DIY FRIDAY (sort of): 3-D printers
Following up on Jason’s post from last month, Boing Boing directs us to a Scientific American slideshow about “more affordable” rapid prototyping technology. There’s a wide range here: from home-brewed machines using cheese or sugar, to a commercially produced “desktop” fabricator priced at $5,000.
All of these models are still relatively expensive, and from what I’ve read they’re very slow compared to industrial fabricators. But you can build a RepRap for about $700, and the value-added bonus is that the machine can fabricate its own component parts. With one of these babies, you could start yourself a wicked pyramid scheme!
