![]() However, the most common way to find things is via online sharing of designs. Thingiverse is the most popular online community for “thing” sharing. ![]() Affordable 3D scanners (like the ones from Matterform, CADscan, and Makerbot) are beginning to appear. #Thingiverse 3d clock assembly diagram softwareLearning CAD software and successfully designing 3D objects takes substantial, time, effort, and skill. One of the key challenges, however, is finding things to print!  This is crucial for 3D printing to really take off. ![]() Personally, I’m similarly excited about this as I was about “big data” (for lack of a better term) around 2006 and mobile around 2008, so I’ll take this as a good sign. Despite the hype that currently surrounds 3D printing, empowering average users to turn bits into atoms (and vice versa) will likely have profound effects, similar to those witnessed when content (music, news, books, etc) went digital, as Chris Anderson eloquently argues with his usual, captivating dramatic flair.  For now, these are targeted mostly to tinkerers, much closer to an Altair or, at best, an Apple II, than a MacBook. Starting with the RepRap project a few years ago, home 3D printers are now becoming available, in the few hundred to a couple of thousand dollar price range. Much like mainframe computers in the 1960s, professional 3D printers cost up to hundred thousands of dollars. ![]() If you haven’t heard of it before, 3D printing refers to a family of manufacturing methods, originally developed for rapid prototyping, the first of which appeared almost three decades ago. This has been the start of a beautiful addiction, but more on the hardware hacking aspects in another post. I recently became a happy owner of a Solidoodle 2 3D printer. ![]()
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