家用3D打印：夢想依然遙遠？

你想要個新的手機殼？還是可愛的擺件？甚至是一座房子？盡管打印出來！這就是3D打印技術向人們承諾的美好未來。隨著這一新興技術的發展，越來越多的人開始幻想擁有自己的“夢工廠”，想要什么，打印就成。于是，真的有人心癢難耐，借了臺家用3D打印機開始試驗，卻不想整個過程狀況百出、笑料不斷，簡直讓人崩潰又無奈。他用親身實踐證明了：奇跡需要時間，夢想依然遙遠。

We keep hearing that 3D printing is the future. Very soon， it seems—like maybe in July or so？—well all have Star Trek–type replicators installed in our homes. “Computer，” youll say， as you nibble a pastry， “please fabricate me a comfy new couch.” And lo， a sectional recliner2） with integrated cup holders will instantly appear. Or so goes the fantasy.

How close are we to this scenario， really？ Will there soon be a factory in every foyer？ At-home 3D printing is thus far a fledgling3） market. Companies have been racing to create printers that combine reasonable cost， compact size， and user-friendly operation. But its not clear that anyones hit that sweet spot yet. To get a sense of the current state of at-home 3D printing， I borrowed one of the latest models. Not one of those industrial jobbies4） that get used by big companies， but rather a desktop printer designed for consumer use.

When the Solidoodle 4—retailing for $1，000， and vaguely resembling an obese microwave—arrived at my office， I eagerly unpacked it in my cubicle5）. I threaded the spool of filament6） into the printers nozzle7）. I connected the printer to my laptops USB port. I assumed Id soon be awash in an endless supply of newly conjured 3D stuff.

But the moment I attempted to print my first object， I realized that this device isnt really designed for the average， moderately tech-savvy consumer. Its made for people who possess either A） infinite patience， B） a preternatural8） attention to detail， or， preferably， C） a post-graduate degree in mechanical engineering. For example， the program you download to your computer so you can control the printer is full of buttons labeled with phrases like “Go Dump Area” and “Flow Multiply” and “Kill Slicer” and—somehow both reassuring and worrisome at the same time—“Emergency Stop.”

This last function made me acutely aware that a powerful machine was perched9） upon my desk. A machine capable of generating furious heat and spitting out molten plastic—which， given my lack of expertise， could easily splash about the room and end up melting co-workers eyes. At this point， I decided it might be prudent to call Solidoodle tech support.

Within moments， an extremely helpful fellow named Joel was on the line， walking me through10） the setup process. He instructed me to heat the extruder （or as Id been calling it， the nozzle） to 215 degrees. Then he had me click over to Thingiverse.com and download a simple design for a bottle opener. Confusingly， he asked if I happened to have a can of hairspray on hand. “Maybe like Aquanet？” he suggested. “The kind of stuff you might use to keep a mohawk11） in place？” I inquired of a nearby colleague， but she was not in possession of any hair care products. Luckily， this turned out to be noncrucial. Joel explained that the hairspray becomes necessary only if the object youre printing is sliding around on the printer bed—some Aquanet， applied to the bed， helps stick things in place.

Winging it12） without any styling aerosols13）， I sent the bottle-opener program from my laptop to the printer， clicked “Run，” and watched with glee as the Solidoodle sprung to life. The nozzle darted14） to and fro， extruding a thin stream of plastic with what appeared to be solemn purpose. I bid goodbye to Joel and hung up， confident Id figured this thing out. And I watched as layer after layer of carefully laid filament slowly formed … an amorphous15）， incoherent plastic blob16）.

OK， a less than total success. But I wasnt deterred. And I refused to call Joel again. I began to play around， moving the extruder on its x- and y-axis with a click of my mouse. I turned the heat back on and coaxed17） it up to 215 degrees. Then I noticed that my filament was snapped， and I had to rethread it. But a small piece was stuck inside the nozzle. I called Joel again.

“Do you have a sequential set of Allen wrenches18）？” he asked. “Preferably in metric19）？ Im pretty sure its a 1.5mm screw， but you might want to have an assortment20）.” I turned to my colleague again， but she was no more help with Allen wrenches than shed been with the hairspray. “OK，” said Joel， “you can try to melt it out. Heat it to a really high temperature but try not to damage the machine or hurt yourself.”

