Boeing sees the Future in 3D Printing

Boeing has been conducting research and development in the area of additive manufacturing since 1997, but the company wants to scale up its processes in the years ahead so it can use the technology to build larger, structural components that can be widely incorporated into military and commercial aircraft.

Boeing’s use of 3D printing may seem unconventional because of the growing attention on the technology’s consumer applications for things like toys, figurines and sculptures. But it’s not. 

Using 3D Printing would allow for material development and forming complex mechanisms and components directly from the computer, which reduces weight ans costs by unitization and structural efficiency. Also it significantly reduces the time between design and the actual manufacturing, which can usually take more than a year. The ability to make this process more dynamic gives designer the opportunity to test the prototypes and refine their designs much more rapidly than before

3D Printers and small businesses

A ball. A cup. A gear. Even an electric car. 3-D printers can't print money, but they can produce prototypes for almost anything else. And as prices for the desktop devices drop, entrepreneurs are seeing them kick out something more: tangible business results.

Huntington Beach, Calif.-based company olloclip has used 3-D printing to make a big name for itself with its little iPhone accessory. The snap-on camera lens has garnered rave reviews and is one of the few peripherals stocked in every Apple Store

Olloclip has invested $50,000 in 3-D printing, not only to prototype its own products, but also to create mock-ups of rumored iPhones so that lenses can be designed quickly each time Apple releases a new version. "We can literally sketch an idea in the morning, model it in the afternoon, pop it in the printer and have a sample made that evening," says olloclip design director Chong Pak. Fast turnaround is key for companies in this space; olloclip finished and validated an iPhone 5 version of its product within days of the handset's announcement.

But olloclip's biggest challenge is in fending off counterfeiters in China. Poorly made fake olloclips flood Asian markets. Thanks to 3-D printing, olloclip can keep its computer-aided design files in-house and safe, rather than having samples produced through rapid prototyping service bureaus, which have been known to leak blueprints.

Still, investing in 3-D printing isn't for everyone. That's where providers like New York City-based Shapeways come in. It offers 3-D printing in more than 30 materials--including plastic, glass, metal and ceramic--and an online marketplace where anyone can sell products. It offers 8,000 shop owners a low barrier to entry by charging only for materials used in production, plus a 3.5 percent transaction fee. Clients include designers of jewelry, tech gadgets and housewares; Shapeways enables them to produce and sell their creations in limited numbers but in a cost-effective way.

World’s first 3D printed metal gun is here: 

Based out of Austin, Texas, the 3D-printed metal pistol made by Solid Concepts is based on the "Browning 1911"  firearm. 

Other makers went on to improve the durability of the design, but ultimately it’s still made of the same ABS plastic that Legos are made of.

To make the gun, Solid Concepts utilized a manufacturing process known as direct metal laser sintering, or DMLS. DMLS is a 3D manufacturing process used to make metal parts for the aerospace and medical industries.

Solid Concepts set out to make this gun in an effort to prove that they can make weapons that are fit for “real world applications.” 

3D printing saves baby boy’s life 

When he was only six weeks old, his skin turned blue and he stopped breathing. The infant had a rare birth defect known as tracheobronchomalacia. Only one in 2,200 babies are born with this condition, where the airway walls are so weak that they frequently collapse, causing the breathing to stop. 

Doctors could save his life by ‘3D printing’ him an airway tube made out of biological material, which made it possible for the baby to breath by himself again. 

This innovative procedure has allowed the baby to stay off a ventilator for more than a year.

Hospitals that make use of 3D printing will have a competitive advantage over those that do not use 3D printers. Doctors will be able to save more lives, at a quicker time and at a cheaper rate. In the long run, this will attract more customers to the hospitals.

3D Printers and its application

To anyone who hasn’t seen it demonstrated, 3-D printing sounds futuristic—like the meals that materialized in the Jetsons’ oven at the touch of a keypad. But the technology is quite straightforward: It is a small evolutionary step from spraying toner on paper to putting down layers of something more substantial (such as plastic resin) until the layers add up to an object. And yet, by enabling a machine to produce objects of any shape, on the spot and as needed, 3-D printing really is ushering in a new era.

As this technology continuous to evolve and prices drop, the first big implication is that more goods will be manufactured at or close to their point of purchase or consumption. This might even mean household-level production of some things. This disruptive technology is already being used in the production of the following

Food

Food is one of fundamental ingredients of life which is at the base of the pyramid of human needs. Bringing the food industry to the digital age is one of the essential and revolutionary applications of 3D printing.  Applying this technology enables fast automated and repeatable processes, freedom in design, as well as allowing large and easy variability of the cooking process which can be customized for each region or individual. Using robotic layer based food printing systems allows the recipe of the food to be digitized and saved in order to prepare very repeatable and high quality dishes without any margin for operator error. Also, the shape and decoration of the food can be individualized based on the customer or the occasion.

A company called Choc Edge is currently marketing "the world's first commercial 3D chocolate printer", the Choc Creator. It uses a nozzle to dispense molten chocolate into any pattern and shape. While the $3,500 price might be expensive for home use, it can prove to be very successful for niche shops tailoring to specific customers or events 

Bio-Organ printing

Organ and body tissue regeneration is an incredible ability observed in plants, vertebrates, and mammals. However, this ability is naturally very limited in humans Regenerative science is expected to provide replacement tissue and entire organs by applying tissue engineering which begins with living cells that are multiplied. The cells are seeded into a 3D containment structure that facilitates the directed 3D growth and proliferation while also providing nutrients to the cells.

Education

The education system plays an important role in aiding people achieve their full potential. 3D printing can revolutionize the learning experience by helping students interact with the subject matter. Affordable 3D printers in schools may be used for a variety of applications which can aid students in finding their field of interest easier and faster. Currently there are different types of educational projects in order to attract students to the various fields by giving them the opportunity to create and fabricate their own designs using 3D printing technology.

 

How manufacturing could change because of 3D Printing

At first we might think; 3d prinitng is never going to be cheap enough to compete with manufacturing in countries with very cheap labor.

Well there is a lot more to it than just that.

It will bring a lot of advantages and opportunities for manufacturing companies, as well as some possible disadvantages.

Advantages

Once the technology improves a little more, we will find that there might be no need to hold inventories anymore. For example car companies could make their auto parts on premise or

relatively close to it. Companies would be saving:

•  Inventories costs 
•  Overseas shipping costs, which are not cheap by any means. 

Another advantage, this one for the consumers, is that goods will become a lot more customizable. A lot of people love to be unique and have items that nobody else has. 3D Printing will bring that opportunity to consumers.

It could potentially stop the very cheap labor in undeveloped contries and bring a better life style to that people.

Disadvantages

If 3D Printing keeps developing it could require less workers for manufacturers, which would be the main disadvantage that this would bring.

There is only a few materials that can be used for 3D Printing right now.

Size is also a disadvante since you would need a quite large printer to build certain things.

3D Printing will eventually save lifes

Did you all know that 3d printing could save lifes?

We certainly did not......

Dying patients could some day get an organ on demand rather than waiting an endless waitlist to receive one from an organ donor.

Doctors and researchers are starting to use human cells to 3d print organs and different body parts for the specific patient seeking tratment.

After duplicating the cells a 3d printer is able to reproduce the perfect cellular construction needed, by printing cells layer by layer, for each specific body part using different types of cells. This is called "bioprinting"

On the one hand, printing human organs is still far away, but on the other hand small parts of organs and even bones have already been 3dprinted and used with patients.

The future is bright for the use of 3d printing in medicine. It is shown in the video bellow how it all works very briefly.