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by nssnsjsjsjs 380 days ago
3d printing will slowly edge its way into more manufacturing. The humble stepping motor really is eating the world. 3dp is one manifestation of it!

Back to AI though.

I just checked the customer support page of a hyped AI app generator and its what you expect: "doesn't work on complex project" "wastes all my tokens" and "how to get a refund"

These things are over promising and a future miracle is required to justify valuations. Maybe the miracle will come maybe not.
1 comments
dylan604 380 days ago
> 3d printing will slowly

I'm not sure why you continued using words when you summed up 3D printing with those four words. In the time it takes to print 1 object, you could have molded thousands of them. 3D printing has done a lot for manufacturing in terms of prototyping and making the first thing while improving flexibility for iterations. Using them for mass production is just not a sane concept.

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nssnsjsjsjs 380 days ago
Yes for sure. 3d printing isn't going to replace everything because 3d printing is a type of manufacturing method with pros and cons.

But in the time it took me to convert a picture of my cat to a 3d model using AI and print it, I could have ... got on the phone to the injection molding lab, and asked about availability to produce the mold for that cat.

3d printing fits the niche where either you need to model or make something bespoke that it isn't worth setting up custom machinery.

The point is 3d printing is useful and the tech is improving and it will get more and more useful. It won't take over manufacturing of course (just like Rust won't take over all programming).

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