3D Printing- Amazing Technology

                                                       Robo 3D printer at work

Wow! Thinking of what technology is turning out to be is just amazing. I actually feel there is no limit to development in technology. I have seen pretty amazing technologies and I must confess that 3D printing is yet another stride. I just imagine a time when you stand alongside a 3D printed version of you, and one cannot which is the real you.. Weird! It’s getting there.

The word 3D stands for 3-dimension(al). 3-dimensional printing (3D printing) also known as Additive manufacturing is a process of making a 3-dimensional solid object of any shape from a digital model. This is achieved by a successive layered additive process printing. Here, layers of a material or different materials are printed successively to get the object shape. This has some resemblance with the legacy 2D printing technology. However, instead of having just one layer of printing with ink on paper, you have many overlaying sections of a material, in most cases, from resins or thermoplastic. Before the emergence of this technology, most traditional 3D shapes were made using subtractive processes like chiseling, cutting, drilling and so on. Today, 3D printing makes 3D modeling a lot easier, and is no longer limited to arts and sculpture, but has gained application into almost every field ranging from Medicine to Engineering, to Architecture, fashion and a whole lot more. It’s amazing how quickly this is developing.

 

Vase from Shapeway

Multicolour Bike helmet from Makerbot's Objet500 Connex3

Now, an interesting question is “how does this work?”

Basically, a 3D digital image is fed to the printer either from a 3D digital scanner or a computer assisted design program. The printer reads the media design from special 3D printable file formats. Some common file formats include SKP, STL, and THING.

In this write-up, I shall talk about two major 3D printing methods: the Fusion Deposition Method (FDM) and the Granular Material Binding Method. Printers with the Fusion Deposition Method appear to be the predominant type today. These kinds of printers are made up of an extrusion head, stepper motors that control the movement and operations of the extrusion head, and a base plate on which the object is printed. The printing materials for this method are mostly polymers, although some printers accept metal wires. Most common materials are Acrylionitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), Polycarbonate (PC) and Polylactic Acid (PLA). The materials are in filaments. The printer head heats the filaments and then extrudes the molten material from the nozzle in small beads with high resolutions from about 200 microns to as low as 16 microns for some very high definition printers.

                                              From National Geographic Known Universe

The second method here is often used in printing metal objects. Metal materials and alloys like Titanium alloys are used. The Granular Material Binding Method is an approach where there is a selective fusing of materials in a granular bed. This form of printing uses powdered materials and binders. The material is placed in a bed. The printer fuses parts of the material layer by layer to print the object. Laser is used to sinter the material to make it solid. After the printing, the solid printed work is removed and the unfused material cleaned off with a blower or so. This method has been used to produce work tools gears and metal blocks.

In 2013, Makerbot, one of the makers of 3D printers successfully produced the world’s first full colour and multicolour 3D printer. This means that 3D printed works can now be made to come alive with good finishing and full colour in one printing. It is also of interest to note that 3D printers have been used to make a variety of works including a plastic gun that fired arms successfully, replacement of part of a human skull, bionic suits for paralyzed people, engine blocks, clothes, bags, shoes, and a lot more. What you can use the 3D printer for is seemingly unlimited. This means I could just pick up a printer, create a copy of my baby, and leave him a monument. Just think it and create it.

I hope it has been an interesting one. Please note that most of the posts on this blog are geared towards inspiring ideas that can launch you into success… See you at the top.