Judging from the epic comment thread on yesterday’s USPS v Yglesisas post, and my mailbox, there’s some interest in that topic. Before starting in on it again, I wanted to share the state of the art in 3D printing. This may not seem immediately relevant, but for anyone who envisions a future like that described in Neil Stephensons’ The Diamond Age, where the need for a postal service is far diminished by the presence of a device that can print any object, the video above shows you what a refrigerator-sized, industrial grade 3D printer can do. It’s pretty crude even though it transformed the life of the little girl in the video, and the video is worth a watch just for the girl herself. To see the state of the art of a home-sized, affordable 3D printer, here’s a MIT prototype of a 3D printer that fits in a suitcase. To say that it’s crude is a major understatement, even though it is an impressive technical achievement:
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SP
We use several 3D printed rapid prototype parts at work. We considered buying a printer but at $10k for a relatively low resolution one we’re not quite where every lab can have one. But sending designs to services that print for you, in your choice of material, is really easy and useful.
Linda Featheringill
Emma is so sweet. Live long and prosper, Honey.
Thanks for the video.
cathyx
What a beautiful little girl. I don’t understand her disability. Why can’t she move her arms on her own, how does the devise help her and will she be able to move her arms in the future?
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
MAKE Magazine always has 3D printed projects on its blog and has featured several manufacturers of home 3D printers. makerBot Industries is a big one.
On Weds I saw display samples of laser sintered metal 3D printed parts that were amazingly intricate. lasers are out of most people’s budget range. But emailing a part print to a 3D print shop and getting your pieces back in the mail probably isn’t.
Shapeways does 3D printing in small customer batches.
This tech is going to be huge.
aimai
Incredible video! Really thought provoking–she obviously had the ability to form the brain connections between her arms and her thoughts but not, for some reason, the connectors to carry out her thoughts through her arms. Unbelievably moving. Thanks for posting this.
aimai
mistermix
@cathyx: If I understood her mom correctly, Emma has this disease:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthrogryposis
cathyx
So are all 3-d replications made of some sort of plastic?
cathyx
@mistermix: Thanks mistermix. It didn’t say if she can build up her muscles to be able to do the tasks on her own eventually. And I still don’t understand how the braces help her.
dmsilev
@cathyx: Most are plastics or polymers of some sort, but there are a few that use metallic powder and sintering as the material.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
Often 3D printing is used to make models. They can be manipulated and altered and a mold pulled from the tweaked model. The mold can be used to form a permanent metal or ceramic part. This is very efficient prototyping.
Consider that there are now low cost 3D laser scanners that can create a shape file from any physical object of reasonable size. You can scan a part, manipulate the dimensions in CAD and print a copy. A friend who has a composites (carbon fiber) part fab shop used this method to copy and correct damaged parts and make replacements.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
One hot area for 3D printing is shoe orthotics. Formerly they would have to be laboriously shaped by hand and adjusted. Now a doc can customize a file for the patient and load it to a printer for production. It’s cheaper, faster and more accurate. And if more are needed, it’s just a ‘reprint’.
cmorenc
The classic piece of printer-mischief whereby people sit bare-assed on the printer and make a photocopy of their butt just took on a new dimension.
Doggie D
I have seen these mechanical devices before, used to steady machine guns in helicopters. It is nice to observe that the laws of Statics and Dynamics can be used to help little girls put yellow rings on wooden hooks, as well as improve the aim of fire-suppression specialists. Let us just hope that this doctor is not a conservative.
Chet
This all seems like a strawman, Mistermix, since nobody’s talking about getting rid of the Post Office, ending parcel post, or any of that. The question is what broader purpose is best served – best served, specifically – by subsidized hand-delivery of letters to rich and poor rural homes.
Drugs aren’t coming in a First-Class letter. Orders from Amazon aren’t coming in a First-Class letter. You can’t defend universal flat-rate letter service by pointing out all the goods that people have delivered by the Post Office, because those come by parcel post – not by universal flat-rate letter service.
