Small Desktop Forges Reality?, At least the start of them. Options

[Tarantula]

Thought http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/tech/2...C257423006E71CD was really cool, figured I'd drop the link for you guys.

[Synner667]

This has been around for a while now..
..And it should make for a really interesting time ahead.

[Stahlseele]

i'd rather see 3D-"Scanners" get more developement than 3D-"Printers"
you want something in your computer? point your scanner at it and bam, insta-3d-model O.o
ok, i would love to try and print out one of those esher-thingies with an 3D-Printer ^^

[Method]

The first I heard of "desk-top manufacturing" was probably 5 or 6 years ago, though it wasn't called that at the time.

I saw a TV show about how NASA was developing the technology as part of their mission to Mars. The idea being that if you are on a five year space flight to the Red Planet and some piece of your rocket ship breaks finding a hardware store is a serious pain in the ass.

So rather than carry a spare for every part (which would be called a backup space craft) the mission would carry tanks of a liquid resin that solidified when a laser of certain wattage was pulsed through it. They used a machine with three laser emitters on independent accesses that all intersected at one point producing the necessary energy to solidify the resin. The emitters tracked like a three dimensional printer, moving the intersect point through a vat of the resin. The machines computer had digital schematics for every part and it could reproduce one in minutes. Pretty cool.

I think the implications for this technology would be huge in Shadowrun. If it became cost effective you would see major downsizing of factories in favor for smaller more high tech production facilities that could switch from making cars to commlinks overnight. Digital plans could be transfered via the Matrix. International shipping would decline. Ares needs a case of Alpha's for a buyer in Indonesia? No problem- give me 5 minutes to send an email and 24 hours to crank em out. It really would be something...

EDIT: Turns out the tech is actually really old!! Invented in 1986 and apparently its called Stereolithography.

[nathanross]

Has anyone else on the forums ever machined metal? With the level of precision and speed that CNC can do now, it is a no brainer that in the future they will be able to do some crazy shit. When things get absurdly futuristic are when you can create a micro-processor in your backyard from the ground up.

[Stahlseele]

literally, if you can get enough silicium out of the ground *g*

[Heath Robinson]

The main problem with all the rapid prototyping and desktop forge things is that they have to use materials with limits on their melting points and the end products won't have the integrity that other production methods have. Deposition of layers also gives you a bunch of resolution issues that you don't have otherwise. Just look at the glass in that article, these things are pretty difficult to avoid as well.

[Kyoto Kid]

...hmmm, add DNA sequencing, mapping, replication, & a couple more centuries and you could make...Her....from just a fingertip. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[O'Donnell Heir]

This has been used for quite some time now (Some of you may remember seeing it in the movie Small Soldiers). More recently some tabletop gaming companies have been picking up on it to make prototype miniatures that they can use in the casting process instead of "greens" (hand sculpted originals).

Not one of my pictures, but here's an example of some of the more detailed work that can be done with these things:Games Workshop Ork Miniature (The green is the resin, the white/grey is pre-cast portions).

[Wesley Street]

There's a company that makes custom toys using the same tech. A full body scanner takes a shot of the person and a 3-D printer cuts it out of plastic. They made those perverted little porn star "action figures" a few years back.

[O'Donnell Heir]

Those WoWheads out there may recognize the technology from the custom character figures they recently started offering. They take the 3-D image of your character, and "print" it out.

[Kyoto Kid]

...ooo? I could have an accurate figure of the Short One?