3D printer wows crowds at world's top high-tech fair

Nice, would love to test this baby out.

Yes, impressive. But another nail in the coffin of employment for less skilled workers. All these innovations just allow companies to cut costs and staff, but are reason why base rate unemployment in many countries is now 5% or more. Lucky Japan with its old geezers guarding holes, waving lightwands and generally making everything safe and noisy.

Yes, impressive. Just one step further for the like of US, Indiana, Notre Dame former football player Manti Te'o from 'actualizing' his imaginary girlfriends.

we bought one of these two years ago for our work, I'm not sure why it's making the news now.

This machine retails for 1,500 euros ($2,000), making it attractive only for “ambitious” hobbyists, he acknowledged, although he said the price would inevitably come down as the technology improves.

That's why it's making news now; prices have fallen to those of laser printers when they were first introduced.

I'd read how useful these devices will be for long-term space exploration such as a manned mission to Mars. Astronauts will be able to easily fabricate items to replace those damaged during the trip.

Now this could be a way to replace missing or lost Lego blocks!

Some people use these to make guns. Expect government regulation very soon.

timeonMar. 06, 2013 - 12:14PM JST

we bought one of these two years ago for our work, I'm not sure why it's making the news now.

Yea, confused me too, since 3d printing, even high quality printing has been around for a while. Hell, bandai's used 3d printers in their gunpla development center for half a decade, and they have actually made the development phase entirely CAD/3D printing based.

If they wanted real news, the solidoodle is a quarter of the price but nearly the same specs: http://hackaday.com/2012/05/16/silidoodle-a-500-3d-printer/

@laguna: awesome, indeed a great idea, but i wonder if the material they are fabricated from is really SPACE material.

@electric2004: LOL

ScroteMar. 06, 2013 - 01:05PM JST Some people use these to make guns. Expect government regulation very soon.

Some people also use them to make cheap, high quality artificial limbs for the disabled.... http://inhabitat.com/17-year-old-creates-a-3d-printed-robotic-prosthetic-arm-for-250/

... expect the medical suppliers lobby to start shouting for regulation and hyping up the "risks" of this technology. Home-made zip-guns are nothing new. As I've pointed out before, regulation should focus on bullets. You can 3D print a gun, you can't 3D print a bullet (the casing, yes, the rest, no.)

It will all start with the adult industry....

the machine costs 2,000 euros but how much does the ink cost?!

i'm gonna use it to make me a sammich

Hope I can start printing un-matched pairs of socks after doing the laundry. Hopefully will save me a lot from buying entirely new pairs. But, same as @rickyvee I wonder how much the plastics would cost to print out a sock.

This demonstration is way behind the times. In California, we actually produced an entire automobile with other materials besides plastic. This German model is the US model from the year 2001.

And when the printer starts printing copies of itself, we're really in trouble.