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I used to teach at a school.
We bought an expensive 3d printer.
It was nice and all.
But what really bothered me,
was that the printing material was very expensive.
I am absolutely convinced, that the manufacturers,
cannot make a bigger mistake, than to make the printing material expensive.
They should go the opposite route.
Make using their products super easy and effective.
Make using their printer a no-brainer.
Every time people print.
They are advertising the printer.
Whoever is doing the 3d printing,
is getting to know that printer.
Learning how to use it
Getting used to using it.
Getting ideas on how to use it further.
Nobody wants a printer that can barely be used anyways.
The manufacturers were doing the cash-it-in-and-run.. approach.
But they should have been doing the, take-over-the-universe.. approach.
Which is to make their products absolutely awesome.
People will see how the world is, eventually.
And 3d printing really should be done in some specialized offices.
A place with a 3d printer.
And some individual who knows how to operate it.
And people just go on a website,
And send a file and press "print"
And result can be delivered in the mail.
Prefereably via drone.
An office like that could provide the world with 3d printing abilities.
Could eventually offer the world to print in any material etc.
You just draw it in some program.
Select material.
Press print.
Few days later, its in your mailbox.
How is that not a win.
And user could watch on camera as their unit is being printed.
And why dont we have automated drone delivery yet.
Whats taking so long.
But it seems to take forever to take off.
This 3d printing thing.
Like everything.
Last edited by offtherock (2025-09-28 03:43:36)
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Its in the manufacturers short term interest.
for its printer to be printing with material
only they or their partners can make.
and is then sold expensively.
so its in their short term interest.
to kill their own future.
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This post in Louis' 3D Printers topic is about the interesting challenge posed by Calliban in late 2025.
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 62#p235662
Calliban has proposed a 200 meter diameter brick dome for Mars. This topic is about how a 3D printer design tool might create specifications for custom made wedge shaped "bricks" that would be assembled to create the strong structure that calliban has described.
Given a shape for the dome, and a thickness, it would be possible for a 3D printer design tool (such as Blender but there are many) to create wedge shaped specifications for each "brick" to be laid to build the structure, from the foundation far below ground, all the way to the peak.
Since domes of this type would be assembled all over Mars, once the first one is complete and proven, it would make sense to mass produce the unique shapes needed. Each "brick" would be wedge shaped, both in the Y dimension and in the Z dimension, so that the force of gravity acting downward, and the force of internal pressure acting upward, and caused to flow evenly throughout the structure.
I'd like to invite any readers of this forum who are learning how to use 3D Printers (or who already know and are interested in this problem) to contact us to see if we might be a suitable venue for their creativity.
This initiative is a part of Louis' Sagan City concept.
The proposed dome could most definitely be printed on Earth in a miniature form, such as 1:200 scale.
A 1:200 scale 3D printed dome would be 1 meter across. it would be assembled in exactly the same way as the full sized version on Mars.
Wedge shaped "bricks" would be laid on a foundation (such as a table top) and the structure would be assembled layer by layer, just as would be done on Mars by robot "workers".
3D Printer designs could be published by NewMars (in association with the Mars Society) so that prospective builders could simply download the plans and feed them into their 3D design tool.
(th)
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