3D printing now a reality?!

[Anthaemia.]

Sorry if this has been covered already, but I've just seen this incredible piece of technology - a 3D colour printer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgaurYNPWu8

Can you imagine if someone was to run a console's casing through this (any homemade Sega Neptunes could be made to look so much more authentic, providing the person responsible had access to a prototype shell in the first place)...

Clones will probably end up looking authentic enough that even the best experts would struggle to tell the difference between an original system and the cheaper alternatives that eventually flood certain markets abroad, at least based on pictures alone.

I picture the whole case swapping scene growing massively as a result of this latest discovery, but does anyone know how much this kit is currently going for? Since it's designed for uses outside the reach of most mere mortals, I expect it's still quite expensive and unlikely to make any real impact in the near future.

Unfortunately, the whole process is currently limited by the detail of the scanner and the outputted material, so until there are further advances we probably won't see any mass produced discs or what could eventually be a truly foolproof way of bypassing something like the Saturn's copy protection, for example.

Still, it's a great step forward and I am drooling with anticipation at what could come from this once the concept becomes more widespread. Anyone got an idea of what they'd like to see?

EDIT: Sorry - it seems I'm a bit slow as this one's been known about for quite some time. Anyway, it's news to me! Also, the price doesn't seem as high as I'd initially thought. I'm sure at least one zero will drop from the cost soon enough, and after taking a quick look at maker Z Corp's site I'm surprised this hasn't become more popular. Then again, it is a rather specialist machine and not something I expect to be found in most households just yet, unlike conventional 2D printers.

[Twimfy]

That is absolutely incredible. I can't get my mind around how the scanner knows the function of the internal mechanism. Why do I get the feeling that there may be an in-between step that is skipped in the video.

[Borman]

They are pretty awesome, but most homemade and consumer versions are small for the time being, though I guess they could be adjusted and be made bigger. I looked into building one a while back, but its a bit above my skill level.

[Tchoin]

These are amazing, iirc this company has been doing this for quite some time now, but the last time I watched a video about them they were printing in plain grey and without moving parts.

It is truly awesome, would love to have one of those, it could be very useful for printing repair parts/pieces of gaming hardware (specially those for which you can't find replacements easily now a days).

[ave]

Poke me on facebook when they can make women with moving parts.




Oh and besides, I'm totally mindfucked by this. How is it possible to print moving parts that actually work without adjustment? He just scanned the surface, not the interior dimensions. How does this work?

I'd like them to scan a Rubrik's cube.

[karsten]

http://youtu.be/SxBlHEuhF2o

[mooseblaster]

That is absolutely incredible. I can't get my mind around how the scanner knows the function of the internal mechanism. Why do I get the feeling that there may be an in-between step that is skipped in the video.

Yep, you're not wrong. Here's a video explaining in greater detail how this process could have been done. tl;dr version: they skipped the bit where they modelled the moving parts, because there is no way that the simple scan they performed would have created a working tool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvfqo...eature=related

According to Z-Corp, the components are made of plaster and so therefore have the tolerances of any ceramic part (obviously not as strong as metal, but perfectly durable).

[geluda]

The tech isn't really new, this is just the most advanced type of 3D printer I've ever seen!