The New MakerBot Replicator Might Just Change Your World

Today most people's first 3-D printing projects seem as unimpressive as those first desktop-publishing efforts. When 3-D printers make an object, they use an "additive" technology, which is to say they build objects layer by layer from the bottom up. As the printer head moves over the build area, it deposits material along the perimeter of the object, with the software picking a path that minimizes the distance the head must move. Then, once a slice is finished, the printer's build platform moves down a tiny fraction of an inch and the head traces the next slice, laying down another layer of material.