Although I have been to Maker Faire and Techshop and read and talked a lot about the democratization of fabrication, my view of the maker movement I have to admit has been tinged with a little skepticism. (What can you expect from a Brit trained from birth to question any kind of enthusiasm?) However that all changed when I was at a party last week.
The party was at one of my neighbors and was to celebrate the end of their kitchen remodel – the end of cement dust, bare wall-board, appliance hookups, and the rest, and a return to normality where one can once again boil eggs on a stove and not on the barbecue. Anyway, during the festivities my neighbor took me aside and ushered me to the studio at the bottom of the garden to proudly show me his new baby – a 3d printer.
There it was in all its glory. He added the pellets and proceeded to “print” out an electric outlet cover. It took about 10 minutes to complete. It was perfect.
He lives in a 1914 craftsman cottage in the San Francisco Bay Area and plans to use it to print period items that are no longer manufactured - perfect use case for 3D printing.
He has joined TechShop and is taking Autodesk Inventor classes to perfect his models.
I’m a convert! And when I start seeing them on the sidewalk alongside unwanted NEC monitors, Epsom printers, and old Macs, then I know that we have truly crossed the chasm. Are others starting to see them more and more?
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I am surely coming again for more contents of yours.
http://www.seagullpress.com.au
Posted by: Berta Hargrove | 08/24/2012 at 05:20 AM
Berta - thank you. I just need to be a little more diligent in my postings although I prefer to say something that is meaningful rather than posting because it's Friday and it's time to post. Thank you again. Ray
Posted by: Ray Eisenberg | 08/24/2012 at 10:51 AM
Ray you are a true futurist. These 3D printers are really cool! I saw a consumer version on this G4 television show; it only costed $400 dollars. Thank you for sharing this great information. Ill have to dig up the link to that footage and post it back on here.
Posted by: Seament Holding | 10/03/2012 at 07:14 AM