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What is 3D Printing and how does it work?

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Cheap, plastic toys -- no manufacturer necessary. The 2020 toy and game market is projected to be $135 billion, and 3-D printing brings those profits home.

People have scoffed that 3-D printers are simply toys themselves. But they probably didn't realize how much money is made off playthings. Do-it-yourself (DIY) manufacturing -- making goods at home with a 3-D printer using open source designs from a free online repository -- has a multimillion-dollar impact on the overall toy industry.

A team of engineers from Michigan Technological University and the London-based company MyMiniFactory published their results on the topic in Technologies this week.
More than Monopoly Money
The research team, led by Joshua Pearce, a professor of materials science and electrical engineering at Michigan Tech, focused on how much a desktop 3-D printer could save consumers.

"The 3-D printing industry is now dominated by small, low-cost printers and as the industry grows we're going to see a lot more DIY manufacturing," Pearce says. "The evidence is just overwhelming that this makes sense from a consumers' perspective."

To dig deeper into the potential savings, the study investigates the 100 most popular downloaded designs from MyMiniFactory, which is one of dozens of repositories where people freely share 3-D printable designs online. They used three different printing materials to analyze the potential costs of printing on an open source Lulzbot 3-D printer -- commercial filament (spaghetti-like strands easily purchased online), pellet-extruded filament (cheaper option to make filament at home), and post-consumer waste plastic (converted to filament using a recyclebot).

When a commercially available toy was available for comparison, all filament types saved consumers more than 75 percent of the cost and the recyclebot filament saved more than 90 percent. In total -- and just using the data from 100 toys (less than one percent of MyMiniFactory's repository) -- people offset $60 million dollars per year in toy purchases.

To Pearce, an important added value emerged as well: the ability to make novel toys and games that are not commercially available.

"It's one thing to buy a toy from a store or get a commodity toy for your children," he says. "It's perhaps more valuable to get that exact, specific toy that your kid really wants that you can either design yourself or download and customize on your computer and print at home."
The Legos, the Printed, and the Generic
Pearce and his team also used case studies to delve more into the potential impacts of 3-D printing and what might drive consumers to use DIY manufacturing. They built up one example using one of the world's most famous and beloved plastic toys.

"Speaking as a parent, Legos are expensive. All parents know you can't find them at garage sales; everyone hoards them like they're gold," Pearce says. "Now you can make custom compatible blocks and have that same kind of fun while playing with something you make yourself."

A key aspect of DIY manufacturing is judging how well the home-printed version matches the store-bought. With building blocks, an acetone-smoothing went a long way to make recycled ABS plastic look like the brand name and generic versions -- with a steep cut in price. A standard Lego block costs six cents; the generic, three cents; and a recyclebot-sourced, 3-D printed block is half a cent.

And as the Lego Movie would have us all believe, playing with building blocks is not about following directions, it's about invention and creativity. Already there are hundreds of user-designed different types of children's blocks alone. Although as most parents are probably thinking, it doesn't hurt to save a few pennies along the way.

Pearce's team showed significant savings -- typically between 40 to 90 percent -- even with complex toys like chess sets, math puzzles, toy trucks, action figures and board games. The only time the 3-D printed version didn't save money was where the quality of the 3-D print significantly surpassed commercial options; this was particularly true for large and intricate costumes and accessories used in cosplay where people dress up as characters from movies, TV shows and videogames.
Toy and Game Hacks
Pearce says the data indicates that 3-D printing is already having an impact on the industry and it will only grow as 3-D printers become more widespread. He suggests that the best route for toy and game companies is embracing 3-D printing much like Ikea encouraged "Ikea hacks" with its furniture.

"One way toy companies might adapt is open-sourcing some of the designs of the toys themselves and focusing on currently unprintable components or openly encouraging the maker community and open-source community to design accessories or add-ons to commercial toys to make their toys more valuable," Pearce says. "This is already happening -- there are literally millions of free designs. Distributed home manufacturing is the future for toys but also many other products. It would be a big mistake to assume 3-D printers are just toys."

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engineering and construction; technology; 3-d printing; energy policy; computers and internet; computer modeling; markets and finance; video games

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3-D printing sweeps toy manufacturing off the shelves

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People have scoffed that 3-D printers are simply toys themselves. But they probably didn't realize how much money is made off playthings. Do-it-yourself manufacturing -- making goods at home with a 3-D printer using open source designs from a free online repository -- has a multi-million-dollar impact on the overall toy industry.

