Will You Be 3D Printing Your Christmas Presents?

Stuart Heritage at the Guardian tried doing just that and does not recommend it:

The thrill of watching something being created from nothing had been replaced by annoyance at the six noisy hours it took to make something that I could have realistically paid less than a pound for. I tried to make a few more things — a sort of Christmas tree thing, a malformed Smurf whose leg snapped off — but my heart wasn’t in it. Nor was the printer’s. By the end I couldn’t even convince it to acknowledge the existence of plastic. It would freeze up without warning, or play dumb and bleep whenever I tried to do anything. I unplugged it and plugged it in again. It was no use. We had reached an embittered impasse. Not that I was too fussed. I’m sure the Sistine Chapel was knocked off in less time than it took me to make that poxy Smurf.

I tried my best, but I failed. I made nine things, tops, with a £1,600 printer. For Christmas this year, everyone I know is getting a trinket that looks like I bought it in a panic at a jumble sale for 10p. That’s £177 per trinket. They’d better be grateful.

I know 3D printing is exciting and the future and all that but at this point I am with Stuart Heritage. It’s like, Cool, you made a tiny plastic skull. Great, put it on the shelf next to your tiny plastic dog and your plastic coaster and your plastic flower and your plastic cube. Now run your hand along the shelf and sweep everything on that shelf into the trash can. Perfect.

Photo: Creative Tools

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