Computer geeks are all familiar with Moore’s law, which posits the idea that the number of transistors practically placed on a chip doubles every two years. Of course, more transistors means more power – and that’s exactly what we see: cheaper, more powerful computers every year. Johnny Ryan wonders whether a similar law (maybe called “Ryan’s Law”) forecasts increases in 3D printing capability over the long term. No doubt such an effect really exists, but we’ll never know exactly how unless we examine the data.
That’s where you come in. Ryan wants to collect a series of data points that describe the capabilities of various 3D printers. He’s specifically looking for price, resolution, speed and materials information. This data will then be plotted on a chart and examined for patterns. Perhaps there’s a trend that can be translated into a “law” similar to Moore’s Law.
Ryan asks for submissions of data points for various types of printers – and he’s interested not only in hobby 3D printers, but also big-time commercial printers as well. We think he should also ask for release dates to enable time sequencing of these trends, but that doesn’t exist in the spreadsheet at the moment.
If you’re interested in adding your data points, check out Ryan’s Google spreadsheet right here.
Via JohnnyRyan and Wikipedia
