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Could 3D printing spell the end of our throw-away culture?

The concept of 3D printing is fantastic. The reality of it, as with any breakthrough technology or other advance, can have a great deal of impact and consequence beyond itself that is difficult for many to see, and virtually impossible to certainly predict.

Other posters have mentioned patent issues, piracy, manufacturing jobs. The maturity and viability of the technology is one thing. It's "environmental and social impact" mushrooms much farther, and is not necessarily a clean trade-off. OK, so if this becomes viable, it could reduce cost and environmental impacts of shipping -- but there are a lot of jobs in transportation and logistics too. Doesn't mean it shouldn't happen, but I doubt there's been a 'breakthrough' yet that didn't have unseen consequences.

There may be 'net win' scenarios, but there are never 'everybody wins' scenarios. Jobs & occupations have had massive reductions or disappeared altogether before (anybody know a chimney sweep? How about a cooper (barrel maker)? Not nearly as many blacksmiths as there used to be, nor punch-card operators for something a little more current). The relative disruptiveness of a particular technology or innovation breakthrough can indicate it's impact on employment, and 3D printing is something which could be hugely disruptive.

The global economy, like it or not, for better or for worse, is dependent (even addicted) to consumption. If 3D printing did, in fact, end 'throw away culture' and at the same time trade many manufacturing, logistics and even retail jobs for much, much fewer 'hi-tech jobs', even if it did result in cost savings, does anyone care to guess what that might do to the global economy? The calculus of that whole equation (social, environmental, economic, etc.) is way more complicated than most even appreciate, let alone could prepare for.

But, on the other hand, it ain't going to happen overnight, and the majority survived the transition from horse & carriage to horse-less carriage, and mankind will adapt again. Keep your helmet on, and chinstrap secure. Life could be getting bumpy.

As a future-looking muse, this article is interesting. The actual future will have a few more warts and zits than the projected future.

Correct - but mainly people rather than technological.

And the end game has to be the benefit to the planet.

> the implications for medicine, computing and aerospace are likely to be profound.

I have heard that replacement joints (knees /hips /etc.) are being printed for people and are being "made to measure" for individuals rather than off-the-shelf products.

Print a part on the spot for a dishwasher? Or any other part for that matter. You obviously have no clue about manufacturing. Let me see lugg a large complex machine probably requiring 240 or 440 volt set up, that probably needs to run as much as possbile to pay for itself and then have a guy wait a couple of hours or more for a part to finish. And oh yeah now you need a person who is a millright, a machinist with specialized cnc skills, an electrician and a dish washer repair person. Bloody brillant!

3D printers almost certianly have a great future and may do fabulous things, but makeing a screw for a dish washer or being portable probably isn't it.

Also wtf is the green garbage? Liars, dip sticks and american liberals, think the answer to naturally occuring and or man influenced climate change is to live in the stone age, even though living in the stone age didn't seem to help the Clovis people when the climate changed, or the Neanderthals, or the Anasazi. How about we handle excess radiation from space the same way we handle excess radiation on the planet: Use shielding.

What a load of tripe.

No, this week, month, whatever, I don't expect the repair guy will have a part maker in the back of his truck. However, there might be a part maker at the shop or one for several shops. Having it locally might save some of the wait a week or two while your part gets shipped from Timbuktu and your dirty dishes pile up. The repair guy could contact his home base and they could have the part waiting for him when he got in.

"Wed all like a greener planet, an end to global warming and the uncertainty of extreme weather patterns."

Guess you did not see the irony in your "Written on VS90 flying from Tokyo to London" when you rambled on about GW.

The whole point of the connected revolution is that you don't really need to go there. But perhaps you are somehow special.......have a larger carbon footprint allowance than the rest of us.

the Author doesn't seem to be aware of any of the producers/sellers of 3D printers other than those located in Europe. There are also manufacturers of 3D printers in the US and in the Asia/Pacific region. The products vary from laser cutting or sintering units to metal/ceramic/glass/plastic dispensing units to home/hobby units. Materials can include nylon, corn or soy derived plastics, and even cheese or starch based depositors. I have even seen edible dishes produced.

For volume, though, these units are primarily used to produce prototypes. Casting and machining are still less expensive for mass production.

I design and manufacture Printed Circuits. In my field, this has been a dream for dozens of years. No more $175K CNC drills, no more chemical plating lines, no more wastewater treatment. The idea goes on...Software that we use to design circuit boards no longer need to use layers. Circuits can travel at angles through the board. Coils can be embedded. No more 'feed through holes'.

In the second generation, why not have the printer use resistive, inductive, and capacative dyes to embed passives into the circuits.

In the third generation, ICs. A top line pick and place now can place a two lead component of the size 0.010"X0.005" accurately...within less than 0.001 inch. Why not place and embed ICs? There would be no need for all the protective and bulky encapsulation for ICs. The IC die could be incorporated directly into the board.

We'll work on connectors on another day.
Was this worth reading?...Your opinions would be greatly accepted.

but I also work in a plant where we design and assemble PCBs, both through-hole and surface mount.

They can print a whole lunar habitation module in 20 hours.
And that's before sinking in the research money.
https://plus.google.com/112564607617850290297/posts/YxaZ98bCQ56

Perhaps you could read again: "Its really surprising that the leading suppliers of 3D printers are out of Europe and not the USA"

NO Correction Required

Science and technology are real.

Laws and financial systems are man made and are always changed by technological progress.

This article sounds to me a bit like the talk back in the 50's about flying cars. How in the world does a washing machine repairman carrying around a fabrication machine make any sense? It will always be more practical and cost-effective to just bring the part from the warehouse. I don't see how it has advantages from the "green" perspective, either. Maintaining, transporting, and feeding such a machine requires a whole energy-consuming infrastructure.

But that is always the way....and any tech change causes some initial problems that are dwarfed by the benefits of the end game.

3d printer companies like makerbot and 3dstuffmakers manufactures high quality 3d printers. 3d printing is a new technology to print real 3d objects