Desktop Factory Launch First Consumer 3D Printer

Regular vistors to my blog may recall the interveiw with Cathy Lewis, CEO of Desktop Factory.

She said the first version of the designed for 'businesses, schools and the home' 3D printer will be launched to market by end of 2007.

And Cathy and her team have done it!

The Jetsons-esque technology of fabricating three-dimensional objects is finally available for the home workshop, kitchen or den; and at a fraction of the cost of industrial machines.

Create your design on a PC, press 'print,' and voilà: you’ve got a new coffee cup, or washer for that darned dripping tap, or temporary whatever just to get you through the night — or just about any 'hard' plastic object that will fit inside the 5x5x5-inch chamber.

The 90-pound, microwave-size machine swaps the typical expensive printing materials for affordable nylon-based powder, which is hardened by a halogen lamp instead of a pricey laser and deposited in 0.01-inch layers onto a platform to build the final object.

Price: a mere $4,995; and expected to come down to less than $999 c.2011!