Consumer 3D Printing | | | | |

Index

SR.NO. | TITLE | PAGE NO. | 1 | What is 3D Printing? | 3 | 2 | History of 3D Printing | 3 | 3 | 3D Printing and Gartner Hype Cycle | 4 | 4 | 3D Printing Today | 4 | 5 | Impact of 3D Printing | 6 | 6 | Achilles’ heel of 3D Printing | 7 | 7 | Future of 3D Printing | 7 |

Consumer 3D Printing

“3D printing has the potential to change everything” * Former Ship Engineer

What is 3D Printing?
The process of making a three-dimensional solid object of virtually any shape from a digital model is 3D printing. It is also known as Additive manufacturing.
Using an additive process successive layers of material are laid down in different shapes. 3D printing is different from traditional machining techniques, which mostly rely on the removal of material by methods such as cutting or drilling (subtractive processes). A materials printer usually performs 3D printing processes using digital technology.
3D Printers have evolved to make a variety of objects using a laser or extruder (the material output part of the printer, best described as a futuristic hot glue gun) that move along an X, Y and Z axis to build an object in three dimensions, layer by layer, sometimes only microns thick at a time, depending on the desired resolution of the object.
History of 3D Printing

This technology was called Rapid Manufacturing; a term coined by inventor S. Scott Crump who founded Stratasys in the late 1980′s. During the same time the similar technology was called additive manufacturing or stereolithography and was created by 3D Systems founder Charles ‘Chuck’ Hull.
While these two companies are market leaders, the entire publicly traded market cap for 3D printing companies is comparatively small, roughly 2 Billion USD. Many companies that work in this space are still privately held.

3D Printing and Gartner Hype Cycle

Consumer 3D printing is at the pinnacle of expectations and is expected to reach the Plateau of productivity in 5-10 yrs.

3D Printing Today

3D printing is becoming influential in many industries, like fashion and lighting design, automobile and aircraft industries, custom-made musical instruments creation, and even in weapon manufacturing. 3D Systems have already been sponsored by the US Air Force to improve the sustainability and affordability of weapons systems.
Another important application of these technologies is in the health care system - printing of prosthetic limbs, and also researching towards the 3D printing of organ tissues. There has already been a successful transplant of a 3D printed bladder in a patient as early as 11 years ago.
Customization is another major advantage of this technology. The consumer can change the feature of the part or object he/she is creating by simply tweaking the CAD drawing
and print another one.
It is an efficient technology because this method eliminates a lot of wasted materials, as any leftover powdered substrate can be immediately used on another project. This prevents the need for injection molding, setup costs, cutting, sanding, drilling and having scraps of material left over.
Economies of scale is achieved as costs for single parts become standardized in relation to the costs of the material being used.

A 3D Printer

Impact of 3D Printing
Research firms would benefit as prototype models could be made without huge investments, thereby making R and D more feasible. Organovo, a San Diego based firm currently produce organic tissues grown from cell samples, which can be used as a human analog for pharmaceutical drug discovery and development. The printing process takes just 12-24 hours. This can allow for more relevant results and less animal involvement than traditional research methods.
A specialized 3D printer is used to build an organic, polymeric scaffolding in the shape of the organ or tissue that needs to be replicated, and can literally grow a kidney, heart, lungs, within a matter of days or weeks. The pluripotent stem cells can be
harnessed safely from the intended transplant recipients, without 
rejection.
As applications of this technology have expanded and prices have dropped, the first big implication is that more goods will be manufactured close to their point of purchase or consumption. This means that household-level production of some things. Consumers would pay for raw materials and the Intellectual Property—the software files for some designs are not free yet.
Industry analysts hope that manufacturing would shift back to the US from China as more people could print their desired products on their 3D printer and transportation costs would also reduce.
3D Printed Guitar

Achilles’ heel of 3D Printing
Copyright Issues
There could be issues around copyright as 3D printing expands, something similar to music piracy. Issues are might occur when people upload design files that potentially infringe patents and design rights. The internet has already come up with Physibles - downloadable physical object models that are 3D files made easily accessible to masses.
Gun Control
In 2012, the U.S.-based group Defense Distributed revealed that it would be working on a plastic gun that could be downloaded and reproduced by anybody with a 3D printer. As soon as the blue print was made, the United States Department of State demanded that they remove the instructions from their website.

Future of 3D Printing
A New york-based firm, Shapeways has tapped into this niche, purchasing a number of its own printers so that it can offer the technology to individuals at affordable rates, allowing one to produce and sell their designs more readily.
Industry analysts hope that in upcoming February 2014 with the expiry of key patents targeted at 3D printing, especially those relating to laser sintering (the lowest-cost 3D printing technology), the world of consumer printing would change.