The Pirate Bay torrents printable 3D objects

Tremble, thing-makers, because The Pirate Bay has started to share the source files for physical objects. The controversial file-sharing site, known for aiding the distribution of music tracks, films and books, has decided to start a new category for files of 3D objects. Only those with 3D printers will be able to make use of …

[Anonymous Coward]

Lets just hope they remember that Apple own the rights to the shape rectangle

[Anonymous Coward]

** Lets just hope they remember that Apple own the rights to the shape rectangle

Pythagoras presumably is enough prior art for the triangle and it was long enough ago that it's now in public domain.

Triangles are the way to go chaps, and 2 identical triangles can be used to make a nice apple replica rectangle :¬)

[DrXym]

The future is here and it is terrifying

Forget people printing replacement parts and uploading them. This service will become an online repository for scanned willies that can be printed out in glorious 3D.

[Aaron Em]

Small-scale dildo manufacture

would actually be one of the few things modern 3D printers are well-suited to doing.

[Anonymous Coward]

could it be

Printed with installed batteries?

[Anonymous Coward]

what

About the batteries?

[chriswakey]

Vibrators take batteries, dildos don't.

[Matthew 3]

Is that the difference?

I've learnt something new.

[Ben Boyle]

I read that as "well suited to dong"... no idea why

[cordwainer 1]

You say that...

as if it's a bad thing.

Yours,

Willy

[Shaun 1]

It would be much quicker to go to a shop to get sneakers

[dotdavid]

Indeed, sir

A galloping horse is much faster than these noisy, slow and smelly automobiles. They will never catch on.

[Aaron Em]

I don't doubt

people said the same thing about videodisc vs. VHS. Believe it or not, sometimes a new technology fails to achieve world-beating status, and the only way to tell which ones will and which won't is to wait and see whether it happens.

I don't have a lot of faith in the home 3D printing revolution, myself; while there are undoubtedly uses for a widget that can spit out ABS in whatever shape you like, a widget that can *only* spit out ABS is only good for so much, and no one seems too inclined to explain precisely how we're going to go from that now to printing out cars and TVs in 20 years' time. Sounds like it's made out of badgers to me.

[Peladon]

ABS only. Absolutely, sir...

With respect (and indeed, sincere respect. Sincerely), 'ABS only' may be simply early phase.

Yes, this is about home 3D printers. Yes, the link here isn't for a home service. However, that may just be a step waiting for home printers to climb.

http://www.shapeways.com/materials/

PA 2200, WSF with aluminium dust, Acrylic-based photopolymer, UV Curable Acrylic Plastic, Stainless Steel bronze infused, Solid Silver, Full Color Sandstone, Ceramics, Soda-lime glass

[Aaron Em]

Their "but don't USE it" disclaimer inspires no confidence

From your own link:

"Please note that the 3D printing materials we use for manufacturing the designs make the products suitable only for decorative purposes and they are not suited for any other purpose. The products are not suited to be used as toys, to be given to children. The products should not come in contact with electricity or food & drink and should be kept away from any heat sources."

Sorry, but I need a bit more out of my footwear than "suitable only for decorative purposes".

[Peladon]

So how about...

... these? The Airbus 380 link is, I think, interesting:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20737-3d-printing-the-worlds-first-printed-plane.html

"So Keane's team set out to see how quickly they could design a 1.5-metre-wingspan, super-low-drag UAV, print it and get it airborne. A UK-based 3D-printing firm, 3T RPD of Greenham Common, Berkshire, joined the venture, agreeing to print the UAV out of hard nylon."

http://i.materialise.com/blog/entry/rolls-royce-is-going-to-3d-print-aircraft-engines

http://gizmodo.com/5841449/why-yes-maam-this-airbus-a380-was-printed-on-demand-by-a-computer

"What's old is new (and better) again thanks to 3D printing techniques under the employ of Airbus. Seen above are two parts. The simpler one was created using conventional manufacturing techniques. And by conventional I mean, of course, soon-to-be obsolete.

OBsolete, and replaced by 3D printing, which Airbus has apparently perfected to the point that it is using 3D-printed parts to help fly the massive A380."

[Aaron Em]

Print your own chocolates?

