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Old 31st Jul 2011, 21:36
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IanPZ
 
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Yup, 3D printing is brilliant. It's been used for a fair while for rapid prototyping, as G says. Its never been seen as viable for mass production up till now, as whilst it can make an item (or 2 or 3) in a very short time, it couldn't previously compete with mass production once tooling has been completed.

That's changing now, and a lot of work is being done to see how to speed up the process.

And yes, woodworking is extremely unlikely. At present the two commonest forms are based around fused plastic (well, acrylic, and a whole load of additives) or fused steel, from small steel grains. Given that they work by powdering on a layer of material, and then using a laser to sinter the material to a solid, I think wood is highly unlikely. It would just catch fire!
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