Thread: Need a part?
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Old 10-18-2012, 11:07 AM
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N2IXK N2IXK is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2011
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Even if we had a 3D printer that could print a 15GP22 (or any other CRT), you would still have to evacuate it, activate the cathodes, and flash the getters before you could use it.

The sheer number of exotic materials that go into vacuum tubes make them an unattractive prospect for 3D printing, at least until the technology advances enough that we can simply reload the printer with stocks of individual chemical elements, and the printer makes the materials it needs from them.

A machine like THAT would be the ultimate "disruptive technology". I can't imagine that any government would ever allow such a thing to become widely available. Hell, being able to print whatever structure you wanted using only 4 elements (Hydrogen, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen) would completely undermine the War on Drugs. Add in various metals, and gun control becomes impossible.
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