If this video had come out in April I would have thought it was a prank. I've seen 3d printers before but nothing with this much precision. What is most impressive is the fact that this thing can somehow "print" internal moving parts. This printer may not be directly related to photography but it's so versatile, it could be related to anything. I recently lost my lens hood for my 24-70mm lens. It would be nice to print another one and save $30. Maybe my kids will have that luxury.
Related Articles
I have one word....."Skynet".
I finished working for an education Centre for local schools about 2 months ago, we had 3 different 3D printers, one from these guys, z corp. and other two i can't remember what companies. Kids used them everyday! I thought people knew about this stuff :/
Also the z corp one we had, was years old. Still pretty cool, the kids got to bring in an object, we can scan it it, scale it, and print it.
How does the internal parts work? Are you having to manually draw that after the outer scan?
Yes, or they could have disassembled the real wrench, scanned each piece, then reassembled it in the software before printing. We have a 3d printer at work and have printed working assemblies on several occasions. What they are failing to tell you is that it isn't as strong as machined plastic would be. The layers tend to be where it would break. But they are decently strong (I wouldn't trust that wrench fora real job though particularly in space, not with current technology).
Would have to scan each piece or actually make it on the computer with various 3D modelling software!
oops
i have a friend that has one of these and they are frickin' amazing
This is... unbelievable. Star Trek is real O_O
I love it. I want one. I have no clue what I would do with it but so cool.
can't stop technologies, but how much is it ? must be freaking expensive !
soon, im gonna print my ex-girlfriend. hahahaha
Make me a Harley! Please.
I think they skipped the part between scanning and sending the model to printer. it's not as straight forward, the scanned model needs some work and obviously it will not scan what the scanner can't see.
if you look at the first wrench, it doesn't have a ring attached to the end but the printed one does. that's the most obvious difference. 0:10 vs 2:33
still very very cool but of course costly.
incredible.
Unfortunately, printing your own would probably cost you more than $30. If I recall correctly, our school would charge $50 per object smaller than 6"x6"x6" because of the cost of the printing medium, maintenance and power consumption.
Wow! Dear Santa, this is what I want for Christmas.
i still dont know if i believe it. my finite mind cant wrap around this!
If you think that's cool, try to wrap your heads around this:
http://3dhomemade.blogspot.com/
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snOErpOP5Xk
A 3D printer, which you can build yourself...
I miss working with these both my high school and college had these. They are insane and awesome.
OMG THATS SICK!!
Just like the other guy said "I don't get it" although it seems so awesome. Well above my head.
Now I know how Harbor Freight builds all there tools :P
someone asked how much...the cheapest ones retail at about $15,000 (usd) ....HONESTLY, not that expensive when you see what they can do....prototyping is the one main use i can see where it would be amazing....there's another vid i've seen where they just drop in a 3D CAD drawing of a ball bearing, and the thing comes out and spins freely...amazing...
So that means that I can print Canon lenses? niice!
So, about downloading that car...
Now I can print my D3 and all my lenses..for back-up.
What is far freakier is the video I saw similar to this a while back at one of the TED conferences where the 3D printer was being used to print organ tissue for transplants. Check it out:
http://www.ted.com/talks/anthony_atala_growing_organs_engineering_tissue...
The whole 'strength' thing is a lie, we have that same printer at school and models come out pretty weak, you have to use solutions to harden them and still they end up fragile as crackers.