The printing press is one of the greatest inventions of all time. It allowed for easy and rapid printing of books and information which spread literacy and knowledge across the world. The printing press revolutionize the spread of information.
But now, a new method of printing called 3d printing is poised to revolutionize manufacturing. The way it works is actually very simple, using a 3d model as a guide, a moving 3d printer head lays down a layer of material that has a certain amount of thickness to it. Then it does it again and again putting down one layer at a time until finally the completed model has been created from the ground up—one slice at a time.
Any complex object that cannot support its own weight during printing is printed along with some kind of scaffolding, which can be easily removed or washed away once the object is completely printed.
3d printing can be done with all sorts of materials: different kinds of plastic, metal, fan, stone, ceramic, concrete, wood and more. For example, a LEGO Technic compatible 32 tooth gear, and I want to build robots but some very useful pieces don't really exist, so 3d printing will solve this problem.
Once I knew what I wanted to make, I needed to decide on some 3d modeling software to use. There are a ton of options but I ended up using Google Sketchup which is easy to learn and use. For a really powerful 3d program, I would recommend blender but it does have a very steep learning curve.
After I finish making my 3d model, I needed to figure out how I was going to print it. You can buy or even build your own 3d printer, but because the technology is still pretty new, it's probably more worthwhile for most people to use a 3d printing service.
Coincidentally, as I was writing this episode, a company called Shapeways contact us an offer to do some 3d printing for us. I agreed and uploaded my exported STL files to their server.
I chose which pieces, colors and what kind of material I wanted. I went with strong and flexible plastic. I was also pretty surprised to see that they can print in 14 karat gold— that is one expensive gear.
A few weeks later I got a package in the mail containing all of my pieces. As I noticed the plastic is a lot different from real Lego, it's rough and kind of chalky unless you get the polish stuff. A lot of pieces I designed are a bit too tight but they still fit with the real Lego. Overall, I'm very pleased with the results and probably I continue to design and print more pieces in the future.
But being able to print little plastic gears is just the beginning for 3d printing. Imagine 3d printing an entire product from scratch similar to the replicators from Star Trek perhaps.
Probably, we won't be able to print out a new toaster or a cup of tea anytime soon. But it's already possible to 3d print custom prosthetics, clothing, food, jewelry, guns, drugs, even living skin cartilage and bone.
Scientists are currently working on ways to print entire organs like kidneys and livers. Even printing in its infancy, there are already many legal concerns about what people can do with 3d printing technology. Easy homemade weapon manufacturing, patent and copyright infringement can be among them.
