[Blindmath] anyone heard of 3-D printing?

[Ken Perry]

This stuff has been huge for the last few years in research, at
conferences, and just about anywhere where people are trying to make
science accessible.  One problem with the cheaper models is they have to be
constantly aligned and the results of print out's are not as good as the
more expensive ones.  I saw a good session on the pro's and con's of a
couple of the printers at CSUN this year and my advice is watch some of the
folks doing the research at schools because it doesn't cost them personal
money to buy the wrong printer and find out it doesn't work as good as
advertised.  My problem with this technology right now is while the results
of print out's are awesome it many times takes a sited person to work with
a blind person to get a good result being that the software to get the 3d
rendering the way you want is not exactly accessible.  

Pleas Sina or Tylor let me know if I am wrong I have only worked with a
couple of the cheaper maker bots and now the 3doodler but my biggest
problem is getting the images I want into a form I can use.

ken

-----Original Message-----
From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of qubit
Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2014 7:07 AM
To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Blindmath] anyone heard of 3-D printing?

This one caught me by surprise the other day on a talk show.
I listened, then googled "3-D printer" and got some fascinating hits. 
Apparently there are printers available that produce high resolution 3-D 
plastic objects from digital input models.
It is also called additive manufacturing or plastic holography.
But that's not all, the price of one of these units is as low as $499.
Try googling -- it is an interestiing read.
I couldn't help but think of possible uses by blind persons.
On the tv interview they demo'd the unit and described how this technology 
has been used and misused.  For example, some people have used it to create

plastic handguns, which are illegal as they look so much like the real 
thing.
He also demo'd creating a plastic apple.
There is a lot more on the internet.

Anyway, am I behind the times, or has anyone else heard of 3-D printers?
I want one :)
--le



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