A 3D Printer On Every Desktop? 426
holy_calamity writes "Two Cornell researchers have designed an open source 3D printer that costs just $2,400. The self-assembly kit is part of what they call the Fab@Home project — they hope it will spark development of rapid prototyping for the consumer market in the same way the Altair 8800 did for personal computing in seventies." Here is a video showing a completed machine constructing a silicone bulb (16-MB WMV).
Update: 01/10 04:02 GMT by KD : The developers of this kit are at Cornell, not Carnegie Mellon University as the original post erroneously stated.
Update: 01/10 04:02 GMT by KD : The developers of this kit are at Cornell, not Carnegie Mellon University as the original post erroneously stated.
hmmmmm (Score:5, Funny)
I just circled my desk, and it looks like the HP Laserjet I already have exists in 3 Dimensions. Surely this means HP has beaten this other company to market.
Re:hmmmmm (Score:5, Funny)
like the 4-bladed razor (Score:2)
Re:hmmmmm (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Because this is a computer-oriented forum, and here we realize that P implies Q does not mean that not-P implies not-Q. Duh!
Heard of Youtube? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Heard of Youtube? (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Ok, Flash is still proprietary but name me a better streaming system thats as easy?
Fab@Home Wiki Pictures of the Bulb [fabathome.org]
Its a SQUEEZE bulb, not a light bulb if you hadn't realised!
DugUK
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Error: 403 Forbidden
Error when attempting to use the Coral Content Distribution Network (http://www.coralcdn.org/).
The hostname specified in the Coralized URL has been blacklisted from the system.
Server CoralWebPrx/0.1.18 (See http://coralcdn.org/ [coralcdn.org]) at 128.208.4.199:8080
Blacklisted??? How the heck do you get blacklisted from Coral Cache?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
IP Issues to Hit Action Figure Market (Score:5, Insightful)
IP Issues to Hit Action Figure Market. Seems inevitable. Dad, can you print me a few dozen more Ninja Turtles? If it comes with a 3d scanner, kiss Barbie Good-Bye. Mattel becomes the next Sony.
Suddenly... (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:IP Issues to Hit Action Figure Market (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:IP Issues to Hit Action Figure Market (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Thing is I doubt people will use a 3D silicon printer to print Barbie dolls. Have you seen the things the printer prints? They are pretty crude.
Even commercial hugely expensive 3D printers, where each model can be colored and incredibly detailed, uses combinations of special powder, glues and ink (as in ink jets), and
Can't say much more than (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I think that's quite expensive for printing out a bulb that doesn't even light up!
Re:Can't say much more than (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Can't say much more than (Score:5, Funny)
> fab("Earl Grey, Hot");
Lemme guess - you got a liquid that was almost, but not quite entirely unlike tea.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Can't say much more than (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Can't say much more than (Score:5, Informative)
Idiot, of course it didn't work!
The command is "Tea, Earl Grey, hot". Duh.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
"Fancy not having to order "parts" from your local Dow Corning rep anymore? Do you desire to offer your customers truly customised b00bs in a variety of shapes? Now you can do both - and they're ready in minutes!"
Re:Can't say much more than (Score:4, Insightful)
Surgeons buy pieces from Dow because Dow has spent a lot of time and money certifying the safety of their process and parts with (among others) the FDA. Surgeons buy the parts, and don't have to be too concerned that a manufacturing defect or bad batch of materials slipped past QA. If (God forbid) QA flubs one, the surgeon can (legitimately) blame Dow. If you're doing the QA in your office, however...
While part of the (exorbitant amounts of) money spent on any sort of health care ensures that everyone involved makes a tidy profit, you are paying much more for the guarantee of safety than anything else.
In essence, silicone is cheap; the insurance and hassle involved with making a safe part is very much the antithesis of cheap.
I wonder (Score:5, Funny)
Given the ungodly expense of regular inkjet cartridges [gizmodo.com], I can only wonder how much the refills for this thing will run.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
This fabber is a DIY; open "source" device. You get parts lists and plans, then it's up to you. "Refills" will cost only whatever the raw materials are going for on the open market.