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Researchers at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have 3D printed a ready-to-fly drone with embedded electronics using aerospace-grade material.

The electronics were incorporated in the drone during the 3D printing process which employs Stratasys ULTEMTM 9085 -- a high strength, lightweight FDM material certified for use in commercial aircrafts.

The drone is jointly developed by NTU's Singapore Centre for 3D Printing (SC3DP) and Stratasys Asia Pacific, a subsidiary of Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS), a 3D printing and additive manufacturing solutions company.
How the Flight-Ready Drone was Built
The drone -- a quadcopter with four rotors -- was designed, 3D printed and flown by Mr Phillip Keane, an NTU PhD candidate from the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering who researches at the university's Singapore Centre for 3D Printing (SC3DP).

In 3D printing, objects are created digitally layer by layer until completion. However, embedding electronics can be a challenge, as most will not survive the high temperatures of the 3D printing process.

Commercial grade electronics were therefore modified and placed within the drone at the various stages of the printing process. They survived the high temperature printing which reached over 160 degrees Celsius, compared to the usual 80 to 100 degrees. Only the motors and the propellers were mounted after the entire chassis was completed.

Mr Keane said: "One of the toughest challenges was to find electronic components that could theoretically survive the high temperature printing process -- we had to add some heat-proofing modifications to the components to ensure they could last. This involved adding new components to the printed circuit boards and also designing custom housings."

The drone was completed in under 14 hours. During the printing, there were just three pauses for the electronics to be placed within the chassis.

"The housings which were pre-printed in ULTEM 9085 also provide a flat surface for the 3D printer to continue printing over them. I also had to deal with tight time constraints as some of the components could not survive in the heat for more than 20 minutes."

In addition to being extremely rugged, the drone is capable of supporting over 60kg of weight suspended from its structure. Moving forward, Mr Keane said he is working on the next version of the drone which will feature better durability, lighter weight and improved flight dynamics.

Professor Chua Chee Kai, Executive Director of NTU's SC3DP said that this is a successful example of disruptive innovation that can be achieved when researchers from academia work with industry partners.

"At NTU, we have world leading researchers with vast knowledge of materials and 3D printing processes whohave invented innovative techniques to overcome the limitations of existing technologies," explained Prof Chua, the world's most cited scientist in the field of 3D printing according to the Web of Science, a research database maintained by Thomson Reuters.

"Together with Stratasys' engineers and their intimate knowledge of 3D printing, we were able to push the limits of today's technology and print a drone that is incredibly durable and can withstand high heat."

"This project exemplifies the power of Stratasys' flagship Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D printing technology and perfectly demonstrates the strength of the ULTEM resin," commented Fred Fischer, Director -- Applications and Products, Stratasys Asia Pacific. "We look forward to researching, developing and unveiling more possibilities with 3D printing and materials as we work with industry partners and academia."

ULTEM 9085 is a production-grade thermoplastic that can be 3D printed and is prized for a high strength-to-weight ratio and FST (flame, smoke and toxicity) rating, making it ideal for the commercial transportation industry, especially aerospace.

Professor Louis Phee, Chair, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at NTU, said that unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are a major research thrust at the school. "Being the first university in Singapore to offer an Aerospace Engineering degree programme, we have been successful in attracting the brightest students to work with our professors to push the frontiers of drone technologies to cater to Singapore's unique needs and requirements. In the near future, I expect to see more exciting new drone technologies from NTU that will be translated into real applications."

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3-d printing; aviation; electronics; civil engineering; mobile computing; distributed computing; computer graphics; internet

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3D print operational drone with embedded electronics using aerospace-grade material

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Researchers at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have 3D printed a ready-to-fly drone with embedded electronics using aerospace-grade material. The electronics were incorporated in the drone during the 3D printing process which employs Stratasys ULTEMTM 9085 -- a high strength, lightweight FDM material certified for use in commercial aircrafts.

