An Introduction to 3D Printing
It’s an epic, out-of-this-world machine that can transform a simple computer file into a real life object that you can hold in your hands. You guessed it… it’s a 3D printer.

So what is 3D printing? 3D Printing is when you create a virtual design and then send it to a machine that will “print” an exact copy of this design in 3D (that’s why it’s called 3D printing).
Most of the time, when we make stuff, it is using one of three methods; subtractive, forming, or casting. A good example for subtractive is sculpting. You take a large chunk of a material, and then you chip away at it until it becomes the shape you want. Forming is when you use pressure to shape a soft material, for example, making pottery on a pottery wheel. Casting is using a mold to shape liquid materials which then harden.
On the other hand, 3D printing uses a completely different process, which is called additive. It creates the shape by building it upwards, layer by layer, starting from the bottom. This method allows for much more complex designs, and a guarantee that your shape will turn out exactly the way you want it.
Types of 3D Printers
There are two main types of 3D printers, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), and Stereolithography (SLA).
FDM printers by extruding a filament through a tiny nozzle, that comes out in lines and layers on top of one another. If you are simply 3D printing for fun, you are probably only going to be printing with plastic, but FDM printers can print all kinds of filaments, some being plastic, nylon, resin, glass, wood, metals, wax, and so much more. FDM printers are much easier to use than SLA printers, and also much cheaper.

SLA printers work by using a high-powered laser to harden liquid resin that is contained in a reservoir to create the desired 3D shape.The light solidifies the resin via a process called photo-polymerization and builds objects layer by layer. SLA printers can create more intricate and advanced designs compared to FDM printers, but they are more expensive, are trickier to use, and take longer to print things.

“Can You Only Print Small Items?’’
Absolutely not! Companies like Relativity and ApisCor are doing some pretty mindblowing things with 3D printing if you ask me.
Relativity is a startup that is PRINTING ROCKETS. They’ve built the largest 3D printer in the world to do so. Rockets are extremely costly, difficult and time-consuming, and have high chances of failing. With a 3D printer, these huge parts don’t have to be crafted by hand, so therefore involve much less human labour. It would also be much cheaper to make.
ApisCor’s goal is to create buildings entirely created by 3D printers, not 3D printed parts that have to be assembled together. Their inspiration to start this project was the fact that so many different aspects of life have been improved with technology; computers, healthcare, media, but one thing that has not changed for centuries is housing. They think 3D printing is what is going to revolutionize housing in the future.
3D printed houses will eventually be cheaper than regular houses, so this could be an effective solution to homelessness problems and lack of shelter in third world countries.
ApisCor uses FDM-inspired 3D printers that that use gigantic nozzles and cement instead of filament to layer the walls of a house. They made the first ever fully 3D printed house in 2016.
3D printing is not as scary and futuristic as you may think. I took a 3D design course at the Public Library, and then printed a plastic octopus for 22 cents. It’s not actually that complicated.
