The retailer currently is marketing 3D printers from MakerBot in 12 stores across the country, mainly in California, New York City, and the Chicago area as well as on its website. Customers can see live 3D printing demonstrations, check out sample prints showcasing practical applications for 3D printing, and take home 3D printed souvenirs. The machines range from $2,900 for a fifth generation model to $1,375 for a mini desktop model.
8 comments:
Just to be clear, they are not selling the house printing 3D printers at the Home Depot. Then all we would have to do is instal one on a batten, and not have to use the scene shop at all. Brownell makes a good point that the ability to think in 3D and catch mistakes that way, is an invaluable skill for architects and designers of the future.
When I read this article and they brought up commercial uses for 3D printers, my mind went straight to having printers exist in households as a part of everyday life; which, in my opinion, is not too far away. The architectural and business sides of this are equally as compelling.
The one worry I have is before this machine becomes a natural part of society, the should be made sustainable. I know that 3D printers have a plastic fillers that make the object, but as far as I know, that plastic is not biodegradable or sustainable for the environment. Before we begin printing thousands and thousands of scale models and souvenirs, we should have a means of properly disposing of them in a sustainable way.
When I read that they use 3D printers to make in scale models of buildings, I immediately thought of using it for scale models of sets. They would look so cool, and also help show structural problems, like the article was talking about for the big buildings.
However, making scale models of sets by hand has its own allure; many people I know, including me, enjoy putting together the small set with our hands and figuring out what kind of materials would best show what we want to get across. I'm worried it would become the lazy way out and eventually no one would build scale models themselves. Though there is the problem of painting the plastic to look like the set; I don't know how easily the pastic takes paint and if it would show up anywhere near what the artist wanted the set to be painted like.
I remember a few year back and hearing about the future of 3D printers and thinking that it was so strange. Now a couple hundred days later and we have the technology basically at our fingertips. Since the beginning of 3D printers the cost has gone down tremendously and is now something that many people can afford if they so desired. I still don't see the application of this technology to our everyday life. The article highlighted the use for model making which would be a great use for the product. Its such a specialized product that still needs future development before it will catch fire.
I have been fascinated with 3D printing for a long time and am thrilled to see how it is progressing as an industry. I am excited to see how the future progresses now that big box stores are starting to see its merits as well. First Staples with the Cube last year and now Home Depot, soon all major stores that sell technology or tools will be carrying 3D printers as part of their regular stock, and I think that is awesome. Like Paula said, it isn't too far away until we begin to have 3D printers as a commonplace home appliance.
3D printers were once the future. I remember being at First Night (New Year's Eve festival) in Boston and seeing the 3D printing exhibit. I was enthralled and really interested in the future of this technology. I wonder how far we can take it; could this be the beginning of a new wave of mass production?
Perhaps not, because of the costs to manufacture one, but think about how many products and new ideas can be realized with a 3D printer?
It's exciting and somewhat scary to think about. The world moves on, and where do we go from here?
I remember when color printers were expensive, and then when scanners were expensive, and then when you could have a copier, color printer, scanner for under a 100 dollars, a nice one too. 3d printers have drastically dropped in price compared to a few years ago, but I wouldn't yet call them accessible. Anything over a thousand dollars while nice for businesses does not get them ingrained in society. But the larger problem is what it does. Any industry that is using one is not printing in the basic plastic that most use. Its not useful for anything beyond prototyping. And the real race is for one that can combine plastic and metal. A printer that could do that fast and cheap, could print circuits for computers and would make unimaginable amounts of money. I think we are looking for a use that isn't there yet. For it to be useful it needs to do something a little more. But for the industry to be able to make that leap it needs people to keep spending money on them so they have money to burn in their R&D departments. We are definitely going to get there I just don;t think they are quite accessible yet.
Although they remain the coolest toy I have ever played with
In an age where technology is developing rapidly, it’s nice to see that we are finding new ways to make life a little easier on ourselves. 3-D printing is still a fairly new concept for me, sure there is one that sits behind me every day, but it’s how people have used them and expanded the parameters as to what their limitations are. Just last week I heard from Ben Carter about the expo in Chicago and they were 3-D printing a car. I mean how cool is that! But in today’s world of theatre, designers can make models without having to spend as much time on the excruciating details of it all, because 3-D printing simplifies the process so that the designer can present the ideas in an easier fashion than what might be perceived differently on paper. It just seems so convenient to be able to use it, of course if you’re going to buy it, you probably might want to make sure you can get your monies worth out of it, so not really for home use, just saying.
Post a Comment