Pirate Bay to Allow Real-Object Downloads. The Real Reason for SOPA, IMO., page 2

reply to post by LordBaskettIV

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Printing legos is a far cry from printing something like say oh a printer. And as I said some company has to develop a good working product in all it aspect before it is worth printing.

I am all for the technology and the stuff people are printing now is definitely exciting and great to see but is just the early beginning. We have a long ways to go. However once things start moving they tend to pick up speed so I would love to be wrong and see this really take off sooner then I anticipate.

Thanks for the video I will watch it when I get a chance.

reply to post by hawkiye

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Well then, a printer that self replicates, open source did that

RepRap is a free desktop 3D printer capable of printing plastic objects. Since many parts of RepRap are made from plastic and RepRap can print those parts, RepRap is a self-replicating machine - one that anyone can build given time and materials. It also means that - if you've got a RepRap - you can print lots of useful stuff, and you can print another RepRap for a friend... RepRap is about making self-replicating machines, and making them freely available for the benefit of everyone. We are using 3D printing to do this, but if you have other technologies that can copy themselves and that can be made freely available to all, then this is the place for you too.

RepRap

Community based open source software, and now hardware is gaining a position to dominate. If we don't blow our selves up, it could be real cool and cheap...just saying.

reply to post by hawkiye

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3d printers can produce moving parts without the need for assembly. This allows you, with the right type of resin, to print tools and mechanical projects that actually work.

For an idea of just how profitable this technology will become, take a look at the funding pledged for this small home 3D Printer. www.kickstarter.com... Guy want's $25k funding for development. Pledged nearly a million. Home production of usable tools and utensils, toys and games and more is not good for manufacturing - but it's Open Source times we live in, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Businesses too big to fail? The free market died. Get a 3d printer and bury the coffin.

reply to post by LordBaskettIV

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I understand what your saying however anything that works has to be designed developed and tested first for it to be any good. Someone can draw something in Cad or whatever and print it out however that does not mean it will work well or at all. Like the Rep Rap printer how reliable is it? Who developed the design has it been tested etc etc.

I worked for HP for a number of years testing thier multifunction printers before they were released to the public. Do you have any idea how many thousands of pages have to be printed before it can be released to the public as reliable? And how many revisions of parts, firmware, software, coding etc it takes to get a functional printer that works hassle free and doesn't jam a reasonable amount of time that the public can rely on?

The more sophisticated the more testing and revisions that is what I am saying. Right now these printers are printing relatively simple things that work and that is great. I am sure they can print something sophisticated too that has already gone through the R&D/testing phase and is reliable. But that is the point if a company spends the money to design and develop a sophisticated product only to have it copied where is the incentive for them to continue to do that?

I imagine it will be like the Linux community at some point where enough people pay for support that teams will continue to update the designs. I have read of car manufacturing even being localized with this were local cities or communities have their own plant and you download the car you want and have it printed out and assembled at the local plant. But still someone has to design good working models and test and revise them till they are road worthy. Otherwise we will end up with a lot of crap people designed but does not work well to sift through to find something that works.

I guess it will be like Amazon with feedback ratings LOL. Anyway not being negative just trying to look at the realities of how this technology will get implemented. I am actually excited this is moving forward.

Originally posted by Pr0t0
reply to post by hawkiye

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3d printers can produce moving parts without the need for assembly. This allows you, with the right type of resin, to print tools and mechanical projects that actually work.

For an idea of just how profitable this technology will become, take a look at the funding pledged for this small home 3D Printer. www.kickstarter.com... Guy want's $25k funding for development. Pledged nearly a million. Home production of usable tools and utensils, toys and games and more is not good for manufacturing - but it's Open Source times we live in, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Businesses too big to fail? The free market died. Get a 3d printer and bury the coffin.

Yes, this will be the passing of greed. The tech is gonna blossom fast and get cheap when that happens, and people will be replicating more printers. Your son wants the baddest new RC? Build his own with cutomizable options and then share and compare with millions around the globe. Don't like the dolls your daughter plays with? Make her one you deem fit, or just browse through thousands of others and download.

