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Make Mego Parts From Your Printer...

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  • WannabeMego
    Made in the USA
    • May 2, 2003
    • 2170

    Make Mego Parts From Your Printer...

    Get Ready MegoHeads...

    Can you imagine the possibilities when you can make your own Mego Parts from your Computer using a 3D Printer...OMG!!!

    ...for more information, checkout the kid's site: http://www.fabathome.org

    I'm pretty sure this is gonna spark some discussions...

    Low-Cost, Home-Built 3-D Printer Could Launch a Revolution

    The Altair 8800, introduced in the early 1970s, was the first computer you could build at home from a kit. It was crude, didn't do much, but many historians would say that it launched the desktop computer revolution. Hod Lipson, Cornell assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, thinks a little machine he calls a Fab@Home may have the same impact.

    Some day, Lipson believes, every home will have a "fabber," a machine that replicates objects from plans supplied by a computer. Such devices could change how we acquire common products, he suggests: Instead of buying an iPod, you would download the plans over the Internet and the fabber would make one for you.


    Such machines could evolve from the 3-D printers currently used by industrial engineers for "rapid prototyping." They design parts in computer-aided design programs and feed the designs to 3-D printers to make working plastic models. A 3-D printer has a small nozzle that scans back and forth across a surface, depositing tiny droplets of quick-hardening plastic. After each scan, the nozzle moves up a notch and scans again until it has built up the complete object, layer by layer. With multiple nozzles or a means of swapping supply cartridges, the machine can create objects made of many different materials. An electronic circuit, for example, can be made by combining an organic semiconductor, metallic inks and ceramic insulators.

    Price tags for these machines average around $100,000, but you can build your own Fab@Home for about $2,300 worth of off-the-shelf parts. The prototype, designed by Evan Malone, a Ph.D. candidate in Lipson's Computational Synthesis Laboratory, is slower than the commercial models, and its resolution, or ability or produce fine detail, is lower, but people are finding practical -- and often unexpected -- uses for it.

    A high school student in Kentucky is "fabbing" chocolate bars.

    Commercial machines can't be modified, which, Lipson says, impedes the progress of the technology, but the Fab@Home is "Open Source." Anyone can download the plans at http://www.fabathome.org, which is getting about 20,000 hits a day. The site also includes construction hints, ideas for applications, notes on the history of 3-D printing and discussion groups. People are invited and encouraged to make improvements, and a sort of cult is slowly forming.

    So far, Lipson says, about a dozen people have said they are building one, and he knows of three that are actually up and running -- two at the University of Washington and one in Innsbruck, Austria. Lipson's group has built several and lent a couple to other researchers.

    • While the usual expectation is to make solid objects out of epoxy or other quick-hardening plastic, the Fab@Home also can be used with plaster, Play-Doh, silicone, wax (to make forms for casting), low-melting-point metals and a variety of other materials.

    • Cornell graduate student Dan Periard and Jennifer Yao '08 have been loading commercial frosting into the machine to make cake decorations. It's not frivolous work, Lipson says: Because frosting dissolves in water it can provide temporary support for hollow structures and later be washed away.

    • A high school student in Kentucky is experimenting with a heated syringe to "fab" with chocolate.

    Future fabbing machines will have to shift from one raw material to another in midstream and probably deposit material in three dimensions, not just layers, says Lipson. Research in his lab is taking early steps. Malone has built a machine that uses a rack of interchangeable cartridges to make devices out of several materials at once. So far, it has made a working battery, complete with outer case. Malone's long-range goal is to "print" a complete robot, including limbs, actuators, control circuitry and batteries.

    Meanwhile, Lipson says, just as the Altair inspired tinkerers to add disk drives, keyboards and monitors and write operating systems and word processors, perhaps the Fab@Home will inspire new fabbing technology.

    Article Link: http://www.physorg.com/news92328869.html
    Everyone is Entitled to MY Opinion...Your's, not so much!
  • MegoSteve
    Superman's Pal
    • Jun 17, 2005
    • 4135

    #2
    That's pretty cool, but the samples on that page from the home fabber look very, very crude. I don't see it catching on in a big way until you can "print" something that looks smooth and storebought.

    Comment

    • WannabeMego
      Made in the USA
      • May 2, 2003
      • 2170

      #3
      I Agree, but it shouldn't be too long (a couple of years) before it produces somewhat decent material.

      Before actual parts can be made, I think they'll have success at making molds.

      There is definitely a broader market out there that would love to use this.

      My Wife makes cakes and when I showed her this, the first thing she said was, "Mmmm, I can make my own chocolate/candy molds".

      ...it's definitely interesting...
      Last edited by WannabeMego; Jun 17, '07, 11:23 AM. Reason: Grammer
      Everyone is Entitled to MY Opinion...Your's, not so much!

      Comment

      • MegoSteve
        Superman's Pal
        • Jun 17, 2005
        • 4135

        #4
        My mind does kind of boggle at the idea of downloading a 3D model of a Mego custom head and printing it out.

        Comment

        • JDeRouen
          Author of Small Things
          • Jun 14, 2001
          • 16560

          #5
          I've read about these before, and actually know someone who worked on the original design. Pretty fascinating, and definitely a glimpse of the future.
          --
          Order Small Things, my contemporary fantasy novel featuring Megos, at http://joederouen.com/?page_id=176

          Comment

          • Marvelmania
            A Ray of Sunshine
            • Jun 17, 2001
            • 10392

            #6
            Interesting. One never knows what could be next.

            Comment

            • The Sentry
              Persistent Member
              • Jun 3, 2007
              • 1032

              #7
              Wow! That's pretty damned snazzy.........just think anything my little heart desires that has a image and PRESTO!

              Snazzy.........and scary at the same time too!
              sigpic
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              Comment

              • Meule
                Verbose Member
                • Nov 14, 2004
                • 28720

                #8
                Originally posted by Type3Toys
                Wow! You mean I could just type in a description of Jessica Alba and...presto? SWEEEEEEET!!!!!!
                Was thinking the same thing
                "...The agony of my soul found vent in one loud, long and final scream of despair..." - Edgar Allan Poe

                Comment

                • Marvelmania
                  A Ray of Sunshine
                  • Jun 17, 2001
                  • 10392

                  #9
                  Why does this remind of of Weird Science?

                  Comment

                  • toys2cool
                    Ultimate Mego Warrior
                    • Nov 27, 2006
                    • 28605

                    #10
                    wow how awesome wold that be
                    "Time to nut up or shut up" -Tallahassee

                    http://ultimatewarriorcollection.webs.com/
                    My stuff on facebook Incompatible Browser | Facebook

                    Comment

                    • mitchedwards
                      Mego Preservation Society
                      • May 2, 2003
                      • 11781

                      #11


                      Think B.A. Where did you hide the Megos?

                      Comment

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