When we initially floated this feature, several Critic members exclaimed “is that actually a thing?” – and in so doing highlighted a common misperception about 3D printing: that it is a figment of nerdy imaginations. Yet 3D printing has been used for decades. Hobbyists have been playing with the idea of building objects up layer-by-layer in such a way since the 1980s, and it doesn’t take too much abstraction to compare it to bricklaying or pyramid-building.
3D printing is coming to the fore in almost all applications – from large-scale production and small-scale desktop construction to areas as dramatic as human organ replacement. Simply put, it involves constructing layers of melted or mouldable material on top of each other, slowly building a three-dimensional final product. So with this new production method on its way to becoming a US$3.1 billion industry by 2016 (Wohlers Report, 2011), what do we all need to know?
What can I print?
Currently, the most significant role of 3D printing is in rapid prototyping – quickly building models for testing without stringent production criteria. For example, architectural plans are laid out using mapping software and 3D printers, and models of planes and Formula 1 cars with very slight progressive modifications are tested in air tunnels. It also promises to be awesome if you’ve been totally fucked up in some way. Entirely new jawbones are being printed for accident victims at a fraction of the past cost, and prosthetic limbs are benefitting from the customisability of the technology. It would seem that the sky’s the limit – if only because you can’t print gas yet.All this is well and good, but the practical consumer side may not yet be so obvious, and there are plenty of limitations. For a start, 3D printing doesn’t produce objects of the same strength as traditional subtractive manufacturing. Users must be knowledgeable in computing and the initial setup costs are huge – most of the cheapest printers are well in excess of $1,000 and the cheapest printable material costs approximately $50 per kilogram. For the most part it can only fabricate relatively homogenous objects (one material per object) from a small list of potential materials, and production runs currently become impractical after around 10 identical objects have been printed (at which stage it becomes more time-effective to use moulds or subtractive manufacturing).
For Dickheads!
Try printing a replica of someone’s Wattie’s sauce squeezie lid, with holes around the side.
One particularly awesome YouTube video (youtu.be/jQ-aWFYT_SU) shows a man 3D scanning his metal wrench, perfecting the model in a programme, and printing it by laser sintering a pool of metal dust. It emerges perfectly functional – no assembly required even for the moving parts – yet it is unlikely this will be as strong as a traditionally drop-forged wrench, which can last generations.
Website
Shapeways is an online marketplace that allows you to make, buy and sell 3D designs to print: shapeways.com
If price is your biggest concern, there are several services that will either print a design you’ve uploaded and ship it to you, print and ship you a pre-designed good, or send you the 3D files for a design you can print at home. If you want reassurance that 3D printing will gain an important position in our society, just look at anything you own that’s made of plastic (or that could be made of plastic without structural problems). Every one of those items has the potential to be created or replaced by your desktop 3D printer in the near future. On top of this, the technology is ideal if you own a vehicle. Do you remember the last time your wing mirror was smashed off? One of us does.
Everyday I’m politicking
New Zealand’s very own Minister of Customs, Maurice Williamson (of “big gay rainbow” fame), told officials on 13 April this year to be “very afraid” of the phenomenon in relation to border security. The fact that contraband such as weapons and, according to him, drugs could be sent across borders as computer files would leave our borders extremely vulnerable. “If people could print off … sheets of Ecstasy tablets at the party they’re at at that time, that just completely takes away our border protection role in its known sense,” Williamson said. The positive side of this spin, however, is that he also notes the eventuality of this technology becoming as commonplace as PCs. Even the scaremongers think they’re here to stay.On the flipside, some positive 3D printing politics have come out of US President Barack Obama, which at first seems ironic given that the technology is expected to herald an end to globalisation. It is also ironic given the fact he plays up 3D printing’s potential in producing military weapons – particularly considering these could be made at home. Obama thinks it can strengthen the US military and help bring America’s offshore manufacturing back to the country’s struggling industry.
Website
3D Systems’“Cubify” platform allows you to purchase designs to print on their Cube 3D printers. cubify.com
In fact, he believes in it so strongly that he announced plans for three major manufacturing hubs during his State of the Union address in February this year. “A once-shuttered warehouse is now a state-of-the-art lab where new workers are mastering the 3D printing that has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything,” he said during the address. “Our first priority is making America a magnet for new jobs and manufacturing.”
For Dickheads!
If you run out of material, why not shit in your incredibly expensive printer? critic.co.nz/ playingwithpoo
3D printing will potentially herald a much greener production industry, in which shipping emissions are minimised or eradicated. Long-distance production simply isn’t necessary or desirable if it’s cheaper to mass produce items near – or at – their final location. “There is obviously an enormous leap between a manufacturing process which can presently produce one-offs and one that can replace large scale manufacturing,” a recent report from Transport Intelligence says. “However, in theory, there is no reason why advances in technology could not increase the speed of production and reduce unit costs.”
For Dickheads!
The next time you’re at a party, leave a handgun in every room of the house. Hide the ammunition somewhere else though – that way it’s not your fault when everyone dies :)
Both of your humble authors have the computer files to make a fully functional handgun. In the spirit of openness and honesty, we find this absolutely petrifying. It is also one of the primary reasons 3D printing has been in the news recently – which is a shame, really. The US Government took possession of the files for the world’s first working 3D printed gun after they suddenly realised it could get them in the shit. The Defense Distributed Liberator inevitably now has several copies on Pirate Bay and has gained a bigger following because of the reaction. However, it raises the very relevant concern that 3D printing could make firearms commonplace.
