3D Printing

[Talon]

Interesting Video posted on CNN today 'A 3-D printer created this shoe'. I'm impressed with the 16 different printing colors and the fact it can print in two different plastics - ABS and compostable PLA. Legos are made of ABS, although I doubt the exact formula is known (often extra ingredients are added to change the plastic properties).

3D Printing in Vibrant Colors and ABS plastic

Interesting that today is 3/18 and the video says it was added on 3/31! You too can see the future, lol

Color Cartridge info

The cartridges start at $49 and the printer is $1,299. I still think it will be decades until it could compete with Lego's price per piece (if ever!), but it might be cool to design some add-ons and sell them or be used to replace rare parts if the colors match. In this machine, the Cube, you can only use one color in a print. On their $3,999 machine (CubeX Trio) you can use 3 colors in a print.

[terrymc4677]

when i was in 3rd grade my dad paid $800 for a betamax vcr...lol. the prices you quoted about the printer made me think of that. in 15 years these printers will probably be available at walmart for $75.

[redeemed763]

There's quite a few blogs and articles floating around here about all this. I know a lot of people are worried about being able to make Lego Bricks for cheap and them loosing value but I don't see how this could be the case. Getting ahold of the materials and making legos on a large enough scale to affect the market prices just isn't feasible with this technology, regardless of how developed it gets. Think how long it takes to stamp out a mold instead of milling a piece from scratch, there is absolutely no comparison, not to mention just how much more plastic the printed legos will use in comparison.

[Talon]

when i was in 3rd grade my dad paid $800 for a betamax vcr

[redeemed763]

The real way it would be neat would be making specialty bricks that cost a lot of money and are very rare, I still the Lego brick wall as the cheapest way to get new bricks.

[Darth Lego]

The real way it would be neat would be making specialty bricks that cost a lot of money and are very rare, I still the Lego brick wall as the cheapest way to get new bricks.

The PAB wall is simply awesome. You get a nice selection of parts that are normally cheaper if you know how to pack it into the cups. I believe Comicblast recently got 1,000 pieces into his large container. (They were mostly small pieces of course.) That is one example of how you can get pieces for cheap.

[dunkers97]

This looks pretty cool! Though after reading that article about this its kind'f scary.

[MrMorden]

This could affect prices a bit when people can assemble sets by buying pieces, and printing the rare and very expensive pieces. Also the risk of getting fake pieces (for the expensive ones) from bricklink will increase. The cost per printed piece will propably remain quite high though.

[Grolim]

Wonder what the accuracy would be like. I think it would be hard to match the micron level detail that Lego has. You'd end up with bricks that have no grip strength.

[justgod]

Interesting that today is 3/18 and the video says it was added on 3/31! You too can see the future, lol

Says added March 31st, 2012. So you too can see the PAST...lol

[Darth Lego]

Wonder what the accuracy would be like. I think it would be hard to match the micron level detail that Lego has. You'd end up with bricks that have no grip strength.

They would need to be so precise that a $3,000 printer wouldn't be able to match normal Lego bricks. (The accuracy and quality would need to be great in order for the 3D bricks to remotely compete.) Maybe a more expensive one that a bigger company might use could be a little better depending on the plastic used. The 3-D printing technology is in too early of a stage to really threaten Lego.

[gte206w]

Can't wait for the chance to buy a $2 LBG boat rigging

[Guest AnnexBrett]

"Interesting that today is 3/18 and the video says it was added on 3/31! You too can see the future, lol" Seems like 3/31/2012 - saying that based on the news line on the bottom of the screen! Those news happened a year ago! LOL

[Talon]

Seems like 3/31/2012 - saying that based on the news line on the bottom of the screen! Those news happened a year ago! LOL

It is interesting others are seeing the year. I went back and looked and for me the date is at the top without a year! I guess the news truly is local (or localized). Sorry, my bad!

[Guest AnnexBrett]

It is interesting others are seeing the year. I went back and looked and for me the date is at the top without a year! I guess the news truly is local (or localized).

I dont see the year either, but one of the news that runs across during the interview- I know for fact- that happened last march ('the Hungarian president wont resign despite plagiarism accusations'). So its either a year old video, or the CNN got the news a year later...anyways 3D printing is cool.

I think it wont affect the lego sets itself at all, since what you printing is not a lego, its a copy (like mega blocks). HOWEVER I see potential in the minifig line - custom minifigs or building a clone army (thats pretty popular), etcetc.

[redeemed763]

Lego bricks are made to a very tight tolerance but it is really the design itself of the bricks that gives them holding strength. I bet a decent printer can match Lego quality as far as construction is concerned.

