The development of 3D printing machines is racing ahead and they will be down-scaled for home use, so that consumers can instantly create thousands of objects at the touch of a button.
Before long Drumm read a story about Makerbot, a startup based in New York making affordable 3D printing machines, and within months he had saved up enough money to buy his own 3D printer.
FORBES: The Story of a Former Pastor Who Conquered Kickstarter and Created a 3D Printer Company
Many specialise in making complex and valuable equipment for factories, such as cigarette-rolling machines or printing presses.
ECONOMIST: The fabled Mittelstand is feeling the pinch more than most
The price of steel in particular fell by 80 percent between 1880 and 1900, with resulting knock-on effects in the prices of everything from pots and pans through sewing machines to printing presses.
FORBES: Is the Bank of Japan Really Easing -- Or Does It Just Want to Depreciate the Yen?
The strike turned up 4 million pieces of fake Microsoft products, plus machines such as replicators and printing presses.
For a start, the technical difficulties of reintroducing a national currency, reprogramming computers and vending machines, minting coins and printing notes are huge (three years' preparation was needed for the euro).
But Heidelberger Druck has a comfortable market share of 40%--twice its nearest rival--of the machines that are responsible for printing such things as Vogue's fashion layouts and unlit Coca-Cola signs (and the European edition of this magazine, too).
As researchers, they were inspired by the promise of 3D printing technology but frustrated by the price tag and complexity of truly high-quality machines.
Weinberg points out that even before consumer 3D-printing became fashionable, gun enthusiasts were already making their own metal firearm components with computer controlled milling machines and posting their designs to sites like CNCguns.com.
FORBES: 'Wiki Weapon Project' Aims To Create A Gun Anyone Can 3D-Print At Home
应用推荐