The Applications of 3D Printing and Why You Should Get One
Objective: Learn why you should look into 3D Printing and its uses both present and future.
Of all the great inventions..
So why should at least look into 3D printing? It is the future. 3D printing will take it's place as it has too few limitations and such great potential to customize and share world-wide.
Kids will be able to create their own lego pieces and sets which they can share with other kids. Doctors can send human organ models to save another person's life. Homes will be constructed with little human involvement. Food could be printed so that one day we will look back and be shocked at how we had to slaughter so many animals to live. Space travel will colonize with printers as they won't have the ability to make things without a printer.
Today people have access to prosthetics for a lower cost than ever. Artist are designing sculptures that astound people. Clothes are being made. Coral reefs being saved. All thanks to 3D printing. And its only the beginning. So if you want to argue that 3D printing isn't going anywhere, join the people who still say we didn't make it to the moon.
I would expect printers to become a common household item. Whether you would like to make amazing candy sculptures, lighter parts for airplanes, a ceramic pot, or a car body. There are to many uses to avoid this technology. It would be like avoiding the internet.
The Limitations
Materials
However there are some limitations for 3d printing. The machines will most likely have to be specialized to print a few materials. Hence you probably won't print an aluminum fighter jet part and then print out a pizza afterwards. There is a reason why there are factories and 3D printing will struggle to go through the same processes which a manufacture can do.
Also printers for certain materials will cost a lot more. Right now only plastic, ceramic, and food printers are in a reasonable price to own a household 3D printer.
Intellectual Property
3D printing is very open and we will have to back away from traditional capitalism. Much like how videos and music are still downloaded from the internet, yet we have more and better music and videos than ever. The same will happen to 3D printing. Also new laws will be made. Will we allow people to print guns? What will a company like lego do, when people can make their own pieces? We will have to decide if a person owns an idea or if the idea belongs to everyone.
What happens when people on their free time build creations collaborating with others around the world? When people improve on other designs and offer the design for free. But will this be allowed, when it is the opposite of capitalism?
Why is 3D printing better than what we have now?
Customization
3D printing excels in the customizations. The shapes, the detail, the perfection are outstanding as almost any design thinkable can be printed as long as it doesn't defy physics. This is why I can see food 3D printers becoming popular because you could print out a T-rex cake or noodles that write a message and the faces of people you know. iPhone cases could can be printed for a dollar and completely customized. The best part is that the computer makes the design, so don't worry about drawing a perfect circle. I hope for a day in which everything in your house could be completely customized and you would be the only one with it.
Cost
Because 3D printing is an additive manufacturing process there are no wasted materials as found in other means of manufacturing. For NASA, this a very advantageous technology as it will not leave waste in zero gravity. In addition because raw materials are usually used, there is no need to transport the product far distances as is often done now. Also people can print what they want so oversupply problems won't happen in 3d printing. Both economic and environmental advantages.
As mentioned above an iPhone case costs about a dollar. A bracelet or earrings could easily be under a dollar as well. Not to mention that this material can be recycled and reprinted. It may be possible to print a new neckless each day, or in the future, new clothes everyday and never have to wear the same outfit twice for a very low price.
Medical
Think of needing a heart transplant, yet having to wait in line for a donor for a heart that may fail anyways. 3D printing will use your own cells made in a lab to print a heart that your body will not reject because it is made of yourself. And I am not going to go into plastic surgery, but suffice it to say that you could reprint your 20 year old face on you again and again to "forever be young."
Medicine could be printed, casts, and the need to see a doctor could be done from afar or even without one. People could scan their teeth and make their own invisalign at a low price. And lets get a little sci-fi here and say perhaps one day you could print a woolly mammoth.
Here is a video about printing skin cells on a burn:
Spare Parts
When something breaks you won't have to order another and wait for it in the mail. Or even worse find out that the part is no longer made. You can simply find the part online and print it out. In addition for those who have hobbies with something such as model train sets. Train parts and model houses can be printed. What I would like to see is for people to upgrade what they already have, by replacing parts with better ones.
Structures & Military
Houses, bridges, and shelter could be printed in a few days with little human involvement.
The military could quickly print new weapons and tools instead of needing to wait for them to get transported. In general it would be a quick way to say soldiers lives in medical urgency, help set up a base, and continue life on the base.
3D Printing can also have huge effects on poverty as it would allow those who live in regions void of items to print one. Houses, business, and solutions could all be made to what the person wanted. Not like many of today's methods where foreigners incorrectly assume the needs of the impoverished and bring in items that don't help.
Here is a video of a Chinese company who has already printed houses with a 3d printer..
Education
Remember the geometry pieces you were given as a child in school to fit together. With 3D Printing more and more hands on opportunities will be available. Anatomical models can be printed to see physically where and how the parts interact, physics demonstrations can be more easily custom built, and a school can easily afford a 3D printer to be available to students.
Here is the smithsonian website where they allow people to see the model: http://3d.si.edu/browser
Animal Slaughter
I believe that one day people will look back in history and amused at how we as people slaughtered millions of animals as part of living. 3D printing may one day be able to produce food including meat and also leather to make purses and such items.
Overall...
There is strange force out there that makes things impossible. And then the impossible happens. Michael Jordan dunks from the free throw line, Yuri Gagarin goes to space, Roger Bannister runs a 4 minute mile, Tony Hawk skates a full loop de loop. Suddenly more and more people can all do the impossible. Parts of 3D printing may look impossible now, but I don't see why the impossible, can't become everyday. It has too many possibilities and applications to ignore. It is often the most most feasible method and a skill that I believe everyone should know at least the basics.
Please leave your comments.
and as always thanks for visiting,The 3D Printing Ninja
3DNinjaneer@gmail.com
Category: 3D Printer, 3D Printing, News, Tricks & Tips
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