What, Exactly, Is a 3-D Printer?
The world's first 3-D printable handgun, aka "The Liberator." Photograph from Defense Distributed via European Pressphoto Agency This week a 25-year-old law student at the University of Texas named Cody Wilson made international headlines when he used a 3-D printer to "print out" a functional .38 caliber pistol. He then put design software online so that—in theory, at least—anyone in the world who downloaded the software and had access to a commercial 3-D printer and $60 worth of plastic could make their own handgun. It was a demonstration that not only sparked a lively debate on gun control in the U.S. and abroad, but also threw a spotlight on a vibrant, fast-developing manufacturing technology that could change the shape of the future. So what is a 3-D printer? Invented in the mid-1980s, it is a printer that uses plastic, wax, resin, paper, gold, titanium—a whole host of materials—instead of ink to create a solid, three-dimensional object. What can you make with one? Can I do this at home?
Fiche film : A la poursuite du bonheur
Portraits vivants, chaleureux, surprenants, critiques aussi, sur tout ce qui constitue la nouvelle vague des immigrants aux Etats-Unis. Ce sont des possesseurs de passeports flambants neufs. Ils ont attendu parfois très longtemps, mais jamais ils n'ont perdu l'espoir que l'Amérique serait, pour eux, un beau jour, leur nouveau pays. "Si j'ai fait un documentaire sur des émigrés récents…c'était parce que j'étais moi-même une sorte d'émigré. 1986 - 1h20 minutes - Visa : 66 961 Réalisateur : Louis Malle Producteur : Nouvelles Editions de Films (NEF) Auteur : Louis Malle Directeur de Production : Louis Malle Ingénieur du Son : Danny Michael Monteur : Nancy Baker [ english ] These live portraits of the new wave of immigrants in the US are lively, warm, critical sometimes.
3D printing: A force for revolutionary change
21 May 2013 Last updated at 19:00 ET May the prints be with you: A recent example of a 3D-printed object It was Neil Gershenfeld who introduced me to the potential of additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, getting on for 10 years ago, and I got very excited about its possibilities. And now, years later, here he is, trying to dampen my enthusiasm. Professor Gershenfeld has been one of the stars of Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT for a long time. Under its founder Nicholas Negroponte, the MIT Media Lab was one of the definers of the new digital era: a world where bits and bytes take over from atoms in many familiar activities and where everything that can be digitised will be digitised. “ Start Quote 3D individualises industries which until now have been dominated by mass production” End Quote In 2002 Neil Gershenfeld spun off from the Media Lab something called The Centre for Bits and Atoms. The Centre for Bits and Atoms is where I first encountered a 3D printer. "Ouch!"
3-D Printing Will Change the World
To anyone who hasn’t seen it demonstrated, 3-D printing sounds futuristic—like the meals that materialized in the Jetsons’ oven at the touch of a keypad. But the technology is quite straightforward: It is a small evolutionary step from spraying toner on paper to putting down layers of something more substantial (such as plastic resin) until the layers add up to an object. And yet, by enabling a machine to produce objects of any shape, on the spot and as needed, 3-D printing really is ushering in a new era. As applications of the technology expand and prices drop, the first big implication is that more goods will be manufactured at or close to their point of purchase or consumption. This might even mean household-level production of some things. (You’ll pay for raw materials and the IP—the software files for any designs you can’t find free on the web.) China won’t be a loser in the new era, but it will have to give up on being the world’s manufacturing powerhouse.
