3 D Printers, the end of craftsmanship?

[Tinman]

3 D printers have already worked their way into modeling and even into the Matchbox hobby. So far, we've seen some random spare parts made with the printers and used on a few customs and restorations. I'm sure many are wondering how long before these printed parts enter the dark side of the hobby and become an easy segway to fraud and fakery.

The use of printed parts for fraud isn't the reason I'm thinking about them. My thoughts are about the creative aspect of modeling. I wonder if the proliferation of these machines will spell the end of true hands on craftsmanship? The hand making of missing parts and custom creations, the making of molds and casting parts in white metal or resin and the sheer fabrication of things from scratch, all seem to be doomed by a digital invasion into the very creative and talent filled world of modeling.

My mind wanders back to one of the most interesting restorations I ever had the pleasure to work on; a Gemini Space Capsule. The Capsule had been partially scavenged for spare parts. While we were able replace some parts with off the shelf items that were super close to the original, many other items had to be made from scratch, and they had to look like the real thing.

About every possible medium was used in the reconstruction of missing parts. The team (three of us), were fortunate to have access to an excellent workshop. We could make molds, cast parts of resin, white metal or aluminum. The shop had both metal and wood lathes and we even had access to a Bridgeport mill just down the street.

I spent hours making labels, dial faces and such using dry transfer style lettering and stripes and an airbrush. I did made water slide decals by taking photographs, cutting and pasting the prints and reproducing the pasted up "artwork" using a Xerox copy machine and decal paper. The sort of thing I could knock out now in just a few minutes with a laptop and an inkjet or laser printer.

It was no picnic working in those cramped quarters (which always made me wonder in amazement about the fairly long missions in those capsules). When former Gemini astronaut John Young saw the restored capsule, he remarked how it looked "ready for flight!" That was the icing on the cake for me. That single comment meant more to me than anything else ... all the hours, all the tedious detail and difficult working conditions were worth it when Commander Young thought it looked good enough to fly.

I think back at all the things that could have been effortlessly made with a 3 D printer. All the graphics that could have been whipped up at the keyboard and nearly instantly been turned into a decal or a label. Had those things been around, it just would have not been the same for me. It removes so much of the hands on creativity and artistry of the scratch built experience.

The feeling of making something from raw materials or plain stock, with your own hands is something that's going to be completely lost with the these printers. I just hope that some people will cling on to the old ways and express their talent and creativity by continuing to make things with their hands.

When I look back on something I made by hand, I get a great feeling of accomplishment and even pride in some cases. You look upon something you made by hand and say: "I thought it up and I made that." The 3 D printer might (or might not) do a better job, but where is the creativity, the craftsmanship, the talent ... the pride in the accomplishment of scratch building something?

[Ewan]

For two reasons I would think probably not. Firstly, something I have observed largely through watching my daughter grow up is that the human race seems to largely develop the skills it needs/wants to live at any particular point in time. For example, I can drive a car far better than I can row a boat. My father is equally proficient in both. My grandfather could probably row a boat better and would certainly have been better around horses than either my father or I. There will always be those of us who cannot justify the expense of a 3d printer and will have to figure out some other way of doing things.

The second reason is that there will always be a hard core of people who gain a particular satisfaction from have a skill that enables them to physically produce something themselves, particularly if they learn to do it to a high standard. This is why there are still people who can thatch a roof or build a drystone wall. This core of people seems to me to be growing, which is probably a backlash against modern society and undoubtedly a good thing. A prime example in the UK in recent years has been an explosion in home baking, in spite of the fact you can walk into a supermarket and buy practically any cake ever invented.

I have a small interest in model railways and they seem to be having the same debate on 3D printers, which combined with an ever increasing ability of manufacturers to produce shorter and more specialised runs of models prompted one editorial I read to question how much actual modelling went on any more. To their credit, since then the magazine in question has been pro active in extolling the virtues of being more 'hands on' and has printed many articles on card modelling. etc.

I have produced only a handful of custom diecast, and whilst they fall a long way short in terms of quality when compared to the many excellent models posted here by craftsmen such as yourself I gained a great deal of satisfaction just by making them, a type of satisfaction that is unlike any you get from buying something and a type of satisfaction I hope to be getting plenty more of in future!

[tractorboy]

It still requires "craftsmanship" whatever medium is being used.
A skilled craftsman will be able to whittle an eagle from a piece of wood, whereas all I'd get is kindling!
Took my class to our local Museum of Transport and Technology today and saw how need will drive people to create better models of what is required.
They had a 3D printer and showed us how a father had created a "printed" hand for his young child who was born without a hand.
The satisfaction from the creation and making improvements. None us would want to the early phones we saw displayed today (the children couldn't believe the size of the early mobile phones - as they merrily snapped photos and uploaded them form their smart phones).
The wonder will be what the future brings - hopefully for the good.

[zBret]

Such is the way of "progress" it seems... new innovations , new ways and methods for doing things, faster and more efficiently.
What hopefully will not be lost, is the appreciation for the talent and skills, of someone who is able to do things the "old-fashioned" way... with their own hands.

zBret

[GHOSTHUNTER]

As someone who has been involved in scratchbuilding models for my hobby, I have skills that has helped me in my rescue and recovery work, where I have carried out successful repairs on cars by fabricating small parts to do an effective repair, had I got a mobile 3-D printer on board my truck, I would certainly have used it to make more parts for the next time I came across the same problem on a customer's car..

GHOSTHUNTER

[Tinman]

and showed us how a father had created a "printed" hand for his young child who was born without a hand.

Something ironic about that. Even the childs new (I'm guessing cosmetic) hand, is not hand made.