No one is saying that it will be as big as the PC revolution eventually became (there's likely no Internet/WWW equivalent applicable here), but there are parallels in how the personal side of the technology is advancing. I also don't like to limit the idea to just 3D printing. It's more "personal manufacturing." This involves multiple materials and multiple types of technology (CNC, laser, 3D scanning, etc.). Comparisons to how personal computing evolved is a useful shorthand and we're still in the early, more experimental stage of the process. ======================================================== Bill Loguidice, Managing Director; Armchair Arcade, Inc. <http://www.armchairarcade.com> ======================================================== Authored Books <http://www.amazon.com/Bill-Loguidice/e/B001U7W3YS/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_1> and Film <http://www.armchairarcade.com/film>; About me and other ways to get in touch <http://about.me/billloguidice> ======================================================== On Sat, Mar 3, 2018 at 11:51 AM, Herb Johnson via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
One major difference between the PC and 3DP is the latter will require
substantial materials advancements to make it usefully mainstream and there doesn't seem to be a Moore's law driving that.
That statement, hints at something important. I'm tired of every techie/consumer/science advancement in the last few decades, being compared to the personal computing revolution and to "Moore's Law".
Digital technology - almost ALL of it - has advanced in doing THE SAME THING: representing a one or zero with smaller physical hardware. Below the microscopic, it's now below WAVELENGTHS OF LIGHT. OK? Re-read those statements. That's the corollary to Moore's Law.
Now: will a 3D printer "advance", by printing pea-sized beer-can openers? Is a 3D printed car a revolution - if it's Hot Wheels sized?
So, 3D printing + Moore's Law = zero.
Detailed discussion of 3D printing is, as Evan noted, off-topic. But as an engineer, I see that 3D printers have to do more than print plastic forks to be useful to most consumers, and to many techs. But to handle more robust materials, you need more robust tools. A hot tip and a gear to extrude plastic noodles won't get you there. Sorry to those disappointed, but as I said, expectations are too high, the suggested comparison fails.
But we vintage computerists, are in the best position, to deny the premise that "3D printing will be the next revolution, like personal computers". We (some of us) know WHY personal computing (and embedded computing) were revolutionary. From an engineering view, 3D printing will be at best, *evolutionary*, like many other advances in technology and materials and processes.
Herb Johnson BSEE 1976
-- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT info