This might sound crazy, but I can see a day where a kid says...what you don't have a 3d printer?, just as today they can't imagine you without a tablet.
This product is just another indication that 3D Printing is ready to move into the mainstream of modeling and prototyping. Many 3D printers are built from kints by enthusiasts and hobbyists, but for the person who wants a machine that can work right out of the box for inkjetsuperstore hp printheads.
I was on a site earlier checking out this machine. They offered to send a sample part to show it's capabilities.. so I requested one. Hopefully it comes with some more information such as the price for the print cartridges.
Yes Charles - In universities something like this can be shared across a whole range of disciplines and experience levels from freshman design projects to post-graduate research. It seems a bit overkill for high-schools to have this. What is really being gained at that level? It's better to have a broader range of learning rather than what amounts to a high cost (but still cool) toy at that level.
That's a sensible approach, Beth. By putting these into universities, they'll also discovers lots of new applications for this technology. It might happen years after the students graduate, but it will happen.
It's good to know that some school districts can afford to buy such equipment for its students. $35 is a huge amount for my local school districts, which ask parents to buy basic school supplies and no longer have art or music programs. I'm also curious--was this a grant of some kind?
I think an increasing number do and I'm sure the 3D printer companies will (or should) up that ante. In the CAD world, most of the major players do a lot of work donating software licenses to universities (or making attractive student-license versions). Beyond being altrustic, the idea is to get their tools in the hands of students who then go into the workforce and climb the engineering management ladder, all still having a preference for their tool of choice that they mastered in school. 3D printer companies would be well served whetting the appetites of students early so that they when they go into the workforce, they demand the technology, or at least serve as champions for it.
Wow, I'm impressed that your school district had $35K to spend on a 3D printer. Is that part of some type of STEM grant or was that a relatively easy sell to the school board administration? I think these printers should become staples at every school. The applications for student learning are just infinite.
For 3D printing to make the jump from rapid prototyping to manufacturing, engineers will need to find easier ways to move products from their CAD screens to their printers.
Gigabit and PoE are two networking technologies moving ahead in tandem as industrial users power remote Ethernet devices such as IP security cameras at 1,000 Mbps over existing CAT5 cable.
New versions of BASF's Ecovio line are both compostable and designed for either injection molding or thermoforming. These combinations are becoming more common for the single-use bioplastics used in food service and food packaging applications, but are still not widely available.
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For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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