How 3D printing will change our lives

[annunaki]

How 3D printing will change our lives
Need a new TV, house or limb? Take an interactive scroll to the future of 3D printing.


http://edition.cnn.com/TECH/specials...rticle_sidebar

[LCHIEN]

its got a long way to go. 3D printers in general make items of one material now, the most common is plastics. You need a different machine for other materials. Items like a toothbrush which requires several different materials (nylon for the britles, rigid PVC for the handle and rubber for the tip), would be hard to make. Limits on the types of materials and different types of material in a part will make them marginally useful as finished goods. Limits in the material types will make items look like they came from the 19th century where the raw materials were limited and could not be selected for special properties. replacement parts for your car could not have the strength of the original case-hardened alloy parts whihc were ligth and thin to achieve high performance.

Many 3D parst are made just for fit and appearance nowadays but cannot be used for the final product because of the limits. What items today don't have electronics in them? It will be a long time before you can print electronics items at home or even at the store. Sure the circuit boards will be printable but the ICs that make them run will not be at anything but specialty IC factories.

Practically making everday commercial items printable rather than mass produced will be a novel specialty thing - and cost extra and be limited in capability. mass production will still carry the day. So I wouldn't hold my breath.