TaMara (BHF)
I have some very techie friends and I was at their house one day and they were showing off some things their son made, including a Kindle cover. Until that point I’d never knew the technology even existed and I’ve been fascinated ever since.
Loved Emma. Thanks for the vids MM.
Baud
Tea. Earl Grey. Hot. /TNG
the Conster
@cmorenc:
I see what you did there.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@Chet:
Dude, it’s a new day. Entertain a new idea.
Chyron HR
@Chet:
Is that what the Great and Powerful Yglesias decreed when he sent his adoring fans off to defend him on sites that they never would have visited otherwise?
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
One developing area for 3D printing is ceramics. The print head can deliver ceramic material in complex shapes that would otherwise be impossible. The part is then dried and fired. The results can be fantastic.
Scott S.
Republican Troll has nothing better to do on a Sunday morning.
doofus
@Chet: I believe the topic you wish to obsess on is actually 14 posts back. [I got curious can counted: Your posts (or responses to them) accounted for 305 of the 533 comments on that thread. Impressive tenacity arguing against most of the commentariat.]
In this post, Mistermix only included a small reference to USPS postal rates to indicate that he would be posting on the subject again later. By that, I mean that you are commenting off the topic of this post. You’ll get your shot to have another flame war soon, I am sure.
Chet
Well, thanks, the three of you; at least you’ve proven Horrendo Slapp wrong. It’s not my “attitude” or how I’m phrasing the idea – it’s the idea itself that you simply can’t bear to see discussed.
Chet
@doofus: That’s fair. I’m prepared to wait and see if Mistermix addresses the argument in his next post on the subject.
3D printing is pretty cool, but if Mistermix had me in mind as someone who believes that it’s about to obviate the very idea of sending physical goods, he’s mistaken. Clearly we’re nowhere near that point.
Narcissus
jesus christ chet
doofus
@Chet: Nope. I am not against the idea. I merely point out that it might be more considerate to wait for an open thread, or for when Mistermix posts about the subject again.
mistermix
@Chet:
What an astonishing insight – it’s almost like you have ESP or something. The *only* thing I was thinking about this morning was “how can I possibly formulate an argument to address the glibertarian powerhouse that is our new troll Chet”. It kept me awake most of the night, as well.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@TaMara (BHF):
(ignores troll)
It’s only in the last few years that this has filtered down to the personal level and individuals can 3D print. I think a starter unit from MakerBot is around $700. When schools start getting these things it will be mainstream, permanent and inevitable.
The vast majority of development in home-scale 3D printing has been through genius hobbyist developers who made their own and turned a project into a collaborative business.
Peter
@Chet: Those dang goalposts just won’t sit still, will they?
c u n d gulag
HARUMPH!
How dare you give me a heartwarming story that made me cry, during the Sunday “Noise” shows?
Gregory’s off, thanks to the Olympics, so I turned to ABC’s Sunday Sh*thole Show, saw Ann Coulter, and promptly turned off the TV. Thank the FSM, I don’t keep hard objects nearby.
So I came here, to see what was what.
Wathing this video about Emma made my whole week – THANKS MISTERMIX!
Thanks for reminding me that not all people are hateful, stupid, and ignorant wretches, like too many of the Conservatives we talk about here.
And who would be only too glad to take Emma’s mechanical arms, and use that money for another electronic coffee cup warmer on some rich puke’s yacht.
Emma’s story rekindled some of my lost confidence in the basic decency of most people on this planet.
raven
@Chet: Back again huh dickhead?
Hypatia's Momma
Cool things for ill children:
A room full of cats.
Electron Boy
Related:
The 8 Most Badass Make-a-Wish Foundation wishes.
Chet
@doofus: And I literally just said that I was going to do that.
You assholes just can’t help yourselves, can you?
