ENTER HERE - 3DPrint - Ultimate 3D Printing Giveaway!

[Cptboots]

- What is the most interesting thing you have seen done with a 3D printer or 3D printing technology?

I would have to say 3D cement printers for affordable housing would be the most impressive use of traditional 3D printing. but if we want to get into it very far I would say Bio-scaffolding printing for stem baths - 3d assisted organ growth. Of course this also would then allow my answer to go into food printing, from the simple sugar structuring devices, to NASA's Pizza printer initiative. Ultimately I think the most exciting development using modern tech will be the use of large scale printers to use what they dub 'moon-crete' to make concrete like mixtures using the lunar surface material to build research facilities, and other structures on at first the lunar surface and eventually likely other bodies in our solar system - which would a certain level of radiation shielding for human workers/explorers (easily provided by a foot or two of dense soil or stone.)


- If you could build your dream 3D printer, what would it include and what would it do? Let your imagination run wild!

My dream 3D printer would have a 'shredder' type device which could destroy, melt, separate, and essentially 'bleach' extruder material to allow it to be broken down into a liquid mass which could be dyed, remixed, and spooled. To allow for the long term use of finite resources - and to be able to correct mistakes such as replacement parts printed on the wrong scale etc, etc. Easy interface with 3D modeling software, and an Open Operating system so that one could tweak to their needs as long as this was their expertise.

Another aspect I would have on my ideal 3D printer, most of the parts could be 3D printable save a few which would require metal printing devices (which I assume this question is not about) To allow for continued maintenance of the device by the owner.

So, I guess my focus would be on reusable extruder material, dyeable material (related to the reuse project I touch on.). And an Open approach to the machine operation software. Finally easy of maintenance and many replaceable parts.