I had seen the talk on the news but today I saw a 3D printer...the real thing. WOW way cool. Create the object with 3D software, transfer the file to the printer and it squirts/extrudes the material/plastic onto a plate and creates the thing!

Lots of possibilities for this (beside gun parts). If you cannot find a part, piece, plastic cover, etc., go to a website download the 3D info for the part, go to a Kinkos type place that has a room of 3D printers set up and bingo, create it on the spot. No shipping no waiting. If I live long enough this could be an interesting change to watch.

I saw a show once where they used a 3D printer to make a plastic copy of a patients skull. He needed reconstructive surgery so they did an MRI of his head, fed it into a computer and ended up with a 3D model. They performed the procedure on the model before starting the actual surgery.

I think the day is coming that these will be affordable for personal home use...remember how the color printers evolved so quickly and soon you could print your own photos at home

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carpe diem
one day at a time

And if I remember right, I heard some discussions about forcing the printer to "print" some sort of tracking info.

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Not enough space

That technology is actually mature. It was in commercial use over 20 years ago.

The price is just coming down so that it is mainstream.

I am happy with my "2D" homemade machine.






Just input the shape in digital form, it cuts. It will be a while before I am bored!

It is pretty wild when you can see (chest pieces in this case) being created right in front of you. Guess this is what that guy used to create the plastic AR lower that was in the news over the summer.