Youtube videos of 3D printers and their output
Paul D. Fernhout
printing (after finding the ZPrinter 450 video).
For example, here is a another video related to 3D printing; it doesn't
actually show the printing process, but does show sketching going to a 3D
model, and then people looking at the 3D printed result:
"VW Design - From sketch to scale prototype"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJAO2kfPzn0&feature=related
For the details on seeing 3D printing in action (printing something else),
one can look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5scCMxuciY&feature=related
An overview focusing on the output:
"What Can You Make With a 3D Printer?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdzooQQDWGg&feature=related
A 3D printed skateboard, including shots of it being used:
"3D Printed Skateboard"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_FC_txXZQY&NR=1
And the video I linked to in my previous post:
"ZPrinter 450 overview"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyZtBYG0QOg
There are a lot more related videos for each of these.
In the early 1980s, laser printers were as big as 3D printers are now, and
cost about the same (US$40K or so for a cheap commercial one). And they only
did one color at at time -- black (on white or colored paper).
Twenty five years later, you can get color printers free with computers (to
get you to buy ink cartriges) and they are much smaller.
What's more, at an Apple store they offered to give me a "free" (with
rebate) color printer with a new computer I bought and I didn't even want
it. :-) Between the hassle of a rebate and thinking about carrying another
box through the mall, it seemed wasteful as I already had printers I liked
anyway. (Actually, had I realized they'd wheel out the thing outside, I
might have gone for it anyway, although I tend to avoid rebates generally,
and I tend to stick with HP printers and they offered something else.) But,
essentially, what used to cost $40K can not even be given away sometimes.
:-) I also see HP printers at the local reuse area at my town dump and feel
not inclined to take one (even thought I expect they probably work). Maybe
when I build my own RepRap-like thing and need the parts. :-) But I've
already sent multiple HP printers off to a recycling center just from lack
of room to store them for "someday" when I can use the parts.
Similarly, right now low-end commercial 3D printers cost about US$40K (like
the Z450) and usually can only deposit one material type. You can see where
I am going with this...
In twenty-five years, will people also be able to get 3D printers which can
deposit multiple types of material for free? And what's more, will they not
even want them because they have too many of them already and don't want to
proliferate types of toner cartridges needlessly? :-) By then, "open
manufacturing" will have totally succeeded I would think, since you could
presumably use them to print other printers.
Granted, 3D printing may never overcome some of its limits, but one way or
another, I feel we will get similar functionality in a small system, even if
it takes a bunch of devices only feasible at the local neighborhood level
and some level of scale due to processes taking a lot of heat or for safety
issues with chemicals and such. Likely we might see a variety of different
printers, some for home use for a narrow range of materials (for toys and
plates and such), and maybe more versatile larger ones at the neighborhood
level (including ones that use nasty acids, handle high temperatures for
metals, or can do more complex disassembly, or can feed parts into assembly
lines, etc.). In the book the Diamond Age, homes had microwave sized 3D
printer (which could print expanding items like mattresses, so you weren't
completely limited to that size) but for anything really big you had to go
somewhere like the Post Office where you could use a garage sized 3D printer
(like to make a vehicle).
--Paul Fernhout
Bryan Bishop
> I never realized before how many videos there on Youtube related to 3D
> printing (after finding the ZPrinter 450 video).
One media project that I'd like to see happening for open
manufacturing is along the lines of the old manufacturing facility
videos from the 80s, crossed with something like Koyaanisqatsi or
Anima Mundi. While I can't off-hand link to Koyaanisqatsi, there is a
hosted video up of Anima Mundi that might get across the point:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2391673215252131298&ei=tuI_SZbAHpycrALvm8mvBQ&q=Anima+Mundi
"Koyaanisqatsi (IPA: [ˈkɔɪɑːnɪsˌkɑːtsiː]), also known as
Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance, is a 1982 film directed by Godfrey
Reggio with music composed by Philip Glass and cinematography by Ron
Fricke.
The film consists primarily of slow motion and time-lapse photography
of cities and many natural landscapes across the United States. The
visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration:
its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and music. In the Hopi
language, the word Koyaanisqatsi means 'crazy life, life in turmoil,
life out of balance, life disintegrating, a state of life that calls
for another way of living', and the film implies that modern humanity
is living in such a way.
The film is the first in the Qatsi trilogy of films: it is followed by
Powaqqatsi (1988) and Naqoyqatsi (2002). The trilogy depicts different
aspects of the relationship between humans, nature, and technology.
Koyaanisqatsi is the best known of the trilogy and is considered a
cult film."
Then there's the manufacturing videos, which are usually blatant ads
on top of video of monsterous pieces of equipment stacking things,
unstacking, moving and positioning, welding, doing weird and strange
things.
See my collection (mostly from youtube):
http://heybryan.org/books/Manufacturing/videos/
(One of the most blatant ads was the Kuka robot group:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h31mcihNBO4
Interestingly, they make a big deal out of their human workers
assembling -- by hand -- the Kuka robotic arms. Oh wait. Hrm.
Something's going wrong here.)
In our case, I'm guessing it would be made of up videos submitted from
fablabs, repraps, fab@home installations, clips from MakeTV, and
simulations of all this hardware doing its job. As for the music,
there is a rich cultural background of Creative Commons music in the
techno, electronica, and 8 bit scenes that could be legitimately
placed with the footage.
Paul D. Fernhout
somehow. I've see Koyaanisqatsi and it is indeed an intersesting film.
"Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koyaanisqatsi
Maybe something about how open manufacturing could bring life back into
balance? :-) Thinking through something like that would a great way for a
non-programmer to contribute.
By the way, here is a video just as an idea; it's not what you mention with
images of manufacturing or real products, but it gets across issues about
openness and related concepts:
"Trusted computing" (under a creative commons license, by the way)
http://www.lafkon.net/tc/
Something like that about open manufacturing would be cool too. I think we
could use both -- the philosophical video like "Trusted Computing" and the
automation-in-action video (but to good ends) like Koyaanisqatsi.
--Paul Fernhout
Bryan Bishop
> That's a great idea to make a neat video related to open manufacturing
> somehow. I've see Koyaanisqatsi and it is indeed an intersesting film.
> "Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance"
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koyaanisqatsi
> Maybe something about how open manufacturing could bring life back into
> balance? :-) Thinking through something like that would a great way for a
> non-programmer to contribute.
Yep.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Source_Filmmaking
^ which is like the super version of the indie film scene. I'm most
familiar with "Big Buck Bunny" and "Elephants Dream", which were
movies made with and by the blender community.
http://www.archive.org/details/opensource_movies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open_content_films
> By the way, here is a video just as an idea; it's not what you mention with
> images of manufacturing or real products, but it gets across issues about
> openness and related concepts:
> "Trusted computing" (under a creative commons license, by the way)
> http://www.lafkon.net/tc/
> Something like that about open manufacturing would be cool too. I think we
> could use both -- the philosophical video like "Trusted Computing" and the
> automation-in-action video (but to good ends) like Koyaanisqatsi.
I raise you "Revolution OS", the GNU/Linux (mostly Linux) documentary:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7707585592627775409