KFG
Re:I wonder (Score:4, Informative)
No problem (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Ink more expensive than gold? (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The uses are endless (Score:5, Insightful)
Building and using one of these seems like a fun and even practical hobby. Ever get frustrated at the plastic parts that break and render something useless? Now you can make replacements. Ever wonder what to get for the person who has everything? Well, I'm pretty sure you could make them a lot of neat personalized things with one of these that they'll be stumped as to where you could have found them.
This project obviously has a long way to go, but I think the comparison to early personal computers could be fair, given the huge realm of possibilities creating objects in 3D space opens.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
C'mon! Silicon, 3D... We all know what we are going to print first!
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The uses are endless (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
You bent my wookie!
A real Stereo Microscope (Score:2)
mandelbr0t
Linking a 16 MB vid from the /. frontpage... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
So What's Next Then? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The objects are generated from files. They'll DRM those. Unsuccessfully of course. Even if you can't get ToyCo's action figure file, you'll easily get the "analog loopholed" version. Analog loophole might not be the right term, but it's the same idea. If it gets really bad, they'll start trying to control the basic materials. We'll end up with a tax on the silicone goo, like the blank media tax. Then every innocent Joe who needs to calk windows will be paying $50/tube for the stuff.
Re:So What's Next Then? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Print up some gathering robots.
Next question please.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
So useful I could cry (Score:3, Interesting)
Where's the porn angle? (Score:3, Insightful)
Worked for the internet, dvd players, VCR's, cable and satellite TV, etc, etc.
1. (immaterial)
2. add porn
3. profit!
Re: (Score:2)
Also, it would create a new type of cybersex...
Re:Where's the porn angle? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I think you are better off investing the $2500 in hookers.
With that kind of money, even I could get laid.
Materials are the problem (Score:2, Insightful)
If someone finds a
Re: (Score:2)
My tongue-in-cheek answer: Loaded dice. Fund the development of the machines by producing dice to cheat at craps.
Re: (Score:2)
The Star Trek replicator economy ensues!
Raw materials will be valuable.
What's the precision on these things? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
They use 150 TONS of pressure to mold real Lego pieces, and manufacture millions of pieces every year. I don't know what's more hilarious, (A) that you think you'd be able to make copies cheaper with this machine than the mass-produced originals, or (B) that you think this machine has a snowball's chance in Hell of approaching that kind of precision, or, last but not least, (C) that you
We need something like this for transistors (Score:5, Interesting)
Now that I think of it- the combination of that and this would be truely awesome. A talented hacker, or a small team, could design software, hardware, and test out of their own homes without expensive produciton costs. It'd be a huge breakthrough.
Re: (Score:2)
A. Although you probably could get something to print circuit boards, you'd have one hell of a time printing capacitors, resistors, transistors etc.
B. As such, you'd have to solder every little piece in by hand.
C. As such, why couldn't you just use a preexisting solution (i.e. print up a schematic and use a UV light to burn it to a copper clad board)?
If hobbyists wanted to create open source electronic gizmos they could. However, whereas I can use
well, transistors aren't doable yet... (Score:3, Funny)
I put together a team to do this a generation ago, using a BBS for collaboration and the first decent Mac schematic design package for software, though we were stuck with wirewrap for prototypin
Re: (Score:2)
Buck would be proud (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Ok, but you'll need a . .
KFG
Re:Buck would be proud - use a RepRap (Score:2)
Vik
Not actually at Carnegie Mellon (Score:3, Insightful)
And I was beginning to think this would be something that would make me *proud* of my alma mater for once...
Memo to freshman Democrats in Congress: Please please tie research funding to doing useful research, and running an institution well for its students (that means a clean, consistent financial aid system and reasonable tuition), not defense and homeland stupidity pork. Your constituents will thank you.
Amazing (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Amazing (Score:5, Funny)
Capitalism will end when I can print a blow job.
Re: (Score:2)
So were VCRs when they first came out. My dad bought a top-loading Sony Betamax gig the size of a small fridge in 1980 that used a cable remote for about ~$2,500. Ditto for DVD players. Remember the first ones? $1,000 and up and big as a brick? Last year I bought a Samsung about two inches thick that does DTS and has an HDMI input at Costco for $60. So it goes.
I think this thing has incredible potential, and if enough people buy it it will eventually commoditize itself.
Actually... (Score:2)
It's a lofty goal, but a good one.
Honestly, I'm thinking about making a fabathome machine just for the tinkering. How many times have you wished that you just had something to mess with that was custom?
Re: (Score:2)
I doubt it; After all, a large manufacturing company has the resources to build thousands of these things and buy the raw materials in massive quantities, lowering their total price greatly.
Then there is the idea of convenience. Sure, I could print up 24 forks for my party, but it might take an hour or two or four depending on the speed of the thing - or, I could walk down to the dollar store and grab a pack of 100. I also don't have to ma
Re:Amazing (Score:4, Funny)
Tea, earl grey, hot! (Score:5, Funny)
Bootstrapping? (Score:2)
Can this thing assemble (a copy of) itself?
Also, back to the programming-languages famous problem — can it output its own design document(s) in some format?
Re:Boobstrapping? (Score:2, Funny)
I may be missing something... (Score:3, Insightful)
Fixing things... (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm also missing a foot for my laptop (it popped off at some point). Again, I could just print one in a couple of minutes...
Like most
Re: (Score:2)
The tuning capasitor(sp) works but the plastic know broke.
Even if it is not cheap it is better than throwing it away.
Though I wouldn't do that either.
As for CAD, I don't know.
I do know that if you want one before these are common then you have alot of time.
You know, for kids (Score:5, Interesting)
PS A cookie to the first person who can tell me what movie the subject of my post is from.
The article is incorrect (Score:5, Informative)
Looks more like science fair project (Score:5, Interesting)
"Two Carnegie Mellon researchers..." translation: "Two graduate students' thesis project"
For those that didn't watch the video, it looks like a time-lapse speed up of a caterpillar building a cocoon. Seriously it has an almost creepy organic look. There is no time mark on the video so there is no indication of how long this thing took to build. The shape is brain-dead simple. Can it spin anything more complex than a circle as it builds? What good is a printer that can only make balls, cylinders, and bulbs? Presumably this item is flexible being made of silicone rubber, but that seems to be more a side effect of it being built on the cheap with off the shelf materials. It even had to be "refilled" half way through building this rather small bulb, which is mostly air to start with!
For all the people than mentioned using this device to repair things around the house, I hope the only thing that ever breaks around your house is your turkey baster (assuming this thing can print a bulb that large).
As has been mentioned by other posters, these machines will only become truly useful when they can extrude a variety of materials with a variety of material properties. I would imagine you could get a range of properties in stiffness and heat resistance by varying proportions of two or three basic plastic polymers with perhaps a few additional curing additives. Rather than demand a 100% build from scratch perhaps a few standard sized metal reinforcement parts could be thrown into the mix, though this would require a pause while the machine requested user assistance to add screws, rings, dowels, or thread a wire or two.
Really useful auto manufacturing will require serious breakthroughs in AI and robotics to assembling a variety of fabricated parts into something useful, only then will manufacturing prices plummet. Keep in mind we have had auto-milling machines for decades and they haven't obsoleted most manufacturing processes. They can also mill into custom shapes a much wider range of materials.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
It didn't spin anything.
Here's a hi-res pic showing off the complete chassis [fabathome.org]
Like most rapid prototyping machines, it has an X, Y, & Z axis.
The picture makes this very clear.
From the rest of your post, it seems kinda obvious that you didn't RTFA
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Modela MDX-15 3d mill/scanner $2995 (Score:4, Interesting)
It's not only a mill, but a 3d scanner too.
For all of you drooling over the $2400 price tag, is $600 more really so much to ask?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Slashdot headlines can already replicate themselves.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
You can just go to the home store and buy fabbed metals.
The only thing standing between you and a zip gun right now is a few tools, twenty bucks and a bit of knowledge. The knowledge is available on the web.
Effective gun control has always been as impossible as effective DRM. It's medieval technology for goodness sake. At heart a gun is nothing more than a tube, a pebble and something to make the pebble leave the tube
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Easy... (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The printout should be easy to recycle back into print "ink". Perhaps using temperature to melt it down. So this material would be the "draft" test printout material that you print, heat, recycle, and print again with same material. Then when you got the final printout right, you would switch to the release quality material that is more robust. Or then again, just use the printed out "draft" version to make a mold and cast release materials.
What do you think?
Tuomas