3 D Printing is becoming affordable

[stephendare]

This would be one way to keep lake and Ock busy all day long for years

http://www.outputlinks.com/html/Columnists/Basiliere/Basiliere_061008.shtml

And Now for Something Completely Different:
3-D Printing

By Pete Basiliere, Gartner

Often we are “heads down” on a project or operational issue, so focused that we lose sight of what’s going on around us. Therefore, it is critically important to make an effort to look up and, more importantly, look ahead. The print technology trends presentation that Don Dixon and I made at last year’s Print and Imaging Summit gave our audience a flavor of important developments to monitor. One such development was “3-D Printing,” which Gartner recognizes as one of the most disruptive emerging IT technologies.

Now, you may be asking yourself why 3-D printing is important to your high volume transaction output (HVTO) operation. The question really should be “If my CIO won’t invest in a 3-D printer, where do I find the money to do it myself?”

Consider that Gartner predicts the number of 3-D printers in businesses â€" and homes â€" will grow 75 fold by 2011. This growth is due, in part, on the traditional product prototyping that 3-D printers are so good at. Further, the manufacturers are driving down capital costs and increasing 3-D output quality. Indeed, the first sub-$10,000 3-D printer was recently introduced and Desktop Factory is beta testing a sub-$5,000 3-D printer.

3-D printing is taking off because of consumer, educational and specialized business applications. No longer used just by engineers designing mock-ups of new products, 3-D printer output is being sold to consumers (World of Warcraftâ,,¢ avatars by Figureprints.com for $100.00), topographical maps for archeologists and historians (Landprint.com maps for as low as $23.95) and more. I foresee tremendous growth in the consumer market. Indeed, one retailer has a list with thousands of people waiting to have a model of their personal, $100.00 avatar built.

As costs decline and performance improves, 3-D printers will find their way into in-house print shops, HVTO or otherwise. Astute managers will see the potential and make the investment (or make arrangements with a service bureau) to produce models for the marketing and engineering departments. These HVTO organizations are the ones who are not satisfied with being a cost center but are transitioning to a value added profit center.

While 3-D Systems, Desktop Factory and Z Corporation are the face of the emerging 3-D print technology today, major technology providers are actively working behind the scenes. Canon, HP and Xerox are already involved while other major “2-D” printer technology providers are either monitoring the market or conducting their own research and development projects.

Yes, 3-D printing is something completely different but it is in your future. Check it out:

3D Systems http://www.3dsystems.com/

Desktop Factory http://www.desktopfactory.com/

Fab@Home http://www.fabathome.org/

RepRap http://www.reprep.org/

Z Corporation http://www.zcorp.com/

Figureprints http://www.figureprints.com/

Landprint http://www.landprint.com/

[The Compound]

Thats some crazy stuff right there.

[Deuce]

I love in the video how they have a guy in an office walk by, open the printer, and remove the object like he just sent a job to a printer. However, the video clearly demos that you need to de-powder and coat the object before completion.

These things are great, I read about them several years ago in Wired. The potential for these machines to save time & costs in industrial design is enormous.

[Dog Walker]

3D printing has been around for years.  It started out as slow, inaccurate and expensive.  The first systems used a UV catalyzed resin that was printed on by a UV laser.  Later systems have been using a polymer powder that is sintered by a laser.  There are even systems that cut thin layers of vinyl or paper that can be stacked to make a model.

They are especially useful for making prototypes of parts that are going to be made by plastic injection molding.  Dimensions, fit and finish can be prototyped before investing big bucks in making an injection mold.

[thekillingwax]

It's neat but I don't think it's going to be all that common for a long time. It will continue to get cheaper for the folks that need it but until there's some drastic leap in the technology, it won't be of much use to the end consumer. We saw some units running at Siggraph and it's very cool but I don't think the videos mention ALL the steps needed to properly cure a model, including the baking. Zcorp had some fresh printouts for us to look at and without all that extra work, these things are super fragile and even after it's all done, they still need a very light touch. There are units that use a different media, like the ones by 3D Systems that are capable of much finer detailed work and the models tend to be a little tougher as well. Have a look: http://www.3dsystems.com/products/3dprinting/image_library.asp However, these units are not even close to being affordable.

The thought of these in every home is a little scary though, they're VERY wasteful- maybe one day they'll be more efficient but at the moment it's a little bit like cutting down an entire log to make a toothpick.

Oh and to see the most common commercial use of Zcorp's printers, check out www.figureprints.com , they custom print World of Warcraft figures. Neat concept but they honestly don't look that good in person and they're really tiny for the price.