Tag Archives: #3Dprinting

popular term for all methods of additive fabrication techniques

What’s That Old Saying?

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You know the saying about setting goals just beyond your reach but not so far out they’re hopeless. That’s been on my mind as I’ve turned the RepRap project over in my head the past few days. And after having just read a website entry by rapid-prototyping guru, Terry Wohler, it’s feeling like an echo chamber in here. There’s a lot of truth in what Mr. Wohler says. A personal rapid prototyper is not going to put Wal*Mart out of business; after all, current manufacturing is geared towards, and Wal*Mart’s very successful strategy is centered on, the basic concept of high-volume/low-price (aka mass consumption). There’s a reason injection molding has been around for so long: cycle times generally stay under a minute and are often 30-40 seconds. Watching a press in action is like watching a rabbit in a carrot patch ingesting raw material and dropping “pellets” into a bin. It’s fast and requires little human interaction (if any). There is of course time and capital expense to create the tooling, but even that is likely to go through a dramatic shift in the near future (courtesy of rapid prototype-technology molds). So it’s reasonable to assume I’ll be wormfood before an RP device approaches the benchmarks set by those processes.

The real issues for me center on defining the User, meeting their needs, and also anticipating future needs of which that User is currently unaware (which, I might add, is how many successful companies are now addressing product development). I suspect, but don’t yet know, that there are probably very different ideas about who the target user is and what their circumstances are. And that concerns me more than the design and technology challenges that Mr. Wohler raises. I can imagine the results of this RepRap effort looking a bit like NASA’s recently announced Water Recovery System which is being recruited for humanitarian purposes planetside. You can read my admittedly pessimistic comments about that repurposing on WorldChanging’s site. Which is why I’m wondering if this project actually has two components: one technological and just beyond our grasp, and another ergonomic that is perhaps not even being considered.

The Copyright Clause and Me

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When I started blogging over on Core last month, I wrestled with the issue of copyright infringement. It’s one thing to cite sources and use quotations, another to use images, in my opinion – even though copyright law allows for so-called “Fair Use”. But what happens when “Fair Use” overlaps commerce? The Core website receives income from advertising on their blogs. And that makes me somewhat uncomfortable. For that reason I made a deliberate decision to use WordPress over Google’s Blogger for this blog because the latter has built-in advertising functions. The grey area was looking more like an 80% cool grey.

Well, it appears this issue will now be taken up by the courts. The Guardian reports that the AFP news organization is suing Google over copyright infringement. Why is that important to reBang? Simple. You only have to visit the CGTalk forum, the Polycount model resources section, or a virtual sim like Second Life to see or read about IP violations of the 3D variety. On CGTalk the issue is often whether or not modelers who recreate and sell vehicle designs violate car company IP. On Polycount people routinely create models of recognizable IP (Simpsons, Star Wars figures, etc). And in Second Life people run virtual storefronts selling virtual clothes branded with recognizable real world logos. If I have issues with images, it’s a safe bet I have an issue with some of this as well. So in the near future when all this virtual stuff can be inexpensively made into real product by casual users through “fabbing” technology (and hasn’t Bruce Sterling been beating that drum pretty loudly lately?), IP ownership will become an increasingly slippery issue. So anything and everything regarding intellectual property is of interest to me; including my own decisions in regards to it. So expect fewer images as I make more deliberate decisions in what to appropriate for this blog.

Am I On A “Lost” Episode Or What?

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I was reading an interesting interview with Natalie Jeremijenko and was, as a drawn-out consequence, thinking about the need for a rapid prototyping device that actually replicates itself. In this way, where it’s needed most – in under-developed regions – there is less likelihood of the technology being misappropriated by those with less-than-charitable intentions. Okay… in theory. And perhaps a little too pie-in-the-sky. But one quick hop over to New Scientist and I find a brand new article discussing this very same idea. And what’s more, Dr. Adrian Bowyer intends to make the “RepRap” open source. Awesome.

Now, couple this to some cool fuel cell technology whose by-product is potable water, and you’ve got yourself something of worth to the developing world it seems (as well to a few of us with additional ideas in mind).

Well this couldn’t have come at a better time. Earlier today I was hunting up new RP sites and reviewing old ones with little success. I did find a relatively new forum over at http://www.rapidprototyping.net and registered. And I even checked out Terry Wohler’s site (didn’t appear to have much new content since my last visit a few months back). Seems I have some additional googling to do though. No doubt people will be discussing the RepRap project. Just hope all my hits aren’t me out on the net going on and on about the article. Now what do I wish for next…

The World of Legalistic Wordplay

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Whether it’s the political speeches or the corporate fine print, there’s one thing becoming increasingly clear: variations in word meanings are turning the planet into another Babel. Witness the latest word out of Russia courtesy of Gizmodo:

Basically the catch is in the definition of “distribution” under that law implies actual physical sale of pirated cassetes and disks, in case of downloads the DA office said that “Allofmp3 does not distribute copies of CD’s, but creates conditions for its users to use the content themselves”, and they don’t have an article against that. I think it’s their online encoding feature that “saved” them – with it, the user supposedly makes a copy of the song himself, and this is not something that was assumed under the anti-piracy law.

And here’s a link to a Russian blog (in English) discussing the case.

Of course much of the West has gone down this path before. But this case is a good reminder to ask ourselves: did we do it correctly? Assuming rapid prototyping becomes affordable and readily available to consumers, will the high-resolution models being created for videogames be ripped and “saved” as toys? It’s certainly possible for me to do this now – and I do not use the game’s 3D model to accomplish this. So what are the laws preventing this activity? Are there “outs”? Do they use terminology that ignores the possibilities of future technologies or methodologies the way this Russian law does and ours once did…. maybe still do? Have to wonder how many loopholes we have yet to find in the U.S. legal system.

We need a kidney, not a liver! Where’s the Print Cancel button?!?

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popsci_inkjet_articlePopular Science online reminds everyone of the versatility of the humble technology used in the ubiquitous inkjet printer in this short article. And of course there have been recent mentions of mad scientist/ Chicago chef, Homaru Cantu, using a Canon i560 to print food (and edible menus), and more than a few news reports of a University of Manchester research team printing skin and bones in similar fashion. Somehow Star Trek’s “replicator” doesn’t sound so crazy anymore. Now if people can make anything, what will they really make? Shudder to think.