I have been a fan of 3D printing ever since I saw my first demo of light sensitive resins and powder/super glue hacks of HP printers. It was brought to the fore last year when I saw the keynote address at Autodesk Univeristy 2011. The concept of democratising manufacturing. The possibility of freeing up manufacturing so that the consumer dictates to what use something can be put rather than having it dictated to them by the originator. We have heard of software as a service, not carrying out manufacturing in the same way. So the power of making mass produced objects for an individual. Potentially creating the change to an “author” of an object rather than the manufacturier and supplier of an object.
Jeffrey Mcgrew of Because We can (time code 24:08 in the movie):
Because we can Blog
http://www.core77.com/blog/events/autodesk_university_2011_because_we_cans_jeffrey_mcgrew_on_powerful_affordable_disruptive_technology_21231.asp
Mark Hatch CEO of Techshop (Time Code 29:57 in the movie).
http://techshop.ws/
I was fortunate enough to have a very interesting conversation with Jeffrey in the gallery during the event and I am very interested in Mark Hatches Techshop and what it could mean for filling a skills gap in this country, driving innovation and taking ideas from young and old alike and putting them to practical use. As well as getting the tools out of labs, universities and industry and putting them into the hands of people.
See these two further inspiring TED talks to see just where we are going.
Lisa Harouni: A primer on 3D printing
Klaus Stadlmann: The world’s smallest 3D printer
And as with all things these days, there’s an app for that!
http://www.sculpteo.com/en/services/
http://www.ponoko.com/
http://www.shapeways.com/
Shaun Farrell
PPT Practitioner 