Tyler
Great kid, cool technology. But I don’t see how shipping raw materials to every individual rather then finished goods is an efficiency improvement.
muddy
Here’s one that prints in chocolate!
http://techland.time.com/2012/04/09/the-delicious-future-3d-chocolate-printer-finally-available-for-purchase/
doofus
@Chet: Posts that cross in the night, dickwad. I find it amazing that I missed your post of 10:47 in my reply of 10:49. How will I ever live with myself?
Chet
@doofus: Oh, my fucking god.
gbear
Chet, fuck off. This thread was about 3D printing, not you. Quit stinking the place up. Just go away.
Liberty60
@Chet:
Alright, I will wade in.
I skimmed about 300 of the posts and couldn’t really see what your point was, behind all the flurry of dickwad no-you’re-a-dickwad comments.
You don’t like subsidized first class mail delivery, is that right?
And your proposal would be what instead?
wrb
Chet’s gotta be a spoof.
Some of his arguments have been so silly he can’t even believe them.
Or it could be due to that sheep. Then we should be kind.
Cassidy
@Liberty60: The crux of his argument is very simple: some how he equates his paying of taxes to be subsidizingail delivery to rural people. If he didn’t have to do that he could spend more on urban chic decor. Only people who live in cities deserve to get mail.
Brachiator
Very provocative stuff. These are indeed days of miracle and wonder, as the Paul Simon song says.
OT, but thematically related, I am already geeking out in anticipation over tonight’s (hopefully) successful landing of the Mars rover. Should be happening after 10 pm Pacific time. Lots of live coverage at the JPL site, and related sites. I think that Leo Laporte is going to live stream coverage on his TWIT site, with commentary by the excellent Dr Kiki.
I am Curious, Mars, perhaps.
And if you still haven’t seen the Seven Minutes of Terror video, you should definitely check it out. The version featuring actual JPL engineers is much better than the alternate versions narrated by William Shatner or Wil Wheaton, but I understand the concessions to PR.
Sorry for the absence of links, posting on the fly on a tablet. But stuff is very easily found.
Anyhoo, I little something to keep you going in between the Olympics, the tech version of stronger, faster, higher.
Johnk
Could we use a 3-D printer to print the world the Gooper/Chet’s want and then FedX them into it? We could watch as it burns fire and brimstone.
Cassidy
Ooh…imagine if you had a 3d printer and are into war gaming! Printing your own table pieces would be amazing. Or fabbing your own parts to make custom models or to repair them…am I getting how this tech works?
FlipYrWhig
@Liberty60: His proposal was that things would work totally differently in Chetopia, where instead of one rate for letter delivery there would be a new scheme of giving poor rural people more cash and Internet access, which would offend his conscience less, and could totally happen in this country too because everyone knows how popular an expanded social welfare state for the poor always is.
PurpleGirl
In insurance jargon, Chet is what would be called an attractive nuisance. Please ignore him and maybe we will have a calm day (, depending on what else gets posted this afternoon/evening).
doofus
@Chet: Yeah. My oversight in missing your other post is quite likely just as terrible as rural areas paying the same rate for letter delivery as urban areas.
Brother Maynard
@Cassidy:
Yes. In fact, people are doing this. However, there was atleast one case where someone was taken to court for building their own custom Warhammer pieces.
You can see 3D printing plans at thingiverse.com to get an idea of how it’s used.
Joey Maloney
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist: If y’all think that digital music and movies have made a mess of copyright, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Rightsholders will shit a whole McMansion worth of bricks when any 8th-grader can torrent a file and print out the hot gadget-of-the-season for the cost of materials.
Liberty60
@Cassidy:
According to Google, taxpayers provide about 93 million to the USPS each year.
In other words, we give what is about a fucking rounding error to the Pentagon to sustain a universal reliable guaranteed method of communicating with every single American address.
And actually, if someone wants to make an argument to raise the cost of a first class letter to cover that gummint subsidy, I am fine with that; it would probably make a letter, what, about 50 cents to mail? Still a bargain.
