Analyst predicts printable electronics boom--<i>Nerd thread</i>

EE Times ^ | 9/6/05 | Peter Clarke

[andyk]

the parts get easier and cheaper, but the installation is the tough part.

Hah!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Skin.....?

Now that is something!

[dljordan]

"These technologies have been in use within the rapid prototyping industry for many years now, and I predict it will make the transition to a consumer technology."

Saw some techs reproducing a 5000 year old spearhead the other night. They took some kind of X-ray of the spearhead (it was imbedded in a buffalo skull) fed it into the computer and the machine manufactured a spearhead out of sprayed plastic a stroke at a time. Amazing.

[NormB]

totally!

Wait, is it good to be a nerd now?

[MississippiMan]

Saw some techs reproducing a 5000 year old spearhead the other night. They took some kind of X-ray of the spearhead (it was imbedded in a buffalo skull) fed it into the computer and the machine manufactured a spearhead out of sprayed plastic a stroke at a time. Amazing.

YO! Sounds like a Ballistic Printer; I believe it's so named because it actually shoots out the plastic necessary to build the object. The other major RP technology that I'm aware of is Stereo Lithography, which bounces a laser beam off a spinning disc and into a vat of liquid material. So cool.

MM