Why 3D Printing is going somewhere
Not many people know about 3D printing. In fact, when I was talking to my family members about it, none of them even knew what it was. In this article, I’m going to explain what 3D printing is and why it is important in just a quick read.
Brief description
To start, 3D printing is like normal printing, except a three-dimensional object is created. These objects are normally made of plastic and metals. Just like normal printers, 3D printers require a computer. This computer can range from a Google Chromebook to a top of the line supercomputer. All it needs to do is create a 3D CAD (Computer-Aided Design) model. There are a plethora of applications used to make CAD files or browse them such as Tinkercad and SketchUp. There are other types of files like STL and OBJ but they will be discussed at another time.
Using 3D Printers
As opposed to popular belief, 3D printing is really simple. On the previously mentioned CAD file creators, anyone can place shapes and create cars, dinosaurs, or anything in between! To print the creations, all that would need to be done is to save it as a CAD file and send it to a local 3D printer. Nowadays, there are often 3D printers in schools and printing stores.
The printing process
I can go on for hours on this point but this is meant to be a quick, informative article about 3D printing. There are multiple ways to print at the moment. The first and most common way to 3D print is through SLA (Stereolithography) and it was created by Charles Hull in 1983. Basically, the 3D printing container has resin in it and a laser is used to heat up and solidify it into any shape. The platform raises the solid plastic and layer by layer, this process repeats until it finishes printing the exact shape needed.
Another common process used to 3D Print is Binder jetting. This printing technique is cheaper and it’s a moving head that deposits plastic or metal layer by layer with a bonding element. This process often takes a lot of time.
What’s important about 3D Printing?
3D printing can be used to combat so many issues in the world and outside our world. New Story, a housing charity organization and ICON, a construction tech company, partnered to create 3D printable houses. A 3D printed house only costs $4000 to create and it takes under 24 hours to make it. This can potentially end global homelessness.
3D printing can also be used to create prosthetic limbs at a reasonable price. They are highly accessible and cheap to create. Hands and arms are being created with many designs to help amputees and only cost $50 to make. Compared to the thousands of dollars people had to pay for every limb, it’s an improvement. Plus, if someone grows out of their limb, no worries! It is simple to scale it larger on a 3D printing software and print it again a little bit bigger.
On the subject of body parts, 3D printing is going to be printing organs. Research is currently being done on making artificial hearts, livers, and kidneys. The 3D printers can create a cell scaffold and important cells can be directly added to the cell structure. Modified inkjet printers can also create three-dimensional biological tissue. They will mostly be used for transplanting. This cellular agriculture and 3D printing intersection will tremendously help advance the field of medicine.
3D printing is not only important for the planet, but it can also be used in space! Yes, instead of taking up to a year to send supplies to the astronauts on the ISS, a 3D printed file of whatever they need can be sent and printed. In fact, this has already happened. There is already a plastic 3D printer aboard the ISS and in 2014, NASA emailed a 3D printable file to it. Commander Barry Wilmore was able to print a wrench sent from the earth in mere hours. A couple of days ago, Relativity Space received $140 million in funding to print 3D rockets.
Conclusion
To summarize, 3D printing is going to be a very prominent component in the world’s technological advancements. Imagine what could happen in the future if we can already print houses, print in space, and body parts.
