Terrible waste of resources
If we (ie the Human Race) were actually serious about lasting any decent length of time on this mud ball, there are good reasons why we should not have normal paper printers in a persons house, let alone a snot-sticker
Buy a household 3D printer, it'll pay for itself in months!
Install a 3D printer in your house and it could pay for itself in just four months, a group of university engineers have claimed. This is according the Michigan Tech "Open Sustainability Technology Group" (also home to "3D Printers for Peace"). Dr Joshua Pearce and his acolytes say that anyone who uses an open source "self- …
-
-
-
Friday 2nd August 2013 12:22 GMT Loyal Commenter
Re: Terrible waste of resources
Yes because the world is being deforested because of demand for paper. Get Real.
Even if the trees to produce the paper are grown sustainably (and many are), paper production is far from good for the environment, with many impacts, including waste from the pulping and bleaching process (hint: wood pulp is not white), and the environmental impact of inks, toners, and coatings commonly in use.
-
Friday 2nd August 2013 12:29 GMT smartypants
Re: Terrible waste of resources
"because the world is being deforested because of demand for paper."
That isn't true. It's being deforested because of the demand for agricultural land. Paper is just one of the many crops we humans need.
The best thing we humans could have done was not to stop using paper, but to start using more bits of rubber on the ends of our willies.
Ideally, we should have done this before we got to a billion. It's not that long ago that this was the world's population. Some of us are likely to see that rise to 25 billion.
So please. If you care about the planet, stop breeding!
-
Saturday 3rd August 2013 04:08 GMT Grave
Re: Terrible waste of resources
its not that simple. i'm all for saving and not wasting resources.
but you could also argue that a long term effect of huge population = more brains = more ideas = more advanced technology = less resources needed = and possibly also best case scenario, invention of practically free energy source and/or achieving technological singularity much faster than a limited population = endless resources
-
-
-
Friday 2nd August 2013 07:48 GMT Pete 2
A modern day laser
In the early 1960's LASERs were touted as a solution looking for a problem. It appears that whoever came up with this
advertisementarticle has created a problem, or a whole set of problems to fit the solution. (And to be fair to 3D printing, maybe in 20 - 30 years it will evolve into something worth doing, too)There are a few issues however. You don't need to buy this printer to get the tat it produces - you just need someone in the neighbourhood to sell this junk at a car boot sale. Second is that once you've produced your ration of cheap, plasticky garbage you don't need the printer any more - so off it goes to eBay, or FREEGLE if it still works. So the second hand market for these things should be quite bouyant (provided you can wait the few months for these to trickle through).
Finally, if you're producing all these things yourself, what is little Jonny going to bring home from his/her/its woodworking class? Maybe schools need to adapt and move with the times.
-
-
Friday 2nd August 2013 19:20 GMT wdmot
Re: A modern day laser
@JeevesMkII
Printing D&D miniatures and scenery (or any other such models) is one of the most interesting applications I've seen for these printers. IMO it's not the slight savings you might get, but being able to customise things more. No need for the same repetitive scenery, you could change it up a bit! And that long scar your dwarf warrior got fighting that orc, well it's not just painted on (depending on the size of the miniature). Same goes for other games -- I have need of replacement pips for Iron Dragon, as my young daughters a few years ago lost them all (as well as a few of the cargo tokens), and making different robot models for RoboRally would be fun.
-
-
-
-
Friday 2nd August 2013 08:27 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Does this use the same plastic that everything seems to be made of these days?
You can print in nylon, ABS or PLA, and a few folk have used less convenient things like polycarbonate and various flavours of polyethylene. None of these will have any mould-release chemicals in them so they should be a little more amenabe to gluing, and stuff like nylon and ABS is pretty standard stuff and there'll be lots of adhesives available. PLA (the classic 'hammered snot' look ) has a glass transition point comfortably below that of boiling water, so it is pretty straightfoward to heat it up to do some sorts of repairs.
-
-
Friday 2nd August 2013 10:07 GMT PC Paul
Re: Does this use the same plastic that everything seems to be made of these days?
Have a look at PolyMorph, plastic granules that you can melt down in warm/hot water then form by hand. Tough as Nylon when it's done, but can be melted and resued many times.
Places like Maplins sell it in the UK.
-
-
-
-
-
-
Friday 2nd August 2013 09:25 GMT Tom Womack
Re: Spoon holder...
At least burning PLA has a pleasant milky stench.
The problem with PLA for household goods is that it melts at about 50C; if you stick a 3D-printed thing in the dishwasher it comes out a bit Dali, if you try to 3D-print coasters you find you have made expensive and attractive stick-on bottoms for your coffee cups.