Using a pair of extra-long tweezers21） that came with the printer， I was able to half-melt， half-yank the filament out， rethread it， and try again. Once more， the printer cheerily jumped into action. This time Id set the bed too low， so the plastic drooped from the nozzle with no platform to land on. Instead of a bottle opener， I ended up with a scraggly22） birds nest.

Now absolutely determined to print some sort of recognizable object， I raised up the bed， heated the nozzle， and downloaded a program that builds a tiny robot figurine. This time， everything seemed to work correctly. A pair of little robot legs took shape. And then the printer just halted， for no discernible23） reason， leaving a sad， half-formed robot body， almost poignant in its abandonment—with a singed spot where the hot nozzle stayed in one place for too long. I call it Robot.

I spent some time attempting to suss out24） where I went wrong. But after a while， I gave up. I mean， lets say I got the printer working again. Best case scenario， Ive melted no ones eyes and Ive got a new robot figurine. Woohoo. I dont need or want a robot figurine. And $1，000 for the printer plus $43 for each spool of filament is a hefty price to pay for a functionless， semidecorative piece of plastic I could buy for like 23 cents.

Whats more， the printer was loud enough that office colleagues were beginning to complain about the racket25）. It was emitting a smell not unlike that of burning hair. And it was taking forever to print out these objects that werent quite objects.

All of which points to some fundamental problems with the current state of desktop 3D printing. Right now， even if you can tolerate the printers noise and stink and interminable26） wait time， theres basically nothing you can make that you actually want or that is cost effective. Its all trinkets27） and gewgaws28）. The most popular patterns at Thingiverse are pen holders and elephant figurines and flimsy， unattractive iPhone cases.

Until theres a killer app29） for the desktop 3D printer， though， I cant see any reason for the average person to buy one. And I cant yet imagine what this killer app would be. What could you manufacture at home in a manner thats cheaper and more efficient than could be done in a giant factory？ Im open to ideas. If “customizable， personal designs” is part of your answer， remember that those designs will be limited to plastic， and that any use of wood or metal or suede30） will require additional procurement31） and assemblage， which means speed and convenience are out the window32）. There were very sound reasons behind societys transition to centralized manufacturing.

Consider： Once upon a time， people purchased sewing patterns （like a program from Thingiverse） and yards of fabric （like filament） and they made their own clothes. I wasnt alive back then， but Im pretty sure the process sucked. It took lots of time and effort and the clothes were often amateurishly constructed. Sure， consumer sewing machines got better， and made things faster and easier and more professional looking. But nowadays， save for DIY fashion enthusiasts and grandmas with lots of time on their hands， people arent buying many at-home sewing machines. Theyre a novelty item with little practical purpose. Most people would much rather just get their clothes from a store—already assembled by people employing industrial-level efficiency and a wide variety of materials.

I could be wrong. Perhaps todays 3D printers are akin to the cellphones of 1987. Over time， well graduate from the Motorola DynaTac 8000X33） to the iPhone 5s—smaller， faster， more capable， and， eventually， indispensable. But Ill bet you a pile of extruded plastic goo that Im right.

我們不斷地聽到有人說，3D打印是我們的未來。不用多久——貌似7月份左右？我們所有人家里都將裝上電影《星際迷航》中的那種復制器?！半娔X，”你一邊啃著點心一邊說，“請給我做一張舒適的新沙發?！比缓螅?，一張帶有一體式杯架的組合躺椅馬上顯現。人們就是這么幻想的。

我們到底離這種場景還有多遠？是不是很快每家的門廳里都會有一個工廠？目前，家用3D打印是一個新興市場。很多公司一直在競相打造集價格合理、外形小巧和操作簡便于一體的打印機。但目前尚不清楚是否有哪家公司的產品實現了這三者的完美結合。為了了解家用3D打印技術的現狀，我借了一臺最新型的打印機。不是大公司使用的那種工業用打印機，而是專為消費者使用所設計的桌面打印機。

第四代Solidoodle打印機的零售價為1000美元，長得有點像胖胖的微波爐。這臺打印機一送到我辦公室，我便迫不及待地在我的隔間里拆開包裝，將細絲卷軸穿入打印機噴嘴，并將打印機連接到我的筆記本電腦的USB接口上。我以為馬上就會像變戲法那樣，源源不斷地打印出新的3D物品，將我淹沒在其中。

