Legality of scanning then 3d printing.
- Thread starter Shayper
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Working "silicon chips" and circuit boards have been printed. They're not silicon and they're not chips, but they are the same components and circuitry and they have the same functionality. Better in some ways, as they can be printed onto a variety of materials and the resulting components can have some degree of flexibility. The cost is staggering at the moment, but it's been done as research.
Home printing of functional complex objects is going to become an issue, perhaps more so than unauthorised copying of music, video and games. People still widely buy those things, but when cost scales up I think fewer people will do so. If it gets to stage of examples like £300 to buy a legit copy of a games console or £30 to print your own identical copy, or your own copy cased exactly as you want it, I think fewer people will go for the legit one.
That's an older video, they've made ones now that have lasted 600 rounds
The company that makes them have even gone through the legal process and obtained a license to manufacture and sell firearms, as they actually plan to sell these parts.
Printing based on sintered metal or ceramic powder works fine. Not as cheap as additive based plastic.
I'm currently attempting to print things in abs then change the material to epoxy via casting. I'm pretty sure that's going to work. It wouldn't be difficult to cast a high temperature epoxy/steel particle composite instead. That would make a usable gun I think. I've no interest in making a gun, I'm trying to make a robot hand
Does anyone have a decent reference for photos -> CAD? I'm trying the Autodesk software at present with limited success. CAD -> plastic is straightforward, but object (e.g. a bone) to CAD is less so.
I'm currently attempting to print things in abs then change the material to epoxy via casting. I'm pretty sure that's going to work. It wouldn't be difficult to cast a high temperature epoxy/steel particle composite instead. That would make a usable gun I think. I've no interest in making a gun, I'm trying to make a robot hand
Does anyone have a decent reference for photos -> CAD? I'm trying the Autodesk software at present with limited success. CAD -> plastic is straightforward, but object (e.g. a bone) to CAD is less so.
Considering a £300 console (e.g. PS3) is generally sold at a loss, do you really think an end user without advanced manufacturing processes is going to be able to make one for 1/10th the cost?
this is where the talk gets carried away with itself - forget about the materials - using current technology its not even remotely possible to print certain components. How would you print something as simple as a metal spring for example??
No it's not. Availability, yes, but they are completely different types of machining.
I think Glaucus was alluding to the fact CNC has been about forever and allows you to make many things "at home" you'd otherwise have to buy. CNC hasn't destroyed the world, neither will 3D printing. Cost, practicality and peoples apathy see to that
surely at the moment all you are printing anyway is a 3d image of the object..a representation of the object itself..you can print something that looks like a kettle but it has no functionality because it has no heating element, no wiring, no electrical contacts.
I think Glaucus was alluding to the fact CNC has been about forever and allows you to make many things "at home" you'd otherwise have to buy. CNC hasn't destroyed the world, neither will 3D printing. Cost, practicality and peoples apathy see to that
Spot on.
The only chnage is, with the ever simplification of the UI/Machines it will allow alternative people (hippies/environmentalists/tinkerers/etc) to print useable albeit out dated tech and won't be reliant on buying half as much goods. This however is not a big issue as these people don't make up the majority of the population.
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Dependshow much you want to spend on a machine. Several can do multiple materials, including in laying conductive materials to make circuit tracks.
But it will get more and more complicated as it matures, I can't see a point it would ever catch up with manufacturing techniques for high end products. Well maybe when we can manipulate individual atoms, but that's so far into the distance.
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One day it will be possible to buy the cheapest 3d printer on the market and print the parts to make the largest and best 3d printer on the market.
3d printer manufacturers are going to go bust pretty quickly too once someone buys one and starts printing copies of that same printer.
3d printer manufacturers are going to go bust pretty quickly too once someone buys one and starts printing copies of that same printer.
One day it will be possible to buy the cheapest 3d printer on the market and print the parts to make the largest and best 3d printer on the market.
3d printer manufacturers are going to go bust pretty quickly too once someone buys one and starts printing copies of that same printer.
Pretty much all the hobbiest ones aren't in it for money and have licensed them under GNU and similar licenses, so you are free to build, modify the software, build the hardware etc.
You can photocopy or scan and redistribute books currently. Should that be legal as well just because it's hard to police?
I take your later point about morality to an extent. On the one hand, companies who manufacture products, whether books and CDs or "physical" products that might be 3d printed should be able to protect their intellectual property rights. They developed and paid for them, after all. On the other, too great a level of protection would stifle innovation. Would we have Spotify if not for Napster, for example?
My own opinion is that, once 3d printing technology advances further, this will be a huge boon for creatives, much as the Kindle or iTunes has been for musicians and authors. People who come up with an idea for a product and can design it in CAD (or, eventually, something more simple) will be able to sell their ideas and IP online, cutting out an awful lot of the middlemen. It will change business dramatically, and a lot of large corporations will have serious issues - much as a number of publishers are at present - but the person who created the original IP will, and should, be able to protect it and distribute it themselves.
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Printing based on sintered metal or ceramic powder works fine. Not as cheap as additive based plastic.
I'm currently attempting to print things in abs then change the material to epoxy via casting. I'm pretty sure that's going to work. It wouldn't be difficult to cast a high temperature epoxy/steel particle composite instead. That would make a usable gun I think. I've no interest in making a gun, I'm trying to make a robot hand
Does anyone have a decent reference for photos -> CAD? I'm trying the Autodesk software at present with limited success. CAD -> plastic is straightforward, but object (e.g. a bone) to CAD is less so.
You could try this;
http://www.david-laserscanner.com/
I've had a play with the demo with varying results using a cheap line laser and a logitech webcam.
It's far from perfect, the models tended to be to polygon heavy for my needs, but intersting none the less.