Shoeprint: the place to get your shoes printed

I have heard scraps and passing remarks about 3D printing, but I never took it very seriously. I assumed the technology was impractical and probably not as impressive as it sounded. What I didn't realize was that people have been working on 3D printers for two decades now and there are even consumer models available:

 

Because who doesn't want a big red lego block? (These puppies start at $1299 and seem to be mostly used for making gaudy jewelry. cube)

There are printers with much more capability than that of course, and who knows what the potential is. These block-building models are probably to the future of 3D printing what the Atari was to game consoles. From this article in the Economist:

 Far-fetched as this may seem, many other people are using three-dimensional printing technology to create similarly remarkable things. These include medical implants, jewellery, football boots designed for individual feet, lampshades, racing-car parts, solid-state batteries and customised mobile phones. Some are even making mechanical devices. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Peter Schmitt, a PhD student, has been printing something that resembles the workings of a grandfather clock. It took him a few attempts to get right, but eventually he removed the plastic clock from a 3D printer, hung it on the wall and pulled down the counterweight. It started ticking.

There are printers that can make airplane parts from titanium, and even micro printers that can print a model of a jet with dimensions measured in micrometers. This video was made by a company called Nanoscribe - apparently they refer to this, very fancily, as "3D laser lithography". It will be very cool to have these tiny ships around when they figure out how to shrink people.

Anyway, just a few more years until I can print out a new iphone to replace the one that ended up on the bottom of a river. For now I leave you with this interesting, sometimes creepy, unintentionally funny video explaining 3D printing. You will notice the very inspired name given to their fake shoe-printing store.

EDIT:

Just came across this TEDtalks video about 3D printers for molecules