但我剛試圖打印我的第一件物品時，我就意識到這個設備真的不是為懂點科技常識的普通消費者設計的。它適用于那些或是無比耐心，或是極其注重細節的人，或者，最好是取得了機械工程專業研究生學位的人。例如，你要下載一個程序到你的電腦來控制打印機，這個程序里有很多按鈕，上面寫著諸如“進入廢品區”“流動加倍”“取消切片”以及讓人既放心又不安的“緊急停止”之類的詞語。

最后這個功能讓我強烈地意識到，放在我桌上的是一個強大的機器，一個能產生可怕的高溫并噴灑熔化塑料的機器。考慮到我缺乏專業的技術，這很容易濺得滿屋子都是熔化塑料，最后燙傷同事的眼睛。這時，我決定要謹慎一些，給Solidoodle的技術支持部打個電話。

一會兒，一個名叫喬爾的家伙接了電話。他幫了不少忙，帶我捋了一遍安裝步驟。他指導我將擠塑機（也就是我前面提到的噴嘴）加熱到215度，然后讓我登錄Thingiverse.com網站，下載一個簡單的開瓶器設計程序。令我感到困惑的是，他問我手頭是否恰巧有一罐發膠?！氨热缦馎quanet牌的發膠？”他建議道，“那種你可能會用來為莫西干發型定型的發膠?！蔽覇柫伺赃呉粋€同事，但她沒有任何護發產品。幸運的是，這并不是關鍵。喬爾解釋說，只有當你要打印的東西滑落到打印機底板上時，發膠才會派上用場——灑些Aquanet發膠到底板上就可以把東西粘住。

無需什么定型噴霧器，我就把開瓶器的設計程序從我的筆記本電腦發到了打印機上，點擊“運行”，然后興奮地看著Solidoodle開始工作。噴嘴來來回回地飛快移動，似乎為了一個很神圣的目的，擠出一股極細的塑料。我向喬爾說再見，并掛掉電話，相信自己已經把這事弄明白了。我看著一層一層小心堆積的絲狀物慢慢形成……一坨沒有固定形狀的、松散的塑料塊。

好吧，離大功告成還差一點。但我并沒有氣餒。我不愿意再給喬爾打電話，便開始擺弄設備，點擊鼠標，沿著X軸和Y軸移動擠塑機。我開始重新加熱，小心地將溫度調高至215度。然后，我注意到細絲斷了，而我不得不重新把它穿好。但有一小塊細絲堵在噴嘴里了。我又給喬爾打了電話。

“你有一整套內六角扳手嗎？”他問，“最好是米制的內六角扳手。我很確定是1.5毫米的螺釘，但你可能需要各種各樣的內六角扳手?！蔽矣智笾谖业耐拢桶l膠一樣，內六角扳手這事她也幫不上任何忙。“好吧，”喬爾說，“你可以試著將它熔出來。調到一個很高的溫度給它加熱，但不要損壞機器或傷到你自己。”

我利用打印機附帶的一對超長鑷子，半熔半拉地把細絲弄了出來，重新穿好，試著再來一次。打印機又一次歡快地啟動了。這次我把底板定得太低，所以從噴嘴掉出的塑料沒有承接平臺。結果，我打出來的是一個亂蓬蓬的“鳥窩”，而不是一個開瓶器。

此刻我下定決心，一定要打出點可識別的東西。我將底板調高，加熱噴嘴，并下載了一個微型機器人雕像的建模程序。這次，一切似乎都在正常運作。機器人的一雙小腿成形了，然后打印機就停住了，沒有什么明顯的原因，留下了一段令人遺憾的、半成形的機器人軀干，為自己的半途而廢而黯然神傷。由于熱噴嘴在一個地方停留得太久，上面還留下了一個燒焦的斑點。我還是把它叫做“機器人”。

我花了些時間試圖找到出錯的地方。但過了一會兒，我放棄了。我的意思是，我又讓打印機恢復工作了。最好的結局是我沒有燙傷誰的眼睛，還得到了一個新的機器人雕像。呵呵，我不需要也不想要一個機器人雕像。打印機要1000美元，外加每個細絲卷軸要43美元——那么昂貴的代價換來的卻是一塊沒用的半裝飾塑料，而這我只需花大概23美分就能買到。

