The three-D publish “ revolution ” is n’t just being held up by the state of the technology . It ’s also being check up by the gossamer cost of a 3D printer . But in February 2014,some fundamental patents will expire , leaving an opening night for competitors add up in with cheap choice .
The patents in doubt are for a technology holler “ laser sintering , ” the low - cost 3-D printing technique . optical maser sintering produces items in very high-pitched resolution , which means they can be sell as ruined products , and they ’re much higher quality than that flimsy novelty poppycock you may make on current 3D printers on the grocery .
There ’s some diachronic evidence that these letters patent expiring will help oneself move 3D printing along . coalesced deposit mold is another more base - level form of 3D printing tech . patent for FDM expiring directly led to the origination of a massive telephone number of open - generator FDM printer , as well as the eventual creation of one of the openhanded name in 3D impression , Makerbot . What ’s more is that prices on FDM simple machine drop from several thousand dollars to as small as $ 300 within a few years of the patent go defunct . And this is pretty much what lead to the maker cause as it is now .
“ This is what happened with FDM , ” Shapeways design revivalist Duann Scott toldQuartz . “ As soon as the patents croak , everything exploded and went receptive - source , and now there are hundreds of FDM auto on the market . An FDM machine was $ 14,000 five years ago and now it ’s $ 300 . ”
You could compare this situation to prescription drugs . They ’re mostly very expensive until a patent of invention expires , at which compass point other pharmaceutic companies can come in and make a generic variation of a drug for a fraction of the cost . We could see something similar happen with 3D printer .
3D printing process has n’t quite changed the humankind . But next year , we ’re just might see chronicle repeat itself , bringing us printing machine existent people can actually give . Then maybe that 3D impression revolution will arrive . [ Quartz ]
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