Quantum leaps in 3D printing

I have foggy memories of once saying (ie: about 3 weeks ago) that a missing-link tech-wise, was the ability to 3D-print shiny objects… to the same level of quality as injection moulding.

Looks like this lot can:

And not only that, they’ve figured out a way of making composite materials by combining two different materials at a pixel by pixel level. It may actually now be possible to print something as simple, as complex and as useful as… a toothbrush say. You couldn’t before.

There’s a variety of materials described here.

This is achieved by printing 16 micron thick (or thin, depending on your POV) layers, and can, apparently, produce fairly impressive objects

No prices for these things seem to be mentioned anywhere… and this generally means that the prices are so extreme… that they’re actually quite dangerous to say out loud… lest the gods be offended etc. Even writing them down is risky.

And as I supposed earlier, at a large (ie: consumer) scale, 3D printing doesn’t solve a manufacturing problem, it solves a distribution problem. And that means poor people. And that means having a machine who’s pricing structure doesn’t offend the laws of thermodynamics.