Or how about wanting to make your own electronic devices, but didn't want to bother with extensive modding?

These will be donated to poor countries and schematics for planting equipment, medical supplies, food storage, etc... will be miraculous.

reply to post by hawkiye

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What you said is absolutely true, every product design needs rigorous testing for both quality and safety and there's another barrier of course, which (just like SOPA, PIPA, ACTA are trying for the internet) spell the legislative death of 3D printing, with a lack of Health and Safety inspection in the home, insurance for manufacturing at home and of course, patents and copyright claims.

Having said that, in the open source community you'll find a large number of developers and beta testers who implement and test the code fully and relay their feedback for revisions, fixes and version changes, and several projects over at GitHub, SourceForge etc are of a quality equal to or better than proprietary competitor software. With a similar level of support, for the well supported projects. Why do you feel this type of community wouldn't spring up in the 3D modelling arena? It's actually a lot less work because there is no OS or framework to have to compensate for - you're simply refining the print model.

reply to post by Pr0t0

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Having said that, in the open source community you'll find a large number of developers and beta testers who implement and test the code fully and relay their feedback for revisions, fixes and version changes, and several projects over at GitHub, SourceForge etc are of a quality equal to or better than proprietary competitor software. With a similar level of support, for the well supported projects. Why do you feel this type of community wouldn't spring up in the 3D modelling arena? It's actually a lot less work because there is no OS or framework to have to compensate for - you're simply refining the print model.

If you read my latest post I did not say this type of community would not spring up I in fact said it would eventually. But there is a lot more hurdles when testing physical products then just software some of which you mentioned like saftey issue.

Also there will still need to be manufacturing of the raw materials like plastics and metal alloys used in the printing process etc. Take metal tools for instant like a simple wrench. Is the printer going to heat temper the wrench so it doesn't break when used? I don't think so and most people will not know how to do that. So there will have to be some place for them to go to get it done. Perhaps the local library Fab Lab like in the video? The point is there are lots of little things that go into making a useful part or tool then just fabricating its shape.

Also beta testing sophisticated physical products may be difficult as there needs to be some relatively uniform method of documenting defects and problems so they can systematically be worked out. Random feedback from beta testors in this area could pose problems.

Like I said I am all for the technology I am just not sure it is going to happen as fast as every thinks and we will al live happily ever after in a glorious world where everything is free. The reality is the humanity needs to change to change to a certain degree before some of these hurdles can be overcome.

This is old news, I built a RepRap 3D printer nearly a year ago, it really works, and it can be done for around £350-£500 if you shop around. Prebuilt kits can be bought from here www.reprapcentral.com... It is cheaper however to build it from scratch.

The filament rolls aren't cheap, but you get a lot of use out of each one.

It's fairly cool that piratebay are going to be "hosting" designs though.

EDIT: Anyone interested in building their own, start here: reprap.org...

I can understand the fear involved with being able to print bomb components or whatever else these suits are afraid people are gonna use this tech for, but come on! That'd be like closing down every Lowes Hardware or Home Depot because they carry everything you need to make napalm, nerve gas, and pipe bombs. Where does it end?

I'd heard of 3D Printing in the past, and have even seen a few plastic machine parts and toys made using them, but I'd never seen one print an object with moving parts before. That's pretty, for lack of a better word, badass.

The NASA application mentioned in this video is pretty genius.

reply to post by FugitiveSoul

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Why not just print money with a normal printer and BUY all that stuff?

j/k

reply to post by flexy123

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It's easier to print 3D components from saved data than it is to buy and machine parts.
Every component one might need can be saved on a portable drive, which could pass easily through security.

As I said, this tech will be better suited for NASA or cross continental work. I can also see it being used in Hollywood to replicate props for filming, or even to sell.

reply to post by predator0187

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I'd hardly call it "printing" then anymore.

We're on the way creating replicators ala Star Trek

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