Terrible waste of resources
If we (ie the Human Race) were actually serious about lasting any decent length of time on this mud ball, there are good reasons why we should not have normal paper printers in a persons house, let alone a snot-sticker
Buy a household 3D printer, it'll pay for itself in months!
Install a 3D printer in your house and it could pay for itself in just four months, a group of university engineers have claimed. This is according the Michigan Tech "Open Sustainability Technology Group" (also home to "3D Printers for Peace"). Dr Joshua Pearce and his acolytes say that anyone who uses an open source "self- …
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Friday 2nd August 2013 12:22 GMT Loyal Commenter
Re: Terrible waste of resources
Yes because the world is being deforested because of demand for paper. Get Real.
Even if the trees to produce the paper are grown sustainably (and many are), paper production is far from good for the environment, with many impacts, including waste from the pulping and bleaching process (hint: wood pulp is not white), and the environmental impact of inks, toners, and coatings commonly in use.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 12:29 GMT smartypants
Re: Terrible waste of resources
"because the world is being deforested because of demand for paper."
That isn't true. It's being deforested because of the demand for agricultural land. Paper is just one of the many crops we humans need.
The best thing we humans could have done was not to stop using paper, but to start using more bits of rubber on the ends of our willies.
Ideally, we should have done this before we got to a billion. It's not that long ago that this was the world's population. Some of us are likely to see that rise to 25 billion.
So please. If you care about the planet, stop breeding!
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Saturday 3rd August 2013 04:08 GMT Grave
Re: Terrible waste of resources
its not that simple. i'm all for saving and not wasting resources.
but you could also argue that a long term effect of huge population = more brains = more ideas = more advanced technology = less resources needed = and possibly also best case scenario, invention of practically free energy source and/or achieving technological singularity much faster than a limited population = endless resources
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Friday 2nd August 2013 07:48 GMT Pete 2
A modern day laser
In the early 1960's LASERs were touted as a solution looking for a problem. It appears that whoever came up with this
advertisementarticle has created a problem, or a whole set of problems to fit the solution. (And to be fair to 3D printing, maybe in 20 - 30 years it will evolve into something worth doing, too)There are a few issues however. You don't need to buy this printer to get the tat it produces - you just need someone in the neighbourhood to sell this junk at a car boot sale. Second is that once you've produced your ration of cheap, plasticky garbage you don't need the printer any more - so off it goes to eBay, or FREEGLE if it still works. So the second hand market for these things should be quite bouyant (provided you can wait the few months for these to trickle through).
Finally, if you're producing all these things yourself, what is little Jonny going to bring home from his/her/its woodworking class? Maybe schools need to adapt and move with the times.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 19:20 GMT wdmot
Re: A modern day laser
@JeevesMkII
Printing D&D miniatures and scenery (or any other such models) is one of the most interesting applications I've seen for these printers. IMO it's not the slight savings you might get, but being able to customise things more. No need for the same repetitive scenery, you could change it up a bit! And that long scar your dwarf warrior got fighting that orc, well it's not just painted on (depending on the size of the miniature). Same goes for other games -- I have need of replacement pips for Iron Dragon, as my young daughters a few years ago lost them all (as well as a few of the cargo tokens), and making different robot models for RoboRally would be fun.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 08:27 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Does this use the same plastic that everything seems to be made of these days?
You can print in nylon, ABS or PLA, and a few folk have used less convenient things like polycarbonate and various flavours of polyethylene. None of these will have any mould-release chemicals in them so they should be a little more amenabe to gluing, and stuff like nylon and ABS is pretty standard stuff and there'll be lots of adhesives available. PLA (the classic 'hammered snot' look ) has a glass transition point comfortably below that of boiling water, so it is pretty straightfoward to heat it up to do some sorts of repairs.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 10:07 GMT PC Paul
Re: Does this use the same plastic that everything seems to be made of these days?
Have a look at PolyMorph, plastic granules that you can melt down in warm/hot water then form by hand. Tough as Nylon when it's done, but can be melted and resued many times.
Places like Maplins sell it in the UK.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 09:25 GMT Tom Womack
Re: Spoon holder...
