The not so distant future

Recently 3d printing hit the news with people printing high capacity ammo clips. I see 3d printing having a much larger reach than just to weirdos in Texas. The ammo clip is a great example of how our world is changing.

3d printing is like a glue gun on steroids. A plastic filament is melted and the printer lays the melted plastic down according to the computer blueprint. 3d printing can do pretty much any kind of manufacturing with plastic and some companies are working on ceramic printing.

The 3d printers are currently used for fast prototyping and small scale manufacturing. They cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars for DIY kits to tens of thousands for multi-axis printers. Most people have only heard of 3d printers and they aren't part of our daily dialog except when it is a news worthy item. I believe they will be part of our daily lives and in a big way.

Look around you and note how much of what you see is plastic. 3d printers allow you to make all of it, everything that is plastic around you. You just need the blueprint. I envision a world where we won't buy many products we currently purchase. We will buy the computer blueprint, download it and then we print the product out on our home 3d printers. And when that product breaks or it goes out of fashion, we melt it down and print out the latest greatest version.

Sound far fetched? It's already being done, the ammo clips were made on a $1500.00 3d printer and the blueprint is online for anyone to download. I don't think it'll be long of companies to grab hold of this technology and create a new business model.

I think it'll be really cool to customize everything. And not just superficially, but the entire object. Is you water bottle to big/small for you hand? Tweak the design and print a new one. Is your alarm clock taking up to much space on the nightstand? You know what to do…..