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Ask HN: Why did consumer 3D printing take so long to be invented?

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Re: Ask HN: Why did consumer 3D printing take so long to be invented?

#181
post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

0000000I 0approve 0000this 0message. (But wouldn't outnerding a nerd require not just vel0city's smug sense of superiority, but also demonstrating more than a de minimis level of knowledge or technical skill?)

000oops 000sorry 0for 0my 0hand, I'm 0not 0using 0iambic 000or 000any other 0aids*. 0You, 0are 00059 0from 0000here. * If GenAI is good at poetic forms, could it be asked to generate sentences with a particular mono- vs multi-syllable word pattern? Or would this search better be done in Prolog/with a TTS db?

Tr0cheeGPT (if you don't mind leading stress) will get you fl0wing like P0e: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8Z0VynTR84

Re: Ask HN: Why did consumer 3D printing take so long to be invented?

#182
post #165
post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that 32-bit chips (and decent instruction sets) make everything much easier. You wouldn't necessarily have to interpret G-code on the 8-bit microcontroller itself, although it's about the same difficulty as interpreting BASIC on it. Keep in mind that keeping the motors of a 3-D printer busy only requires a few speed changes per second, maybe 10 at most. By contrast, the 8051 in an Epson MX-80 printed about 80…

> What similar opportunities are we missing today? Something You have not done yourself or something for what You have not paid to someone else to do. Life is complicated, it is very typical when appear opportunity but nobody use it. Because to use opportunity need 3 things: 1. The will. 2. Enough qualification (or enough IQ and time to learn). 3. Free (!!!) resources or cheap borrowed funds. If only one thing from l…

Yes, of great interest! And in particular I'm interested in how to make do in environments full of prohibitive regulations that make it difficult to do anything, because I live in Argentina.

Re: Ask HN: Why did consumer 3D printing take so long to be invented?

#183
post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

0000000I 0approve 0000this 0message. (But wouldn't outnerding a nerd require not just vel0city's smug sense of superiority, but also demonstrating more than a de minimis level of knowledge or technical skill?)

> but also demonstrating more than a de minimis level of knowledge or technical skill HN comments are not the right place for personal attacks. :'( I'm being attacked for my neanderthal inability to understand five digit numbers :( my primitive understanding of time can only really comprehend two digit year values. Today is the year 1924, right? I failed to write my calendar application to accommodate such high year…

000Well, 01924 000is 0about right, 000because 000Morse 0hadn't 000invented the 000pure 0serial 000telegraph 0yet in 0001824. 000Five 0vs 000four is 000a 0different* channel; 000we're 0using zero 000not 000any 0of 000its successors.

000make 0any 000sense?

* https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/86617#page/385/mode...

Re: Ask HN: Why did consumer 3D printing take so long to be invented?

#184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

000oops 000sorry 0for 0my 0hand, I'm 0not 0using 0iambic 000or 000any other 0aids*. 0You, 0are 00059 0from 0000here. * If GenAI is good at poetic forms, could it be asked to generate sentences with a particular mono- vs multi-syllable word pattern? Or would this search better be done in Prolog/with a TTS db?

Tr0cheeGPT (if you don't mind leading stress) will get you fl0wing like P0e: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8Z0VynTR84

MC Poe going to need a gastric rinse / After the glou-glou; he hitting that 'sinthe!

Re: Ask HN: Why did consumer 3D printing take so long to be invented?

#186

It was invented but protected by patents, so it wasn't until those patents expired that companies and hobbyists started to experiment. Early 3D printers hadn't figured out things like layer adhesion yet so parts tended to be too weak to be very useful. It wasn't clear that this was an area for improvement rather than a fundamental downside of the technology.

That's also my understanding. The 3D printing boom started when the patents expired.

Wonderful illustration of how terrible patents are for technological developments of humanity and for consumers in general.

Re: Ask HN: Why did consumer 3D printing take so long to be invented?

#187
post #151
post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think PETG would've also worked. Keep in mind neither of those plastics were rare at the time. The filament form factor was essentially nonexistent though, which makes the whole 3d printing business a lot trickier.

