3D printing is overrated?

[Welsh]

I would be interested in hearing some stories from some members here about what they have used the 3d printer for and how beneficial is it to have one.

[mooncake]

I had thought that it was useful from all the media hype. But really, I cannot find good examples of useful objects that have been created from 3D printing. If you know some of them, please name them.  

You could make spare parts for machines that aren't in profuction any more. I'm sure people will build their own cars with them etc. As Guybrush said, their potential really is limitless. Well, unless you want to make a football  .

Suppose you are going to make spare parts for machines, what material are you going to use? Where would you get the design blueprints? Would you need the right kind of printer?

Suppose you want to build your own cars and the printer(s) can "print" out all the required components. Would you need a set of many printers, a set of many design blueprints and a set of many different types of materials? If buying and maintaining them is not trivial, wouldn't it be better to just buy a car?

[mooncake]

I would be interested in hearing some stories from some members here about what they have used the 3d printer for and how beneficial is it to have one.

I would be interested in hearing the stories as well.

3D printing is useful when it has benefits. But seriously, I have not seen an object created by 3D printing which has tremendous benefit.

[yatsey87]

I would be interested in hearing some stories from some members here about what they have used the 3d printer for and how beneficial is it to have one.

I would be interested in hearing the stories as well.

3D printing is useful when it has benefits. But seriously, I have not seen an object created by 3D printing which has tremendous benefit.

I think people said the same things, but about the internet an Bitcoin.

[hilariousandco]

I had thought that it was useful from all the media hype. But really, I cannot find good examples of useful objects that have been created from 3D printing. If you know some of them, please name them.  

You could make spare parts for machines that aren't in profuction any more. I'm sure people will build their own cars with them etc. As Guybrush said, their potential really is limitless. Well, unless you want to make a football  .

Suppose you are going to make spare parts for machines, what material are you going to use? Where would you get the design blueprints? Would you need the right kind of printer?

Suppose you want to build your own cars and the printer(s) can "print" out all the required components. Would you need a set of many printers, a set of many design blueprints and a set of many different types of materials? If buying and maintaining them is not trivial, wouldn't it be better to just buy a car?

Well, you use whatever material the 3d printer takes or what material you need. I'm sure there will be many different types of 3d printing machines available for many different purposes. But currently you only need one to make a gun. You could get the blueprints the same places you get music or films or e-books or apps - the internet.

And why do people make their own clothes or grow their own food or design their own stuff - because they can. Why buy a ridiculously overpriced car when you can make one yourself for cheap? etc etc.

[compro01]

Suppose the surgical equipment here is a surgical knife. Now that would be easy to make since there is just one component and that component is the knife itself. Suppose also the hospital has the surgical knife 3D printer, the design blueprint and also the metal raw material, would the hospital want to "print" out the surgical knife?

Now, let's extend this to other surgical equipment. Would there be a need for hospitals to "print" out any surgical equipment?

You're not going to print out a knife.  It's far cheaper and more effective to run a manufacturing line and churn out a million scalpels.

What you'd use the printer for is stuff like custom-fitted implants (like this jaw).  Rather than having to use an off-the-shelf part (which probably doesn't exactly match the original equipment), you can implant a device that is exactly the right size and shape.

Suppose you are going to make spare parts for machines, what material are you going to use? Where would you get the design blueprints? Would you need the right kind of printer?

Suppose you want to build your own cars and the printer(s) can "print" out all the required components. Would you need a set of many printers, a set of many design blueprints and a set of many different types of materials? If buying and maintaining them is not trivial, wouldn't it be better to just buy a car?

1. Whatever material is appropriate for the part.

2. You make it.  Or you scan the broken part, reassemble it in software, and print it.

3. Yes.  You also need the right wrench to adjust a bolt.

4. "Just buy a car"?  We're talking about stuff like classic cars.  You don't "just buy" one of them.

[guybrushthreepwood]

4. "Just buy a car"?  We're talking about stuff like classic cars.  You don't "just buy" one of them.

You can't buy classic cars?

People also make their own kitcars from scratch, so 3d printing is just taking it to the extreme.

[Jcw188]

I once read an article int he Economist about how they can use 3d printers to create new kinds of animals, like clone dogs, make new organs for cats, etc.  Then I found out it was an April Fools joke.  But the funny thing is I was amazed and thought it was possible  3D printing really does seem cool.  I'm not sure how I would get materials to make the things I want to make.  Maybe plastics can be used for most things?

[Lethn]

4. "Just buy a car"?  We're talking about stuff like classic cars.  You don't "just buy" one of them.

You can't buy classic cars?

People also make their own kitcars from scratch, so 3d printing is just taking it to the extreme.

People like you need to just watch a documentary or two about how something is built, just dismissing 3D Printing technology especially if it involves metal is pretty hilarious, for mass production people have had to rely on wax moulds and the like which can be pretty pricey in itself so just being able to make stuff from a 3D model would decrease the costs massively.

[yatsey87]

I once read an article int he Economist about how they can use 3d printers to create new kinds of animals, like clone dogs, make new organs for cats, etc.  Then I found out it was an April Fools joke.  But the funny thing is I was amazed and thought it was possible  

Hahaha, that's hilarious. I'm sure at some point in the future bio-printing will be possible. Maybe they can build new muscles and organs etc.

[compro01]

You can't buy classic cars?

Ok, go buy me a 1907 White Model G that doesn't require unobtainable parts to run again.

