The Genius of the Lego Printer 187
Posted
by
timothy
from the dot-by-dot-by-dot dept.
from the dot-by-dot-by-dot dept.
Barence writes "If you've ever struggled to build anything more complex than a cube of Lego, this will blow your mind. It's a fully functioning Lego printer, complete with felt tip print head."
I want a 3D printer (Score:3, Insightful)
That will take a CAD drawing and build me a Lego model from it. :p
Better than Anything HP Puts Out (Score:2, Insightful)
I bet this is more reliable than any printer HP ever put out. I'm certain the cost of ink is cheaper.
Love all the little minifigs scattered around the machine.
Re:Ouch (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Linux (Score:5, Insightful)
Since OSX uses CUPS as its core printer driver system, I suspect it wouldn't be terribly difficult to make it run on Linux.
Re:Lego Printer? (Score:3, Insightful)
I thought it was a 3D printer that printed LEGO bricks themselves.
Re:Technically... (Score:5, Insightful)
Plotters draw vectors. Based on the demo this is pretty clearly raster-based. Don't let the way it holds the ink fool you; it's a printer.
Re:Lego Printer? (Score:3, Insightful)
I thought it printed LEGO creations from LEGO blocks.
Y’know, your average 3D printer... but with LEGO bricks.
That would be cool.
I love how a 3D printer is now referred to as "an average 3D printer [no big deal]".
I'm stilled quite fascinated by that technology...
Cool, but... (Score:1, Insightful)
If you've ever struggled to build anything more complex than a cube of Lego, this will blow your mind. It's a fully functioning Lego printer, complete with felt tip print head.
On one hand, that's very cool.
On the other hand, though (and on second thought), I just don't see the big deal - I don't see why I should get excited about this.
Back when I was young, I had lots of LEGO, and I played with it every day. I used to build things I liked; space ships, space stations (yes, I was mostly into the Space sets - I basically grew up on Classic Space at first and Futuron later on, and I made it all the way to Blacktron I and II, Space Police and M-Tron), but also houses, cities, castles, and so on.
I created worlds, I played with tme - in them, really -, and I had fun, tons of fun, a kind of fun that I've never really been able to recreate anymore since I've turned an adult.
I don't want to diss LEGO printers, or the people who build them. But at the same time, I just can't get excited about them; they're a perfect example "adult toys". It's a neat application of LEGO, and it shows again what you can do with the stuff, but the magic that was (is) inherent in any child's creations, even my own, isn't there. Fact is, it's not even intended to be there.
I'm sorry, I just can't get excited over this. When somebody creates a cool LEGO space ship or space station or so, though, be sure to post a Slashdot story about it. ;)
Re:It's not a printer (Score:3, Insightful)
OMG (Score:1, Insightful)
OMG Ponies!
Re:Cool, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
i hate to say it but building a space station is nothing to boast about.millions of people (including me) made shite lego space stations as a child. on the other hand, desigining a lego printer, then designing a control mechanism to interface to a computer then designing your own printer driver has not been done by too many people.