3D Printer for Under Five Grand

The current issue of Popular Science contained an article about a 3D printer, a device that is able to “print” 3-dimensional objects from blueprint files, such as CAD files. This isn’t a new idea. However, the device talked about in the article, The Desktop Factory 3D printer, only costs $5,000 and according to the article the company hopes to eventually sell the device for under $1,000. I honestly never thought such a device would be available to the general public in my lifetime, but I guess I was wrong. For only $400 more than the cost of an iPhone you can theoretically print and object you can imagine? Sign me up.

According to the company, they are saving the amount of money it costs to produce the device by using a halogen lamp for a light source rather than lasers. There is a pretty informative video on their site called Turning Ideas Into 3-D Products, which from what I gather originally aired on CNN. Toys, gaming avatars, and replacement parts for devices at home are some of the objects they think people would want to “print”.

There are a few potential problems that I can forsee with the device. First of all, I wonder how much it costs for replacement printer cartridges. Maybe they won’t be too expensive. I don’t know. Secondly, this thing produces plastic objects. If it really catches on, that means there will be more plastic out there in the world. I don’t know if that’s a good thing. Maybe you will be able to recycle you mistakes.

Anyhow, this seems like an amazing piece of technology that may be available to us everyday folks not too long from now. Who would’ve thought that even 10 years ago?