Here's another way in which Moore's Law is taking us to amazing places.
Imagine a printer that can produce a 3-D replica of your CAD file, a prototype that can be produced in just a few hours and for $100. (There it is, straight from the company's Web site.)
It's here, from a company called ZCorp. in Burlington, Massachusetts.
But wait, there's more.
How about direct metal casting from CAD, which starts from that 3-D print-out. You print what amounts to a mold, you pour your metal into it, and voila -- a metal casting for producing whatever-it-is-you-need-to-make.
Think about it, people. Industrial parts and equipment produced in less than a day, in just a few hours. Imagine it, create it, badda-bing, badda-boom.
American ingenuity is alive and well. A hundred million miracles are happening every day.
Thanks to the shipping revolution that was off-shoot of the Internet Boom and what looks to be a forthcoming DIY manufacturing revolution, it looks like the 21st Century may well see the return of Artisan as a viable profession for the masses. Perhaps, CAD needs to become a required component of public-school Shop Class. Time for Microsoft to come out with an AutoCad competitor, I suppose.
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