Tech Tuesday - What is 3D Printing?

WHAT IS 3D PRINTING?

Manufacturing technologies are advancing faster than some past technologists envisaged. Since the 90’s, the quest to an improved and reliable means of producing intricate parts has led to the evolution of an amazing means of manufacturing, it is called 3D printing. What is 3D printing? In simple term, 3D printing is a kind of additive manufacturing where parts are produced layer upon layers till the final 3-Dimensional object is obtained as a single entity.  3D printing is also called rapid prototyping; it involved using a mechanically automated method of prototyping 3D objects rapidly through a portable or commercial sized manufacturing machine called 3D printer, connected to a computer which has the blueprints for the objects installed. The 3D printing concept of custom design and manufacturing is amazing, and almost unbelievable. This revolutionary means of prototyping of new products in 3D models saves a lot of time and cost of production by eliminating the need to design objects in parts, produce separately, and later glue the model parts together to form a complete prototype. Now, through rapid prototyping you can produce a complete prototype in a single additive process using 3D printing.

Prototyping of new products
The emergence of 3D printing technologies has brought about an increase in the number of new products prototyping via the method of rapid prototyping. 3-Dimensional printers are now been used by manufacturers to make quick prototypes from their own offices or through the service of a specialized rapid prototyping company. This has made it possible to design, produce prototypes and test the given products as many times as necessary within a short period of time. Hence, manufacturers and entrepreneurs are now enabled to be more creative and experiments with different prototypes before starting mass production.

Home-based 3D printing
The evolution of 3D printing has made possible, the printing of custom designs from the luxury of your home using a personal portable 3D printer. Unlike the case before the popularity of 3D printing, having a home based digital manufacturing has become a profitable venture. A portable 3D printer can be used to print custom designs right from the luxury of your home; you can start producing 3D printed household items such as flower vase, and key-holder or even 3D printed gift items for holiday seasons. Also, you can now easily print a broken part and replace it with a 3D printed one within the comfort of your home via the 3D printing technology.

3D Printers are electro-mechanical equipment which produces physical 3-Dimensional objects from digital blueprints containing the manufacturing data by printing layer upon layer. Portable 3D prints can produce physical models of custom designs via a computer aided design (CAD) program or scanned blueprints with 3D Scanner. 3D printing technology is used in many industries including jewelry, industrial design, engineering and construction, architecture, automotive, aerospace, dental and medical industries.

Inclusion, 3D printing has presented us with many possibilities of bringing our creative imaginations to realistic 3-Dimensional physical objects. This makes creativity more interesting and encourages rapid improvement. Want to start experiencing the wonder of 3D Printing and this amazing technology? Contact us and we will happily help you make your vision into a 3D Print. 

Scan On,
DimTec 3D