Industry is ambivalent
As alluded to regarding the Liberator, The Pirate Bay has a “Physibles” section these days that brings copyright issues into sharp focus. With everything including dinnerware, chess pieces, toys, vinyl music albums and vapourisers printable at home, it’s incredible to ponder just how many industries could get fucked by this technology. There could also be an issue with consumers pirating the genitals of famous people.Website
The Pirate Bay’s “Physibles” Section. 3D piracy is already a thing. thepiratebay.sx/ browse/605
While copyright infringement has fucked royally with the music industry in past years, 3D printing is likely to repeat this pattern for a huge number of production industries. Manufacturers must start now, before the truly mainstream use of such devices, to plan how they battle this. Do you use the Spotify model, replacing income from sales with income from ads and subscriptions? Or do you assume that no one knows how to write computer code and encrypt your files? It will be interesting to see the answer.
Video
An amazing video blending real objects with 3D prints. This is installation art with a printer. vimeo.com/43442146
But ever the optimists, we’d rather look at some of the best things 3D printing promises. At the top of this list is a company called Organovo, which creates “structurally and functionally accurate bioprinted human tissue models” to be used both for medical research and in therapeutic applications. Companies like Organovo are taking medicine steadily in the direction of manufacturing complete implantable organs, and the implications are huge. Not only will organ donors become nearly obsolete, but it also reduces (and nearly eradicates) the possibility of a recipient’s body rejecting a foreign organ.
For Dickheads!
Using Organovo’s printers, we’re pretty keen on the ideaof printing a fully functional penis. Leave it on a waiting room seat for optimum effect.
Furthermore, it is believed that every 30 seconds a patient somewhere in the world who could have been saved by a tissue transplant dies. Growing human cells in vitro has been possible since around 2008, when researchers at the University of Minnesota filled up human organ “scaffolds” with functional cells. The most recent advancement is the ability to build these scaffolds into a functional tissue sample or organ from scratch – a vital step, as the original scaffolds still required a donor organ. Like other 3D printing technology, this simply involves adding various materials layer-by-layer, then feeding them with blood and oxygen. Organovo has recently achieved this with liver tissue which “look and feel like living tissue,” while carrying out vital processes.
Future Directions
Let’s be fair – almost everything regarding 3D printing is still a “future direction.” Prices aren’t yet reasonable and the process requires plenty of refining. However, some of the possibilities are incredible, and deserve their own section if only for the sake of pure optimism and/or speculation.Industry Leaders
- Rep-Rap
- 3D Systems
- Makerbot
- Stratasys
- Organovo
- Protolabs
- Exone
We wouldn’t expect anyone but NASA to lead the field in space-age speculation, and they don’t disappoint. They have identified 3D printing as one of the most important industries for space exploration and the colonisation of extraterrestrial bodies. NASA expects that modules could be constructed from lunar dust by a large robot using “microwave sintering” and “contour crafting.” This is possible because lunar dust contains iron nanoparticles that could be heated up to 1200-1500 degrees celsius and melted, then built up as they solidify again. By printing the main construction robot itself upon arrival and using solar power efficiently, NASA could potentially build entire lunar cities with a (initially) small 3D printer and solar panels. As is often the case with space exploration, this research also has huge implications for building construction in general if the technologies developed are applied to civil engineering here on earth.
For Dickheads!
Use your 3D printer to subtly change public sculptures. Giving Lady Justice a ball-gag to go with her blindfold would be an interesting start.
And if that’s not enough, NASA also has ambitions to allow astronauts to print their food in space – starting with that great American staple, pizza. Using replaceable cartridges of powdered ingredients, the machine would create different “food” types by combining these in different quantities. In the pizza example, the base would first be printed onto a hot surface that will bake it. Other ingredients would be rehydrated and given texture with oil and water before being printed on top. The ideal is that both software and hardware will be open-source, allowing anyone to work and tinker with the models, hopefully improving them in doing so. The cartridges are also expected to have a 30-year shelf life, just in case you fancy spending half your adult life in space. Potential offshoots? Well, NASA is optimistic this could also fix world hunger, but Critic remains slightly sceptical.
For Dickheads!
After scanning the original, try printing 100 identical TV remotes and leaving them scattered around the house. The working one’s in there somewhere!
Because innovators love to be optimistic, there are so-called 4D printers in the works these days, too. “Printing time?” we hear you ask. Not exactly. By carefully combining a strand of standard plastic with another of “smart” plastic that absorbs water, these objects would use water as an energy source to self-construct themselves. Gimmicks like “grow your own partner – just add water” just became a whole lot more exciting.
We’re basically just waiting to buy one
The drawbacks of 3D printing are certainly valid. However, it is almost inevitable that the technology will continue to progress, and in doing so change the entire manufacturing game. What will be important for the future of production industries is using 3D printing to their advantage and starting to take measures against the dangers now. In reality, the game-changing nature of 3D printing is at least a few years away. The warning signs are all there and, to be honest, if companies don’t start working with the flow now we won’t feel even remotely sorry for their struggles in five years’ time.Interesting
The world’s first “3D printing photo booth” is set to open for a limited time at the exhibition space EYE OF GYRE in Harajuku, Japan.
Is 3D printing the next industrial revolution? Probably.
