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Saturday, February 4, 2012

Hands-on with the Makerbot Replicator 3D printer – New Tech Gadgets & Electronic Devices | Geek.com

Hands-on with the Makerbot Replicator 3D printer

Jan. 17, 2012 (1:01 pm) By:

Makerbot Replicator CES 2012

One of the greatest pieces of developing tech on the market today is the 3D printer. Every day we get closer and closer to the replicators from Star Trek, and that’s pretty much as cool as it gets. While the 3D printers of today are pretty far from spitting out a Raktajino on command, there’s no denying how increasingly important it is to pay attention to them. Makerbot Industries is, by far, the most talked about of the current 3D printer companies with their amusingly named line of printers. While the classic Thing-O-Matic is the pride of the fleet, the Makerbot team took to CES 2012 with the goal of unveiling The Replicator.

A re-imagined Makerbot

Makerbot Companion Cube CES 2012

The previous iterations of the Makerbot design worked in a basic manner. The base plate would move back and forth as the extruder on top spit out the heated fiber. As the plate moved around and around, the structure would take form, and eventually you would have your item. The Replicator does things a little differently. The extruder on the replicator moves around as the plate remains stationary, and this model is actually capable of supporting two extruders. With two, you can have a different color in each extruder, so you don’t have to switch back and forth manually when you want your project to have multiple colors.

read the full article here:

http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/hands-on-with-the-makerbot-replicator-20...

Posted via email from Siobhan O'Flynn's 1001 Tales

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