Will customer service phone lines be replaced with at home 3-D printers that can print replacement parts and upgrades?
That's the question asked at the end of an article on how a 3D-printed adapter rescued a threatened iPhone dock. (via Wired).
More at the link, but the more interesting one is the one posed at the end of the article. I find the article interesting not so much for this case as for the use case.
That's the question asked at the end of an article on how a 3D-printed adapter rescued a threatened iPhone dock. (via Wired).
Quote
The Elevation Dock for the iPhone is a classic Kickstarter story. An indie designer develops a better mouse trap, raises $1.4 million, and of course, delivers the product to backers, very, very late. These delays created a serious problem when they overlapped with Apple’s announcement of the iPhone 5 and its new Lightning connector.
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Unlike most backers, Hellers saw the incompatibility between his gadgets as a challenge instead of an inconvenience. He opened up Tinkercad, a web-based 3D-modeling program, fired up his MakerBot, and got busy designing an adapter. He says, “Designing the adapter was fairly straightforward and quick. I printed four or five iterations … since it is such a small piece. The printing of those revisions was very quick, only a couple of minutes each time.” He posted his design to Thingiverse, set up a Shapeways shop for those without access to a 3D printer, and helped 12,521 downloaders bring their products back to life.
More at the link, but the more interesting one is the one posed at the end of the article. I find the article interesting not so much for this case as for the use case.
