Hacked MakerBot Replicator Becomes Tattoo Robot

[Brian_Krassenstein]

I thought this was a pretty incredible accomplishment by a group of French students. They hacked a Makerbot Replicator 3d printer to turn it into a computer aided tattoo machine.

http://3dprint.com/1777/tattoo-robot...ot-3d-printer/

The students replaced the 3d printer's extruder, used for extruding plastics with a manual tattoo instrument, and then calibrated the device to perform almost flawlessly. Could the art of tattooing be on its way out as machine enter the industry?

[squadus]

Wow, this can disrupt the entire industry

[Geoff]

After seeing Starship Troopers and that laser tattoo machine, I thought to myself, if I ever get a tattoo, thats how I want it done, this isn't that far off lol, I'd trust a machine more than human especially with something like that.

[MeoWorks]

This is seriously pretty awesome!

On a lighter note: "C'mon you apes, you wanna live forever?"

Love that movie

[MattSteiner]

Crazy, crazy....
This could revolutionize the tattoo industry, and be very affordable. Perhaps you won't need to go to a tattoo palor to get your next tattoo. Not if you can have one of these in your home. Here is a video of this machine:

[Odriew]

Seems like they have machines made for this now.
https://www.tattoodo.com/a/2015/01/t...ine-in-action/

[curious aardvark]

not that unusual really. But given that most atttoos arn't somewhere you could access with a 3d printer - it's a gimmick.

Might be used for quick small tats on hands or wrists.
But completely useless for anything else.

Backs, legs, bums, wedding tackle - how do you get those in the machine ?

Now if you were using a robot arm and a full 3d prescan of the person and they absolutely did not move during the process.
Maybe.
But then people are still a really cheap resource and come with all the scanning and automatic adjustments already built in.

Some tattoos are quite good, never actually seen the point myself. But lots of people do :-)

Just because a thing can be done, doesn't mean it'll ever replace the traditional way of doing things.

But possibly for quick hand or forearm tats - maybe.