At the library I go to they've set up a 3D printer. It's part of a program they've set up across the Providence Community Library system. That and sewing machines and something else the librarian told me that I can't recall right now. I would guess it was part of a funding deal, public or private.
A fellow I know doesn't like the idea, says it's selling out the older patrons in the vain hope of getting teenagers into the library. I don't know. It doesn't really bother me. It doesn't take up needed space, as they set it up separately from the tables you can sit at and read the paper.
Mind you, it's only been a few days, but I haven't seen anyone use it yet. It seems to operate mostly at the level of etching ID bracelets and things like that. Kind of looks like an arcade claw machine that no one's remembered to stock with prizes.
A fellow I know doesn't like the idea, says it's selling out the older patrons in the vain hope of getting teenagers into the library. I don't know. It doesn't really bother me. It doesn't take up needed space, as they set it up separately from the tables you can sit at and read the paper.
Mind you, it's only been a few days, but I haven't seen anyone use it yet. It seems to operate mostly at the level of etching ID bracelets and things like that. Kind of looks like an arcade claw machine that no one's remembered to stock with prizes.
2 comments:
I've heard about guns being 3D printable and certain cell tissues for scientific research but for the most part it seems their most common use is to make plastic bits. You feed one plastic beads, enter a program for a whistle or something, turn it on wnd you eventually have a plastic whistle you could have bought at a dollar store with much less effort.
A lone sewing machine on a table isn't going to do anytone much good either - not without all the other tools required. It seems you'd also require a skilled seamstress to guide the process. Sewing machines can be dangerous toys for the unwary.
I'd be interested to know what the third thing is.. a chainsaw, perhaps? That could be problematic too.
I liked your comparison to 'an arcade claw machine that no one's remembered to stock with prizes'. Good one.
Oh, it doesn't look like this one can produce a gun or a skin graft. It's pretty basic. What can it do? That's a question, as aside from the young fellow I saw installing it and testing to make sure it worked, I've still yet to see anyone using it. I don't know if 3D printers are going to lose their novelty with people when they realize they're not replicators like you see on the Star Trek shows. Of course in terms of the economy it's probably good that they're not.
The sewing machine I've heard about but haven't seen. It's in the kids' library, which I've only been to on a couple of occasions when interlibrary loans I've ordered have come in through the kids' system. They might actually have a seamstress to guide the kids. Of course I'm guessing she'd have to be a volunteer due to the budget.
Yeah, chainsaw, welding torch, something like that. :D
Thank you. Claw machines interest me. I haven't seen any reliable info on who invented them.
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