It depends on what you mean by "rare". Both PETG and PLA were commercially available when RepRap started, but they weren't very widely used. PLA's biggest use at the time was reabsorbable medical implants, for example. I don't know what people used PETG for in 02005. I'm not sure either of them existed in the 01970s.

Nearly all plastic bottles under 10 metric liter are PET (many 10 liters produced from Poly(methyl methacrylate)).

PETG is modified PET, so it depend on point of view - (glass semi-full or semi-empty). Any way, in Ukraine people recycle plastic bottles into filament, which is considered by printer software as PETG.

Re: Ask HN: Why did consumer 3D printing take so long to be invented?

#188
post #169

1. Patents 2. Cheap CAD 3. Arduino (IMHO...before this it wasn't easy to interface to USB/PC for anyone who wasn't EE) 4. Surge of DIY online (Forums, mailing lists, instructables, pinterest) 5. Reprap leading the way with recycled parts as well as cheap imported motors and controllers. 6. Lack of interest- Machinists could usually do the same thing but better using subtractive. Additive was seen as "useless" for rea…

> 3. Arduino (IMHO...before this it wasn't easy to interface to USB/PC for anyone who wasn't EE)

I seen CNC of late 90s, which use x86 desktop computer as controller, and in Usenet stored lengthy talks about which boards are suitable for this task (as they made PWM by software on LPT port).

Sure, LPT was not connected to stepper motors directly, but using opto-coupling.

To be informative, Arduino is used to protect from copy printer by Chinese, as directly driven via LPT is not protected at all, but on Arduino you could set read-protect bits for mc flash and it will be not easy to read it (even when Western hackers regularly show read protected flash, it is not regularly happen). ..And from marketing view, it is good, that printer with Arduino could work from flash card, without working computer near.

Re: Ask HN: Why did consumer 3D printing take so long to be invented?

#189
post #182
post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What similar opportunities are we missing today? Something You have not done yourself or something for what You have not paid to someone else to do. Life is complicated, it is very typical when appear opportunity but nobody use it. Because to use opportunity need 3 things: 1. The will. 2. Enough qualification (or enough IQ and time to learn). 3. Free (!!!) resources or cheap borrowed funds. If only one thing from l…

Yes, of great interest! And in particular I'm interested in how to make do in environments full of prohibitive regulations that make it difficult to do anything, because I live in Argentina.

What I learn in Usenet and on early forums, to avoid discuss country regulations, so I will not promise to support this branch of discussion.

But well, as you ask, for about prohibitive regulations, we in Ukraine made (and making) two things.

First, we are practically motherland of anarchy, and was few multiple years periods, when country live without government and without regulations. You could read about deregulation in books of

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daron_Acemoglu

and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_von_Mises https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Rothbard

also I myself like Ostrom, Elinor (1990). Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action.

Second, when government become powerful, we read prohibitive as it is - we just avoid made business in prohibitive niches. Because of this appear paradox, government and armed forces said that country need rockets, they even allocated large budgets to buy rockets from private companies, but nobody make rockets as they are prohibited.

In some cases, possible to make virtual business or semi-abroad - it is possible to create business in US or in EU (or other countries with adequate regulations) and hire people remote.

As conclusion, I mean, the best way to deal with prohibitive regulations is just flee abroad, to country with more adequate regulations, and you could from abroad support deregulation struggle if you wish. But if it is hard to flee, you could try to open business abroad.

For other opportunities I writing email.

Re: Ask HN: Why did consumer 3D printing take so long to be invented?

#190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's also my understanding. The 3D printing boom started when the patents expired.

Wonderful illustration of how terrible patents are for technological developments of humanity and for consumers in general.

You're not wrong. But at the same time, I feel like a patent is roughly the only thing that could stop a wealthy international corporation from just copying my new product and then out-competing me with their generous marketing budget. If the expected payout is large enough, a patent will then also help me find a law firm who's willing to work purely on commission, meaning it causes one of those rare instances where I might be able to meet an international corp at eye level, even if I'm a solo inventor.
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