And we’re back with our thirty-eighth installment of Your Comments. Here are our favorites from the past week, from Makezine, our Facebook page, and Twitter.
In response to My Diablo III Sculpture: Azmodan, jamesbx says:
That is very nice work. I do some creepy themed artwork in glass and bronze, and recently started electroforming over rodent bones, then working glass into the final piece. But real rodent spines are somewhat, um, disturbing to work with. I was thinking maybe making a clay model, then making a mold of it, casting plaster in the mold, and electroforming bronze over the plaster duplicates.
It looks like Smooth-on Mold Star is one way to create a mold. Do you use something different for making molds? I’m interested in recommendations for an economical way to do this.
In the piece Brick Challenge: Stop Planning That Big Project, Just Do It!, john machniak remarks:
Your message is a good one, Nick!! I’m always impressed with your interests (a renaissance man!!) and your high-tech, yet high-touch approach to ideas.
In response to Interview with Vela Creations’ Abe Connally, Off-Grid Homesteader, user Jared Obermeyer says:
Strangely appropriate that I read this article today as I agreed to purchase six acres of land near where I live. I slowly want to achieve what you have here.
In the piece Announcing the Project Remake Contest Winner!, trkemp says:
“Next up: powering a MakerBot Replicator with energy generated by waste veggie oil to print parts needed to make engine conversion kits. Ahhh now that’s meta!”
You left out, “…print parts out of plastic made from recycled vegetable oil…”
In the article NEWS FROM THE FUTURE – 3D-Printed Guns, user rocketguy1701 writes:
Well, actually it’s a bit of a overblown non-story really. Anybody with sufficient mechanical knowledge and a few tools can be making guns at home. The 3D printing aspect may make a few parts slightly easier, but it’s not a decisive factor, especially since the critical components are metal, not plastic. The buzz is just that 3D printers are new, people don’t really understand them yet, and they’ve been put forth as some sort of uber-tool that will forever change the world. (They do change things, but perhaps not entirely in the directions expected or to the degree proposed by the press).
Really, a lathe is far more “dangerous” in terms of weapons manufacture, but we’re not hearing about it because it’s a fairly ancient tool type.
If the 3D print files were able to make a functioning weapon on their own, I’d be much more concerned, but the types of plastic used make that generally unfeasible. And then we’d have a real question of what the ethics of posting a “gun file” would be.
Disclaimer: I own a 3D printer. (And a gun, but not with any printed parts).
Like these comments? Be sure to sound off in the comments! You could be in next week’s column.
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