Any geek worth their slide rule has heard it. Captain Kirk is in heat of the chase and gives Scotty the call, “Scotty, I need more power…” and Scotty replies “… I’m giving it all she’s got Captain … if only I could replicate more Dilithium…” Well now we have the technology to replicate Scotty’s Dilithium, at least, an ABS Plastic facsimile, which should be just fine since the Enterprise is a plastic facsimile of a starship.
The company Makerbot Industries makes an affordable personal 3D printer kit called the Thing-o-Matic. Together with open source software that converts 3D images to CNC G-Code the Thing-o-Matic can replicate most anything you can imagine, including a plastic Dilithium crystal. Using an ABS plastic similar to that you would find in the spool on your weed whacker the Thing-o-Matic will systematically melt a thin strand of plastic on the build platform and layup a part from the bottom up.
Coming in at around $1,500 to $2,000 depending on the model and features this brings 3D printing to the consumer and to their desktop. For more up to date info check out their website at http:\\www.makerbot.com or their wiki at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MakerBot_Industries
