I freely admit that I have no first-hand experience with 3D printing or any particular knowledge of its technical wizardry, but I recognize it as cutting-edge technology that will eventually revolutionize manufacturing across the globe. I wrote an earlier blog post on the concept of “printing” an entire house here. Now, I’m following up with a couple of new articles I found online. The first explains how the average homeowner might one day use 3D printing solutions for simple home repairs. The second is an interesting article on how the new technology is changing the way the American military will conduct modern warfare.
“What will the average household use a 3D Printer for in the future? In the next few decades it’s not unimaginable to expect a 3D printer to be as common as a microwave or a refrigerator in most households in the US, but why?” . . . Check out the full article at 3Dprinterz.biz, which demonstrates how a 3D printer is used to fabricate a missing piece of hardware for a cabinet case (video included).
“Though the dream of 3D printing an aircraft from scratch might be the ultimate end-point of this type of research, for the foreseeable future these initiatives will probably produce quick and dirty replacement parts . . . Realistic military applications are limited almost entirely by size; an F-35 is quite a way out, whether printed as a whole or as tens of thousands of parts, but a small, unmanned drone with only a few moving pieces? Not only is this plausible, it’s already happening.” Check out the full article at extremetech.com, which explains how 3D printers will be used on aircraft carriers to serve as mobile manufacturing plants during wartime.
— M. Weber
