What position with 3D printing have in let's say 2 to 3 decades from now? Will we see the promises of 3D printing being materialised?
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What position with 3D printing have in let's say 2 to 3 decades from now? Will we see the promises of 3D printing being materialised?
I think the biggest thing with 3D printing will be multi color. Right now we have it, but it is very poorly implemented.
This is a good example. See how much waste (and time) to produce a simple object with two colors. This is because the nozzle has to be constantly purged prior to switching colors and when there are color switches in the same layer it causes a lot of waste.
Single color 3D prints are boring, and lack any visual depth. While I love 3D printing and it is really cool, I am more into it for functional prints, prints that solve a problem.
There are many other things I think that are important as well, speed, resolution, line reduction, but I believe multi-color is the biggest hold back.
I think we have already, granted we still have a ways to go. For example, during the rough times of Covid, many have donated their time to print 3D masks to help hospitals. They also printed other devices that cost a fraction of what the official device costs while helping supply during major shortages. I have seen people missing hands print their own replacements offering a cost effective alternative to unavailable solutions. There are companies actually 3D printing houses.
3D printing's best claim to fame is rapid prototyping, and not final products. Companies who manufacturer products are able to use 3D printing to quickly validate their designs and ideas without expensive short run manufacturing. This is a huge boon to companies and can save them tons of money while allowing them to be far more agile.
That being said, 3D printing has a lot of room to grow to become what you see in Sci-Fi movies.
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You've touched on some interesting points.
The multicolour one, that's indeed something the smaller, home/studio printers can improve. To be honest, the technique of these printers may not be the technique that will win in the end. For mockups, yes, but I expect other techniques to be the winners. It has been quite some years ago I was running around in this market to understand what was available. Back then, I think it was in 2013 or 2014, I ran into Shapeways and iMaterlise. With the latter, I ordered a little object from one of their industrial-grade colour printers. Resolution pretty ok, colour super, however now after years, the colour starts to fade away.
Yea, I live in Amsterdam and one of the house print projects is right in the middle of this city, well, maybe not in the exact middle, but quite close by. Someone build a metal bridge in our red-light district. To be honest? I didn't take the time yet to check out this one myself. This convo serves as a reminder for sure.
a nice article about this bridge: https://www.archpaper.com/2021/07/worlds-first-3d-printed-steel-bridge-debuts-in-amsterdam-red-light-district/
Last year, or maybe two years ago by now, the first jaw was printed and successfully implemented in a human.
Though some of these are no brainers, any object that needs a design and is manufactured just a few times can benefit from 3D printing. Large scale and local production is something that is THE promise of 3d printing. On large scale, I don't mean, many of the same objects, but I mean a few to single off of an object but on large scale. Back in the days, I was thinking of concepts of having a 3D printing shop in each district, just a few minutes away from our own doorstep. With marketplaces filled with 3d objects and parts to get something new, or replace a broken part. Where designers of objects create the parts 3D model and offer them to the world. I think this can still happen, though it's clear to me (already back then) this is not happening any time soon. I was quite surprised to learn 3D printing was already done for more than 3 decades. Materialise, the sister company of iMaterialise does the industrial projects, including parts for BMWs and whatnot. I've seen their printing factories. Amazing stuff they have. But all this was like 7 or 8 years ago, so by now, even better technology must be in their factories.
A few of my first post at HIVE (well the one with the S) was about 3rd printing. You may regonise some of the projects:
https://ecency.com/post/@edje/stunning-3dprinted-objects-part-1
https://ecency.com/post/@edje/stunning-3dprinted-objects-part-2
https://ecency.com/post/@edje/stunning-3dprinted-objects-part-3-pinting-a-solid-house-in-less-than-24-hours-for-less-than-5-000ususd
https://ecency.com/post/@edje/stunning-3dprinted-objects-part-4-the-office-of-the-future-in-reality-today
https://ecency.com/post/@edje/stunning-3dprinted-objects-part-5-landscape-house-the-endless-house
I love these guys/girls: https://n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com/