6/5/19 Now To Create The Next Great Plastic Gadget?

    If I understand correctly, all these 3D printers are great for making plastic demo parts that can then be mass produced by other techniques.  I am slowly getting interested in them because Boy is trying to get a business going in which he makes parts as requested or even to lend out time on his printers by having a customer send him files and he just prints up what the customer needs.
    One of the more interesting things the printer has been used for is making a homemade pasta maker.  It is fancy enough that there are wooden parts to flatten the pasta, and also hardened plastic parts that do the work of interacting with other parts.  This finally kind of made sense.  Boy is currently making "boxes" for his company but of course they are for examples and utility practice.  If they need 1000 copies, there are cheaper ways to get them done.
    This makes me wonder if it is too late?  I remember working with my uncle for about three summers and he had an idea for a container which would put mud on the roll that is used to cover the seams where the sheet rock meets.  I understood what he meant, but back in 1990, I had no idea how one would go about making something, even as simple as that.  Now, I think I could talk with Boy and he could have a prototype done over a weekend, but I am not sure if this thing already exists.
    With enough creativity, I guess one can pretty much make anything.  I was watching a guy make a real shooting .38cal handgun.  It was all plastic, except for the liner tube in the chamber and the pin, which was merely a nail cut to the right size to strike the primer on the bullet when the level is pulled, which was under tension from rubber bands.  Boy quickly told me guns are illegal to manufacture in this way.
    I have also been introduced to so many other tools, some even work with carbon fiber, which is super strong yet super light, and some of these tools will cut metal as easily as plastic with a variety of cutting devices, from high pressure water, to lasers.  I guess we are pretty much living in the future, if lasers really are tools we use on a day to day.  I am just excited Boy has gotten us involved, even if just as spectators, for now.