Hi all,
I was doing my upgrade to the laptop we always carry while we cruise and stopped in our local shop where they build laptops. I've known Will for 20 years and his father Bill used to head the computer engineering department at the university. They are always developing useful technology and I just happened to notice some activity going on in the back of the workshop.
There was a machine with a spool of plastic line melting it on an object sitting on a pad. What it was doing was building a part from a 3D image of a broken part from an antique car. Bill explained that the layers were less than a human hair and they could duplicate anything once they had the 3D image in the computer. He mentioned the density and the temperature range it could withstand but my mind was already thinking of parts on the boat that you can't get parts for anymore. It reminded me of the Sci-fi movies that we've seen making stuff with computers. Bill lost me when he got into what the computer was doing but he finally got around to LED's and solar technology. I mentioned that we've utilized solar on our boat and he got in to more technology stuff I just have no clue about.
So my plan is to save any broken parts so that I could have them remade with plastic. Maybe next year they will have a new machine that makes stuff with metal.
I was doing my upgrade to the laptop we always carry while we cruise and stopped in our local shop where they build laptops. I've known Will for 20 years and his father Bill used to head the computer engineering department at the university. They are always developing useful technology and I just happened to notice some activity going on in the back of the workshop.
There was a machine with a spool of plastic line melting it on an object sitting on a pad. What it was doing was building a part from a 3D image of a broken part from an antique car. Bill explained that the layers were less than a human hair and they could duplicate anything once they had the 3D image in the computer. He mentioned the density and the temperature range it could withstand but my mind was already thinking of parts on the boat that you can't get parts for anymore. It reminded me of the Sci-fi movies that we've seen making stuff with computers. Bill lost me when he got into what the computer was doing but he finally got around to LED's and solar technology. I mentioned that we've utilized solar on our boat and he got in to more technology stuff I just have no clue about.
So my plan is to save any broken parts so that I could have them remade with plastic. Maybe next year they will have a new machine that makes stuff with metal.