3D Printers

3D Printing is an amazing technology. We now have printers that can replicate an object say toys, tools and prototypes of electronics, robots, space objects, etc. There are many ways of printing in 3D but let me take you through one of them.

I’ll try to give you a mental picture of how 3D printing is carried out. You take the desired object to be printed and scan it in a 3D scanner to be later sent to the computer connected to a printer. The accuracy is about 40 microns. The image is then edited with the computer, (colors are changed). After you have done that you go ahead and print.

The printer contains a powder that is used to mold the object to be printed or replicated, so after the printing, the object is usually hidden in the powder, and you just reach out in to the powder and get the object. The next thing you do is blow off the powder.

The unique thing with this kind of technology is that it produces the exact shape with high precision. Another thing is that it is not expensive; you can get a 3D printer for just $1000 dollars. Since it is this cheap people now acquire these devices and use them for self-manufacturing of personal products.

Many companies like Nike is now using 3D printers to print football boots, 3D printed bikinis and dresses. Even a surgeons used 3D printers to re-sculpture the face of a motorcyclist who had be seriously injured in a road accident.

Having this type of printer, the experience are endless, imagine getting a replacement for your kid’s broken toy or a missing tool or perhaps you’ve worked night and day to design a robot, you could print out sample prototypes and send  them to prospective sponsors.

I think in the future of 3D printers will be in every homes and it will be so cool to have a 3D copying machine.