As 3D printers become more and more accessible to a consumer audience, one question lingers above the rest: why? Granted, they're incredibly cool, but what, if any, are the practical implication of such a technology? For the most part, the great ambassadors of 3D printing have largely been printable toys -- cool, but not particularly useful. The question, as posed by John Mabry reads as follows,

What if printed prototypes could become actual products? Meaning, once off the print bed an object could be assembled without any tools and be made functional by readily attainable components.

An attempt at the answer comes in the form of the 13:30 printable headphones, which can by created on a MakerBot Replicator and coupled with some off-the-shelf components, making for a pair of slick-looking, functional headphones that, at the very least, will help you stand out from the rest of the Beats By Dre enthusiasts on a crowded subway train.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Alt

Print your own headphones on a MakerBot Replicator and beat Dre at his own game originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Oct 2012 11:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.