In my many adventures around the 3D world, one of the funnest stops has been Shapeways. To actually hold in your hand the nifty things you can make with Blender has been a real treat. I was stunned however when I searched the Shapeways gallery that no one had done this before. Suzanne! I thought it well past time that these were made available.
Cool, I have a friend who is trying to set up a business around this idea. A susan fob is awesome, although it is a bit pricey (but again the printing nylon is really nasty to your wallet anyway).
I hear you mate! 3D printing is still a relatively new technology. Most of the businesses offering it as a service still cling the the lofty notion that it is a highly specialized service and only large corporate monsters with bottomless wallets would be interested. But they are all sitting around with $50,000 rapid prototyping machines with cobwebs on them. A few industrius types have re-thought the concept as a mass production manufacturing technique and hence, the prices are dropping like mad. I spent a rather large sum of money a few years ago to have a little widget I designed printed. (I say large becauase the item is so small I can hide it in my hand, but it cost me almost a $100 :spin:) With the advent of RepRap, Fab@Home, Shapeways and a few other progressive thinkers, we will have 3D printers available at your local corner store before long.
