3-D Printing = A New Industrial Revolution?

Just read an interesting post on Techcrunch about the next generation in user-generated content -- user-generated, community-driven manufacturing. Basically, picture eMachineShop with a social network overlay.

The missing link in this particular chain is provided by a spinoff from a "new project incubator" (itself a great idea) at Philips Electronics.

According to Techcrunch's Mike Butcher the process is fairly simple (and actually sounds a lot like fairly conventional rapid prototyping -- a subject with which we are intimately familiar here at IW):

"You just upload the design from some CAD software onto the site. Shapeways checks whether the object can be made and provides a real-time cost estimate. Within 10 working days, a tangible 3D product is produced and shipped globally. At the moment they only print to four kinds of plastics but other materials, like metal, are planned.

. . .Shapeways is actually aimed at people with 3D CAD software used by small businesses and will eventually offer its own online CAD tools. The site uses 3D industry standard file formats (STL, Collada, X3D) and the average cost of objects is $50 - $150. At the moment it looks like they are limited to desktop-sized pieces, but perhaps we’ll one day see Star-Trek-style printing of bigger objects."

Of course, on a site like Techcrunch, you knew they were going to bring it around to Star Trek somehow. Of course, the biggest innovation here might be the fact that they are looking to create a "design community" that will collectively innovate and create new designs. Ironic that the "next industrial revolution" might actually end up resembling the First -- i.e., cottage industry (in scale if not in technology or product).

Here's a cool video of a Motorola rapid prototyping process: