The old printer trudged up the hill to where three bright-looking young men were bantering at the Stonebrooke No. 4 tee box. They were waiting for colleagues at the annual Stratysis Best Ball Golf Tournament. The company was hosting 18 foursomes in a charity event this day and the trio was serving as the welcoming party at No. 4. They had camp chairs and enough cold beer for a day of thirsty work.
Seeing no one coming in either direction in need of welcoming, the old printer nosed in. "What is Stratysis," he asked innocently, pointing at the logo on a golf shirt, and setting off an avalanche of conversation.
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| Gizmo was printed, not molded. It works. |
Turns out, these fellows are printers too. But different. They print in three dimensions. The old printer had heard of such a thing, but never come this close to someone who could talk intelligently about it. He took advantage.
The Eden Prairie company has 3,000 employees and they can make some amazing things with printers. If you're as curious as the old man was, click here.
3D printers can put out body parts, cuckoo clocks, even a car. They explained in layman's terms how it is done, layering the data points over and over until they've built up a product. They provided an example of the work, an intricate gear mechanism embedded in a cell phone that actually spun about, as if doing something important. The assembly had been constructed from a program on a 3D printer, without benefit of human hands . . . including the Chinese.
The old printer thanked them for their hospitality and the parting gifts, then stepped down the hill. There would be much to wonder about on his walk today.
Just forty years ago, he mused, Johann Gutenberg would have made a good employee at the newspaper office, pressing ink on paper. On his first day, that clever German would have understood exactly how the local print shop worked, would probably have made a few improvements.
But this? Printing things in three dimensions?
So much to wonder about.
Not wanting to be left completely behind, he walked a little faster. You do what you can.
The Eden Prairie company has 3,000 employees and they can make some amazing things with printers. If you're as curious as the old man was, click here.
3D printers can put out body parts, cuckoo clocks, even a car. They explained in layman's terms how it is done, layering the data points over and over until they've built up a product. They provided an example of the work, an intricate gear mechanism embedded in a cell phone that actually spun about, as if doing something important. The assembly had been constructed from a program on a 3D printer, without benefit of human hands . . . including the Chinese.
The old printer thanked them for their hospitality and the parting gifts, then stepped down the hill. There would be much to wonder about on his walk today.
Just forty years ago, he mused, Johann Gutenberg would have made a good employee at the newspaper office, pressing ink on paper. On his first day, that clever German would have understood exactly how the local print shop worked, would probably have made a few improvements.
But this? Printing things in three dimensions?
So much to wonder about.
Not wanting to be left completely behind, he walked a little faster. You do what you can.
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| You can tell the Stratysis guys are actually engineers, not printers. How? Watch the way they line up their putts. |
