Animated GIFs of the Coolest 3D Printers at the World Maker Faire
Posted by Joshua_Kopstein on Tuesday, Sep 20, 2011
3D printing has exploded onto the DIY scene in the past few years, and no one’s more excited about that than the exhibitors at the World Maker Faire in New York. After just a quick lap around the grounds outside the New York Hall of Science this past weekend, it was obvious that the number of booths sporting these magical fabrication machines had doubled since last year, making all kinds of small statuettes and parts for larger, more complex mechanisms.
The 3D fabrication process may still be in its infancy, but it’s quickly coming of age. The technology is already proving indispensable to small businesses and independent engineers. Affordable access to rapid prototyping means that products move more fluidly from the design stage to actual, physical reality. There’s already talk of how 3D printing could bring on the next age of piracy (Gutenberg’s printing press was pretty controversial in its time too). But within that lies the hope that maybe, just maybe, America’s outsourced production economy isn’t down for the count just yet.
At Maker Faire, 3D printers work tirelessly making everything from tiny baubles and toys to edible pastries. Some larger machines can produce much bigger products, though always at the expense of time. One very large machine connected to a spool of plastic thread was toiling away to make one section of a green, 2 1/2 ft helix-like sculpture. The exhibitor standing nearby told me that the piece takes about 2 days to produce.
That may seem ridiculous to the average observer, but there’s still a long road ahead. Imagine though if similar machines in the future could be built to craft with sturdier materials like metal through a complex superheating and cooling process. In the long run, getting things built without resorting to a complicated industrial molding process usually reserved for large facilities could mean future factories migrating out of China and into backyard sheds.
Take a peek below at some moving images of these magic maker-machines and the various odds and ends they were producing at New York’s Maker Faire.
Photo by Sara Bobo
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Electronic musician and computer culture journalist. Contact: josh ◢at◣ motherboard ◐dot◑ tv
