Be warned. This looks faked, but isn’t.
The video shows some of the possibilities with digital transfer of the pattern of real objects, for local unit production.
Note:
- This is real, now!
- You don’t even need a blueprint (necessarily) as you can also scan in a “mold” object.
- Even though they are both scanning the original and producing the copy at the same place, clearly the data the machine uses is stored digitally, so the distance between the scanning/CADing and the production could be vast.
- Precision higher than the width of a human hair.
- You can make otherwise impossible to produce things this way.
Think sending spare parts and tools across the world in a jiffy, as well as into space, and you get some ideas of why this makes a lot of sense, even in the short term. Also think having a database of all the needed objects with you.
The biggest question is how sturdy the copies are, even though the wrench seemed rather sturdy.
More about 3D Printers and Rapid Prototyping – Z Corporation.