User:Nmt5072

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About Me

My name is Nithin Thomas and I am currently in the Mechanical Engineering program here at Penn State.

Blogs

Second Blog Entry:

Well I'm back at it again. Today I will be discussing "Wealth Without Money" by Adrian Bowyer.

1) I personally don't see the whole ‘self-replicating universal constructor’ too be feasible right now. I do think that it is an interesting idea that needs to be expanded upon and promoted to future generations. This could very well be the future but the only draw back to it currently is the wide spread knowledge of this technology. Also another major obstacle are the manufactures that build products. I feel that as a manufacturer they would lose an important part of their income in spare parts which will result in them charging more for products to make up the difference. Unless, they charge for downloads and having a way for the downloaded file to be printed only once, I don't see manufacturers agreeing.

2) Bowyer describes "Wealth Without Money" as a way for people who cant afford to create their own things to have the opportunity to do it through 3D printing. He states that rapid prototyping is the first technology that can simultaneously make people wealthy while reducing the need for industrial production. I can only agree with half of this statement. I do think that rapid prototyping will lower the dependency on industrial production but I'm not sure it will be making people wealthy. In order for people to be wealthy they need to be making it in mass production and selling it at a competitive price. But when your comparing your product to a larger corporation that can create the same part you are making at a cheaper rate, the customer will always go for a price break and go with the cheaper one. This method of rapid prototyping can help make you wealthy in one sense by not buying replacement parts that are overpriced. But that's just having the corporations lose pennies at a time. That is not an effective fighting method.

3) I personally thing that the reprap project can take off quite well with the right advertising. I like his idea about printing replacement spare parts if manufacturers can agree with it. I like how its DIY projects where one can take a look back at it and say "I made that." If it got real high tech I would have loved to see a big enough 3D printer be able to print a house or even furniture. It could provide an affordable solution to low income families and even homeless people on the street.

First Blog Entry:

One object that I found useful is an LED rhombicuboctahedron disco ball. Lets be honest, the name is self sold me on this design. I personally like the idea of combining some 3-D printing with some electric wiring to create this disco ball. It would be a nice addition to house party. The person who designed this even went to the extent to create a part that would help align sides together in order to make sure the zip ties work properly. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:28201

One object that I found artistic/ beautiful is Twisterous Vase for the Rostock 3D Printer. This design looks really neat but I feel like this will be really hard to print due to support layers needed for the spiral body and also the size of the vase might be taller than the size we can print. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:28613

One object that I found pointless/ useless is the Piano Neck-Tie. I feel like this is a nice concept but where would one wear this. It's not like I could were a piano tie to a job interview and be taken seriously for a job. I personally don't see any gain from making this other than for printing XP. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:29126

One object that I found funny is the Despicable Me Minion. Every time I see this I start cracking up into laughter because these minons were hilarious in Despicable Me. The design doesn't seem too complicated to print and it could easily be a good stress reliever for me. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:28894

One object that I found weird is the Larz Chicken Shack- Chickenmobile. This car looks weird in general and wouldn't want to print it out because it just looks unattractive. Obviously this based on an original car design but I still don't see a need for this. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:27966