this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2026
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Found this in my box of desk trinkets, and thought to share.

From what I remember, my father was given this demo print at some tech show in mid-2000s. I am not sure of the material used for it. The surface is rough, dry, and porous, slightly discolored, but does not appear to be crumbly, flaky, or brittle even after 20 years. My friend suggests it might be made with powder sintering.

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[–] Audacious@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The printers back then were the size of refrigerators. I still have a whistle I had made from that time too.

[–] Natanox@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 1 month ago

Printers for businesses and complex materials still are. Look at the Prusa Pro SLX or Pro AFS (which, to be fair, is a scalable automated print farm).

[–] turbowafflz@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

When I was in high school, in a not very wealthy rural county, we had a stratasys printer in the engineering room somehow. I think I saw it work once, then a few years later I helped push it out onto the loading dock to be recycled because it was both broken and obsolete