The variety of features of a 3D printer

In our century, when technologies are developing at inconceivable speed, no one can be surprised by the fact that shoes or clothes can be printed on a special device. Fifteen years ago, the very posing of such a question sounded absurd, but today the three-dimensional printing has firmly entered our life, adding to and diversifying it. The use of printing everywhere: products that came out from under the printer, surrounds us everywhere. These are products made of wood, plastic and even iron. The possibilities of modeling with the subsequent reconstruction of the object are limited only by the program code, that is, in fact, they are almost limitless. In today's article we will talk about what can be done on a 3D printer, its profitability and the prospects that this innovation promises.

Scope of 3D printers

Despite the fact that this type of technology is practically inaccessible to the ordinary user, its popularity is gradually gaining momentum. And it's not just advertising and good reviews. Volumetric printing allows you to produce objects of high precision, without resorting to various technological processes, thereby unifying the production of the final product. Of course, any manager will want to have such a device that allows him to rationalize his field of activity (construction, medicine, etc.).

Many large companies order 3D printers capable of creating large objects, others need jewelry, and sometimes microscopic accuracy, so they acquire more accurate devices. The price for such a device can sometimes be calculated in very large six-figure amounts in dollar terms, but this does not stop the buyer, because the benefit that can be derived from production with the help of this device may turn out to be much more.

3D printers cost quite expensive, and this is the main reason for their inaccessibility for the average user. Many global companies are already in line to purchase models. Let's try to find out where exactly at the moment these devices have found the widest application.

Art

A regular printer can print a photo in black and white or in color, but this is where its possibilities are exhausted. In the case of a 3D printer, this is just the beginning. Several exhibitions have already taken place, at which the work of several enthusiasts performed with the help of volumetric printing devices was presented.

The object of these exhibitions were three-dimensional photographs, representing the image, which gave the volume. This may seem strange, but in many European countries such art form called printart, is very popular and already has many followers and fans.

Portrait of Mona Lisa in 3D

Several voluminous portraits were sold for a record amount for this art direction.

The scope of application in art is not limited to volumetric photographs. Of course, this is highly technological, but this is not all that a 3D printer can offer at the moment.It is known immediately several experiments on digitization of antique statues, some of which could be repeated using printing on a 3D printer with amazing accuracy and reliability, and the obvious advantage is the possibility of using virtually any material. Want a full-length statue of Apollo plastic? There is nothing simpler: a volumetric printing device can easily make it for you, having a source matrix.

1. The well-known Dutch construction studio was one of the first to start taking orders for the design and decoration of the front side of buildings using bulk printing. Each house, decorated with individual stucco made on a 3D printer, is a work of art.
   

2. Small start-up projects offer services for three-dimensional design based on retro-futuristic and vintage. All this is achieved through the creation of decorative interior elements using bulk printing.
   
3. Famous concept 3D pens, able to write with special "ink" (hot plastic, capable of taking any form) directly in the air, building any lines, is also a kind of three-dimensional printing.Only in this case, the preset parameters of the source code are not used, which allows you to create your own picture “straight from the air”.
   

Of course, a 3D printer is in demand among designers and artists who prefer to keep up with the times and set fashion trends in art.

Industry

What can be printed on a 3D printer, in addition to interior and art? Such a question was asked in the Chinese construction company, one of the first to offer services of a new type of house, built literally in months. The secret is that the material for their construction is made on a 3D printer, respectively, has high accuracy and does not require fitting. In the sky, entire areas of houses appeared, erected in the shortest possible time with the help of bulk printing technologies.

House printed on a 3D printer

Russian automotive companies that specialize in tuning, already offer buyers high-precision parts, manufactured for each specific copy of the car. We are talking about body kits, special sport bumpers and spoilers, that are ideal for your model, because all the original data will be removed directly from your car.

Bumper on a 3D printer

Some 3D metal printers can print everything down to heavy piles and bearing elements of a tower crane.

The day is near when many models of cars will be completely manufactured on a 3D printer, without attracting human power. The advantages of such an improvement in the technological process are obvious: the printer is able to work 24 hours a day, being interrupted only for service, does not require wages and sick leave, and does not ask for vacation. There is nothing surprising in the fact that many large automakers have already begun to partially replace employees with automation, in particular, 3D printers.

