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Making printing a 3D reality

Imagine being able to custom design and print living tissue like skin or organs or being able to create a building with the simple click of a button.
printing

Imagine being able to custom design and print living tissue like skin or organs or being able to create a building with the simple click of a button. Such is the potential that manufacturers of 3D printing technology have envisioned and some say its future potential is unlimited.

The technology has been around for at least 20 years, but continues to advance and develop. Although there are many different types of 3D printing, it all comes under the umbrella of additive manufacturing.

The process involves creating a 3D image using computer-assisted design (CAD) software and cutting it into horizontal slices. Then the printer builds the product using those layers. Depending on the material used, theoretically there’s a potential for almost anything to be printed.

“Each process has a limited number of materials it can use. It ranges from plaster powder to titanium, so you can do metals, plaster models, thermoplastics, acrylics, etc. There’s work being done on printing scaffold material for generating human body parts. There are machines that generate (product) using chocolate,” said Bob Wilson, a technician at the University of Saskatchewan who manages and operates their 3D printer. “In some ways, it’s whatever your imagination can come up with for a material.”

Despite the enormous potential, the technology is still limited by the number of materials it can use to build a product. A machine is also restricted to its designated techniques so it would require multiple machines to perform multiple techniques. For a complex product, this could increase production costs to the point where using traditional manufacturing practices would be cheaper.

“In terms of volume, there are limitations in what is the right amount to produce,” said Reuben Menezes, marketing manager for 3D Printing Services Canada. “There are no economies of scale.”

In other words, once you get into higher volumes of production, 3D manufacturing gets more expensive whereas traditional methods of production get less costly. Since large-scale accurate 3D printers aren’t yet readily available, mass production for products such as houses and buildings isn’t a feasible possibility yet.

Currently, the technology is being commonly used for custom designed products such as prosthetics, custom headphones, and prototypes.

“Right now, companies are utilizing for rapid prototyping as a part of manufacturing,” said Menezes. “People that have an idea can create a prototype and sell it like that. Their own hardware ideas are becoming more prevalent.”

According to Wilson, it’s also being used for things like art, clothing, and food. The medical sector also has a variety of uses for it aside from just prosthetics.

For example, it can be used in surgery preparation by making a model from a CT scan so doctors can do a dry run on it. It has also been used for conjoined twins for a long time, because doctors can create a 3D model of the twins’ internal structure to see where blood vessels are located and interconnected.
3D printing machines are available for purchase at costs averaging between $1,000-$4,000. These machines are on a smaller scale and not as accurate as commercially used machines, but are still capable of producing simple designs.

The Humboldt Public School (HPS) was able to purchase a 3D printing machine as part of their industrial arts lab for their new school. Though they’ve had to go through a lot of trial and error when using the machine, they’ve learned how to make simple customized products successfully.

“In terms of what we’ve been printing, we’ve made name tags, which are projects that they’ve had some success with,” said Dave Hill, HPS principal and the main operator of their 3D machine. “We get the kids to make something right off the bat. I tell them to take it home and keep it because this is the first thing you printed in 3D and at some point in the future, you’re going to look at it and say ‘wow’.”

Many schools have already introduced education about the technology at elementary school level. They begin with teaching about what it is and how it can work. In high school, they move on to demonstrating its applications. By the time students are in post-secondary, they will attempt to find new ways to improve and apply the technology.

“We talked about future potential like printing food, for example, or printing biological things like organs. We’re getting the kids to think about things like that,” said Hill. “(This technology) just fits in with our model of practical and applied arts.”

As it stands, consumers represent a small portion of the market. Most of it is still industrial, but that might start to change as education around the technology increases. As people become more aware of its availability and its potential, accessible software will be developed, as will accessible consumer hardware.

“Improvements in material, that type of thing, is where the next big push will be,” said Wilson. “There will always be people looking at making new machines to do different types of things … it’s just going to continue to grow.”

At-home use can be something as simple as replacement parts for household items such as vacuums or dishwashers. As consumers become more aware of its potential uses, companies will start to provide more designs for parts that can be printed in 3D right at home.

Similar to how the Internet changed the retail chain and consumer consumption of products and services, this additive technology will do the same to manufacturing and supply chains.

“As with any new technology, it’s driven by application and availability,” said Menezes. “In the future, we’re going to see layered projection and localized custom manufacturing. Eventually, people will be able to go on Amazon, find a product, have it created on demand and shipped right to the customer. That’s essentially what the future holds.”