You can get a cheap one for a few hundred bucks. Nearly all colleges and universities have them, and most of the time students can use them if they pay for materials (which are dirt cheap). I believe the local public library in my town even has one for the public to use.
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It sounds like some sort of advanced futuristic sci-fi thing, but if you look around, you can probably find one that you can use. It's worth it.
- FunStats
(PeachyPrinter, the first $100 3D printer. Coming this year: http://www.peachyprinter.com )
A 3D printer makes real objects, generally out of plastic. There are different machines all classified as "3D printers" that use different materials, but generally people are thinking of the plastic-printing ones.
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It can make anything, from LEGOs to figurines (even a mini-you) to mechanical parts to weapons (that's scary). Here's a website dedicated to sharing things that can be printed:
http://www.thingiverse.com/explore/newest/3d-printing
- FunStats
Dremel even makes one now. It costs far more than I would expect, but I have heard that it is a of a grade where the cost is appropriate.
What's even cooler/weirder is that it is available in retail. It is being carried at (some) Home Depots. They have a display set up and you can go see it running and examples of the objects it turns out... and if you have the money, you can go get one and have it on your desk tonight.
My high school has one for the engineering and tech classes. The teacher is really chill so even though I'm not taking eng. and tech this year I still get to use the 3d printer.
Yikes! Links with ampersands in them (&) don't work when clicked (come on FunSubstance, get on that!) Luckily most of that link is trackers, and can be dropped. Here's a working one:
http://www.tequipment.net/Velleman/3DPENU/General-Accessories/
It's a neat product!
- FunStats
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It sounds like some sort of advanced futuristic sci-fi thing, but if you look around, you can probably find one that you can use. It's worth it.
- FunStats
(PeachyPrinter, the first $100 3D printer. Coming this year: http://www.peachyprinter.com )
.
It can make anything, from LEGOs to figurines (even a mini-you) to mechanical parts to weapons (that's scary). Here's a website dedicated to sharing things that can be printed:
http://www.thingiverse.com/explore/newest/3d-printing
- FunStats
What's even cooler/weirder is that it is available in retail. It is being carried at (some) Home Depots. They have a display set up and you can go see it running and examples of the objects it turns out... and if you have the money, you can go get one and have it on your desk tonight.
I have one of these! They're $200.00 here but they're like $50.00 on Amazon/Ebay. Filament is expensive from professional companies, too, but you can get .5kg of it on Ebay for about $10.
It's totally worth it to get one.
http://www.tequipment.net/Velleman/3DPENU/General-Accessories/
It's a neat product!
- FunStats