PurpleGirl
So what this machine and technology can do is the actual fabrication of an object. I could design a jewelry clasp and the “printing” process actually fabricates it in a plastic. I guess you could make the molds for casting silver/gold/whatever parts. A faster and easier way to make molds/parts.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@Joey Maloney:
NYT has an article up on the 3D printing copyright issues. This is a colossal problem because current intellectual copyright law completely misses mechanically reproducing commercial items for personal use. It’s a colossal loophole that industry is rushing to fill before it’s too late.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
Mistermix refers to The Diamond Age, which is a great book. One that’s more realistic is Charles Stross’ Rule 34. In one hilarious sequence a 3D printer is infected by malware and prints nothing but colored plastic d1ld0es until the owner plays a ransom to clear out the virus.
Older
I must be losing my reading skilz, I totally missed where mistermix said anything about first class postage. Or maybe Chet just couldn’t resist the opportunity to be wrong again.
“Drugs aren’t coming in a First-Class letter.” Well, too bad yours don’t. Mine do.
It’s up to the mailer, in any case, but many prescriptions are lightweight enough that first class makes good sense. Maybe Chet had better change to a different mail order pharmacy, since clearly he needs his in a hurry.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
open source powder-based rapid prototyping machine.
I love MAKE magazine.
Older
Wow, I didn’t know Balloon Juice did moderation; so many of the posts seem … immoderate.
Older
@muddy: A wonderful idea, but kinda spendy.
Older
@Liberty60: According to Google, taxpayers provide about 93 million to the USPS each year.”
Could you give me a citation? “Google” doesn’t say anything, it just reports what others say. I couldn’t find this item on Google, and I’d like to see it, as it doesn’t accord with what I think I know.
Brachiator
@Joey Maloney:
Ironically, they will also be able to use a 3D printer to shit those bricks.
Yeah, property rights get very complicated. But I also wonder whether cost of materials will skyrocket and whether monopolization of resources will become a larger issue.
Hypatia's Momma
@Older:
You can check their annual filings to Congress. Here’s the latest financial summary:
http://about.usps.com/publications/annual-report-comprehensive-statement-2011/html/ar2011_financial_1.htm
Mnemosyne
@Chet:
So it seems likely to you that the Post Office would change their policies so that first-class letters will have zone pricing applied to them but parcel post rates will stay exactly the same rather than, say, applying zone pricing to all mail, including parcels, for simplicity’s sake?
You really haven’t thought this through, have you?
ETA: You did know that First-Class Mail pricing applies to both letters and parcels before you made your modest proposal, right? And that any proposal to make First-Class Mail subject to zone pricing would apply to both letters and parcels, right?
PurpleGirl
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist: I loved their Craft magazine but unfortunately they stopped publishing it. I know they still do craft stuff on-line, but I really liked the printed version.
Mnemosyne
Also, back on topic, but we’ve been seeing some products created via 3D printer at work and, while the process itself is very cool, the results have been pretty “meh.” We need stuff that will be durable and museum-quality, and the 3D printer available to us at the Giant Evil Corporation isn’t even close. It can’t even get the gray color of the maquette right, frankly.
Liberty60
@Older:
Le sigh.
I saw it yesterday in a Google search, now I can’t find it.
The only answer I get is from WikiAnswers is “Nothing” and from Wikipedia it says “millions in implicit subsidies like deferred property taxes”
I think research of more than a few seconds would yield a better answer, but from what I can tell, the amount is little or nothing.
Which was my original point- USPS is highly competitive with UPS and FedEx, and were it not for the meddling of Congress re: their pensions, they would be in decent financial shape. Especially if they were able to raise postal rates to be more sustaining.
Citizen_X
That’s funny, because just the other day, my one thousand hits of blotter acid arrived in a First-Class OH CRAP I’VE SAID TOO MUCH.
raven
WISN-TV reports that a cop was shot (no confirmation on that). “still people inside in a tense standoff… hostage situation inside.”
