Some years ago, my grandmother tried to fax a punch bowl, assuming that a silver reproduction would emerge at the end of the line. Rapid prototyping systems bring that hyperopic vision one step closer to reality, and the Z402 is the rapidest of them all. The 3-D printer - the bastard child of an MIT manufacturing and productivity lab, commercialized by the Z Corporation and used by NASA and Adidas, among others - pops out models of any CAD file in minutes, 10 to 20 times faster than competing machines. While many systems incorporate complex technologies to build finished and near-finished products, Z Corp offers a quick-and-dirty approach: a really souped-up ink-jet printer filled with cornstarch and a binding liquid that turns powder into prototype.
ELECTRIC WORD
Micro Processor
Block Party
Ace in the Hole
Star Power
Super Models