At least burning PLA has a pleasant milky stench.
The problem with PLA for household goods is that it melts at about 50C; if you stick a 3D-printed thing in the dishwasher it comes out a bit Dali, if you try to 3D-print coasters you find you have made expensive and attractive stick-on bottoms for your coffee cups.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 11:02 GMT James Micallef
Re: Spoon holder...
Hey don't knock spoon rests. I have a nice ceramic one, use it all the time, saves me wiping the kitchen counter AND wipes clean really easily so no dishwashing required. Time saver all round.
No way in hell would I have a cheap plastic one, though, some stuff like tomato sauce stains plastic really easily
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Friday 2nd August 2013 08:09 GMT RobHib
What a lot of rubbish.
I've seen this technology working firsthand - both the plastic and metal versions--I've metal thingies on my desk made this way. Whilst its fascinating, its level of sophistication (and current state of the art), especially in integrating different materials and technologies within printed components, is about as sophisticated as an ancient crystal set is compared to a modern internet TV or smart phone.
Wake me up when the model comes out where I can dial up a glass of wine or a beer followed by an aspirin--or any other drug for that matter. And where the deluxe model can print me out an iPhone or a new laptop.
In the meantime, I'm not interested in novelty roughcast plastic junk.
Like all technology, it'll takes a good 50+ years to be truly useful.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 08:19 GMT RobHib
Re: What a lot of rubbish.
Oh, and I forgot. Just wait until the copyright and patent police start policing objects made this way. If you think software and AV copyright is bad enough now, home manufacturing of commonplace items will I'll be a bloody nightmare because of potential IP issues.
For starters, every machine will be nobbled for copyright and patent protection--not to mention nobbled from manufacturing items the state considers to be 'nasties' - AK47s for instance. The list will be huge.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 19:43 GMT Anonymous Coward
Open source and Pirate Bay to the rescue
There isn't any way they can conceivably lock this down the way some seem to think. There will surely be some alternate open source designs for a lot of items - though for specialty stuff you'll need to pay for designs - similar to software today where you can get a free database but if you need something like SAP you'll have to buy it.
If they try to produce hardware so locked down that it will only make DRM designs, it'll be hacked eventually, just like locked down software in consumer products DVD, Blu Ray, PS3, etc. is always inevitably hacked.
If the IP holders are smart, they won't try to have the 3D printers totally locked down, otherwise when they're inevitably hacked we'll all be trading commercial design files on Pirate Bay, rather than some people designing their own open source or shareware design files.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 08:19 GMT BongoJoe
Re: What a lot of rubbish.
This article reminds me of that (thankfully) short lived craze in the 70s when everyone and dog was encapulating stuff in clear resin.
Jewellry? Yes, have a sea horse in a block of stuff (with the obligatory fingerprint). Something to put on the mantlepiece? Yes, have a seahorse and a shell in a clear block with a bit of seaweed.
Car key organiser? Well, it's called a keyfob and, guess what? We can make you one with a sea horse set in an attractive clear block.
Looking for that diamond ring of your late mother? Well, look no further because little Johnny has encapsulated in clear resin along with a sea horse.
I am looking over my desk now to see what I have here that could be printed in white snot. Er, nothing. Could I use my car keys to be organised with white snotted plastic? Well, no, they are all kept on one keyring and they can't get more organised that that. No sorry, a great invention but not there yet.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 08:38 GMT RobHib
@BongoJoe - Re: What a lot of rubbish.
Correct. And I wasn't kidding about the copyright and patent issues either (it's not my idea). The fact is the IP police are already mightily concerned about the technology--so are governments. This technology has the potential to manufacture drugs--dial-a-drug--as well as alter/assemble/grow genetic material.
Having it in the hands of the general public is causing much indigestion in administrative circles I can assure you.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 10:36 GMT JDX
And I wasn't kidding about the copyright and patent issues either
Well, you shouldn't be - it's a serious issue. If I spend money designing something to sell and someone scans it and gives away the specs, this is a problem.
