3D printers..

[Sombrero]

Wow !! did anyone see the one show article about 3D printers? what a prospect for the future?

For example...

- you need a new part for your washing machine, print it out.

- or you are having new teeth, or a complex medical procedure, print it out and get it right !

But what about the notion of sending a 3D printer to the moon, and using solar for the power, and moon dust for the fuel? you don't need rockets anymore, just a tweet and you can build a moonbase !!

And what about 3D printers printing 3D printers... world domination right there !!

 

[JBR]

I don't know very much about these things, but the ones I have seen on television 'print out' object in some sort of plastic. That's not going to be much use for my corroding exhaust pipe.

 

[Sombrero]

I don't know very much about these things, but the ones I have seen on television 'print out' object in some sort of plastic. That's not going to be much use for my corroding exhaust pipe.

You'll be able to buy the plastic printer for your home, for a couple of hundred quid fairly soon. And they have industrial versions that can print in metal already !! it's amazing futuristic science happening right now !!

 

[ace]

I don't know very much about these things, but the ones I have seen on television 'print out' object in some sort of plastic. That's not going to be much use for my corroding exhaust pipe.

I am sure they said there are printers that will print out metal.

 

[jj4091]

You'll be able to buy the plastic printer for your home, for a couple of hundred quid fairly soon. And they have industrial versions that can print in metal already !! it's amazing futuristic science happening right now !!

Yes but a print cartridge will be 3 grand

 

[ntb]

Great for some things and will definitely take off for prototyping and making tat. The metal printing isn't quite what it sounds though. You print a 3D part in some sort of loose ceramic binder. Then you put it in a furnace for hours in a pool of molten bronze and the metal soaks in by capillary action. Fine for statues, not so good for spanners.

 

[JBR]

Yes but a print cartridge will be 3 grand

Or one grand on Amazon for compatibles!

 

[AronSearle]

I don't know very much about these things, but the ones I have seen on television 'print out' object in some sort of plastic. That's not going to be much use for my corroding exhaust pipe.

There are ones now that print out some kind of hard composite and they are working on metals.

Still very early days, and very expensive.

 

[jeds]

Brilliant for LEGO bricks, apparently.

 

[wizbongre]

Brilliant for LEGO bricks, apparently.

Not so brilliant for Lego the company though

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Brilliant for LEGO bricks, apparently.

Not so brilliant for Lego the company though

LEGO won't be getting worried, its really for the LEGO geeks who like to make unique parts and besides, creating Lego brick is not so easy, its all about the clutch power!

 

[Sombrero]

apparently in 1981 1Gb of storage cost £300,000 yet today, it's about 10p !! The human race is developing as if it were in a race !!

 

[JBR]

apparently in 1981 1Gb of storage cost £300,000 yet today, it's about 10p !! The human race is developing as if it were in a race !!

I remember our first computer, an Amstrad, had 1Gb of storage. How the hell did we manage?

 

[ImayKnow]

apparently in 1981 1Gb of storage cost £300,000 yet today, it's about 10p !! The human race is developing as if it were in a race !!

I remember our first computer, an Amstrad, had 1Gb of storage. How the hell did we manage?

Wow JBR tht must have been some machine. My first PC was a 286, it came with 0.5mb of memory and was upgradeable to a maximum 4mb. Memory cost in the region of £50 per mb. Computers use to get stolen, and dumped, the thieves only wanted the memory from them. It was the most expensive item in them, easily removed, easily concealed due to its size, and there was high demand for it.

Memory chips were the gold dust of the day.

YES - I MEAN MBs NOT GBs!!

 

[Astra99]

My first PC was an IBM XT with 256MB RAM (non-expandable) and twin floppy drives. One of the 360kB drives I replaced with a 720kB 3.5" drive. This machine would run Wordstar 4 and As-Easy-As (a Lotus 123 clone) The first machine I had with a hard drive was a 286 I built myself (1MB RAM) with 20MB IDE hard drive. Don't forget that in those days of DOS 3.3 32MB was the largest hard disk partition which could be supported