It has also transformed hobby/craft markets and arts. The only thing stopping it is UX at this point (you still need to have both craft and computer skills to use them).
I have very little use for paperclips, actually, but if I needed one, I could easily 3D print it. And that ability - to imagine things and have them come out of the machine - gives the magical empowering feeling that most of the people still have yet to encounter.
I disagree that it's a simple invention, though. The hardware is simple, yes, but it's nothing without software. And the software we need to make 3D printing less of an exercise in patience is simply not yet there, even now.
CAD is not accessible. Slicing is not accessible (sure, Cura will spit G-code without you doing anything - but what do you do when your print fails or falls apart because one of the myriad settings was not set right for this particular print?). Mesh leveling was not a thing on consumer 3D printers five years ago (!). Ditto for variable-width layers. And no slicers have the printhead follow curves in 3D, it's layer by layer in everything I've used, even if the model allows for something more.
What I'm saying is that that we don't have the software to utilize the existing simple hardware to its fullest potential. And without software, a 3D printer is a glorified glue gun.
(Sure, we could've had "3D-printing" pens a-la 3Doodler decades ago. They are fun, but hardly revolutionary).
> I have very little use for paperclips, actually, but if I needed one, I could easily 3D print it.
Out of curiosity, how good would a 3D printed paperclip be compared to the metal ones I am used to? I suspect the performance would be significantly worse due to material properties.
You could make it stronger and more durable, but it will definitely be larger and heavier if you make it out of PLA, and more expensive than a bit of bent wire if you FDM it.
>and more expensive than a bit of bent wire if you FDM it
Yeah, but the whole point of 3D printing is that you can make small-scale custom runs that would be exorbitantly expensive with traditional manufacturing.
You can have paperclips that double as markers/tags/have your name on them/send a message, e.g.[1].
Same goes for other things. 3D printing is a way to make custom things at small scale on demand, but automating away most of the steps after the design stage.
CNC wire bending is a lot better than 3-D printing for small-scale custom runs of custom things at small scale on demand, automating away most of the steps after the design stage. But the sets of designs you can make with the two processes are almost disjoint.
It has also transformed hobby/craft markets and arts. The only thing stopping it is UX at this point (you still need to have both craft and computer skills to use them).
I have very little use for paperclips, actually, but if I needed one, I could easily 3D print it. And that ability - to imagine things and have them come out of the machine - gives the magical empowering feeling that most of the people still have yet to encounter.
I disagree that it's a simple invention, though. The hardware is simple, yes, but it's nothing without software. And the software we need to make 3D printing less of an exercise in patience is simply not yet there, even now.
CAD is not accessible. Slicing is not accessible (sure, Cura will spit G-code without you doing anything - but what do you do when your print fails or falls apart because one of the myriad settings was not set right for this particular print?). Mesh leveling was not a thing on consumer 3D printers five years ago (!). Ditto for variable-width layers. And no slicers have the printhead follow curves in 3D, it's layer by layer in everything I've used, even if the model allows for something more.
What I'm saying is that that we don't have the software to utilize the existing simple hardware to its fullest potential. And without software, a 3D printer is a glorified glue gun.
(Sure, we could've had "3D-printing" pens a-la 3Doodler decades ago. They are fun, but hardly revolutionary).