{"id":1130,"date":"2014-10-11T18:30:14","date_gmt":"2014-10-11T18:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=1130"},"modified":"2016-08-13T22:07:43","modified_gmt":"2016-08-13T22:07:43","slug":"3d-printing-possibilities-are-beautiful-but-not-limitless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/3d-printing-possibilities-are-beautiful-but-not-limitless\/","title":{"rendered":"3D printing possibilities are beautiful but not limitless"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Candice Majewski<\/a>, University of Sheffield<\/em><\/p>\n

3D printing has to be a contender for the most talked about technology award at the moment. Gone are the days when I\u2019d start talking about my research in this area only to be met with glazed eyes or polite disinterest. Now I only have to say the words \u201c3D printing\u201d, be it at work or on the tram home, and I\u2019m immediately rewarded with genuine interest.<\/p>\n

Sometimes it\u2019s a life-changing medical application<\/a>, or a quirky<\/a> story to tug at your heart-strings. Sometimes it\u2019s the downright controversial \u2013 such as when someone takes it upon themself to print a homemade gun<\/a>. Every time something new happens in the field we all hear about it. A lot.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no doubting that these technologies are exciting but the hype is leading us to think our future homes will all feature machines suspiciously similar to the Replicator<\/a> in Star Trek, probably alongside a robotic housemaid and hoverboard.<\/p>\n

The use of 3D printers in industry will definitely continue to grow, and will have a major (if often unnoticed) impact on our consumer choice but those of us who don\u2019t make things for a living will not suddenly become digital artisans.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re now able to go online and choose from a staggering range<\/a> of affordable, easy to use 3D printers or even walk into a high-street store<\/a> and pick one up to take home there and then. Does this mean we will all rush out to buy one? No. These personal systems will certainly continue to improve, but they will never develop to the point where they can make everything we ever need and at an affordable price.<\/p>\n

As things stand, the quality and choice of the materials that feed into 3D printers just isn\u2019t there, and you still need skill to model your parts in the first place. Even if it is economical to pay to download the file for a particular product and produce it at home, there\u2019s the question of whether or not it\u2019s still simpler to just order the part online or pick it up from a nearby store.<\/p>\n

Realistically you are probably not going to use your home 3D printer to replace that broken part on your toaster or make yourself a new pair of shoes. It\u2019s more likely that you and your family will use it to produce a selection of novelty items you\u2019ve either designed or downloaded from a website such as Thingiverse<\/a>. You\u2019ll probably be making Christmas tree ornaments or a pair of earrings vaguely resembling your pet before the excitement wears off and your 3D printer is consigned to the spare room with all those other gadgets you\u2019ve bought over the years.<\/p>\n

Put simply, most of us aren\u2019t all that creative when it comes down to it. We don\u2019t often make things at home and being able to own a 3D printer is highly unlikely to suddenly transform us into a nation of designers.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say that 3D printers are not an exciting prospect, though. Part of the fuss stems from the ability of these technologies to produce parts without any form of tooling. This removes many of the design restrictions often encountered with more conventional manufacturing techniques and allows the production of extremely complicated geometries at little or no extra cost. How else could you make a wind-powered walking animal<\/a> in one go?<\/p>\n

Tied in with this is the ability to economically produce single, one-off items. What this means for us as consumers is more exciting designs and the option for personalised items at affordable prices. We may not all be wearing Dita von Teese-style 3D printed dresses<\/a> any time soon, but we will certainly start to make more use of the freedom this technology gives us.<\/p>\n

The good thing is, 3D printing covers all levels of design skill. If you\u2019re simply excited by cool accessories, you can go online and buy a new lampshade<\/a> or an iPhone cover<\/a> that\u2019s a little bit different from what you\u2019re used to.<\/p>\n

If something unique is more to your taste, you\u2019ll find various levels of personalisation – for example customised jewellery with low<\/a> or high<\/a> design input. Or you can create personalised versions of yourself, such as superimposing your face on a Disney princess<\/a> or Star Trek figure<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a whizz at design, you can order your own designs to be produced via an online provider such as Shapeways<\/a> or Sculpteo<\/a>. You\u2019ll also be able to do it through in-store services<\/a> more and more. Many such services allow you to sell your designs to other customers into the bargain.<\/p>\n

3D printers will never be a necessity \u2013 even 2D printers are becoming less common in the home \u2013 but they do open up many unique and useful applications. They\u2019re not for everyone, and they may struggle to fully meet the hype generated on their behalf, but they will continue to have a profound effect on our choice as consumers.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Candice Majewski is a member of the EPSRC Early Career Forum in Manufacturing Research.<\/em><\/p>\n

This article was originally published on The Conversation<\/a>.
\nRead the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Candice Majewski, University of Sheffield 3D printing has to be a contender for the most talked about technology award at the moment. Gone are the days when I\u2019d start talking about my research in this area only to be met with glazed eyes or polite disinterest. Now I only have to say the words […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":5946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1130"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1130"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5947,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1130\/revisions\/5947"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}