3-D Printing

By George Harding

One of the most interesting developments in technology is 3-D printing. By this is meant the creation of a 3-dimensional object from a file of specifications.

The objects that can be created are nothing less than amazing! I’ve seen bowls, plates, silverware (that is, eating utensils), handcuffs and more. Anything that an be specified in the software program that has the specifics, can be turned into a real-life object.

The process is the repetitive application of the chosen material, layer by layer, until the object is formed Using this methodology, any object can be created by a 3-D printer.

The material used can be just about anything. Plastic is very common, because is it cheap and works well in these machines. But metal can be used, silver, copper and gold are some possibilities. Of course, the more expensive the raw material, the more expensive the finished object.

3-D printers are not cheap, although they are much cheaper now than they used to be. A bargain would be $1,300, about as cheap as they come.

3-D printing is the opposite of the normal machine creating process, which involves grinding away material to create an object, whereas the 3-D process is additive.

One thing 3-D printing is not good at is large quantities. Normal machine processes are good at that and thelargerthe quantity to be created, the cheaper the normal machine process is. The reverse is true for 3-D printing: the larger the quantity, the more expensive and the longer the time required.

For relatively quick results with a minimum of work, though, 3-D printing can’t be beat for turning out a true copy of the object desired. It’s usually used to produce a working model of an object so that it can be tested to see that it meets the desired characteristics.

The design is created by CAD software, which specifies each layer’s dimensions, location and thickness. The result is saved in a digital file, which is the input to the 3-D printer.

Time to create an object is a function of how many layers are required and the complexity of the design. A simple object may be created in several hours.

This is an interesting and developing technology. It can be used for prototyping or just for fun.

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aghzpO_UZE for some interesting objects and information about 3-D printing.