3D printing WILL change the world
I admit – I am sometimes a bit slow, but I think I finally figured out a) why 3D printing will change the world, and b) it happens sooner than you think.
I have been following Risto Linturi’s posts about 3D printing in Google+ for a while now (Risto is “the” Finnish 3D printing Evangelist). He has been steadily posting news about new consumer priced printers (costing about 500 EUR), general info about the subject, images of his own printings etc.
So far most of the actual items printed (plastic fork, iPhone cover, nuts and bolts, etc.) have looked more or less like plastic garbage. You know – the kind of stuff you’d expect from Kinder surprise eggs – ugly, useless, and totally lacking finish and style.
So why I am arguing that this is going to change the world? Simple.
Question: What is entirely plastic, but costs it’s weight in gold?
- Click to See The AnswerOpen or Close
Audi A4 Tail Light
Spare part: ~170 EUR
Official Audi part: ~350 EUR
3D printing cost: ~ 5 EUROMG – this WILL change the world.
My crystal ball also suggests, that soon a new business emerges around selling the models you can print at home (like the one in the picture below). Let it be tail lights, Barbie®, or whatever. Buy the tail light model from the web for 2 EUR, and just print it! Please take my money.
Post Mortem: Latest news is that somebody had managed to print a fully working gun, which brings attention to a bit disturbing side of this new technology…
Thanks, links and images:
“So far most of the actual items printed (plastic fork, iPhone cover, nuts and bolts, etc.) have looked more or less like plastic garbage (…) and totally lacking finish and style.”
True, and the first powered flight lasted only 12 seconds.* Transformative technologies often have humble beginnings.
I foresee big issues with intellectual property rights and their enforcement in 3D printing, up to the point where they might actually stifle the technology. Nevertheless, when 3D printing and nanotechnology eventually converge, the world will not be the same.
*It covered a distance of 37 meters at a speed of 10,9 km/h with an average altitude of 3 meters or so – nothing spectacular by any standards of the day.