Bet they'll taste just scrumptious, too -- and for the sarcasm-impaired, by 'scrumptious' here I mean 'lousy' -- or else, between materials for the 3D printer and the ingredients that go into chocolates expensive enough to taste good, cost twice what you'd pay for a sampler box. Might be both; won't be neither.

[Matthew 3]

Ah, but this is early days

Give it a few years and it'll evolve into Star Trek's replicator.

[Anonymous Coward]

This way involves less child labour.

[Audrey S. Thackeray]

"It would be much quicker to go to a shop to get sneakers"

Barefoot?

[Aaron Em]

Even barefoot

I'd rather go to one shop and get shoes, than go to all the places I'd have to go in order to find the parts for a RepRap. (Wouldn't you know it, the damn things turn out to be "simple" only by the standards of an electrical engineering graduate!)

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

It would be much quicker to go to a shop to get sneakers

All these replies and nobody noticed ..

> You will download your sneakers within 20 years.

That's a spectacularly crappy download rate. The shoes no doubt won't fit by the time they're finished ...

[The Flying Dutchman]

If the 3D printing industry is going to stick...

... to the same pricing models currently in vogue for 2D printers, a 3D printer will cost less than a pair of sneakers, but using it for printing out a pair of sneakers will cost a fortune.

[Wize]

"It would be much quicker to go to a shop to get sneakers"

Yet people still buy them over the internet and wait for delivery.

What if you put your foot on your scanner and received a custom fit pair?

What if all the shop did was use their scanner and 3D printer?

[Anonymous Coward]

"You wouldn't download a car."

Mebbe I would :P

[HMB]

"Apparently low temperature thermoplastics are a bad choice for Internal Combustions Engines" - he said, sitting in a pile of hot goo on his driveway.

[Andrew Barr]

Airfix Models

I will only start downloading if they torrent a Airfix MK IX Spitfire, 3D model, with the ability to scale up to a 1:1 model :)

[Barticus]

1:1 Airfix model...

Didn't James May have a (sorta successful) go at that?

[BoldMan]

I'd prefer a Challenger Tank personally... or an English Electric Lightning...

[Michael H.F. Wilkinson]

Think bigger

What about the Bismarck, HMS Hood, or Yamato.

Full scale might mean refilling printer cartridges from time to time, of course.

[Paul_Murphy]

Yes, but

Can you imagine milling one using a CNC machine?

ttfn

[Haviland]

20 years for a pair of sneakers?

I think I'll just keep going to the shops.

[Aaron Em]

How backwards of you

to prefer wearing shoes to clattering around in shiny new ABS-printed clogs. Sure, the clogs don't insulate, don't fit comfortably, don't flex without cracking, and don't have traction worth talking about -- but who cares? This is the wave of the future we're talking about here!

[1Rafayal]

So, this would let me pirate a toilet roll holder? Or a mug?

[Anonymous Coward]

Pirate

Obviously, the first thing that must be uploaded is an eyepatch.

Followed by a peg leg, a hook, and a parrot - Norwegian Blue, preferably.

[Anonymous Coward]

Woah, woah, woah

Hold your horses. The home 3d printing industry hasn't even started yet. Don't be putting off the prospective investors that will get this revolution going by pirating everything before they even start.

What? too late? Oh, OK.

[Is it me?]

Actually, It has

My hobby in Model Railways, yes I know I've said it, as acceptible as Golf in Luton.

However the point is that there are a number of small start-up companies that are producing single or short runs of niche models, at a cost anywhere between £30 - £3000 a go. A lot of that cost is producing the drawings, and the cost of the professional 3D printer. If releasing them means they will arrive on Pirate Bay , then they won't, because they would loose their IPR.

Quite a lot of models are now produced by 3D scanning the real thing, so mass market 3D scanners will be the real challenge to commercial producers, as anyone can then 3D scan a model, Airfix or Otherwise, and make their own.

Yes a complex model can take 24 hours to produce, but it is a fire and forget process.

[Phil Parker]

Don't knock the toy trains

It may be unfashionable buit we are pushing the boundaries in 3D print. Our needs are for incredibly fine resolution which helps create a demand for something everyone needs.

At the moment, the quality isn't there but it's only a matter of time.

