Desktop fabricator may kick-start home revolution

[Technician]

As the title suggests this is neat.

http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10922-desktop-fabricator-may-kickstart-home-revolution.html#

[insertwackynamehere]

shweet! now people won't have to pay a couple grand for a real doll!

seriously though, that is really cool. I mean in reality, I would probably make miniatures of my favorite video game characters just by opening the model (unfortuantly Doom may prove challenging in that aspect :P)

Heck, you could even create Warhammer or LOTR minis if you got the right material and you would no longer have to pay for sets. In fact an opensource tabletop gaming project could be started where you could download community created models for a community created tabletop game! That would be amazingly cool.

[caco_killer]

That's pretty cool. I'd make chocolates with it.

[david_a]

In one of the required freshman classes in college we got to "print" a couple of CAD models using the rapid prototyping machine the school had. It was very cool, but the substance it makes the model out of is this somewhat waxy plastic that starts to sag over time. Given the slight imperfections that even that gigantic (and expensive, I'm sure) machine had, I'm guessing a DIY consumer version wouldn't be capable of very much detail. It probably wouldn't be useful for table-top miniatures unless you were good enough to sculpt in the fine details by hand.

[Gokuma]

caco_killer said:

That's pretty cool. I'd make chocolates with it.

chocococodemons

Disclaimer: I will not be held responsible for ensuing images.

[GGG]

Sculpting class made easy. I wonder how many students will cheat by using one of these things.
But now making Doom action figures will be easier (and more expensive) than ever!

[Lobo]

david_a said:

In one of the required freshman classes in college we got to "print" a couple of CAD models using the rapid prototyping machine the school had. It was very cool, but the substance it makes the model out of is this somewhat waxy plastic that starts to sag over time. Given the slight imperfections that even that gigantic (and expensive, I'm sure) machine had, I'm guessing a DIY consumer version wouldn't be capable of very much detail. It probably wouldn't be useful for table-top miniatures unless you were good enough to sculpt in the fine details by hand.

My company sells prototyping machines(amongst other things) and I'd have to agree with you. This machine would be OK for something which needs very little precision, but something like a Warhammer miniature would be beyond it's capabilities.



(BTW, there are quite a few prototyping machines on the market, which use a variety of different materials: only some of them have those "waxy, sagging" materials. The ones we sell do it with ABS plastic, which makes for a good solid model of plastic.)

[Sharessa]

We had a machine like this in high school that made stuff out of powder. It took hours to make small things and they were kind of shoddy, but still...