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The way ahead......

For all of us, whether we're gamers or not, there's one exciting piece of technology to look forward to playing with.


As the prices have begun to come down, I've started thinking loosely about my campaign to get a 3d printer. Some current considerations... 

1. How cheap does a 3d printer have to be before I can justify having one in the house? 

2. Will there be one that will make use all of the old plastic wargames figures, kids' toys, game pieces and other assorted bits and bobs that fill up my house to allow me to make new (and of course vital) plastic wargames figures, kids toys, game pieces and other assorted bits and bobs? Or are am I going to have to buy more plastic? 

3. Can I get one to make use of the plastic bottles that I spend time seperating from paper, metal and garden material which are currently collected and sent off for recycling? If I could, I would recycle from bottles to plastic playing pieces, both saving the planet and myself money at the same time. I would also then recycle the plastic bin that the plastic bottles are currently collected from to save space in front of my home.

4. I've noticed that as I get older, I find it harder to use new technology. I understand what the newtech is supposed to do but I find that I need a younger person to actually make the kit work... something to do with planned obsolescence of older people I think. How young will a person need to be to actually make a 3d printer work? 

5. Home manufacturing proves that the future is really here. So where's my flying car?

6 comments:

  1. I showed this to the missus. She asked how many back-rubs she owed me for the purchase of her last doll. I told her I'd like to trade those back-rubs for upcoming miniatures buying. There is a Mars Attacks kickstarter coming that is probably worth a full-body thai massage with aromatic oil...

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  2. Steve,
    Very true to life incidents. I will follow your work.
    Good luck

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  3. Okay answers:

    1: Dunno, how rich are you?

    2: The answer is quiet difficult for chemistry reasons. In fact plastic degrades after the first fusion and thus remelting it in a printer might bring to some mechanical issues like a nozzle clog. but theorically it is possible, if you have a machine like this one http://www.filastruder.com/

    3: Bottles are PET, you print with PLA or ABS. That said it is not like they are not thinking of it. http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/3-d-printing-a-recycling-machine

    4: 3D printer do not need to be self built. You may buy finished printers ready Out of the box. Again, your money is the limit.

    5: Parked right over my hooverboard. Mind moving it? I cannot reach it.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Gianluca,

      1. Um not very rich, so hopefully the price model will follow that of the PC and come down quickly so I won't have too long to wait.
      2 & 3. That seems hopeful. Maybe we should start up a Green Machine company, at least it will have a decent USP!
      4. Just so long as when it comes out of the box I can get it to work. We bought a new printer the other day as old faithful finally gave up the ghost. Took ages to get the newbie to work, I even followed the instructions.. young me wouldn't have bothered and got it up and running in half the time.
      5. Ok, let me just grab my anti-grav boots and I'll get up there and shift my car, sorry about that.
      Cheers

      Steve
      Cheers

      Steve

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