I've had a few bits printed. Photos on my blog: http://philsworkbench.blogspot.com/search/label/3D%20print

[MJI]

Erm Model Railways

Hornby are using it to prototype, I know they make some parts for pre production such as dummy chassis using it.

Modelling is one area I think it would work, maybe I will get my SPV steel plate wagons 30 years on, only got my STV tubes and HTV coal hoppers recently after hassling Parkside for years.

[Albert.G]

Replicators ahoy

Now we just need :

1 - Cheap energy

2 - Atomic manipulators

3 - Bulk atomic sources

Diamond age .... here we come !

[Anonymous Coward 15]

You wouldn't

download a car...

[glenalec]

I imagine...

...stickng a (big plastic) middle finger up at those adds may have been a good part of the inspiration for going this route.

[MJI]

As they say on TPB

I can download a car now!!

[King Dave]

No...

I would however, download a policeman's hat and go to the toilet in it, before posting it to his grieving widow.

[Anonymous Coward]

What an unsociable world.

I mean.. downloading shoes that's optimistic.

[Anonymous Coward]

thingiverse.com

'Nuff said.

[Amonynous]

Rule 34 - *Yawn*

They've just lifted the plot of the latest Charles Stross novel to yank your journalistic chains. (Quite a good read though, Rule 34: "If it exists there is porn of it.")

Never mind that you don't actually need to inhabit a world of home fabrication devices and downloadable desings to have your IP pirated and traded by a criminal underworld.

Just head down to your local market or car boot sale to see that it is already here, powered by nothing more sophisticated than far-eastern sweat-shop labour.

[Individual #6/42]

Brilliant

This way I can download that rare lego Star Wars character and have him printed off in time for tea!

[DrXym]

Except you can't

The quality of affordable 3D printers is atrocious. Look at pics of objects produced by Makerbot for example. It doesn't have the precision to make anything remotely resembling lego and works in monochrome too.

You'd have to spend a lot more to get a decent 3d printer, and chances are you'd have to use a service like Shapeways instead who would point blank refuse to print out anything which is recognisably copyrighted.

[Troy Peterson]

The quality of MakerBot printers is atrocious... But the quality of the Ultimaker is stunning. I don't have any pictures of stuff I've printed on my Ultimaker, but it easily rivals shapeways. Take a look at these:

http://davedurant.wordpress.com/2011/10/12/ultimaker-faq-but-what-about-the-quality-of-prints/

I've printed a whole army of multi-coloured yodas now at 0.02mm layer height.

Cheers,

Troy.

[Anonymous Coward]

Classic

It now includes a "3D Printable Chris Dodd with AACS Encryption Key".... Priceless :)

[Robert Grant]

You will download your sneakers within 20 years.

Someone needs a better Internet connection.

[John Brown (no body)]

3d plastic printing. The betamax of home manufacture

I'll wait for the nanobots. Feed in all that left over Carbon from the sequestration systems and let the nanobots build diamond bodied cars by re-assembling the atoms in the correct order.

Shove some in the bin and they can do all your recycling separation for you too by separating everything into it's component atoms leaving nice neat cubes of each element ready for your next project.

Mines the one with the hole in the pocket.

[Uncle Slacky]

Don't trust the nanites!

Or maybe I've been watching too much Red Dwarf...

[sisk]

Grey goo anyone?

[MJI]

That title makes it sound better but marketing failure

You have just said that 3D plastic printing is the best method but a commercial failure.

[BristolBachelor]

Old?

There are places that do 3D model making for you and you can upload your (STL ?) file and they post the item back to you. There are already a number of online repositories of 3D files for all sorts of things that you might want to do; the piratebay just seem to be catching up with the times.

However, 3D scanning has become very easy, so maybe TPB will have people's scans of things that the other repositories wouldn't touch?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Shove some in the bin and they can do all your recycling separation for you too by separating everything into it's component atoms leaving nice neat cubes of each element ready for your next project."

Don't get any of those nanobots on your hands o_O

[Amonynous]

Any eventual nanobot type system would come with a kill switch (or more likely an activation switch) to prevent that kind of 'grey goo' apocalypse. E.g. powered by some specifically tuned form of radiation, without which they are inert, maybe similar to your microwave oven.