The station also spoke to Amardeep Kaleka whose father was inside during the shooting. He was told by police that 20-25 people may have been shot inside. The man also said his mother is hiding inside as she believes the gunman is still inside.
Ruckus
@Citizen_X:
That may have been mis-delivered. It appears you may have chet’s supply. Which is OK as it seems he has taken way too much as it is.
mclaren
I’m surprised that no one has trotted out the old old lie traditionally offered in justification of ending or privatizing postal service.
Namely, that the overwhelming majority of postal deliveries today are junk mail. So (this bogus argument goes) the USPS is really doing nothing more than subsidizing bottom-feeding junk mail operations. And why should we, the taxpayers, do that?
This is a foolish fallacy because current bulk mail rates are deliberately set by congress. So if they’re not socially useful, congress can change ’em. Don’t want most of USPS’s mail deliveries to be junk mail? Raise bulk postal rates. Presto change-o! The junk mail goes away.
USPS is crucial for small businesses that operate on ebay or that depend on resale. Almost all the mom & pop businesses in the area where I live have websites, and they ship the second-hand items people buy via USPS parcel post. If we privatize USPS and rates skyrocket because of greedy private shippers, these mom & pop stores go out of business.
So, as usual, the “privatize the USPS!” meme is really just a smoke screen for crushing small businesses and insuring the primacy of giant monopoly corporations. As usual.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@mclaren:
That’s me. I shipped a dozen small packages to 5 different countries in the last 2 weeks, totaling about $1,100 in value. I use USPS because I get tracking and their rates are far lower/hassle less than anyone else. Without USPS I’d be out of ‘business’.
I’m still bummed that they canceled overseas surface shipping, the slow boat to China. It’s much more costly to send heavy stuff by Airmail now.
yopd1
You can actually buy a 3d printer in Europe right now.
Chet
@Liberty60: My proposal would be unsubsidized first-class mail delivery. If it costs $11.50 to transport a letter to your home, that’s the postage on it.
Chet
@Cassidy: I must have articulated some variation of my position at least twenty times in that thread. You think you could have paid attention at least once.
At no point did I “equate my paying of taxes to subsidizing delivery to rural people.” I don’t see what was so confusing about what I was saying.
Chet
@Older:
I didn’t say that he did. It’s Ygelsias’s argument that is about First-Class letter delivery, which mistermix attempted to rebut by pointing out how important it is to have the parcel post.
But Yglesias wasn’t talking about the parcel post. He was talking specifically about letter delivery. But for some reason, people completely lose their shit when you talk about changing anything at the Post Office, because apparently we have to defend the status quo at all costs, even the bad stuff, because it’s impossible for things to get better, only worse.
Chet
@mclaren:
I don’t understand why you’re surprised. Who would trot them out? Literally nobody in these threads is advocating privatizing or ending postal service.
Drew
3D printers are becoming cheaper and easier to find (build)… I am in the process of building a 3D printer myself, with about $800, some work and a lot of researching on the internet. For anyone who might be curious about what is going on in this field, use the search term reprap (replicable rapid prototyper) and you will find all that you would like to know.
For anyone interested, I am building a MendelMax, of which the design is completely open source.
Drew
Older
@Hypatia’s Momma: Thanks, I’ll try it.
Older
@Drew: A couple of years ago, Popular Science had an article about something called a “Maker-Bot” which will print in 3-D for “under $1000”. Must be the same thing or much like it. It’s about time really, I’ve been seeing these things demonstrated at science exhibitions for — must be about ten years. And what a great use for it — specialized and personally adapted medical devices. Go Science!
Older
FWIW, (if anyone’s still here), I have been searching for that $93 million subsidy, and I’ve found it! Or rather, them. $93 million seems to be a popular figure for subsidies. I’ve found subsidies in that amount for raisin marketing, child care, luxury housing, growers of leguminous vegetables, and horse breeders. I suspect it has become a code word for “gazillion bucks”.