另外，打印機的聲音很大，辦公室的同事們都開始抱怨它的噪音了。它還散發出一股無異于頭發燒焦的臭味。而且，打印出來的物品也不像樣兒，花費的時間還那么漫長。

所有這些都反映出當前桌面3D打印技術的一些基本問題。現在，即便你能容忍打印機的噪音、臭味以及漫長的等待，你基本上也打不出什么你真正想要或劃算的東西。都是一些小玩意或不值錢的東西。Thingiverse網站上最受歡迎的樣品是筆筒、大象雕像和毫無吸引力的劣質iPhone手機殼。

不過，除非桌面3D打印機有一款殺手級應用程序，否則我想不出普通人有什么理由去買這樣一臺打印機。我還想象不出會是什么樣的殺手級應用程序。你在家制造的什么東西能比大型工廠生產的更便宜、更高效？我愿意傾聽他人的看法。如果“私人定制、個性化設計”是你的答案之一，你要記住，那些設計僅限于塑料，如果要用到木頭、金屬或絨面革，就需要額外的采購和組裝，那就意味著要舍棄速度和方便性。社會過渡到集中制造是有非常充分的理由的。

試想一下：從前人們購買縫紉圖樣（就像從Thingiverse上下載程序）和幾碼布（相當于細絲），然后自己縫制衣服。我沒有生活在那個年代，但我確信那個過程肯定很麻煩，要花費大量的時間和精力，做出的衣服常常也不專業。當然，有家用縫紉機后情況會好些，做衣服更快、更簡單，看起來也更專業。但現在，除了DIY時尚愛好者和有大把自由時間的祖母們，人們不再購買任何家用縫紉機。它們是幾乎沒有實際用途的新鮮事物。大部分人寧愿僅從商店買衣服——由人們以工業級效率用各種各樣的材料制成。

我也有可能是錯的?；蛟S，今天的3D打印機就像1987年的手機。隨著時間的推移，我們從摩托羅拉DynaTac 8000X逐漸升級到iPhone 5s——更小、更快、更強大，最終變得不可或缺。但我跟你們打賭我是對的，賭注是一堆擠出來的黏塑料。

1. foyer [?f??e?] n. 門廳；休息室

2. recliner [r??kla?n?（r）] n. 可調式扶手躺椅

3. fledgling [?fled?l??] adj. （組織或系統）新建的，沒有經驗的

4. jobbie [?d??b?] n. 某一物體（或產品）

5. cubicle [?kju?b?k（?）l] n. 小房間；隔間

6. filament [?f?l?m?nt] n. 細絲；絲狀物

7. nozzle [?n?z（?）l] n. 噴嘴

8. preternatural [?pri?t?（r）?n?t?（?）r?l] adj. 超自然的；異常的

9. perch [p??（r）t?] vt. 把……置于

10. walk （sb.） through：帶（某人）理清一個復雜的問題或過程

11. mohawk [?m???h??k] n. 莫西干式發型

12. wing it：即興發揮

13. aerosol [?e?r??s?l] n. 小型噴霧器

14. dart [dɑ?（r）t] vi. 急速移動

15. amorphous [??m??（r）f?s] adj. 無固定形狀（或結構）的

16. blob [bl?b] n. （黏稠液體的）一滴，一團

17. coax [k??ks] vt. 小心地擺弄（機器或裝置）

18. Allen wrench：內六角扳手，也叫艾倫扳手。

19. metric [?metr?k] adj. 米制的；公制的

20. assortment [??s??（r）tm?nt] n. 各式各樣

21. tweezers [?twi?z?（r）z] n. 鑷子，小鉗子

22. scraggly [?skr?ɡ（?）li] adj. 蓬亂的

23. discernible [d??s??（r）n?b（?）l] adj. 看得清的；辨別得出的

24. suss out：發現或調查出……的來龍去脈

25. racket [?r?k?t] n. 喧嚷；吵鬧聲

26. interminable [?n?t??（r）m?n?b（?）l] adj. 冗長不堪的

27. trinket [?tr??k?t] n. 廉價首飾；小裝飾物

28. gewgaw [?ɡju?ɡ??] n. 好看但不值錢的裝飾品（或玩具）

29. killer app：（優于其他產品或獨具特色的）殺手級應用

30. suede [swe?d] n. 絨面革；仿麂皮

31. procurement [pr??kj??（r）m?nt] n. 采購

32. be out the window：（方法等）被拋棄

33. Motorola DynaTac 8000X：摩托羅拉DynaTac 8000X，世界上的首款手機，重兩磅，通話時間為半小時。