More likely some kind of very specific chemical fuel that doesn't occur in nature, patented of course so that you have to buy it in large quantities from the sole manufacturer. Oh and taxed by the government on top since we'd all be brewing up our own synthetic fuels sans tax from the contents of the kitchen bin in Back to the Future hovering time-travel DeLorean style.

[Anonymous Coward]

Cause that worked so well in Jurassic Park. On a more important note, why is it always grey goo? Why can't it be purple or something. If these things are going to take over the world, at least they can do it with a little style. Imperial Purple or something. I might even go quietly if the nanobots are pink, just to be able to hear Santorum scream about the evil gay ants.

[Anonymous Coward]

" I might even go quietly if the nanobots are pink, just to be able to hear Santorum scream about the evil gay ants."

Wow, even a thread about nano-bots isn't safe from the homosexual propaganda squad.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Any eventual nanobot type system would come with a kill switch (or more likely an activation switch) to prevent that kind of 'grey goo' apocalypse. "

Oh, is that so? Let me just run that through my reality machine.

Getting the results now.....

"I assume that any eventual nanobot type system would come with a kill switch (or more likely an activation switch) to prevent that kind of 'grey goo' apocalypse. At least that is, until someone makes some that doesn't"

[annodomini2]

Bit slow off the mark aren't they?

Thingiverse has been around for ages!

[cliveski]

Oh, the irony!

Downloadable shoes for someone who's too lazy to walk to the shops :-)

[Frank Bitterlich]

I'd like to download...

... a model for the latest Katy Perry CD. Do they have Blurays, too?

[Sly]

best use of 3d printing

replacing those small plastic car parts that are made of unobtanium... molding clips, short-run blinkers, old school tail lights, knobs, etc.

[MJI]

Hmm ABS

I wonder if I can print off a new front for my caravan,

£1200 - they are taking the pee, it only cost £8000 when new.

Anyway ABS welding rods and plastic welder = cracks repaired.

[MJI]

Repair parts

I was thinking of that too

ABS is common on cars - eg bumpers, my car (actually most of that model) are missing some small grills in the bumper, and the earlier cars shed headlamp washers like they are going out of fashion.

There you go, 4 parts for 1 car model, but not the same car, and not long out of production.

[JimC]

I suspect that 3d printing technology

Is going to make an enormous difference to the world of manufacturing. There's a long way to go before it can be used for anything with serious structural properties, or needing multipl materials, but it will come. Maybe not in my lifetime, but who knows.

But it will change this world of ours, that's for sure. The irony of chinese plastics factories being undercut by people making their own plastic tat appeals to me I must admit, but unfortunately there's a very serious side. The long term consequences, who knows. Lets imagine much manufacture is done by everyone at home, and design is mainly done by amateurs because no-one can make a living at design because they are ripped off.

There are all sorts of dystopian visions opening up... increasingly we seem to be getting a society where there are fewer and fewer unskilled jobs, and yet arguably there are more and more unskilled people... Here come the Marching Morons...

[Anonymous Coward]

mainly done by amateurs

"and design is mainly done by amateurs because no-one can make a living at design because they are ripped off."

Is that what happened to the Music industry?

[Bush_rat]

Much more useful than peolple claim...

There's already been a reg article on 3D printable clothes and a video circling the net showing how objects with moving parts can be made using a 3D printer. So I'd say that it's not just small plastic desk toys that'll be uploaded to TPB, what about hand tools(adjustable wrenches have already been made), gadget accessories(cases) and random objects like hair brushes and dildos :)

I wouldn't say it's going to be an apocalypse or revolution, but I do think it will be as awesome as, say, the invention of the PC or cell phones and possibly automobiles.

Either way, the dead record industry is going to cry when they realise that I can copy the actuall record itself as well as the song :P

[Sir Runcible Spoon]

Sir

!I can copy the actuall record itself as well as the song"

Awesome! for all states of awesomeness, what a great idea.

1)Take a .wav file (or flac) and 'convert' it to a 3d-printable vinyl disc.

2)...

3) Profit

[sisk]

"Either way, the dead record industry is going to cry when they realise that I can copy the actuall record itself as well as the song :P"

None of the 3D printers I've looked at can come close to doing that. To print a record you're talking about micrometer level detail. Really high end home 3D printers I've seen can handle .8 millimeter sized details, but nothing smaller than that.

