You know those new printers that can create body parts, steaks and rocket components? How long do you think it'll be before someone figures out how to print some primo bud?
we're a long way from orgainc replication. plus you don't get something out without putting something in, even if and when the day comes that we do. what we have now, is a computer controlled hot nozzle that melts a plastic string, that moves around while doing so, to build up, layer upon layer, whatever plastic shapes, are fed to it by programing to do so. i'm still hoping i'll be able to have a place where i can have and use one, while i'm still alive in this world and this life. my situation and age does not make this a certainty.
I've wondered if in the future you'll be able to do this with chemicals, just whip up any chemical at will. :sunny:
yes. but you'll still need a source of organic compounds to feed the replicator. in the mean time i've found several less expensive sources of hobbyist level 3d printers, which moves me one more step closer to owning one. they're still hand made one offs. if they ever start being mass produced like conventional periferals are now, there's no reason the could not be marketed for VERY reasonable price. the new and improved makerbot with all the bells and whistles my be between 1700 and 2100 $ us, but the 3d sys cube is 1299, the up 3d is 900, and solidoodle has one for under 500. solidoodle's 'full meal deal' is 799, and looking damd good to me right now. they're all (the under $2k) still pay your money and wait x many weeks for someone to slap it togehter, or put the parts in a box and send it to you to do so yourself. also supplies are still a bit spendy. a roll of fillament seems to be in $50 range, and i don't know how much volume of build you can get out of it. but it does look enough to be reasonable. depending on how things look after the first of next moth, i may VERY soon be owning one.
model train parts mostly, and furry passengers to ride in them. other mechanical parts to modify existing mechanisms possibly. building parts in the same scale as the train parts. custom leggo compatable shapes, and small blocks compatable with other modular miniature building systems, or possibly one of my own. but mostly parts for my own train and building designs.
You certainly won't catch me firing a gun with a plastic camber or barrel that some poindexter printed up in his moms basement lol...nfw
solidoodle wont mut the custard for what i want it for. so i'm waiting a month longer or two, so i can order the afinia, which will, but costs half of what i have in the bank and i don't want to drag my reserves that low if i can help it. still its worth a major investment for something that will do what i want it to. i'm just not that trusting of the future right now to bring my reserves any lower then i have to. i've started turning some of my geometry into printable forms and converting these to .stl files, in anticipation of when i will be able to "print" them out. worse comes to worse, there are places i can send them to over the net that will print them out and send them to me. probably cheaper and quicker, but i want to see the things grown in front of me, right on my desk top. and the printer isn't any bigger then the monitor of my old back up machine, which can go in the closet when it gets here. i should mention "make:" magazene's review of 15 hobbyist priced 3d printers, which clued me in which ones will do what for how much, more then what i had previously learned or knew of.
The last I heard about the guy who started making guns with a 3D printer, he was having trouble being able to shoot for several reloads without the chamber breaking. I wouldn't want to use it either.
what i said about solidoodle a year ago no longer applies to their newest products, which i may yet get one of instead of trying to repair my afinia. in the mean time, i'm planning on sending off one of my *.stl's to pokono and see how much it ends up costing me to have them print it. while it lasted, my over priced afinia did MOST of what i wanted it for. http://www.furaffinity.net/full/11394243/