[pickleboy]

3-d printing in actually the future of retail in a lot of cases. As someone mentioned above when these are available in the home, people will be able to purchase something on-line and have it immediately printed at home on their 3-d printer. Of course their are still technological issues with this but it is coming. Here is a 3-d printer who was given a permit to make 3-d printer produced guns. http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/150962-3d-printed-gun-maker-defense-distributed-now-federally-licensed-to-make-sell-guns

[Talon]

Lego bricks are made to a very tight tolerance but it is really the design itself of the bricks that gives them holding strength. I bet a decent printer can match Lego quality as far as construction is concerned.

The 3D printers from 3D Systems have a tolerance of 200 microns for the cheap printer ($1,299) and 125 microns for the expensive printer ($3,999).

Lego bricks have a tolerance of 5, 10 or 20 microns depending on your source (lugnet, wikipedia, Lego Group respectively). I think the tolerance varies depending on what part of the brick you are measuring as the 20 micron figure is from Lego but is only about the knob on top of a brick. With any of those tolerances there is still a longs ways to go with a cheap 3D printer to have a good fit. Lower tolerances like the 3D printers have creates friction between the bricks when building and makes them more difficult to work with.

We really need a Star Trek Replicator!

[TheOrcKing]

when i was in 3rd grade my dad paid $800 for a betamax vcr...lol. the prices you quoted about the printer made me think of that. in 15 years these printers will probably be available at walmart for $75.

Yeah really. Man, I remember the price of a plain ol' black & white slow as molasses computer printer from back then. Go into Wal-Mart today and get an all-in-one printer/scanner unit for maybe about $50 or so on sale. The ink cartridges are still pricy, specially collectively. And why do they seem to dry up in a month or two? Seriously, I bought a new one and barely a month later the cartridge went to crud real quick. Ugh....

[StarPod]

Being you can make a fully functional fire arm with a 3d printer why not make the lego pieces and build a 10179?

[TheOrcKing]

Talon already brought up this topic before with a video on CNN about 3D printing, and Yellow wrote this article on it.

[Polar_Beast]

Hey, good question! I am a 3D animator, but I know only a little about 3D printing. I would have to say that it would be unfeasible to make your own 10179. I would guess that the bite or grip of the pieces would pale in comparison to a real LEGO brick. LEGO uses industrial molds, and presses the plastic into the molds with thousands of pounds of pressure, which is why they're so rugged and durable vs. the cheaper knock-offs. I'm guessing that a 3D printed brick would perform much like a MegaBlock or possibly worse. Then, there's the whole coloring issue. Not sure how many bricks on the 10179 are laser printed pieces vs. stickers, but you would have to do that part completely separate. I'm pretty sure you can only 3D print in one color at a time. Also, clear bricks would probably not be possible. Also, you'd have to be proficient in 3D modeling some kind of 3D software to control the output and scale, and because I'm certain not all the pieces to make the 10179 exist in LLD, so you'd have to model them yourself. All that being said, I'm sure the very top of the line industrial printed could prove most everything I said to be wrong, but it would also probably cost about half a million dollars, if not more. The cheapest consumer ones are about $1500 I think, and I would be very afraid to fire a weapon made from that haha! Just my two cents. -PB

[emes]

It would be much more cost-effective and quicker to pay a factory in China to do a small production run for you.

[mikeur86]

It would be much more cost-effective and quicker to pay a factory in China to do a small production run for you.

lol, so true

[retrosycick]

There is a new technology that sounds like its from some sort of science fiction novel. Remember Star Trek when they went to some sort of device, pushed some buttons and Wamo, what they wanted was rite in front of them. This actually isn't that far off from what is happening with this new technology called 3D Printing.

A 3D printer actually uses some sort of chemical powder and other types of resin materials to build 3D objects from a Cad design sent to the 3D printer. There are different types of 3D printers, but all of them basically build a layer by layer design starting from the bottom of the CAD design and moving to the top. The precision and accuracy of these printer is absolutely amazing. You can make anything from Toys, to Guns to medical supply's to actual edible food. 

The 3D printer has been in use for the last 20 years from a business stand point, to make prototypes and other types of architectural designs and scaled down engineered models. Now the technology has caught the public eye and is being marketed more for the every day Joe consumer. It has not reached the level of your color printer at home yet, but im almost certain it will make its way in to almost every home in technologically driven country's around the world soon.

 

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/3d-printings/

 

My question is what will this do to Lego? What does this mean for your investments? I am being honest here, it definitely makes me think about things not just for Lego but for all toy manufacturers in general. The thing is, is that were not just talking about toys here, were talking about a technology that will change the face of the world as we know it. In my opinion we a looking into a new era of technology. One that will change the very face of our civilization. Let me know what you think.