3D printers

Three-dimensional (3D) printers are an amazing advance on manufacturing, which is a great positive for society. They are new machines that can make almost anything you desire. That is an enormous improvement over traditional manufacturing, where one machine can only do one thing. Three-dimensional printers can create a multitude of items out of plastic, resin, metal or other materials.

You start making your object by creating the blueprint on computer aided design (CAD) software which is then sliced into horizontal layers. The raw material is fed into the arm, melted, then slowly, drop by drop, builds your object up.

In 1983 Charles Hull had the brilliant idea for 3D printing when he used ultraviolet light (UV) to harden tabletop coatings. Initially 3D printing was only seen as suitable for prototypes due to its cost. Three-dimensional printers back then cost over US$300,000 each. Over time they got much cheaper, 600 to 1,000 times cheaper. Even today, costs can vary greatly. For a professional desktop fused deposition modeling printer, the price can range from $2000 to $8000. On the other hand, most entry level and hobbyist 3D printers cost only $400.

Buying a 3D printer would benefit you by being able to make nearly anything and in the long run it is cheaper than buying multiple individual objects. Once you have the printer, you only pay for the raw material, which can cost $20-30/Kg for ABS plastic. A downside is that 3D printers can take an insufferably long time to finish even with small objects.

In conclusion, I believe that 3D printers are a great advance for manufacturing, allowing manufacturing to be decentralized to your own home; a world where homes, not factories, are the hubs of production.