3D printing: the technology that could change our life and modern technology
3D printers become cheaper and more powerful. Shane Richmond said, as long as we could print our own consumer goods.The O2, threatens the massive structure formerly Millennium Dome, at the Ravensbourne College of Higher Education windows. Immediately inside of the window is a great model, detailed, the cathedral. It is, however, the accuracy of the model is interesting is the fact that it is produced by a printer.
Ravensbourne students have access to used 3D printers for rapid prototyping designs. The printing process can take some time - often are the machines running overnight - but it is faster than traditional methods and allows for easier modification, because it requires to optimize a to a computer model instead of, say, an upgrade of a machine .
Instead of printing the ink on paper, with 3d printing technology, a fine powder that is placed on a hard, chalk, building a layer of an object at a time. Build an object layer by layer wastes less material than conventional manufacturing methods used to produce things that are very difficult to do by other means.
Which could now be used for rapid prototyping soon bring great changes, not only for the industry but also for our homes. 3D printing has decreased since about 20 years, but have been in the last ten years and the range of materials that can be used has increased. 3D printer used to work mainly with plastic, but it is now possible to print with metal, nylon, recycled paper and even print an object of mixed materials.
Aircraft manufacturers are studying the possibility of printing, such as the wing of an airplane, but it is also possible that one day can print our own furniture.
"If you want to print something like the pieces of gear, that's one thing," said Peter Cochrane, an entrepreneur and futuristic ", but if you have a full box, the print works, it is quite another thing."
He adds: "The big transition for machines and parts of everyday objects."
Flora Parrott, Professor of Ravensbourne and an artist, I'm talking about can be made to scan objects for 3D replicas of the Museum plans. It would, for example, the historian opportunity to study the interior of an object that is not considered in other ways by the fracture. It would also mean that schools can manage print objects and students to explore in the classroom.
Schools in California are 3D printer installed and is not hard to imagine that gradually appear, in all schools, such as computer has. During the 1980s
Medical researchers have artificial bone, cut to be printed and then implanted to replace the bone that has been removed or damaged in humans on the analysis of real bones. The next challenge is to print materials and artificial organs with 3d manufacturing technology.
Will not take long to start up 3D printer appear in the main street and copiers were decades ago. And the technology is now available for home use. A RepRap - short for reproduction Rapid Prototyping - can be built for about £ 300 and the part print for another 3D laser printer. You can also see many other objects, such as door handles, coffee mugs and puzzles, drawings, for the community website uploaded.
This is the exclusive domain of the fans at the moment, but the 3d printer price will reduce, the major printer manufacturers are starting to take notice. Peter Cochrane said: "The printer manufacturers arrive early and catch or a Kodak and pretend that the technology does not exist"?
Of course, all this raises the question of intellectual property. Could we have a piracy lawsuits for people who have illegally downloaded or libraries transmission. What happened to the music industry and the film could happen again to manufacturing.
