• Question: will there ever be a 3D photocopier? thanks

    Asked by freyawilliams to Alex, Ali, Kerry, Philip on 19 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Alex Pool

      Alex Pool answered on 19 Nov 2014:

      Wow interesting thought. With 3D printers there’s no reason there shouldn’t be a 3D photocopier. You’d just seen something 3D for it to copy.

    • Photo: Alison Thomson

      Alison Thomson answered on 19 Nov 2014:

      I don’t see why not!

    • Photo: Kerry O'Shea

      Kerry O'Shea answered on 20 Nov 2014:

      I think the biggest challenge in 3D printing is modelling the object you want to print. I think there would still need to be a huge amount of manual input to help model the object you are trying to photocopy, as just taking a picture of it wouldn’t work. You need to be really good at CAD.

      I’ve just seen that you can buy a 3D printing pen (http://the3doodler.com/) which looks very cool!

    • Photo: Philip Ratcliffe

      Philip Ratcliffe answered on 20 Nov 2014:

      Well, since 3D printing already exists, certainly. Whether or not they’ll be the sort of thing you can buy in shop and take home is another question. But, given the basic ideas are already there, I’d say that sooner or later we’ll all have one.

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