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Companies such as Z-Corporation make printers that will create items in 3D using a plaster or starch based material. They have an animation on their site that shows the process in action. Dimension printing makes printers for slightly less than $30,000. The site claims that output from their printers has been used to prototype gunsight mounts for Bradleys and M1 tanks. Talk about tough!! Stratsys has printers that use ABS or Polycarbonate materials.

New (Feb 2005) There is a new laser printer available from versalaser (www.versalaser.com). The device retails for about $10,000 plus extras such as Hepa filters. You can cut and etch a variety of materials including glass, fabric, leather, paper, rubber, wood, stone, ceramic, circuit boards and more. You can use it for manufacturing or prototyping and it will run on 120/220v (and foreign voltages as well).  

The The Rapid Prototyping & Tooling Centre site has some great graphics showing some of the technologies for 3D printing such as Stereolithography, Laser Sintering, Laminated Object Manufacture and 3D Printing.

Three dimensional printing actually grows an object layer by layer. The process is in it's infancy but it will make some real changes in our economy and everyday lives. There are machines that will make objects such as jewelry and there are machines that will create full size automobile mock ups.

Currently the technology has a wide range of uses:

• An architect can easily create a model of a building, in color.

• A shoe designer can create a rubber like mockup of a shoe.

• A doctor can create a 3D model of bones from a cat scan

• Molds can be created for items such as engine blocks and manifolds.

• Intricate molds for custom jewelry can be created.

• Full color 3d Terrain maps can be created

New Feb 2005 - There have been a number of articles recently about the 3D printing of skin and possibly other organs including cartilege.

Think back to the early days of personal computing. We had 9 pin dot matrix printers. The 24 pin was a phenomenal improvement. Now laser printers are a commodity. Look for these printers to commonplace in the very near future.

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