2012-01-15, 07:30
I came across this 3D printing article in a magazine, and immediately had to think about how an own HTPC case design may be possible with this. Or any other small extension, adapter or whatever non-existant custom 'something' to mount your hardware.
The article was about the 3D printing shop shapeways: http://www.shapeways.com/
There weren't very many details in the article about materials, prices (except that it was quite affordable) and possible dimensions. So I decided to take a look at the website.
They seem to offer a lot of possible materials to choose from. From plastics, ceramics to stainless steel, from alumide to glass.
Maximum dimension are (currently) 70x38x58cm, so large enough for a HTPC case.
I found very diverse stuff on there (they allow to sell your own design on the website):
Some examples:
sata to IDE caddy adapter:
iphone cases:
A stainless steel example:
Anyway: Whatever you can think off ('imagine') can be 3D printed.
Now I'm curious: Has anyone on here ever seriously considered something like this? Or maybe even done it? Or maybe have a case design floating around that is just collecting dust?
The article was about the 3D printing shop shapeways: http://www.shapeways.com/
There weren't very many details in the article about materials, prices (except that it was quite affordable) and possible dimensions. So I decided to take a look at the website.
They seem to offer a lot of possible materials to choose from. From plastics, ceramics to stainless steel, from alumide to glass.
Maximum dimension are (currently) 70x38x58cm, so large enough for a HTPC case.
I found very diverse stuff on there (they allow to sell your own design on the website):
Some examples:
sata to IDE caddy adapter:
iphone cases:
A stainless steel example:
Anyway: Whatever you can think off ('imagine') can be 3D printed.
Now I'm curious: Has anyone on here ever seriously considered something like this? Or maybe even done it? Or maybe have a case design floating around that is just collecting dust?