On Mon, 2012-06-04 at 08:44 -0400, Dave wrote: > Who hold the patents? The big players that have been doing 3D extrusion since the mid 80s, the ones with positive cash flow and actual engineering teams. The Wikipedia article has a list:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing#Industrial_uses Although the earliest patents have expired, a guy at the presentation I gave to the local ACM chapter mentioned that the reason none of the DIY printers have an enclosed, temperature-controlled build chamber is because whoever (Stratasys or 3DS, I don't recall) holds *that* patent and licenses it with some vigor. I can't cite the number, though, so the story may be n-th hand hearsay. To a good first approximation, machine-shop 3D printing technology is a solved problem at industrial scale (the nanoscale stuff seems blue-sky handwaving). DIY printers started about 25 years behind the state of the art and now lags by just under one patent lifetime, where it's likely to stay. Basement-shop DIY is one thing, building a business around that tech is entirely another matter. None of the DIY players amount to pocket lint in the major league. I expect Makerbot's recent 10 megabuck infusion triggered some talks that circumscribe their enthusiasm, but I have no actual data. That said, I'd love to do a LinuxCNC-based printer, starting with extruder modeling. So many projects, so little time... [grin] -- Ed http://softsolder.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Live Security Virtual Conference Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
