User:Mts5140

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Blog Entry #1: 5 Thingiverse Designs 9/3/12

1)Useful- coffee measure spoon

I found the coffee measuring spoon to be the most useful design on thingiverse which I stumbled upon because when I went to make coffee this morning i realized that I had misplaced my coffee spoon. The end result was a bad cup of coffee and if I had a reprap in my home I could have printed out a new scoop and avoided the situation entirely.

2)Artistic/Beautiful-Companion Cube Upgrade

I don't know if beautiful is the correct word to describe this design but I really enjoyed it when I found it because it is a design from the game portal, which I am currently doing a run through and when I came across it I wanted to include it in this post.

3)Pointless/useless-Cliff Evans

I found the Cliff Evans design to be the most pointless design while I was stumbling through thingiverse as it is simply part of a group of designs that were made as busts of random people and serve no real purpose.

4)Funny-toilet seat hinge replacement

I found the toilet seat hinge replacement design on thingiverse funny because as I was conducting my random search I came across a patch of a lot of reprap parts. And then all of a sudden there was a picture of a toilet seat in front of me and it made me laugh. Therefore it earned the funny spot on my page.

5)Weird-Leia 3D

I thought that this design was weird because I don't know who has time to get there dog to sit still for them to make a CAD model of their dog...


Blog Entry #2: RepRap Background 9/10/12

1) I believe that the goal of a ‘self-replicating universal constructor’ is feasible and that we are on our way to achieve it. What needs to be done in order to achieve this goal is to be able to create the components of the rapid prototyping machine that one still needs to go purchase such as power adapters and stepper motors. I believe that we are on our way to being capable of doing this as both plastic additive manufacturing and metal additive manufacturing advance. Hopefully in the future a replicating machine could be made to print both plastic and metal as to be able to make the components that one would have to buy now.

2) The phrase "wealth without money" is used in the article as a way of saying how somebody would not need money to have the things that wealthy people have in a world with a universal constructor which could replicate itself. Basically, it is saying that with a rapid prototyping machine one would be capable of making things that would cost more to buy and that you could in a way make money by furthering the evolution of RepRap. In my mind, this idea could also be extended to mean that one does not need to have money in order to make money in that starting out with a cheap RepRap, one could continuously further its evolution to be able to create new and better things and in a way, create money for ones self.

3) The main way that I think RepRaps will evolve in the future will be the capability to print electrical and mechanical parts. Once this is achieved it will be possible to actually print working machines right from the start. It could be done by having multiple extruders which extrude different materials, such as filler support material for the capability to create more complex structures, as well as some sort of extruder or way to print metal as to do circuitry and other metal components. What needs to happen in order for a huge leap such as this to occur would be for 3D printing to escape simply the engineering and scientist community and make its way into the home so that the evolutions of the machines can happen at a greater rate with more minds thinking about them.


Blog Entry #3: End of IP 9/17/12

1) Currently I dont think hat placing controls on 3D printing is the way to go, or could even be done successfully. The whole point of RepRap is that it is open source and a living breathing evolving organism of is own. Therefor taking away that open source of information hinders both the successes and the failures of RepRap's advancement, which is something that we do not want to do as 3d printing has the ability to change alot of things in many good ways. Therefore it should be allowed to grow unhindered.

2) Currently one of my passions is theatre. I enjoy being involved in theatrical productions simply because it is a good way to meet new people and I get to do things that I never would be able to anywhere else. I do not however, see it as a way of attracting mates. It is my passion for the sole purpose of bringing a different kind of pleasure to my life. However, even though I do not intend to use this passion as a way of attracting mates, anything that a person is passionate about can be seen in them eventually and it can attract people whether you intend it to or not.

3) I do not think that 3d printing will end IP. This is because people will still always have the ability to sell their stl files for whatever you want to print. However, if it leads to everybody with access to 3d printing to become good designers then they can always design what they want themselves. I do feel as though it would change how IP works in however. The different between knowledge being material and immaterial is created by 3d printing as all you need is an idea of something (stl file) to create it.


Blog Entry #4: Occupy Thingiverse 9/26/12

As far as we know, all that we have officially seen from makerbot is the arrival of a new and awesome looking, although expensive, rapid prototyping machine. However, there are rumors that the new replicator 2 is closed source and that thingiverse now owns the rights to whatever is uploaded to it. Prusa is concerned with both of these rumors for the fact that making the new replicator 2 closed source is going against what the original intent of makerbot and in general reprap was: to allow these machines to develop and evolve from person to person, making information free so that we can speedily and continually advance rapid prototyping to the new level. If the replicator 2 is indeed closed source, then makerbot is pretty much saying to hell with advancing reprap as a whole, I just want to make money. The other rumor, that makerbot now owns everything that has been uploaded to thingiverse, is another thing entirely. People upload their parts to thingiverse for the fact that it is open source and allows other people to use their designs or get ideas and inspiration from eachothers designs so that everybody has access to all the information out there. Makerbot owning these designs not only means that they have in a way stolen designs that we thought belonged to the community, but they could decide to charge users to download designs from Makerbot, which would hurt the open source-ness of reprap even more.

This is just speculation, however, because we do not know for sure whether these rumors about makerbot are true. If they are confirmed, then I would suggest looking for a new place to upload our designs.


Blog Entry #5: DIY gun project 10/2/12

I have now found myself very conflicted about regulating RepRap and 3d printing. Before the issue of DIY guns was brought into play, I was all for open source all the way. However, now with the fact that people are working on making completely 3d printed guns which would be able to pass through security in airports and such without being sensed, I have an issue with the idea. I am against the ability for any random crazy person to be able to have a concealable firearm which he didn't even need to purchase so nobody would have to know that they had one. However, the major problem I see is that I have no idea how something, such as what people print, can be regulated. In this case, the fact that RepRap has been made to be completely open source and DIY, understandably causes any government or regulatory board a major headache. Is it even possible to control what people print? The problem with regulating printing based off the ability to make a firearm is that such regulation could be thought of as unconstitutional as it would violate the right to bare arms. But at the same time, creating a weapon that would pass through security checkpoints is also illegal. So either way, whether the printing is regulated or people print out their own firearms as they please, some law is being violated. This is a major ethical dilemma and one which I personally think could be avoided if the DIY guns project shut itself down. I figure it would be better in this case to error on the side of caution.