[Peladon]

Er......

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/24/still-alive-record-3d-printer/

"This 3D printed record keeps the Portal printer theme going by cutting our old pal Jonathan Coulton's "Still Alive" into its grooves. The single was printed over at Shapeways and played on a Fisher-Price record player."

[Anonymous Coward]

Torrents...

Of course, I would only be downloading the 3D file for the box for my Linux distro...

[Nexox Enigma]

Heh..

Quick, everyone, pirate some expensive modeling software so you can make free 3D printable models!

Also, how long until (or how long since - I'm not checking) this format does the "Internet" thing and becomes 90% porn?

I think when I get a minute (never) I'll make a model of goatse, then upload it under titles like "Big Tits" or similar, just to stir things up a bit.

[sisk]

"Quick, everyone, pirate some expensive modeling software so you can make free 3D printable models!"

Why in the world would you do that when there are so many free 3D modeling programs? And some of them are actually pretty decent looking (from my non-serious hobbiest point of view anyway).

[Nexox Enigma]

Possibly...

There are (I've heard, haven't tried) decent programs for 3D modeling for things like animation. But when it comes to mechanical design, you want (need, in my opinion) a parametric modeling system, like Solidworks or Inventor. Believe me, I've looked (and re-look every few months,) and nothing free comes anywhere near the capabilities of Solidworks.

For reference, parametric design mostly boils down to relative dimensioning, so you can define the center of a hole some distance from an edge, and if you move that edge the hole follows it. This allows you to make adjustable models, which in turn allows you to iterate your designs quickly (until you hit some limitation, and your hole is now in free space, at which point everything goes to hell and you just have a beer.) Anything with static dimensions ("this hole is at x,y,z - then adjust it manually after you move the edge it's supposed to be aligned with,") or, gods forbid, primitive-based modeling (BRL CAD - "I have a rectangular prism with these corners, I subtract from it a cylinder of this side at these coordinates... now imagine making a laser printer paper tray") is just asking for trouble.

Then again, I'm a mechanical engineer (and I've had models 3D printed!) Maybe people art abilities (not me, in the slightest) would do better with Blender. I've heard it works, but I can't imagine tolerancing moving / meshing / interlocking parts with it.

I also doubt that it has a button that'll tell you the second area moment of inertia of a surface (IE cross-section,) which saves about 2 pages of calculus (assuming an oddly-shaped beam) when you're trying to print beam springs. Couldn't live without that!

[Anonymous Coward 15]

Make a model of goatse?

I don't think the joke is gonna be on the guy who downloads it.

[Uncle Hank]

We're not talking replicators here...

… you will still have to supply the raw materials.

It will, though, be very handy to have copies of broken parts, etc. But I imagine they're going for cheap merchandising toys. I mean, it's about pirating, after all...

[MJI]

With a 3d scanner

Scan the R/H component, flip the design print the L/H component

Count me in

[Rodrigo Rollan]

Here´s looking at you Cahrlie Stross

As someone else mentioned, many alternatives to 3D printing have been explored in Rule34 by Charles Stross and his previous novels (Accelerando bein IMHO his Opera Prima in terms of futurology).

Kudos Charly, you´ve done it again you Magnificent Bastard

[drunk.smile]

Shouldn't Mention of Rule 34...

... get the obligatory XKCD link?

http://xkcd.com/305/

[Anonymous Coward]

Who wants 20 year old sneakers?

TPB are such morons... Anything to get media coverage and such in the gullible.

[TIA568B]

Home 3D printers?

While decent quality 3D printers may become affordable are they really going to be worthwhile or cost effective to own?

Decent quality photo printers are affordable, but it works out a lot cheaper for me to use one of the many online services to print and deliver my photos than it does to buy and run my own photo printer and when I do want a photo printed there's very rarely any sort of rush so I'm happy to wait a few days.

Even if you can nip into PC World and pick up a 3D printer in a few years time I doubt most people will bother as it'll probably end up cheaper to do your 3D printing through an online service who wont touch anything that's obviously copyright (like the way most photo sites will avoid duplicating copyright photos).

This story does make me think of something you might see on thinkgeek, google or slashdot on April the 1st though.

