Mattel's ThingMaker 3-D printer, due out in October, is on pre-sale for $300. Credit: Autodesk, Inc.
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Mattel’s ThingMaker 3-D printer, due out in October, is on pre-sale for $300. Credit: Autodesk, Inc.

3-D printing may not have taken off as quickly as I implied on a story I wrote a few years ago for the American-Statesman, but in small, significant ways, the technology is continuing to go mainstream. Perhaps the biggest step so far this year is the news at the New York Toy Fair that Mattel is introducing a $300 3-D printer for kids, reviving its 1960s "ThingMaker" line.

Pre-orders have already begun for it and in a Texas Standard radio segment Thursday morning, I spoke with Laura Rice about 3-D printing and the challenges facing this technology. Give it a listen! The segment starts at the 25:25 mark.

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Angie McBrayer, ex-wife of James Aaron McBrayer, leans her head on her son Sam McBrayer as she and her three children and two grandchildren (from left) Jackson McBrayer, 3, Piper Jae McBrayer, 7, Katy Isaza, and Jordan McBrayer, visit the grave of James McBrayer, Thursday, November 20, 2025, in Tifton. He died after being restrained by Tift County sheriff's deputies on April 24, 2019. His ex-wife witnessed the arrest and said she thought the deputies were being rough but did not imagine that McBrayer would die. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC