Google offers a free high-end program that canmodel anything
from a toy car to a skyscraper. Or,using a 3-D scanner, you can
scan any widget andthe digital blueprint thus created can be
transferredto a 3-D printer to replicate the widget. Or, youcould
use the innumerable 3-D models downloada-ble at the open-source
design website Thingi-verse.com - the go-to database for free
user-gener-ated 3-D printer files.On Sept 20, 2011, Defense
Distributed. an onlinecollective that has set out to make the first
printedgun, uploaded to Thingiverse the digitd blueprintfor a
crucial component of the AR-15 assault rifle.After an animated
online debate, Thingiverse pulledthe blueprint for the "receiver",
the frame of a gunthat houses or holds together all the moving
parts -
7/28/2019 3D Printing Promise-21Mar2013
3/3
SDAY, MARCH 2I,2O13 OPIIIION I nztof down promise of 3-D
printing
technology augurs is not also snuffed out.Such printing is much
more efficient than tradi-tional manufacturing because it makes an
object ;rre-cise layer by precise layer. There is much less
wast-age compared with current manufacturing, which ba-
sically involves cutting a widget from a block of met-al or
plastic that leaves lots of shavings all over theshopfloor. Also,
because parts can be printed out asand when they are required,
inventories can be nearzelo.
Thus, 3-D printing is likely to restructure manufac-turing in
ways we cannot imagine yet - if fear ofprinted guns does not cause
the revolution to be still-born.i- [email protected]