I see 3D printing should work something like sheet music - just because it's the music rather than a recording you still normally pay for it. Likewise if you want to make something I designed, pay me for the blueprints.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 15:54 GMT Loyal Commenter
Re: And I wasn't kidding about the copyright and patent issues either
Well, you shouldn't be - it's a serious issue. If I spend money designing something to sell and someone scans it and gives away the specs, this is a problem.
On the other hand, if you buy something, and a cheap plastic part inside it breaks, because it was designed to wear out to fleece you for money for a replacement part, then being able to make your own replacement is the opposite of a problem, n'est-ce-pas?
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Friday 2nd August 2013 17:42 GMT User McUser
Re: What a lot of rubbish.
"the terminator from T2 couldn't form complex shapes and machines [...] but the one in T3 could."
*pushes glasses up* Actually, T3's "T-X" is a hybrid of a Series 900 chassis surrounded with the mimetic-polyalloy of the T-1000. The advanced weapons are built into the base chassis and the polyalloy allows it to imitate human appearance for infiltration. (See also: http://terminator.wikia.com/wiki/Series_T-X)
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Friday 2nd August 2013 10:53 GMT Steve Todd
Re: What a lot of rubbish.
Depends on the version of the technology you are talking about. Laser sintering is good enough to make parts for jet and rocket engines so I wouldn't hurry to write it off. As it happens the patents for that type of manufacture expire next year, so expect to see it get rapidly cheaper.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 08:25 GMT Mtech25
Ithings indeed
A lot of Iphone parts which you can make from plastic but what happens if you don't own an Iphone, in order to save more money will you need to buy an Iphone first?
In which case here a simple solution don't buy the 3d printer then you won't need to buy an Iphone and you will end up saving a load of cash, can i have my PHD in economics now please?
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Friday 2nd August 2013 12:44 GMT strum
Re: (not quite) my thoughts exactly.
But we all have appliances, gadgets, stuff-in-general, which don't work any more, or don't work well - becuase some trivial litle part has broken; a hinge, which is supposed to stay open, but doesn't, because the lug that props it up has broken off, an appliance, which would work fine, but you can't get it open, because the handle has snapped, maybe something that would look good hanging on the wall - but there's no standard fitting for a hook.
3D printers may still be some way from being the standard Lexmark in the corner of many home offices, but if you had one now, you'd think of something useful to do with it.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 08:25 GMT deadlockvictim
Hobbyist market
I could see a use for it in hobbyist markets, for example, to add to or to repair collections with items that have plastic in them. 30 year old plastic components become quite brittle and it can be difficult to find them used, let alone new.
There are those who pay big money for Apple Is and a 3-D printer might help those interested in replicas.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 08:34 GMT wowfood
I could see
A use for one in a public space, perhaps school / college / universities who have them could let others use them for a small fee.
You want to print out a model you made? Sure that'll be $10 for the time to print, and another $10 for the materials.
Cheaper than buying the printer yourself, the university / college who needs the printer gets to make some profit out of it. It's a win / win.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 09:30 GMT Magister
Re: I could see
SAP of all people were working on exactly this. There's even a video of the process; can't post a link due to corporate restrictions, but a search will probably find it.
The video showed a woman breaking one of the knobs (oooerr missus!) on her washing machine; using a QR code on the side of the machine and her smartphone, it identified the make & model. This opened an app that allowed to select from repairs or spare's, then she was able to select the relevant part. Create the order and the back office system places an order with a local college to "print" off one of the replacments. Once done, it sends the woman an email to confirm so that she can collect.
So need for anyone to keep loads of spares that may never be needed; just make it as needed. As you say, the college / university / school gets to make a small amount of money in the process. All makes a lot of sense. (Plus no issues over IP as the printing is done under licence)
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Friday 2nd August 2013 09:03 GMT Anonymous Coward
I've a busness model!
Says its a "self-replicating rapid prototyper"
So buy one for (lets keep numbers simple) £400. Buy enough "ingredients" for it to "self-replicate" and make another 4 copies. As its meant to save loads of money lets assume you need £100 of "ingredients" to make each copy. So total cost now = £800. Sell the 4 copies to other people for £400 each (the "going rate") and you get £1600 in so have a clear profit of £800 - double your money and get a 3D printer for free!
