3D Printers

Fabio Vinicius Dumaszak.

Prof Hannah Griggs

Reading and Writing

Dillard University

3D Printers

One of the new trends of technologies advances and  possibly a revolutionary product is being the development of 3D-printers. Many prototypes have been developed for many companies in the technological race because they know that it is a product that came to stay. The new devices and technological improvements have faced the challenge of creating objects that are always smaller. With the use of this new printer any person is supposed to create any kind of object in any format discarding the actual process of industrial fabrication. It would also allow to output objects created in a personal computer at home. For example, a project a house as an homework or if a person want your name in high relief to decorate your room. There are many objects you can create yourself at home by using common computer. Imagine you buying a glass produced to fit exactly in you face, just by scanning you and printing the exact model you want. These possibilities will change significantly the way we live.

A 3D-printer is a equipment that can build any kind of object in any format by superimposing many thin layers of material until form it. The devices are using mainly plastic, silicone, and some metals as material for printing, but many other different materials has been tested. As described by Stephanie Crawford the process of printing a 3D object has seven steps. The first one consist of producing the image of the object by computer using programs like computer-aided design(CAD) softwares. Steps two through four consist in conversion of computer language to communicate with the printing device. The fifth step is the building process, when the printer start superposing layer over layer of material. Each layer measure about 0.1millimeters. This process can take hours or even days depending of the object size. The last steps consist in handle the object, likely hot because the melting of the materials used, and make the last finishing.

The accuracy of the objects that can be printed is close to the perfection. These objects can be used for art, engineering, medicine, and other endless of possibilities. The 3D- Printing will facilitate many tasks for people. For example, “the old numeration of shoes might be change for scanning your feet and then the customers just select the design which the company will print and pack to their homes”(Barnatt). Futurists believe that this equipment will have plenty of uses in civil construction. Able to build objects on construction site. Automobilistic and technology companies can construct any kind of product that they invent. Saving money with transportation, the company can send the data bank to the factories. Then they  print and assemble the pieces. The medical and dental industry will also get great benefits. There will be the possibility of creation of prosthesis much better elaborated to fit to the patient according to their needs. I may allow building pieces for transplantation and tools that were not possible or were to expensive to build before. The possibilities are endless and many other ideas will born from this invention.

I may looks like one more crazy invention, but the 3D-printing can lead to the next industrial revolution. Imagine if this invention being successful and used in large scale over the world. The expenses manufacturing and human handwork will decrease drastically. Maybe China, which is nowaday the country which does mostly of the manufacturing work, would lost its economic power. Other nations would be able to produce their own manufacturing objects by printing in 3D. The commercialization of printed material would originate new multinational companies with great power over the society. The offer of products and services would not be the same. All of these ideas are supposition for the future economy. A industrial revolution can change everything in the whole world. Challenges will be conquested and new one will born. The world is a machine that never stops.

Work cited

Crawford, Stephanie. “How 3D print works:. How Stuff Works: 2011 Web 06 April 2014<http://computer.howstuffworks.com/3-d-printing4.htm>

Barnatt, Christopher. ”3D Printing”. Explaining The Future :2013.Web 06 April 2014<http://www.explainingthefuture.com/3dprinting.html>