That's what we're talking about using 3D printers for.  You have a antique classic car needing some obscure part (in the White's case, a feedwater heater).  You could spend decades searching for that part (and probably never finding it), or you could run the existing broken part through a 3D scanner, put it back together in software, print it out, and now your classic car runs again.

[Romyen]

But I have yet to see an industry or a company adopting it in a large scale.

Use a search engine. A lot of links like this will come up:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-27/general-electric-turns-to-3d-printers-for-plane-parts

I cannot see the usefulness of 3D printing. Can you?

As 3d printing matures, I think it will have a profound effect because (i) by enabling small scale manufacturing of sophisticated machines, it will lead a decentralization society consisting of small self-sustaining communities and (2) it blurs the disctinction between hardware and software and can destroy the already-broken patent system. All this, like bitcoin, can lead to a weakening of the state, which which would be good news to me.

[guybrushthreepwood]

You can't buy classic cars?

Ok, go buy me a 1907 White Model G that doesn't require unobtainable parts to run again.

That's what we're talking about using 3D printers for.  You have a antique classic car needing some obscure part (in the Steamer's case, a feedwater heater).  You could spend decades searching for that part (and probably never finding it), or you could run the existing broken part through a 3D scanner, put it back together in software, print it out, and now your classic car runs again.

I'm aware you can build parts, it's been discussed in this thread, but you said classic cars as if they were unobtainable.

[hilariousandco]

I once read an article int he Economist about how they can use 3d printers to create new kinds of animals, like clone dogs, make new organs for cats, etc.  Then I found out it was an April Fools joke.  But the funny thing is I was amazed and thought it was possible  

Hahaha, that's hilarious. I'm sure at some point in the future bio-printing will be possible. Maybe they can build new muscles and organs etc.

I imagine it to be something like that machine from reconstruction scene in The Fifth Element where it rebuilds Leloo from her DNA.

[mooncake]

Suppose the surgical equipment here is a surgical knife. Now that would be easy to make since there is just one component and that component is the knife itself. Suppose also the hospital has the surgical knife 3D printer, the design blueprint and also the metal raw material, would the hospital want to "print" out the surgical knife?

Now, let's extend this to other surgical equipment. Would there be a need for hospitals to "print" out any surgical equipment?

You're not going to print out a knife.  It's far cheaper and more effective to run a manufacturing line and churn out a million scalpels.

What you'd use the printer for is stuff like custom-fitted implants (like this jaw).  Rather than having to use an off-the-shelf part (which probably doesn't exactly match the original equipment), you can implant a device that is exactly the right size and shape.

Spot on! One useful application is customised objects which would otherwise be more costly to make.
I am sure companies are able to make the custom-fitted implants with the current equipment if you pay them the right price. With 3D printer however, there is potential to bring down the cost. At the end of the day, patients can pay less. 

[dopey]

3D Printing may very well play a massive role in nano technology as well in the very near future, opening up an incredibly new area of opportunities.

[REF]

It depends on your needs they are not for everyone. Personally I find 3D printing to be very cool look at a site like http://www.shapeways.com/. All you need to do is submit a 3D drawing and you can get it print a few different types of materials. You can make cool custom art, jewelry, useful knick knacks, or fun gadgets. Home 3D prints are nice too but your limited to plastic and usually a smaller build profile. I could think of many uses for a home 3D printer but the cost is still to high.

As a commercial product they are even better, I recently persuaded my company to buy one. Now when we design cases and housing for customers we send them a 3D sample + the draws. In the past we would send only the drawings and if we wanted a sample made it would take 1 month + cost 500 times more then it does now. It helps our designers as well who now can instantly print out their work and make sure it looks good as a physical product compared to the 3D rendering.

[Hideyoshi]

So far I have seen, 3D printed with plastic, purses, shoes, dresses (it used plastic to print, but printed material like chain mail armor), an entire table (made of over 200 printed parts glued together), and humanoid robot made of many moving components.

[hilariousandco]

Suppose the surgical equipment here is a surgical knife. Now that would be easy to make since there is just one component and that component is the knife itself. Suppose also the hospital has the surgical knife 3D printer, the design blueprint and also the metal raw material, would the hospital want to "print" out the surgical knife?

Now, let's extend this to other surgical equipment. Would there be a need for hospitals to "print" out any surgical equipment?

You're not going to print out a knife.  It's far cheaper and more effective to run a manufacturing line and churn out a million scalpels.

What you'd use the printer for is stuff like custom-fitted implants (like this jaw).  Rather than having to use an off-the-shelf part (which probably doesn't exactly match the original equipment), you can implant a device that is exactly the right size and shape.

Spot on! One useful application is customised objects which would otherwise be more costly to make.
I am sure companies are able to make the custom-fitted implants with the current equipment if you pay them the right price. With 3D printer however, there is potential to bring down the cost. At the end of the day, patients can pay less. 

Not everybody has access to manufacturing lines or to suppliers. If you're in the middle of nowhere in some run down part of the world and a particular emergency needs a specific tool or medical equipment you could quickly print one off. It's not always about cost, but access. And I don't think printing out a scalpel is going to break the bank.

[sdp]

There are all kinds of things that seem to be designed to break at some plastic part.  There is someone on the forum that will sell you printed material if interested.  He has a 3-d printer.  The problem is you can't easily make these 3-d blue prints sometimes you want to take something that already exists and copy it.