{"id":328,"date":"2025-01-11T12:55:21","date_gmt":"2025-01-11T18:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blognasium.net\/?p=328"},"modified":"2025-01-11T13:25:45","modified_gmt":"2025-01-11T19:25:45","slug":"perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blognasium.net\/?p=328","title":{"rendered":"Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Almost all my creative effort and time these days is spent in producing CAD drawings and then 3D printing the results in plastic<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The actual 3D printing is all done by computer controlled hardware. So all the creative work<\/em><\/strong> is in the design and then, any assembly that is required after the printing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, the printing is the product production tool. My hobby is the design and problem solving of producing my designs. Nothing wrong with that. The product is the end reward<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I realize the social stigma of using plastics, but what I make (hopefully) are enduring and lasting products. Not the throw-away, one-use items that cause all the environmental pollution. My creations don\u2019t make their way into waterways and oceans to kill animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a bit of waste produced with the 3D printing process. Very small bits and pieces of flash and trim and a few feet of filament at the end of a spool. Nothing I consider that harms the environment. Even if it doesn\u2019t decompose, it\u2019s no more hazardous to the environment than a rock in the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One type of plastic, most used in hobby printing, is Poly-Lactic Acid (PLA). PLA is made from (the vegetable) corn. Claimed to be natural bio-degradable, somewhat like items made from wood. So there are plastics that \u201cgo away\u201d eventually in the natural environment. I use a lot of PLA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mention all this because I feel the proper use of plastic is acceptable in my way of thinking. Some day, a plastic vase I printed may be dug up by an archaeologist in the year 3098 (If humanity lasts that long) and placed in a museum as a prize find from the 21st Century. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it\u2019s all a perspective. Not all plastic is \u201cbad\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look at all the dinosaur bones (polluting?) in some areas of this planet. Oh yeah, they were here before the humans, so there was nothing humans could do about that.  But early humans did leave a lot of \u201cartifacts\u201d scattered around, proving their existence in the environment. Clay pot shards, arrowheads, even some of their \u201cpoop\u201d in caves\u2026 All a form of non-harmful pollution .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pollution by definition is: “The presence in or introduction into the environment of a substance or thing that has harmful or poisonous effects<\/em>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ah, yes. A mater of perspective.  How do we look at these things. Buried printed plastic is not a pollutant in a way that kills biological life. It\u2019s more an artifact of the human existence. No more or less than dinosaur bones and primitive human made arrowheads, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But those “found” artifacts certainly represent far less than 1% of original material. Will plastic be more like 99%? \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not going to stop me from what I enjoy. My plastic \u201cartifact\u201d contribution is infinitesimally small in the world use of plastics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I should live so long to be a real danger to the environment. At my age (78) my feeble abuse of the environment (consuming oxygen, venting methane out my butt, (using plastics) will not extend much longer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If deploring all plastic is a war to be fought, then so be it\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.\u201d  John McCrae – In Flanders Fields<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I am going to go work on a new design…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost all my creative effort and time these days is spent in producing CAD drawings and then 3D printing the results in plastic.  The actual 3D printing is all done by computer controlled hardware. So all the creative work is in the design and then, any assembly that is required after the printing.  For me, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-3dprinting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blognasium.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blognasium.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blognasium.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blognasium.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blognasium.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blognasium.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blognasium.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blognasium.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blognasium.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blognasium.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}