The medicine

There are many videos on the Internet, where we are shown how researchers from the most modern medical centers learn to print entire organs. This is not a fantasy and not a matter of tomorrow - all of the above is happening today.

About the first breakthroughs in the field of printing (rapid cultivation) of human liver tissue were reported by Chinese doctors. Yes, for the time being it was not possible to print the entire organ as a whole, but a start has been made, which means it is only a matter of time. Moreover, we are talking about the complete replacement of the organ built on the biological material of the patient, and therefore, rejection and use of immunosuppressants can be avoided. This is a qualitatively new step in medicine, which is in anticipation of a whole layer of discoveries related to the three-dimensional printing of organs.

Our compatriots, too, do not sit idle, not wanting to remain on the periphery of technological progress. Several research institutes specializing in dermatology are working in the field of print skin. It is worth noting that the demand for grown skin is great, because every day people get injuries and burns, get into accidents, etc. Wait until the skin will recover itself, too long, and sometimes there is simply no such possibility. This is where bulk printing technology comes to the rescue. Printers, using active biological material, grow a new skin, which is then engrafted to the victim.

The percentage of rejection of such skin is much lower than that of the donor. And the process itself takes less time, injuries heal much faster.

You can make the skin on the printer, but is its medical capabilities limited only to this? Of course not! In the arsenal of bulk printing there are many opportunities waiting for their successful implementation.It seems that the 3D printer will serve the patients not only as an assistant in wound healing, but also as a good prosthetist. It's not just about making high-precision dentures mobile limbs, with the help of which people can not only walk, but also run, take part in competitions, but also about internal substitution and prosthetics. So, for example, Israeli doctors successfully develop the directions of printing (or speed growing) of vessels and arteries. Chinese doctors recently performed an operation, as a result of which an artificial spine fully printed on a 3D printer was implanted into an adult. In the case of medicine, the possibilities that bulk printing offers us seem truly limitless.

3D printer and own business

As mentioned earlier, this type of device has not yet become widespread due to its high cost. This remains the last obstacle to the introduction of bulk printing in mass use. As soon as this barrier collapses, the market will be filled with a wave of offers, but, as often happens, only the one who will be the first and set the direction for development will truly benefit.

A successful entrepreneur can be considered one who feels the market and is able to make far-reaching forecasts. Predicting the situation and slightly ahead of the realities of the market supply, in the future, you can achieve significant success.

The field of 3D entrepreneurship is at the very beginning of its life cycle, it is full of risks and uncertainty. But that is why it is attractive for people who are ready to test themselves in something truly new.

Starting a business with volume printing at its forefront is fraught with a number of difficulties. Starting from where and how to get the device, and ending with trivial issues of supply of consumables. In other words, where to get the software and consumables? Sometimes they are very expensive, their cost is too high for a novice entrepreneur trying his hand in a new environment.

The solution, of course, is there. And it is in the purchase of used vehicles. Now many start-up projects do that. The market is developing, and some large firms are selling their appliances, which have ceased to meet their needs in order to acquire a more modern model.And for a beginner start-up this can be a valuable find, because a large enterprise has all the accompanying documentation and software, as well as communication channels for ordering consumables. One has only to make sure that the printer itself is in an acceptable technical condition and can withstand the rate of load that is assumed. For this, it is best to attract a competent specialist who has an idea of ​​how a 3D printer works.

In addition, you should clearly know what exactly it is supposed to do, having a device for bulk printing. Below is a list of the most relevant ideas for creating a home-based business.

Business bulk printing at home

So, you purchased a 3D printer to work with small volumes at home and are determined to get down to business. What can you do to not only recoup the investment (on average, from 2-3 thousand dollars), but also to get a plus?

1. Clothes and shoes. Alpha and omega of private enterprise, that which mankind will always need. Having a volume printing device available, you are free to create exclusive items without spending much time on it.With a little practice, you can fulfill every whim of even the most sophisticated customer. Any materials, cut and color.
   
2. Souvenirs and toys. It is important to take care that the manufacture of such products does not violate copyright, but otherwise, you are limited only by your imagination: you can make any toy and souvenir, but it is important to take care of the market in advance. It is best to work on order, and not under the implementation. However, if you already have a formed client base, with the requests of which you work for a certain time, then you can try the “for sale” option, but you should not forget that along with the production volumes, the risks also increase.
   