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3-D printer to aid the visually impaired students in their educational endeavors

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New technology has been developed to make tactile objects with ease thanks to the convergence technology of 3-D printing and 3-D thermal reflow treatment, which can be denoted as the revolution in manufacturing technology. Using the technology, not only braille books, but also braille picture books and teaching materials can be made with greater flexibility in color, height and size. It is also harmless to human body since it does not require UV coating or harmful chemical treatment.

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Three-dimensional printing allows extremely small and complex structures to be made even in small series. A method developed at the KIT for the first time allows also glass to be used for this technique. As a consequence of the properties of glass, such as transparency, thermal stability and resistance to acids, the use of this material in 3D-printing opens up manifold new applications in production and research, such as optics, data transmission, and biotechnology. The process is published in "Nature" and also presented at the Hanover Fair.

Glass is one of mankind's oldest materials. It was used as far back as in ancient Egypt and ancient Rome and has found a place now also in manufacturing technology of the 21st century. An interdisciplinary team at the KIT led by mechanical engineer Dr. Bastian E. Rapp developed a process using glass for additive manufacturing techniques. The scientists mix nanoparticles of high-purity quartz glass and a small quantity of liquid polymer and allow this mixture to be cured by light at specific points - by means of stereolithography. The material, which has remained liquid, is washed out in a solvent bath, leaving only the desired cured structure. The polymer still mixed in this glass structure is subsequently removed by heating. "The shape initially resembles that of a pound cake; it is still unstable, and therefore the glass is sintered in a final step, i.e. heated so that the glass particles are fused," explains Rapp. He conducts research at the KIT Institute of Microstructure Technology and heads a working group of chemists, electrical engineers, and biologists. The scientists present the method in the "Nature" journal under the title of "Three-dimensional Printing of Transparent Fused Silica Glass."

The variety of 3D-printing techniques available so far have been used on polymers or metals, but never on glass. Where glass was processed into structures, for instance by melting and application by means of a nozzle, the surface turned out to be very rough, the material was porous and contained voids. "We present a new method, an innovation in materials processing, in which the material of the piece manufactured is high-purity quartz glass with the respective chemical and physical properties," explains Rapp. The glass structures made by the KIT scientists show resolutions in the range of a few micrometers - one micrometer corresponding to one thousandth of a millimeter. However, the structures may have dimensions in the range of a few centimeters, emphasizes Rapp.

3D-formed glass can be used, for instance, in data technology. "The next plus one generation of computers will use light, which requires complicated processor structures; 3D-technology could be used, for instance, to make small, complex structures out of a large number of very small optical components of different orientations," explains the mechanical engineer. For biological and medical technologies, very small analytical systems could be made out of miniaturized glass tubes. In addition, 3D-shaped microstructures of glass could be employed in a variety of optical areas, from eyeglasses meeting special requirements to lenses in laptop cameras.

The development by scientists under Junior Scientist Group Leader Bastian E. Rapp is a result of the "NanoMatFutur" junior scientist funding scheme run by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) to support the development of innovative materials for industry and society. The work performed by the research group headed by Rapp has been funded by the BMBF since 2014 for a total of four years to the tune of approx. € 2.8 million. "Our research benefits very much from the interdisciplinary cooperation of various KIT institutes. Besides the Institute of Microstructure Technology, colleagues of the Institute of Nuclear Waste Management and the Institute of Applied Materials, among others, are involved in the project," says Rapp.

Journal Reference:

Frederik Kotz, Karl Arnold, Werner Bauer, Dieter Schild, Nico Keller, Kai Sachsenheimer, Tobias M. Nargang, Christiane Richter, Dorothea Helmer, Bastian E. Rapp. Three-dimensional printing of transparent fused silica glass. Nature, 2017; 544 (7650): 337 DOI: 10.1038/nature22061

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engineering and construction; materials science; electronics; acoustics; chemistry; civil engineering; inorganic chemistry; engineering

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Three-dimensional printing allows extremely small and complex structures to be made even in small series. A new method now allows glass to be used for this technique. As a consequence of the properties of glass, such as transparency, thermal stability and resistance to acids, the use of this material in 3D-printing opens up manifold new applications in production and research, such as optics, data transmission, and biotechnology.

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A professor and his students have invented a 3D food printer that could revolutionize the way we think about food and prepare it -- it can fabricate edible items through computer-guided software and the actual cooking of edible pastes, gels, powders, and liquid ingredients -- all in a prototype that looks like an elegant coffee machine.