But why would anyone buy one from you - simple - just explain how they can double there money and get a free 3D printer by following a simple series of steps. Add in the possibility of sorting out some form of profit sharing on sale/distribution on the "ingredients" for the printers then you add in an ongoing cash stream. What could possibly go wrong .... excuse me, I need to finish the business plan section for my Apprentice application form!
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Friday 2nd August 2013 09:27 GMT Anonymous Coward
When the price comes down and 3d scanners also are affordable I can see a use for these.
How often have you had a plastic component of something snap and you can't get a replacement? yes you can glue it together but it isn't always as good afterwards. Now if you glue it together then scan it you can make a replacement.
Durability is one thing I'd be concerned about, I'm not sure if the "grain" in a 3d printed object will help its durability vs a moulded item.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 09:29 GMT offal
" (e.g. a safety razor, for example, costs US$20–80 online)"
When the paper's author starts with a premise that can be so easily disproved (many at £4) it not only calls into question the examples he's using for this "study". It seriously casts doubt on their integrity.
To do this with the aim of promoting your hobby casts doubt on your intelligence.
Isn't designing and modelling your own stuff a worthy aim in itself ? Do you really need to make stuff up about how it's also economically viable ?
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Friday 2nd August 2013 12:26 GMT MrPatrick
Step 4 profit ...
...is to sue the person responsible for the design or distribution of the CAD drawing, the people or persons responsible for not advising that printing guns is not supported by cheap snot-plastic
then selling your story to low brow tech tabloid websites who can have another cheap shot at emerging technologies...
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Friday 2nd August 2013 10:28 GMT Alexander Hanff 1
Twin blades shave you better?
I would beg to differ with that statement. Last summer I switched to an old traditional safety razor (because I moved countries and the cost of my usual Gillette heads are incredibly expensive in my new country of residence) and was pleasantly surprised to find that actually I get a far better shave with it than I did with my previous Branded 2, 3 and 4 blade razors.
Granted the first couple of times the bathroom looked like a scene out of Sweeney Todd because the Wilkinson Sword blades are incredibly sharp and you have to change the way you shave a bit - but once I got the hang of it I have never looked back.
5 blades costs me the equivalent of £1 and I shave 2-3 times a week (too lazy to do it more frequently) - a single blade lasts me several weeks with -full- (part from legs obviously) body shave once a week so from a single 5 pack I get a good 2 months usage. The razor handle/head cost me also the equivalent of £1 so in total I spend around £6 a year on razor blades with an initial investment of £1 for the tool to do it.
When you consider that Gillette 4 blade heads here cost at least £11 for 3 (the cheapest ones, there are several types available now) which are good for about 3-4 shaves each before they start to get scratchy, it really is a no brainer
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Friday 2nd August 2013 10:38 GMT Jason Togneri
You're all missing the obvious!
Think of Lego enthusiasts. Look at the market for custom minifigs and special bricks on eBay. Those things cost a fortune per brick. I can see being a real challenge for Lego, and other manufacturers of generic plastic toy parts. At the very least, you could clone out thousands of internal bricks and use the pretty Lego-branded ones for the visible outsides.
But no, I don't really see it replacing common household items, and especially not iThing accessories, any time in the near future.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 10:40 GMT Steve Todd
While I've seen some really crappy 3D prints
They don't have to be bad. There's a trade-off between speed of printing and quality, and finishing can improve the results (acitone vapour gives ABS a nice, smooth, shiny finish for example). They also don't have to produce uninteresting utilitarian crud, there are some rather artistic example (see http://richrap.blogspot.nl/2013/07/3dr-reprap-delta-printer-part-1-release.html for examples).
I think the authors overstated the usefullness of these devices to normal members of the public, but for creative types and people building their own devices they're a useful tool.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 11:14 GMT Atonnis
It's just too early
The technology is just barely in it's infancy, and should be treated as such.
Trying to get the public on board with printing out worthless tat is not the best way. Just keep getting the R&D grants and prove that you're making progress and one day you really will have fully 'printable' food and items that are worthwhile.
