This little clip from the BBC show ‘Inside Out’ is absolutley mind boggling. If you haven’t heard of the recent technology nick-named ‘3D Printing’ then get ready for this.
It works on the very simple idea, that basically every 3D object is just a pile of 2D slices. Large ‘printers’ lay microscopic layers of resin ‘slice by slice’ on top of each other and then slowly a tenth of a millimeter a time, a 3D object starts to take shape. This clip slows an actual bike being created in this fashion and I read somewhere else a few months back about a violin being created this way that worked as perfectly, if not better, as a hand-crafted one.
Absolutely fascinating to ponder what this means for the future. No need to run to the store for that piece of your cell phone that needs replacing or for the latest kid’s toy….just print it? The possibilites are endless and means of production could look totally different. Scary? Exciting?
Thoughts?
-M.C.
the graduate wife 