Monday 19 December 2016

3D Oaths


I was thinking about the possibility of printing a fake Christmas tree with a 3D printer, and then realised there are certain things that a 3D printer is incapable of printing as a complete unit, such as items which have unsupported (from the bottom) downward hanging parts, as you can't print something that hangs in the air (like a branch) due to it being supported by another part above it that hasn't yet been printed. Nor can something be 3D printed as a complete unit unless it's inherently rigid.


Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said it was impossible for people to play a 'positive role' in public life unless they accepted basic values like democracy, equality and freedom of speech and has proposed an oath. The problem is that this is useless unless we have a precise definition of all three values as they apply to the UK, which in itself is a movable feast. Oaths also need consequences, as well as policing, else they are meaningless rhetoric. Most public oaths in the UK (parliament, the judiciary, etc.) are in respect of allegiance to HMQ.

I've been struck dumb by the lurgy today - voice like a rasp - much to everyone's delight.


4 comments:

potty said...

Could you print it upside down?

Chairman Bill said...

My first thought, but there will always be bits isolated in mid-air as the branches lower down point down and the ones further up point up.

Roger said...

It is possible to print hollow or parts with overhanging structures with some 3d printers.they use a material similar to a medium density foam that the printer lays down first and then it prints the plastic material on top. When the model is finished the foam is peeled/washed away.

Chairman Bill said...

Sounds the perfect solution, but I fear with something as complex as a Christmas tree you'd end up with it encased in the foam.