So far these machines have been used mainly to make detailed plastic models based on computer designs.
The company sells a 3-D printer called the Thing-O-Matic, which carves plastic models from digital, user-created blueprints.
The doctors at the Cleveland Clinic analyzed Culp's injuries using CAT scans and developed plastic models of her skull.
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All of a sudden, after having fought for so many years against merely aspirational advertising, our world is crowded with plastic models.
According to the report, fridges and freezers built in recent years contain more plastic than older models, but the highly flammable insulation is not separated from the parts of the appliance where a fire can start.
In the latest models, plastic cylinders inside the cushions absorb energy from collisions.
Some old-school cleaners are so resistant to change that the company still stocks brass-handled squeegees, even though newer models made of plastic offer protection against cold temperatures.
Nowadays, the can line includes models packed in molded plastic, a modest innovation of sorts.
Interior surfaces are a notch above those in other budget Honda models, with the hard plastic surfaces softened to the touch by a rubbery coating.
This was, after all, why banks and merchants stopped issuing their own plastic payment cards about 50 years ago and went instead for the shared models of American Express, MasterCard, Visa, etc.
Many of the conventional, yet affordable, machines turned out great models, but often with the tell-tale lines of the incremental plastic layering.
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An hour before his Emporio Armani presentation, the designer slipped on a pair of plastic shoe covers and stood on the pristine white runway to give the 70-odd models his ritual pep talk.
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