3D printers will also drive other technologies as well, as people work on formats for the materials to print with in the first place. It has a huge future....but it's still decades away.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 11:23 GMT Ben Norris
A lot of luddites with no imagination here
The finish is not great, does not stop you from prototyping a design with an excellent finish in ceramic, metal or wood from an online service. Also doesn't stop you from making structural replacements for a variety of things where finish doesn't really matter. Whatever happened to the make do and mend attitude?
Manufacturing had moved on to a point where crafting sophisticated parts was out of our hands. 3D printing (and associated software) brings that back to us. Most knowlegeable people are not under the disillusion that this will replace bulk manufacturing, it is a complementary technology. And in it's infancy with lots of room for improvement.
All the commentards here and the OP taking potshots because they don't get it really are the biggest dissapointment.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 14:33 GMT Loyal Commenter
Re: A lot of luddites with no imagination here
All the commentards here and the OP taking potshots because they don't get it really are the biggest dissapointment.
I think the reason people are taking pot-shots is that the usages which have been put forward (i.e. a crappy plastic case for a $400 phone) are laughable. True, there are plenty of good uses for such a device, such as, as you say, rapid prototyping, or replacing broken plastic parts. For most people, however, these don't justify the cost.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 19:21 GMT Naughtyhorse
Re: A lot of <insert mild insult here> with no understanding of material science here
If a plastic part becomes broken, it happened for a reason - i.e. it became overstressed.
The composition of that plastic used in that component was selected for it's material properties <and cost> and the component was then designed with just enough material to do it's job <or praps slightly less> and it died.
Yet you think you can make something from a different <mostly> material, selected so that it will work with the printer. produce a laminar physical copy of the original, end expect it to perform as well as the original?
Never in a million years.
these are prototyping tools, thats what they are good for. Enthusiasts will buy cheap ones and make all manner of plastic crap and have a whale of a time _doing_ it. and all power to their elbows! <having made the plastic crap, it will gather dust>
A replicator from star trek it ain't, and never will be. and that is what the goofs in the <original> article are trying to allude to. And they deserve the lampooning they are receiving.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 14:40 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: A lot of luddites with no imagination here
"Most knowlegeable people are not under the disillusion that this will replace bulk manufacturing,"
It's unfortunate that author of this study uses the replacement of bulk manufactured items to support his argument.
Which has been debunked in the article and below the line. These people are luddites for agreeing with you ?
Lets recap. The author of the study has misrepresented facts to suggest an item would save people money. That's pretty lousy behaviour from a snake-oil peddler, nevermind an academic.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 11:54 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: I wanted one for years.
I think you'll find that these crappy plastic melters commerically cost £50k+ before people started making their own and were no better quality. Of course there will be high end alternatives but did you use the same logic and never buy a printer because it wasn't as good as the quality of a magazine?
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Friday 2nd August 2013 12:51 GMT Anonymous Coward
Comparing tat with quality
It's a false business case. You can't compare the cost of a professionally made, polished, quality product with some plastic tat which looks similar and does a similar function, and make the case that they are the equivalent value and cost. As such, the finance case for 3D printers does not stack up.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 13:05 GMT Jim 59
I see no ships
Enthusiasm is great and all, but people get so carried away by some new tech they go into denial about how useless and undesirable it is. Known as the "3D TV" effect. Are we all having it with our smart phones ? This will cop a downvoting, but face it, we are all in love with the beautiful UI and just ignoring the glaring fact that they are not terrible, but just slightly rubbish. I have a Samsung S3.
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Friday 2nd August 2013 13:53 GMT Martin Taylor 1
Razors?
Printing a safety razor out of plastic? You don't want to even *buy* one with any plastic in the handle - after a few weeks use it starts to deform slightly - suddenly the blade can't be clamped in place as hard as it was, and there's blood all over the shop (got the T-shirt, but had to bin it cos of all the blood).
Sometimes there's no substitute for stainless steel.
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Saturday 3rd August 2013 00:02 GMT Naughtyhorse
Use of tools???
You did notice that pretty much all the crud they are touting is iCrud?
As if a creative would do something as blue collar as.... errrr creating something!
The very idea! you'll be telling me next that aerosols and car exhausts have broken the sky and we are all going to burn (well maybe one of you will :D)
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