The Wow Factor of 3-D Printing
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People who can take a hunk of wood or lump of clay and fashion something fantastic with their bare hands have powers of creation that I don't quite understand.
But I've found a way to identify better with them -- by using a 3-D printer.
As far as I'm concerned, 3-D printers are the best thing to come out of the labs in a long time because they allow for the manipulation of reality instead of virtual space. And although they sound downright magical, they work just as it seems they might.
Someone designs an object -- a cookie cutter, cup or canister -- on a computer and then sends that design to a 3-D printer. The printer does not draw a picture of the item on a piece of paper, as an ordinary printer would do. Instead, it physically builds the object, by squirting melted plastic out of nozzles. The plastic follows the computer design, and layer by layer, the printer constructs the object.
For years, large manufacturers have relied on hulking, expensive 3-D printers to make prototype parts for airplanes, cars and machinery. Recently, though, a new crop of 3-D printers and services has arrived to make this type of technology affordable for consumers. And so a true 3-D printer craze has started to take hold of the techno-hobbyist clan.
People are assembling 3-D printers from kits and then making toys, exotic ornaments, chess sets and toothpaste tube squeezers.
Some people replicate common objects, while others put their own spin on things.
Should you choose to enter the 3-D realm, the ways to get started range from pretty easy to "hunker down in the garage workshop for a couple of weeks" hard.
Here's a look at how you can get going, and perhaps take holiday gift-giving into your own hands later this year.
Objects at Your Service
If you want a taste of what 3-D printing is all about before committing to acquiring a 3-D printer, then a service like that provided by Shapeways is a good starting point.
Shapeways is more or less the Amazon.com of 3-D printing. You go to its Web site and pick objects that other people have designed, tweak these designs or use the company's Web software to design something from scratch. Then, you simply order the product, and Shapeways builds it on high-end 3-D printers. A few days later, the object arrives at your doorstep.
First Published January 13, 2011 12:01 am
