from Hacker News

Sculpture Made On A MakerBot

by k0mplex on 10/21/12, 2:48 AM with 29 comments

  • by EvanMiller on 10/21/12, 5:16 AM

    MYTH: 3D printers will never be able to print underwear

    FACT: Wrong. Hard plastic underwear provides amazing protection and support

    MYTH: 3D printers will never be able to print the Mona Lisa

    FACT: Wrong again. Today you can download a 3D model for "rectangular hard plastic canvas" from the Internet, print it out using your Makerbot, and then paint the Mona Lisa on it

    MYTH: 3D printers will never be able to print small, wobbly, leaky coffee cups that warp when hot beverages are poured into them, and that lacerate your lips when you attempt to drink from them

    FACT: This is already possible on some of today's higher-end 3D printers

    MYTH: 3D printers are useful in any way

    FACT: It turns out this myth is true. Watching a 3D printer emit a hard plastic object in a color that nobody wants keeps nerds in a state of rapture that prevents them from engaging in more dangerous activities such as shooting heroin or starting actual businesses

  • by grannyg00se on 10/21/12, 4:06 AM

    It looks like the assembly and finishing of a 3D printed group of parts was taken to a whole new level. I don't see any indication that a whole new level has been achieved in the 3D printing itself. Great finished product though.

  • by delinka on 10/21/12, 12:42 PM

    "MakerBot Desktop 3D Printers can only make things up to a certain size." The printer did not make the horse head. The printer produced the parts (up to a certain size) and Mr. Wenman assembled and finished it. He made the horse head.

    "...but they’re not, like, museum-quality great." Notwithstanding that the printer can't finish the pieces to make them "museum quality," there are striations on the horse head that come from how the plastic is stacked up. Not Museum Quality.

    While this is a fine use of 3D printing, it's not a major advance like the article tries to make it.

  • by ChuckMcM on 10/21/12, 4:02 AM

    Nicely done. I have considered doing these sorts of sectionals on my replicator. Still working on a nice 'low density' internalized structure (solid PLA/ABS is out of the question) which provides the necessary support and rigidity. My last attempt was intersecting triangles.

  • by viviantan on 10/21/12, 6:37 AM

    You'd still need quite a bit of artistic talent to make hard plastic look good. But would I want a super expensive and buggy 3D printer for Christmas? Yes please!!!

    Btw, has anyone used 123D Catch (or any 123D software)? From what I gleaned from Autodesk's TOS, you inevitably end up granting them a irrevocable license to use your 3D models however they please. Perhaps that's why 123D remains a "hobbyist" software suite. I still haven't heard of anyone who uses it professionally.

  • by sliverstorm on 10/21/12, 6:17 AM

    MYTH: MakerBot Desktop 3D Printers can only make things up to a certain size. BUSTED

    This awesome photo shows the 29 unfinished blocks of the horse head before Cosmo went to work fusing them

    So, not busted after all?