Eindhoven, The Netherlands -- All of the coverage we have seen and written about 3-D printing has shown that there are a variety of ways and variety of materials which can be used to make the objects. Despite the differences in materials and machines, they have all had one thing in common: computer-driven design. A researcher working in Eindhoven in the Netherlands, wants to offer a more hands-on approach—literally.
Joong Han Lee is a masters student and for his thesis he decided he wanted to tackle adding a more personal element to 3-D printing. Under Lee’s design, users pick up a device that looks and acts like a glue gun and, with some guidance from an arm inside the printer, print your object. As the tip of the gun comes into contact where a surface should be, it provides feedback to the designer.
This invention has some unique functionality to it which is both good and bad. On the one hand, the design ultimately is really what you make out of it because the person printing the object determines the amount of material used. At the same time, however, the resulting object is not as sleek as one might expect having seen other objects created from 3-D printers. If nothing else, the experience of molding a 3-D object inside a box by hand, by yourself is a unique one that allows people to embrace their inner artist.
A picture of his design and more information can be found here.
