Do we even want desktop 3D printing?

April 7, 2010

There is a lot of hype currently about desktop 3D printing. A lot of people are saying that the dream is to be able to make anything with desktop 3D printers.

I love the entire “be able to make anything.” But, why “ desktop 3D printing”? Why is the predefined form factor part of the dream?

• Is it because paper printers went from large expensive things to cheap desktop things? Are we stuck in this allegory?
• Is it because when you’re making a 3D printer it is much easier to make one with a small build volume than a large build volume? Is it therefore because making a desktop 3D printer is so much more achievable than a larger one?
• Is it because a cheap printer is important and so smaller ones are advantageous in this regard?
• Is it because the Star Trek Replicators are desktop sized?
• Is it because this is a good size for a consumer electronic device?
• Is it because of the development of cell phones and other technologies that seem to indicate that small is more advanced?
• Is it because making them this size would increase the adoption rate because more people could fit them in their homes easier?
• Or is this desktop somehow in some other way important? Somehow crucial to the entire endeavor?

What am I missing?

My fridge is not desktop sized. My washing machine is not desktop sized. In fact my washing machine would be near useless if it were desktop sized and it could only wash two socks at a time. My dishwasher would be less efficient as a device and less useful to me if it were smaller. Bicycles & ovens would also suck as smaller devices. I’m not saying that someone will not find a use for a tiny fridge or tiny oven: just that the most useful versions of these devices tend to not fit on your desktop.

We operate on a human scale and so the things we will print will be in this scale too. We make small things with 3D printing currently because big things are expensive. But, I totally want to make big things too: houses, couches, cars etc.. I want to be able to make anything. So why should the technological development of 3D printing be limited by a seemingly arbitrarily chosen form factor? Would “backpack portable” 3D printing or fridge sized 3D printing not be easier or better?

Creative Commons, Attribution Le Vent Le Cri.

Comments

George Bell
April 7, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Yeah, and I don’t want that white powder all over my house! Desktop SLS does not sound good!

Dan
April 7, 2010 at 3:39 pm
If they come up with a fridge sized 3D printer that costs the same as a fridge that is interesting. Maybe the printer manufacturers should concentrate there instead of the desktop.

Michael Williams
April 7, 2010 at 3:39 pm
How much better would your washer, dryer, fridge, house, car be if they were collapsible? (Jetson’s anyone?) Those things are large for necessity. I wouldn’t expect to see a 3D printed washer any time soon, but I could see a replacement knob being printed at home to make a simple repair and save a trip to the local retailer.

Dan
April 7, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Maybe 3D printers should be embedded in the architecture. Like a robotic arm with a print head on the end that can turn your whole garage into a 3D printer.

David Drummond
April 7, 2010 at 4:15 pm
I think people are using “desktop” as a synonym for “personal”, in the same way that desktop computers and personal computers are roughly synonymous. You’re right that some people may be really specific about targeting the desktop; perhaps that is limiting. But “desktop” implies things by association: you can carry it home from the store; you can in principle set it up yourself; it operates more-or-less independently from other things aside from your computer. None of those things is true (at least for most people) of a clothes washer, for example. “Desktop,” then, is an aspirational term. I wouldn’t fret too much about it.

I do want a desktop 3D printer. It’s a very human size. In fact, the size of a human is about the size of the biggest thing that could sit on (or, as with many desktop computers, under) a desk. Sure, we want to print houses and beds and cars and couches. But given the longstanding human association of size with permanence and cost, we will print those big things very infrequently, making a personal printer for that scale a poor investment. Small stuff, you can imagine being higher frequency: print a birthday gift, a pair of shoes, fashion accessories, hobby parts, a book, a ball, lunch…

Sure, argue for disposable houses and cars. I don’t buy it, not for a long enough time that this whole notion of arguing about the format of 3D printers will seem quaint.

Julian Gall
April 7, 2010 at 4:17 pm
As I look around my room, almost every “thing” that is not furniture would fit in a six inch cube or smaller. Exceptions are my laptop and … my desktop printer. The ability to make parts up to, say, 8 by 6 by 2 inches is the ability to make almost everything we use. Commercial plastic mouldings have been no bigger than that until recent times.

Also, I don’t have room for another fridge!

Odd
April 7, 2010 at 8:28 pm
In one sense I guess it’s a good thing there’s desktop size talk…as it’s likely to make the technology cheaper.

But to be honest – the whole idea of having everything yourself is one of the main reasons our society is likely to go extinct. (climate change/war/corporatism)

Unless you have a massive 3D model turnover – why not appreciate Shapeways as the full on service it is?

People seem to forget it’s handy to have access to a team of people refining the software, refining the process, chasing cost, chasing tech…all while I’m concentrating on building better objects. 😉

George Bell
April 7, 2010 at 9:52 pm
In 20 years, if it goes like 2D printing, we will be able to buy cheap 3D printers for under $100. However the “ink cartridges” will only last 10 minutes and cost $500 each! Plus the printer will break after a few months. Seriously, I think we have gone through at least 10 cheap 2D printers in the past 10 years.

Casey Sharpe
April 7, 2010 at 10:48 pm
In a perfect world, it would be like printers are today, in some ways. We print the little things at home if we need it quick and not as good, and then we have a shapeways in every city (like kinkos!) to print big & important things for us.