Okay, so I've been reading/seeing these for several years now, any of you techies know when these are going to hit market?

Downloading Designs: Home 3D Printing Coming Soon
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 05. 7.07
Science & Technology

http://i.treehugger.com/images/2007/5/24/3dprinter.jpg
Jamie Rector for The New York Times


Bill Gross of IdeaLab is at it again, and will soon be selling the Desktop Factory. In a disgraceful example of verbing, he said “We are Easy-Bake Ovening a 3-D model,” he said. “The really powerful thing about this idea is that the fundamental engineering allows us to make it for $300 in materials.” Some of the uses envisioned are useful: "IdeaLab hopes companies will sell three-dimensional designs over the Internet. This would allow people to print out replacements for a dishwasher rack at home." Others are frivolous: “You could go to Mattel.com, download Barbie, scan your Mom’s head, slap the head on Barbie and print it out,” suggests Joe Shenberger, the director of sales for Desktop Factory. “You could have a true custom one-off toy.”

Now the technology can only do simple, solid plastic forms, but Cornell University has made a machine that can print out in silicone, plaster, Cheez Whiz and Play-Doh. You can build it yourself from plans available here. Its developer, Professor Hod Lipson, foresees more complex devices:

http://i.treehugger.com/images/2007/5/24/howitworks.jpg

Professor Lipson said researchers are developing ways to use the process to build parts with more complex functions. They have preliminary designs for batteries, sensors, and parts that can bend when electricity is applied.

“A milestone for us would be to print a robot that would get up and walk out of the printer,” Professor Lipson said. “Batteries included.” ::New York Times

Here's another article:

Reduced Carbon Footprint Souvenirs: A Whole New Way to Give Gifts
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 02.27.08
Design & Architecture

http://www.treehugger.com/reduced-carbon-footprint-souvenirs-london-clock-tower.jpg

Just because you go on vacation doesn't mean your carbon footprint will take a break, too; while things like the impact of aircraft carbon emissions are large (with one exception), obvious and often calculated, the impact small things like the chintzy souvenirs -- the ones we've all bought and received to commemorate a visit to some famous landmark -- are less so.

If you recall, The Story of Stuff taught us that all the little things we consume really add up, souvenirs included. Designer Héctor Serrano has conceived of a way to use 3D printers, email and downloadable design to create personalized souvenirs, like the one pictured above, at a small fraction of the carbon footprint (we first saw it back at the London Design Festival). Meet the Reduced Carbon Footprint Souvenirs below the fold.

http://www.treehugger.com/reduced-carbon-footprint-souvenirs-group.jpg

The awesomely simple concept bypasses the traditional cycle of production and consumption, replacing sweat shop labor and the slow boat from China with electronic messaging and rapid prototyping to create really unique, super-personalized objects. Rather than buying something that's (probably) already traveled thousands of miles and incurred a sizable carbon footprint, you just send your giftee an email with a personalized message about the weather or whatever; they print it out with a 3D printer, and have something cool that didn't come from half a world away.

http://www.treehugger.com/reduced-carbon-footprint-souvenirs-eiffel-tower-paris.jpg

The conceptual range of Reduced Carbon Footprint Souvenirs was created for the Ten Again exhibition of sustainable design at 100% Design in London last September; 3D printers are coming (but not quite here yet), but when they become more available to the mainstream, ideas like this have the potential to totally change the way we consume stuff.

About the project, designer Serrano says, "The project questions the way that objects are manufactured and how new technologies can be applied to propose alternative ways of reducing their impact on the environment. the project becomes more relevant as 3D printers become more affordable." We're looking forward to it.

Until then, don't forget that you can use the handy service at Ponoko to go from 2D designs to 3D objects. ::Héctor Serrano via ::Ponoko Blog and ::dezeen

^ The electricity is likely powered by coal.

hahahahahaha

Many larger architectural firms already use a 3D printer. It's not that new a technology.