3D Printing.
We live in a 3D world, now we can print it! From music instruments to jewelry to movie characters, 3D printers give us the ability to print close to everything you can imagine.
3D printing exists since the 1980s thanks to Chuck Hull created the first printer in 1984. Around the 2010s, the printers became widely commercially available. Today printers are sold both for commercial and personal use.
You can find a printer for as low as $100 at peachyprinter.com but most still run in the $1,000s. Another brand XYZ Printing offers the Da Vinci printer at $499, it uses fused filament fabrication (FFF) technology. It also boasts plug-and-play capabilities out of the box with the promise of zero assembly or adjustments to make. You can opt for 12 different colors for filament, and the cartridges are easily refillable by average users. You can grab 3D models to print from an open-source
In the USA, you can use the services from companies such as sculpteo.com to either create your own design or purchase design already prepared.
Often 3D printers are used to generate prototypes or pieces that are no longer manufactured. Others even build a car with this system. You can look it up at korecologic.com. Audi also made a prototype using the technology. The NASA even gave grants to a company to create 3D food…. It already works with chocolate and they are looking to expand further.
The system works through sequential layering, meaning that layers are added successively to recreate what has been designed either with CAD (computer aided design, often used by architects) or animation modeling software.
The most sophisticated printers can print in color, with different types of finishes and a variety of materials such as plastic, alumide, sterling silver, wax, resin and even ceramic.
Makerbot.com even offers a new machine that helps the design stage by offering what they call a digitizer. It takes your real life objects and turns them into a 3D model that you can modify, improve and then print in 3D.
Future use could include creating open-source scientific equipment, reconstructing bones and body parts.
One big disadvantage of being able to reproduce any thing and everything is that dangerous things like guns can be as well created with this technology by almost anyone and that might become a real issue.