[kwhitefoot]

And no one mentioned Cory Doctorow's Makers

http://craphound.com/makers/

Not to mention Printcrime http://craphound.com/?p=573

[Anonymous Coward]

Automatic

Once a metal 3d printer (with sintering kiln) is available it will be possible to download a saturday night special, and eventually an automatic rifle receiver. (I know, the material strength will need to be increased significantly for the gun to not blow up or fail after a single use.)

[Anonymous Coward]

>>"(I know, the material strength will need to be increased significantly for the gun to not blow up or fail after a single use.)"

So what?

Wouldn't we maybe be better off if the people dim enough to try setting off explosions in home-printed firearms actually *did* try setting off explosions in home-printed firearms?

[The Indomitable Gall]

An untraceable single use firearm?

Given that it's generally necessary to dispose of a firearm after it has been fired during a crime, the fact that it'll only survive one shot isn't necessarily a bad thing....

[Dani Eder]

CNC is not new

The Rep-Rap type plastic extrusion machines are just one example of CNC. They all share a way to position the working head in 3 dimensions relative to the work piece. What is different is what kind of working head: drill bit for cutting metal, plastic extruder, laser for sintering, etc.

Computerized Numerical Control (CNC) machines have been around for decades, working with materials like metal mostly. Like the old mainframe computers, though, they were expensive enough that only businesses used them. There are hobbyists building home CNC machines the way early experimenters built their own PCs. The revolution will be when enough of the machines are cheap enough to make parts for each other at a community or home level. This already happens at the industrial level. The factories that produce CNC machines use more CNC machines to make their parts. It's just been too expensive for ordinary people to do that so far.

[annodomini2]

The difference

You missed the fact that these machines are additive rather than subtractive, the primary benefit is you only use the material you need.

This is also beneficial in industries where components are typically made from a solid lump of material and where casting is not practical due to risk and/or cost due to volume.

[Anonymous Coward]

you will steal your trainers off pirate bay and print them

it's like some kind of incredibly slow motion london riot

[david wilson]

Will 3D printers come with a 'Bored Now!' button for teenagers who have changed their minds before the item is actually ready?

[Anonymous Noel Coward]

Yes!

I'm one step closer to sleeping with mai waifu~

[Anonymous Coward]

But can the machine replicate

the squishy bits?

[Anonymous Noel Coward]

I don't really care for those.

As long as I have the ability to sleep next to her, I'm happy.

[Grubby]

Hmm

I know the article was written in a pretty tongue in cheek tone, but the phone accessories market for example, is growing rapidly, and if printers can be made bigger then why pay BMW 3k for a replacement front wing or bumper... if there's a market for it then there's someone to exploit that market. I think (technology advanced required) it will be a new era or of 'illegal downloads'.

[david wilson]

>>"and if printers can be made bigger then why pay BMW 3k for a replacement front wing or bumper.."

Well, I guess unless you could prove they were just as good as the original as far as crashworthiness, etc is concerned, your insurance company might have something to say about it.

You do need to look at the bigger picture - if you 'save' £3k but end up getting insurance refused or made more expensive, and also lower the resale value...

And I somehow doubt that BMW would be likely to sit by and say - "Fair enough, they're probably as good as our parts" even if they thought they were.

Ultimately, if there's a crash and doubts exist over a part's safety, if BMW have made the part, it's between them (and their engineers and lawyers) and your insurance company.

If you made it, it might be between your insurance company and you.

Even if you're technically right, you might have a good chance of losing.

[Jonathan D]

Let me know

When I can print my own Milla Jovovich ala The Fifth Element..

[Anonymous Coward]

Seems familiar

Makers by Cory Doctorow

[Anonymous Coward]

3D printers

I did some work on one a while back.

Seems that most of the quality problems are due to non repeatability on the axes due to the cheap motors used.

A simple way to fix this is to use one of two things:- an accelerometer on each axis which actually measures "time of flight" or an optical sensor similar to the ones used on HP printers.

Both of these methods would increase accuracy, an infrared thermometer pointed at the extruder tip would also allow real time feedback of the precise extrusion temperature which would help a lot with warping of the build.

Wonder why someone hasn't attempted to build one which extrudes a plastic containing iron, and then uses induction to keep the build at a set temperature?

[Unicornpiss]

Read Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age

Nuff' said