3d Printers have been out of the budget for most of us till now. This little machine MakerBot isn’t a Stratasys but it doesn’t cost anywhere close to one either. At $1299 it looks like a bargain for what you could create (plugs, molds, or maybe even those inserts FELT used?). Those of us that have mills or router tables could just purchase and mount the extruder head on the cnc machine for a very large printing surface at an even lower purchase cost.
MakerBot homepage with some other “toys”
Thingiverse is a place where other Makerbot owners share what they made and the files for you to make you own.
[ame=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEiZYfpa75Q”]YouTube - MakerBot 3D Printer Demo - CES 2011 - BWOne.com[/ame]
Maybe this will spark some of your interest in 3d Printers. It doesn’t have anything to do with composites but it goes along with 3d printing. Anyone want to print out a new lung or heart? In this video they use a inject printer to do the job. They fill an empty ink cartridge with cells and print out a 2 chamber mouse heart, and it actually beat! The inkjet doesn’t come in until the end but the entire video is a good watch. I can’t imagine what the future holds. With Craig J. Venter’s recent discovery/invention/technology what ever you want to call it and this, it looks like medicine is entering a hole new ball game.
[ame=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAI5rLnnCBE”]YouTube - Artificial Organ Regrowth - NOVA scienceNOW[/ame]
I’m sorry, I haven’t been able to watch the videos, as I am at a computer with no sound. For those of you interested in 3d rapid prototyping type deals, check out this site http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page