-
Friday 2nd August 2013 11:02 GMT James Micallef
Re: Spoon holder...
Hey don't knock spoon rests. I have a nice ceramic one, use it all the time, saves me wiping the kitchen counter AND wipes clean really easily so no dishwashing required. Time saver all round.
No way in hell would I have a cheap plastic one, though, some stuff like tomato sauce stains plastic really easily
-
Friday 2nd August 2013 08:09 GMT RobHib
What a lot of rubbish.
I've seen this technology working firsthand - both the plastic and metal versions--I've metal thingies on my desk made this way. Whilst its fascinating, its level of sophistication (and current state of the art), especially in integrating different materials and technologies within printed components, is about as sophisticated as an ancient crystal set is compared to a modern internet TV or smart phone.
Wake me up when the model comes out where I can dial up a glass of wine or a beer followed by an aspirin--or any other drug for that matter. And where the deluxe model can print me out an iPhone or a new laptop.
In the meantime, I'm not interested in novelty roughcast plastic junk.
Like all technology, it'll takes a good 50+ years to be truly useful.
-
Friday 2nd August 2013 08:19 GMT RobHib
Re: What a lot of rubbish.
Oh, and I forgot. Just wait until the copyright and patent police start policing objects made this way. If you think software and AV copyright is bad enough now, home manufacturing of commonplace items will I'll be a bloody nightmare because of potential IP issues.
For starters, every machine will be nobbled for copyright and patent protection--not to mention nobbled from manufacturing items the state considers to be 'nasties' - AK47s for instance. The list will be huge.
-
Friday 2nd August 2013 19:43 GMT Anonymous Coward
Open source and Pirate Bay to the rescue
There isn't any way they can conceivably lock this down the way some seem to think. There will surely be some alternate open source designs for a lot of items - though for specialty stuff you'll need to pay for designs - similar to software today where you can get a free database but if you need something like SAP you'll have to buy it.
If they try to produce hardware so locked down that it will only make DRM designs, it'll be hacked eventually, just like locked down software in consumer products DVD, Blu Ray, PS3, etc. is always inevitably hacked.
If the IP holders are smart, they won't try to have the 3D printers totally locked down, otherwise when they're inevitably hacked we'll all be trading commercial design files on Pirate Bay, rather than some people designing their own open source or shareware design files.
-
Friday 2nd August 2013 08:19 GMT BongoJoe
Re: What a lot of rubbish.
This article reminds me of that (thankfully) short lived craze in the 70s when everyone and dog was encapulating stuff in clear resin.
Jewellry? Yes, have a sea horse in a block of stuff (with the obligatory fingerprint). Something to put on the mantlepiece? Yes, have a seahorse and a shell in a clear block with a bit of seaweed.
Car key organiser? Well, it's called a keyfob and, guess what? We can make you one with a sea horse set in an attractive clear block.
Looking for that diamond ring of your late mother? Well, look no further because little Johnny has encapsulated in clear resin along with a sea horse.
I am looking over my desk now to see what I have here that could be printed in white snot. Er, nothing. Could I use my car keys to be organised with white snotted plastic? Well, no, they are all kept on one keyring and they can't get more organised that that. No sorry, a great invention but not there yet.
-
Friday 2nd August 2013 08:38 GMT RobHib
@BongoJoe - Re: What a lot of rubbish.
Correct. And I wasn't kidding about the copyright and patent issues either (it's not my idea). The fact is the IP police are already mightily concerned about the technology--so are governments. This technology has the potential to manufacture drugs--dial-a-drug--as well as alter/assemble/grow genetic material.
Having it in the hands of the general public is causing much indigestion in administrative circles I can assure you.
-
Friday 2nd August 2013 10:36 GMT JDX
And I wasn't kidding about the copyright and patent issues either
Well, you shouldn't be - it's a serious issue. If I spend money designing something to sell and someone scans it and gives away the specs, this is a problem.
I see 3D printing should work something like sheet music - just because it's the music rather than a recording you still normally pay for it. Likewise if you want to make something I designed, pay me for the blueprints.
-
Friday 2nd August 2013 15:54 GMT Loyal Commenter
Re: And I wasn't kidding about the copyright and patent issues either
Well, you shouldn't be - it's a serious issue. If I spend money designing something to sell and someone scans it and gives away the specs, this is a problem.
On the other hand, if you buy something, and a cheap plastic part inside it breaks, because it was designed to wear out to fleece you for money for a replacement part, then being able to make your own replacement is the opposite of a problem, n'est-ce-pas?
-
-
-
This topic is closed for new posts.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
