3D Printer

[Khamsin]

By not making it vertically? >.>

Interesting though that there are small affordable ones that can be built by hand. I wonder what they would cost to build, as well as how much the material used to print things costs. I definitely wouldn't mind having a magic copier around the house.

Well, there are some shapes where that sort of situation can't be avoided. If you can turn it on it's side or upside down and not run into that problem, great, but it sounds like there are some simple shapes it cannot make yet. Namely, ones where, no matter which way you turn it, there is some part of it that must be supported by a layer that won't be built until after that section.

[hey]

but it sounds like there are some simple shapes it cannot make yet. Namely, ones where, no matter which way you turn it, there is some part of it that must be supported by a layer that won't be built until after that section.

I am having trouble thinking of any such thing. Example?

[Mellema]

Well, there are some shapes where that sort of situation can't be avoided. If you can turn it on it's side or upside down and not run into that problem, great, but it sounds like there are some simple shapes it cannot make yet. Namely, ones where, no matter which way you turn it, there is some part of it that must be supported by a layer that won't be built until after that section.

The powder itself is all around it and acts as the support.

[Khamsin]

I am having trouble thinking of any such thing. Example?

There are a number of (arbitrary) shapes one could think up to cause that problem.

One random example is... a hollow cone, where the bottom is shaped like a star instead of a circle, and the top of the cone is bent inside of itself so it's cross section looks like an M. And at the bottom of the inside point of that M are four small rods that poke out a short distance in different orthogonal directions. No matter which way you turn it, some part of it will need to be supported by an upper layer that won't be built until after the section that needs supporting.

[Kerberoz]

I wonder what the action figure industry's RIAA equivalent will be called.

[liggy 0]

I wonder what the action figure industry's RIAA equivalent will be called.

first person i could see doing this is that guy in NY who uses his 3d printer hooked up to xbox kinect making his 3d photobooths