Need a need jaw? I'll print you one...

[Clinton Huxley]

83 year old woman given replacement jawbone, made of titanium and bio ceramics and printed using a 3d printer...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16907104

Whatever next!

[PsychoSerenity]

Epic cyborg granny!

[Clinton Huxley]

I've got an old dot-matrix around here somewhere, going to print me a new knee..

[FBM]

One fresh brain, please. Express order.

Failing that, a new butthole. It would be just about as useful to me as the former...if not more so.

[Clinton Huxley]

Huxley industries can provide a brass sphincter, cheaper than these printed ones and comes with a lifetime guarantee.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

I've had a discussion with a mate about this very same subject quite some time ago. Relevant to him because he lost a good portion of his jaw to cancer. - He's had to make do with a piece of his own hip which has been remodelled. It hasn't worked very well and it has a gap in it leaving him unable to chew.
I dare say he would be interested in this article.

[FBM]

I've had a discussion with a mate about this very same subject quite some time ago. Relevant to him because he lost a good portion of his jaw to cancer. - He's had to make do with a piece of his own hip which has been remodelled. It hasn't worked very well and it has a gap in it leaving him unable to chew.
I dare say he would be interested in this article.

I'll say. Hope he can find what he needs.

Huxley industries can provide a brass sphincter, cheaper than these printed ones and comes with a lifetime guarantee.

Brass, eh? Could be a bit uncomfortable in the winter, I'd think.

[Trinity]

I've had a discussion with a mate about this very same subject quite some time ago. Relevant to him because he lost a good portion of his jaw to cancer. - He's had to make do with a piece of his own hip which has been remodelled. It hasn't worked very well and it has a gap in it leaving him unable to chew.
I dare say he would be interested in this article.

I'll say. Hope he can find what he needs.

Huxley industries can provide a brass sphincter, cheaper than these printed ones and comes with a lifetime guarantee.

Brass, eh? Could be a bit uncomfortable in the winter, I'd think.

I thought that was brass balls and monkeys?

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

3D printers are awesome and they're gonna get awesomer.
Even now, stuff can be produced that just can't be made by any other method:-

[FBM]

I've had a discussion with a mate about this very same subject quite some time ago. Relevant to him because he lost a good portion of his jaw to cancer. - He's had to make do with a piece of his own hip which has been remodelled. It hasn't worked very well and it has a gap in it leaving him unable to chew.
I dare say he would be interested in this article.

I'll say. Hope he can find what he needs.

Huxley industries can provide a brass sphincter, cheaper than these printed ones and comes with a lifetime guarantee.

Brass, eh? Could be a bit uncomfortable in the winter, I'd think.

I thought that was brass balls and monkeys?

May be that I need to acquire a Huxley Industries brochure to avail myself of their full range of services...

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

A couple of related articles from the same page:-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15963467
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14946808

Imagine what these things will be making in 100 years time...
...Complete artificial organisms, maybe?......Soldiers....?!

[amused]

I get that a 3D printer puts material in place, whereas a CNC machine cuts away, but why couldn't her new jaw be cast and CNC'd into shape?

[PsychoSerenity]

3D printers are awesome and they're gonna get awesomer.
Even now, stuff can be produced that just can't be made by any other method:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnB8vFc123Y

Awesome. That is just witchcraft.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

I get that a 3D printer puts material in place, whereas a CNC machine cuts away, but why couldn't her new jaw be cast and CNC'd into shape?

It probably could be but it would no doubt cost many times more to produce and much longer to make. - High-precision casting is generally done using a process known as 'investment casting' (aka 'the lost wax method') or similar, derived methods. This process requires that an accurate and perhaps unique master mould be made first (costing money and time).
3D printing allows more or less immediate production at less cost and features that may be very difficult to replicate by machining (such as micro porosity, galleries for blood vessels, etc. - see the other related articles) can be built directly into the 'print'.

Awesome technology is awesome.

[Clinton Huxley]

This is starting to get into territory that Arthur C. Clarke was postulating in the 60s. Every home would have a "Universal fabricator" which would use raw materials (or perhaps some kind of fusion process using hydrogen as a base) to make anything you needed.

There was a story recently about 3D templates for Nike trainers getting leaked onto the intertubes, so in theory, if you had a 3D printer, you could just make your own pair.

Whatever next? 3D templates of Ratz?