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It will still undergo a few more tests aboard the space station, after which a permanent printer will be installed up there.

By the way, I want one too; this plus blender would be very cool. Anyone with a 3d printer want to print its components and ship them to me? ;D

http://rt.com/news/165840-3d-printer-manufacturing-space/ (http://rt.com/news/165840-3d-printer-manufacturing-space/)

I was a researcher about 3D printing from long time ago, and as a mechanical engineer, it got my interest.

There is a huge investment put into this new technology, even to be used in Army.

So, it's really normal to be sent to ISS in August.

This new technology will change the world, it's just new like bitcoins.

I have some doubts that it will work properly in micro-gravity.

Well, part of the reason for the further tests is precisely to find out; it's not a final version of the printer yet, it seems. But the company that had been working on the printer had help from NASA so, as much as possible, it should be up to the task.

May I know why, I'm curious ?

I don't know if this is what Tzupy was talking about, but perhaps along the lines of what a commenter on the site mentioned, the reduced gravity would require the printing process to be modified to ensure no defects were introduced into the printed objects. And maybe these modifications would require additional material or energy, making the process less efficient. Still, I'm pretty sure actually sending replacement parts to the ISS would require far more resources than simply printing them aboard directly. :)

If it's only about speed, it can be adjusted via the motor's rpm.

Oh noes!  They're going to be printing guns in outer space!!!

Seriously, I wonder what micro gravity will do to the layering.

The cost for producing using 3d printer is still way too high.

This is a good question, for sure it will affect the layering in a way or another.

I'm waiting to see how will this work, as I like the 3D printing field.

What do people do with 3D printer?

Is there a commercial use for it?

It's used in many applications, and yes, commercial ones, latest applications, was guns, which really killed people.

You can use it to make toys, demonstration of a product you have 3D modeled on PC, .... etc.

Your imagination is the only limit.

They should have a 3d printer on board the ISS. It will be useful for printing spare parts when things get broken. An advanced 3d printer could print circuit boards too. I think 3d printers will play a key role in building stations on the moon or other planets.

So..let's reduce this to essentials.

In the past, NASA drove innovation, creating wonders such as integrated circuits.

In the present, hackers and makers create an entire industry called "3d printing", mainstream is just starting to catch on, and NASA gets on board five years late.

Way to go, Hackers and Makers!

Umm....last week...let's see, I made..

Bottle caps, parts racks, knobs with bolt insert, drone camera gimbal parts, water hose nozzles, samsung phone case.

Plastic junk, basically.  The sort of things that stores are full of.

They are looking at if you could print out the parts to make a moon base, using the raw materials of the moon dust.

3d printing is also very exciting for long space missions where you cant take a spare everything.

I wonder if someone will breakthrough and make 3d printable circuits to print into the output models and make them even more functional.

Is it possible to print a death star? Using this device, I mean? :D

Yes, fractions of the moon dust are usable as feedstocks for 3d printing.  However, most of the thinking on this subject is fairly primitive, hovering around things like can we make moon houses, roads, brick, etc.

3d printable circuits.  No.  Can't make them.  Maybe certain sensors.  For example, make a rod, a spiral and a pointer and you pretty much have an uncalibrated thermometer.  Calibrate later by engraving marks in the stick.

The big win would be to print on the moon an engine that ran on solar energy.  Would have to be a air cycle engine, in turn that means it would need something of a working gas, slight pressure vessel, mirror.

Yes but they deal in the impossible today. So maybe one day circuits then BOOM technology explosion.

Mass production technology will still most like to dominate the market for the foreseeable future.


3d printer may be good for prototyping and small market item.
 

I suspect the reason is that gravity is involved in the process of laying down the layers. Micro-gravity may affect this.

The only people killed by 3D printed guns were the people firing them.

Isn't the gun one time use only?

No.  AR15 receiver was tested up to 200 rounds.  This is still a joke, commercial parts 100k is nothing.

I don't think so, but that'd be easy to test....run a 3d printer upside down or sideways. 

One obvious issue is that at startup, the extruder head comes up to speed.  As it does, the filament starts oozing out.  then the thing goes to a start point, starts laying a thread down and goes to the build position.

With the standard printer in zeroG, the ooze would just accumulate on the extruder head, which would be a big mess. 

So there are minor differences.  Enough to probably keep one Hacker Maker busy for a few hours.

Or a NASA department in perpetuity.

I am not going to argue that, after all this IS the 21st century.

That's mostly true; on the other hand, you have stuff like Contour Crafting and the Chinese equivalent (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=587121.0), which are basically very large 3d printers designed to print whole houses (well, not including wiring/plumbing, though these can be laid out by the machine anyway).

I don't think it's mostly true, because even though the per item cost may be less for injection molded plastic items, the consumer had to go out to get them - add driving time and so forth, the part is then much more expensive than if it had just been made in the garage.

Fair enough, but not everyone has a 3d printer in their garage, knowledge of how to operate one, inclination to go through the trouble of learning, or in most cases, even awareness of its existence. We still have a long way to go before this technology is widely used, unfortunately.

Absolutely correct, this is an emerging technology.

These people wouldnt find it easier to make something with injected moulding either. the overhead would be much more than having something made by a 3d print company for a low volume/one off item

I was thinking the question was something like mass produced...injection molded in Asia, shipped to the distribution center and thence to stores and thence to consumers, would somehow beat out on demand garage printing.

I really don't buy that.

This sorta reminds me of a story I heard some time ago(it may be just a myth, but it's nonetheless interesting). Upon reaching micro-gravity astronauts and people at NASA noticed that the regular pen can't write in such condition, due to the lack of gravity that pushes the ink down.
After a couple of years and good few million dollars later, they invented a special pen that could write in the most vicious enviroments.
Russian cosmonauts faced this issue too. They used pencils!

http://www.spacepen.com/about-us.aspx

I thought 3d printing was still fairly unreliable and could mostly just make layered plastics? I know about the gun and what not but are we actually able to 3d print anything of actual use now? Besides plastic nic nak stuff?

The technolgy shows promise. More research still needed to make it useful and cheap to use.

The problem is they don't have to find it "easier to make something with injected molding"; most are perfectly happy to pay others to do it for them at the moment. Hopefully that will change as this technology becomes better known, and people start seeing its potential.



Hmm, is printing houses (http://rt.com/news/155220-3d-printer-houses-china/ (http://rt.com/news/155220-3d-printer-houses-china/)) and small replacement parts and tools for the ISS good enough for you? ;D (disclaimer: yes, these are still mostly in tests at the moment, and as DavidHume says, some more refinement is needed)

3D printing is the future, I would'nt be surprised if the 2nd 3d printer sent there prints food, and CHOCOLATES

Industrial scale 3d printing is already a reality with the likes of metal subframes and stuff.

The consumer stuff is a bit more "fun" but they have to sell units.

I think the printing of foods or proteins sounds interesting.

Found more information about it, so now I believe it should work:
http://www.madeinspace.us/made-in-space-and-nasa-to-send-first-3d-printer-into-space

This comic that came out today is just about that:

http://basicinstructions.net/storage/2014-06-26-spacepen.gif?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1403806457540

http://basicinstructions.net/ (http://basicinstructions.net/)

Now, it's the US Army that is looking to 3d print warheads, lowering the costs of components and potentially improving the designs: http://rt.com/usa/177064-army-warheads-3d-printing (http://rt.com/usa/177064-army-warheads-3d-printing).