The December 12, Wall Street Journal discussed how 3-D printing machines are now becoming available to consumers to produce objects in their homes as diverse as iPod covers, action figures or ash trays. Such machines also known as rapid prototyping machines have been in use by manufacturers, scientists, and professional artists for years but this is ground breaking because it brings the power to produce objects quickly at low volume to the common person.
Video about consumer 3-D printers
Last year Today’s Machining World did an interview with the late Larry Rhoades, former CEO of Ex-One, a company that produces 3-D printing machines which can print metal parts and tools for rapid manufacturing using powdered metal as opposed to the softer material which the traditional 3-D printing machines use.
An Excerpt of an interview with Rhoades, the visionary behind 3-D metal printing.
