Judging from the video, the resolution / dot size is about 1 µm (one micrometre). For comparison, the thickness of the tape in a 120-minute compact cassette is 9 µm, the diameter of a typical bacterium is 1–10 µm, and the diameter of the nucleus of a typical eukaryotic cell is 7 µm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_micrometre).
Am I the only one who thinks about the implications of these 3D printers? I read somewhere that an entire cell phone built with a 3D printer (circuits & all) will be possible soon. No "put it together yourself" stuff, either - entirely built and assembled at once.
Doesn't that create a disruptive influence for any company creating smaller products and devices? Not suggesting that it's a catastrophe...but where does this road eventually lead?
I'm patiently waiting for the meta moment when a 3D printer can fully print a functional copy of itself in one piece. At this rate, it's going to happen.
But more seriously, seeing all this happen gives a very clear glimpse of the future. Stores full of merchandise will be slowly replaced by online catalogues where you can preview your object, optionally modify it as you like, and send it off for printing. Items may be eventually printed at home since every family will have a 3D printer just as every family now has a computer, but for short-term future there may be whole companies that will set up printing factories with high-end printers, and they will mail more complicated objects to you.
When you read articles like that it helps to ask how much it will cost compared to doing it the "normal" way. The answer, for most things that are produced in volume, is generally "far too expensive for general consumption." Make a great demo for the printer company, though.
Think of it this way: a 3D printer is a general purpose tool; it really can't compete with individual tooling optimized to pump out millions of units of a single product. For prototypes and engineering testing, it's awesome (sometimes[1]); for mass production not so much.
[1] I have seen instances where a design engineer had to make a "hybrid" prototype part that was partially done on a 3D printer and partly on a traditional milling machine to make up for deficiencies in the 3D printer output.
While I do see it being possible sometime, I agree that it's probably true that we won't see that for a while. The Ikea model would work well at this stage where you'd expect a small booklet that guides you along the way: "When the printer's green light is flashing, open box A5 and place chip on the area shown in Figure F2. Then press the green button on the printer's console."
"The mirrors are continuously in motion during the printing process. The acceleration and deceleration-periods have to be tuned very precisely to achieve high-resolution results at a record-breaking speed."
Isn't this a solved problem in laserprinters by using polygonal mirrors?
Hmmm, well for some things 64 hours isn't as bad as I first thought... This could be sped up and hopefully is highly paralyzable so with some more research you could have something while slower the resolution quality would be so much better is would be worth it for some situations. Imagine printing watch parts or pieces for musical instruments, etc.
Surely not, the "watermark" is more easily added using methods suitable to mass production. Possibly it could be used to produce counterfeit watermarks though...!
I can't wait until microfluidics people get hold of this. It'll be (ahem) huge.