Printed Matter

The technology of 3-D printing is still being developed, as people figure out more and more things that can be created by printing out thin layers and gluing them together.

This story at Smithsonian shows how a team at MIT developed a 3-D printer that uses molten glass to make some pretty fantastic objects. Rather than create a series of thin plastic or resin layers cut to certain shapes, this printer extrudes a thin stream of molten glass through a nozzle. The nozzle moves in patterns directed by a computer according to the image the user sets, and layer by later builds the object.

The video the story refers to is here, and the resulting objects are amazing. Traditional glass manufacture might be able to approximate the finished pieces, but probably without the precision available to the machine.

Here's one of the printed objects, on display with a special light in order to create some interesting effects:

Here's another object from the same printer:

Several items from the "print run" will be on display at the Smithsonian's museum next year.