Re: [Phys-l] 3-d printer

[Marty Weiss <martweiss@comcast.net>]

Ok, thanks for the info.   More Questions :  if this printer can make a wrench that works and is as strong as the demonstration shows, why don't we see whole industries built around the technology...  door knobs, locks, tools of all sorts, etc.  ... or is it just cheaper to make them on the traditional assembly line?   Is this so expensive that the cost outweighs the convenience?  Which brings up the thought of a store keeping inventory... say a hardware store invests in a 3-d printer for a one-time investment.  The proprietor can then buy one of everything and make more on the printer instead of buying boxes of, say, wrenches at a cost involving the price of the tool itself, plus shipping, not to mention storage and shelf space.  

Marty

 
On Jul 15, 2011, at 8:11 AM, chuck britton wrote:

> The machines are real and have been around for years.
> The video is a well distributed puff piece by this particular manufacturer.
> A 'Powder Based' machine such as this wouldn't REALLY be a candidate 
> for zero-g space applications would it?  ;-)
> Extrusion machines would be better suited for that environment.
>
> Even XKCD jumped onto the bandwagon (in their non-PG sorta way ;-)  )
>
> 	http://xkcd.com/924/
> .
> At 4:19 AM -0400 7/15/11, Marty Weiss wrote:
> > Hi all,
> > 	The latest "wow!" video making the rounds on the internet 
> > recently is the 3-d printer clip on YouTube and other internet vid 
> > sources.  In case someone hasn't seen it... a narrator takes us into 
> > a lab where the "inventor" shows the process whereby he takes a 
> > wrench, scans it in a new type of scanner, puts the printout into 
> > some sort of 3-d printer (after coloring the adjusting mechanism 
> > red) which contains some sort of "resin"material and after a few 
> > minutes the narrator reaches into the pool of "resin" and out pops a 
> > copy of a real working wrench with a red adjustment gear.  The copy 
> > does the same job as the real wrench.   
> >
> > The narrator is a "real person"... a PhD and astronaut (at least 
> > according to several articles I Googled), but the whole thing has to 
> > be an elaborate hoax.  Either that or it's the biggest invention 
> > since the light bulb.  If it is a hoax, I have yet to see anyone 
> > write about it on any discussion group, on YouTube, or other news 
> > source.  Likewise, a real invention such as this would have been 
> > heralded throughout the scientific world by now.   Anyone have any 
> > explanation or comments?  
> >
> > Marty
> >
> >
> >
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