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Additive manufacturing or 3D printing is a process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital model. 3D printing is achieved using additive processes, where an object is created by laying down successive layers of material. 3D printing is considered distinct from traditional machining techniques (subtractive processes) which mostly rely on the removal of material by methods such as cutting and drilling.
We have a plastic 3d printer and a metal 3d at work. It's pretty amazing to watch it run. And it uses only what it needs for the shape in material. Rapid prototyping at its best!
There is a lot of hype associated with this stuff, but I really think this is going to be big.
They have begun to build walls with 3D. They are using, or at least experimenting in this.
I really don't know where the technology stands right now. Instead of plastic they are
using concrete. There is a video at you tube where someone speaks of building a house in
20 hours. That seems too optimistic to me but it's interesting.
Go to :46 to 2:08 to see wall being built. It's also noteworthy to understand that it doesn't
seem to matter if a wall has to be straight or curved.
I thought about 3D printing the past week. From the 'plastic perspective' I was trying to think where
the market was regarding the average person. My theory at present is that either 3D printers will be
like TVs now, that is, in almost every house OR they will be like copiers were many years ago. Nobody
had a copier in their house. People would go down to the local library or drug store and make the copies
they needed.
So if 3D printers get super cheap, I'd say they'll be in most homes. Other wise I'm thinking they
will be almost exclusively at the local mall or on-line (that is, the location won't matter).
My guess is that we're talking jewelry. Especially customizable jewelry. Of course I really don't know.
But I can see tween girls and teen girls loving this stuff. The color, size, shape, is whatever the girl wants.
Her name, or her school's football team's name can be on it. Some of the 3D jewelry already for sale is something a woman would wear as well.
Cornell University experiments with "anything that you can push through a syringe" when
attempting food creation with 3D printing. I don't see it in homes anytime soon, but
possibly in restaurants, bakeries, or supermarkets where they have their own bakery.
Quote:
"The fact that you can print with food at all is still fascinating..."
Christopher Barnatt designs a 3-D object on his computer and
e-mails the specifications of it to a company that makes it. The material he chooses
for the object is metal. There is no footage of the object being made. There is
no actual 3-D printing being done by the designer, ie. Mr. Barnatt.