3. Replacing old parts. Features 3D printer allows you to make almost any thing at home. This may be a lost cap from your favorite pen, a toy item, a button. People constantly lose small and inconspicuous things of their toilet. Quite often, they have to part with their beloved and such familiar part of their accessory just because a small part of it is lost or broken.By offering services to recreate such details, one can very quickly gain popularity due to the word of mouth effect from appreciative customers.
   
4. Can do dishes for sale. If you have artistic skills, you can easily create an unusual, sophisticated design and decorate the resulting objects, betraying them to the unique atmosphere and style. Such dishes will serve to create comfort and warmth in the house, therefore, with a sufficient level of design skills, the demand can be very high. As a bonus, you can offer your customers unusual flower pots. The main thing - to approach the matter with fantasy and enthusiasm.
   
5. Creating fashion accessories. It can be anything, moreover, you are free to experiment and bring completely new concepts to the market. The range of wearable accessories includes business card holders, decorative wallets, covers for documents and phones, framing jewelry. The latter is very popular in Japan, where an entire industry has developed in this niche. Masters invent and create frames for wearable brooches and hairpins that have value so as not to damage them in everyday life when used.
   

Having enough courage and ability to distinguish between justified and unjustified risks, you can try to start a business based on 3D printing from scratch and quickly become self-sufficient.

Non-standard items that were manufactured using a volumetric printing device

Is it worth mentioning that the first experimental model of a robot fish is completely made on a 3D printer? Starting from the fins and ending with covering the entire skeleton. This sample was tested in one of the research centers in the UK, where they monitor animals. But this is not all unusual items created on a 3D printer.

1. Accurate copy of the bones of a tyrannosaur, exhibited in one of the European museums, looks very impressive, and thanks to the porous structure of the material, it can not be distinguished from the original. When touched, the effect of “real bone” arises, and, as the experiment showed, almost no one test subject could distinguish where the original and where the duplicate is.
   
2. However, this is not the most original application of high technology. For example, one of the American veterans who lost parts of the face during the fighting, he was able to try on a prosthesis that fits perfectly to his head size.
3. Just remember the case when a wounded bird wing part, the victim of a predator attack, successfully printed on a 3D printer, after which she was able to fly again.
4. The public relations team of the University of Princeton said that scientists were able to print on a printer an earcapable of recognizing different sounds, and, according to the developers, the task is as good as the present one.
5. A few years ago, two designers decided that sewing clothes was too boring and long. They presented the world first bathing suitfully printed on the volume printing device. The model turned out to be very elegant, but the creators in their speech emphasized that in the future all clothes should be scanned and printed for each individual person, and not according to specified patterns.
   
   

   Swimsuit 3D

6. If in the case when the prosthesis of the front part of a veteran of military operations was small, then skull prosthesis replaced a total of 75% bone tissue. At the moment, this case in medicine is unique.The operation took place in 2013, the patient is still alive. Many have already been told about the repeated successes in the press and the subsequent prosthetics of the lower jaw; it suffices to mention that this practice has become habitual nowadays and does not cause former surprise.
7. In the same 2013, the first printer in the world was printed on a 3D printer. pistol.
   
   

   3D Revolver

8. Manufacturers of musical instruments do not want to keep up with current trends. So, Olfan Digel, famous in the world of musical instruments, released the first bass guitar collectionfully printed on the machine. Their cost remains quite high, but for the exclusive had to pay extra at all times.
9. Car. Yes, yes, you heard right. A private user from New Zealand printed out the real Aston Martin DB4 at home, block by block. Today the work is almost completed. This is another confirmation of the fact that with the help of the machine you can do anything, and at home.
   

The current level of technology development does not allow making accurate predictions where the mass market will move already tomorrow, it can only guess certain inclinations and tendencies.One thing is for sure: 3D printers will gain popularity and become increasingly active in everyday life. It is convenient to use them: they save time and space required for business organization, being a more compact device. The scope of their application is almost limitless, because we are surrounded by a world of objects, each of which can be printed (at least partially) on a printer.