I wish someone would design ... (my suggested design & other suggestions)

[Mjolinor]

This is a completely separate idea that I got from a science fiction story when I was young, seemingly 2 centuries ago. Ever-shrinking machine shops. Use a conventional machine shop to build a smaller machine shop. Use that to build an even smaller machine shop. Etc. An iterative process. Its success requires that mechanical error tolerances become smaller as the machines become smaller.

At present there exist conventional machine shops and nanodevices fabricated on chips. There does not exist anything of in-between size.

Could 3D printers of differing manufacturers and differing design principles, be teamed together to make the next smaller size family of 3D printers? The next smaller size 3D printers need not look the same or even work the same as their larger forbears. They just need to be of practical use. It would be nice if they were complete enough to make even smaller 3D printers.

May I have some of whatever you are smoking?

[Daniel Ross]

May I have some of whatever you are smoking?

At present we lack fabrication methods for arbitrary electromechanical devices in thr 1/100 inch to 1/1000 inch size range, that are made of components 1 to 2 orders of magnitude smaller.

These devices could (1) circulate in the human body and (1a) locate tumors and cut off their blood supply, (1b) repair broken nerve fibers in the spine, (1c) perform eye surgery beyond what can be done with laser surgery, (1d) act as radio transducers in the brains of people with Parkinson's disease or epilepsy, (2) medicate marine mammals, (3) circulate in plants and attack fungal and other infections and infestations, (4) kill the parasites that are killing bees, (5) what more is needed to convince you of their value?