Hi Everyone, thought I'd what we're working on and get some commentary. Makelastic is a multitool for 3D printers - it consists of a felt marker that you can use to smooth prints, stickify printbeds or glue prints. The scraper is super strong yet thin steel that is used to remove prints easily. We have two holes on the side to measure filament to make the perfect ABS juice. Makelastic is a noby Voronoi - Polymer Working Group
Nice work jcabrer! Interesting you couldnt find some of those materials.... I figured they'd be common....but being a part of the US means they can get lots of things shipped there pretty cheaply. Out here, if you ship anything over 100 bucks you get taxed through the yingyang. I spent Friday driving across Cochabamba checking out plastic factories....there are more than a dozen and all of themby Voronoi - General
"3D Printers - in their current form cannot make a difference for third world countries. They cannot be used to provide these 3 basic things: water, food and shelter. Once these are abundant everything else automatically follows. " That couldn't be farther from the truth. But perhaps we're talking about different sorts of developing countries - not all countries are made the same. In Bolivia (wby Voronoi - General
Shoot my bad. You're absolutely right. But they do use HDPE to make consumer bottles like laundry detergent bottles...and plastic packaging/grocery bags. (Wikipedia) While I may be wrong about the bottles, my point still stands that there are plenty of sources for a 3D printer in the developing world. Plastic bags are a curse out here too, unsurprisingly. It'd be nice to turn them into somethingby Voronoi - General
"I've actually heard stories of places where you can be fined for collecting rain water because it competes with the privatized water utility. I think it's one of the South American countries. Not sure. Oh wait! It's the U.S.A.! Yes, that's right. In many states, it is illegal to harvest rain water. " Its funny that you mention this....that happened in Cochabamba, Bolivia in 2000...its where I lby Voronoi - General
Awesome that there's a thread on this topic...I've been noodling on this subject. Right now Im in Bolivia working for a solar energy company and i've been trying to convince them to buy a 3D printer to make a lot of their own parts and products. One of the biggest issues for finding parts and products is the postal service and the import duties. Importing things is a real hassle. Bolivia doesn'tby Voronoi - General