One of the greatest advantages and main uses of these 3D printers is prototyping. When making a design, there is often a lot of trial and error involved. 3D printers allow prototypes to be made quickly and cheaply and therefore enable designs to be tested and refined in a very short time frame. Iterations are easier and cheaper to make and you don’t need expensive molds or tools.
I spoke with a member of my family who has a 3D printer and is an aerial image specialist. He is an art photographer and the studio he works for needed to build a simple 2 axes robot. So, they decided to make the robot themselves using CAD and 3D printing the parts. They would design a part, 3D print it and see if it worked. If it did, they would continue. If it didn’t, they would redesign it and try again. Once they had a final working design, they sent some of the components to manufacture as they had to be made using aluminium. However, some other components could be made out of plastic, so they did it themselves. Prototyping this way saved them a lot of time and money, as they did not have to contact manufacturers, wait for them to produce and ship the parts, test them and repeat the process.
Besides rapid prototyping, 3D printing is also used for rapid manufacturing. Rapid manufacturing is a new method of manufacturing where businesses use 3D printers for small batch custom manufacturing. Aluminium molds to mass produce cost between 30 and 40 thousand pounds, and this value can triple if the parts are complex. Unless you are going to produce loads of parts, creating these molds is not profitable. 3D printing presents a solution to this. A standard part can take about three hours to print and cost around 3.5 pounds to make (3 in material and 0.5 in running costs).
As an aerial image specialist, he explained to me what photogrammetry was and how he used it to create models. Essentially it is a 3D scan generated by taking hundreds of photographs at various different postions and angles. A software then combines these and generates a model. The more photographs, the more precise the model. He uses an RPA (Remoted Pilot Aircraft System) to capture these images. Once he creates the model, he 3D prints in a single piece and paints it. This is extremely useful for archaeology and restoration.
The images below show the “Monasterio de Santa Maria de Monsalud”, a monastery in Guadalajara, Spain. The first image is an actual photograph of the place. The second is the 3D digital model generated by photogrammetry and the third is the 3D printed model. The CAD model he made can be found on this link: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/santa-maria-de-monsalud-abbey-d35e6c55a8f74507811b6b43b1d71de0
Another great thing about 3D printing is that it makes it easy to customise products. Take a look at prosthetics for example. 3D printing is changing the world of medicine, as engineers are able to develop prosthetics which are fully customised to the wearer, quickly and cheaply. This is especially useful for people in developing countries, where resources are scarce. It also gives children the opportunity to personalize them if they wish.
Kaitlyn DeBiasse mentioned this during her talk. She talked about her recent project in Jordan, and how a team of designers were able to design and make bespoke prosthetic limbs to the people there. 3D printing these allowed them to make them quickly and cheaply, offering the possibility of customising them, making the situation easier for children. She also mentioned that, as kids tend to grow out of their prosthetic limbs every 6 months, 3D printing allows them to make new ones when they need it.
I also spoke with a friend who is studying Biomedical Engineering in Glasgow and is in the Handprints e-NABLE society. She explained to me that they were able to make these prosthetic hands very cheaply compared to industrial processes. It costs them around 20 pounds to manufacture one, including all the prototypes. They use PLA as the material and despite it doesn’t have the mechanical properties of a metal, it will last a long time as long as you take care of it and is much lighter.
However, as it’s always the case, some people will think of uses of this technology to contribute to society, whilst others will look at how to do evil. Cody Wilson was the first person to design and make a gun using just a 3D printer. Anyone can access that design, download it and build their own pistol. This was a huge controversial topic. Is it ethical? Should it be legal? I can understand why making a fully 3D printed a gun is exciting, in terms of development. But why make the file public?
