Rapid Prototyping & Piracy

[PopeyeFAFL]

At my work (aerospace manufacturer), we are using Rapid Prototyping (such as the link below). There are even metallic powder that could be use, so it is not only plastic parts.In some cases, these parts are good enough for production parts.Do you think, that if those machines goes down in price, that it could lead to piracy of manufacturing goods and destroy the economy (at least partially).If something broke at your house (or some lesser component on your car), you simply go to the Internet and download the 3D solid, that make your part, bypassing the creator/manufacturer of that spare part (with all the legal, hazard that this could imply, there are already bogus aircraft parts being made, so imagine).The piracy culture of today (music, movie, consumer goods, etc.) is already well establish, I think this will simply add to this.Don't you think?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...latedh ... ?v...lated

[northvibe]

meh the material in that isnt going to be the right one for many household components. Also the cost for just making home components is to high for me to consider. Most people have the mentality of going to walmart to get something cheap...I think maybe in the future but not anytime soon.On another note, when I first saw those some years back...i was thinking, kick (removed), i want one!

[PopeyeFAFL]

Quote, originally posted by northvibe »meh the material in that isnt going to be the right one for many household components. Also the cost for just making home components is to high for me to consider. Most people have the mentality of going to walmart to get something cheap...I think maybe in the future but not anytime soon.On another note, when I first saw those some years back...i was thinking, kick (removed), i want one!As mentioned, metallic powder is also possible, so soon it will be possible to create all sorts of hinge, fitting, etc.I forgot if it was in Alvin Toffler "Future Shock" or "The Third Wave", but he foresaw a world were production will be more local. (I know that Alvin Toffler was right on some point and wrong on plenty of other).So, perhaps one way of reducing our dependency to oil is to reduce energy required to move goods.One can imagine a world where buying stuff at the local shopping center, trigger (via inventory control) replacement good to be manufacture, not only just in time, but also just in the quantity desired, then ship over a small distance (just like USAToday newspapers are printed locally), so several production units instead of giant one.There is still a long way to allow these technologies to compete with the efficiency of mass production, but a more local foods & goods production is not out of the question.