com/design/2012/11/big-3d-printers-
euromold-2012/?pid=1387&viewall=true)

------
3amOpsGuy
I'm still sceptical of 3D printing. They're hyped so much with little to show
for it - when did you last use something printed on a 3D printer?

This is a technology designed to bring affordable, easy manufacturing to your
bedroom, it's been around for years now, supposedly widely deployed. Yet
hardly anyone alive today has handled or used a product printed on one of
these machines?

From what i've read, the plastics suitable for printing do not easily make
viable "hard wearing" products - although i understand various techniques can
be used to improve this to some degree.

The raw materials used are not cheap and there doesn't appear to be much scope
for future cost reduction. Perhaps more worrying is the limited option to
reuse existing materials.

Until i start seeing and using products of 3D printing, colour me unconvinced.
I'm sitting this revolution out.

~~~
clarky07
It's being used right now by manufacturers to make custom parts in things like
jet engines.

While "bedroom make anything" might be a ways off, it's being used now and
will be used a lot in the not so distant future.

[http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/GE-to-Print-Fuel-
Injecto...](http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/GE-to-Print-Fuel-Injectors-
for-Jet-Engines-2.jpg/)

[http://www.businessinsider.com/ge-buys-3d-printing-
company-t...](http://www.businessinsider.com/ge-buys-3d-printing-company-to-
make-parts-for-jet-engines-2012-11)

~~~
3amOpsGuy
>> It's being used right now by manufacturers to make custom parts in things
like jet engines.

That doesn't appear to be true? They've announced they're intending to do it,
they've bought a company specialised in it which suggests they're serious.

I can't order a 3d printed fuel injector for my jet engine today?

My point still stands. This is all just hype right now with nothing to show
for it.

Another poster made a good point that it's a cheaper, more versatile, home-
sized equiv of a CNC router / lathe. Looking at it like that makes a lot of
sense to me.

It drastically limits the scope of such devices though from the current hype.

~~~
clarky07
Did you go to the link? The caption says "Image comment: This is a GE jet
engine component created exclusively through 3D printing"

Also, the leading company, 3 d systems, did 90 million in revenue last
quarter. Not Apple numbers, but not exactly "nothing to show for it."

~~~
3amOpsGuy
But it's just a prototype, a demonstration. It's not in use anywhere, it's not
certified, there's nothing to say it even works yet. Searching doesn't turn up
anything to corroborate that it's in use right now.

As for the numbers, only to be expected in a hype game. To my mind in 10 years
we'll look back and say 'do you remember 3D printers? How they were going to
take over the world' sure there will likely be some design companies knocking
out prototypes on them but Joe Punter won't have a 3D printer purchase on his
shopping list this decade.

~~~
clarky07
>As for the numbers, only to be expected in a hype game. What does that even
mean? This is real money that people paid for a product that is being used. If
you are hoping for a "replicator" in your bedroom, you're completely right.
That doesn't mean it isn't game changing technology in a lot of ways.

Think about something like the parts market for appliances and cars. Something
out of date and broken? We don't necessarily have to just throw it in the
trash. We can print a one off part to fix that old washer. Or car. Don't have
that part in stock? No worries, we'll print one and have it ready this
afternoon. Think about how amazing this could be for a company like autozone.

You don't have to have a replicator in your bedroom for this to be game
changing. Sure there's plenty of hype, but the technology is getting to the
point where it's warranted.

~~~
3amOpsGuy
>> As for the numbers, only to be expected in a hype game.

> What does that even mean?

Think dot com bubble, think real estate pre-2008, or more currently think
zinga, Facebook, instagram. These things were MASSIVE before they died (or are
about to die) a death. Most people didn't want to think they would fall as
much or as badly as they did (or are about to) in the end.

They all share one thing, they're massively over hyped for the actual value
they give. NB: that's not the same as saying they give no value. Each of the
above have considerable merit, but nothing approaching their hype. History
tells us the safest bet here is to cash out.

>> Think about something like the parts market for appliances and cars.

Let's say i'm an appliance manufacturer, or i'm a 3rd party parts
manufacturer. Where is the benefit to me in any of this?

Will a 3D printer ever be cheaper or able to crank out volumes akin to my sub
contracted production lines in China? I think we can safely say no.

3D printers are a niche, that's their value proposition. I can have an amateur
knock out a part that's no longer made. The same way i can take a trip to a
local metal worker with both parts of a rusted-in-half fender and say "hey,
can you knock me up one of these for my 1963 jaguar e-type?"

3D printers will continue to be as relevant to Joe Punter as my local metal
worker's English Wheeling Machine.

