19. 3D printers

While wearable technologies and designs such as earring telephones, telegraphic wrist wear, text capable clothing and visual hearing aids may not have fashioned the streets of Auckland in 2011, they were once predicted at number 17 in the Top 20 Trends in 2011 Forecast  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qgFTQ8zu3g.  

The feasibility of 3D printing is here to stay with ground breaking medical miracles conducted.  An 83 year old woman successfully had jaw implants.  This was so successful that currently surgeons are working on magic arms for a young girl.

Entertainer and car enthusiast Jay Leno (along with other automotive specialists) use 3D printers to recreate parts that are no longer being manufactured.

Like the automotive industry, the defence forces also use 3D printers to manufacture obsolete or new parts.  3D printers also help devise model craft, testing aerodynamics and design before printing the big aircraft with hopefully a larger sized 3D printer (as anticipated).

Architectural design is also modelled through miniature 3d printed buildings.
The fashion industry was perhaps the first to snap up the textures, and instant designs with shoes and clothing.

• 3D printing was slow to start due to insufficient knowledge and skills of operation, as well as its initial costs being too high.  
• Its current high diffusion is due to its drop in costs.  
• Innovators are using this technology to advance their businesses.  This has seen the innovators, and early adopters now rising to the challenge, and inventing new technologies for new markets. Lead users find new ways 3D printers can be used through open sourced software  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fScRYhq-5M0&feature=player_embedded#!. 

3D printers in homes means that anyone nationally or overseas can own one.  RepRap, an open-source project even provides instructions on how to build a 3D printer for about $520 NZD (9).  Makerbot sells 3D printers starting at an attractive $1,299 USD (6).
Technologies it might replace or complement. “The removal of part of the supply chain and human economic activity in producing goods could potentially lead to the destruction of manufacturing industry. This affects not just the direct participants in this industry but also the service sectors that support it” (6). Current plans are looking at building life sized houses much like leggo (6).   Imagine receiving your kitset do it yourself construction house in the mail.  Could this see the end of carpentry too? ,
Competing printers use “melting or softening material to produce the layers, e.g. selective laser sintering (SLS) and fused deposition modeling (FDM), while others lay liquid materials that are cured with different technologies, i.e. stereolithography (SLA). In the case of laminated object manufacturing (LOM), thin layers are cut to shape and joined together i.e. paper, polymer, metal” (14)

Are any government task forces currently considering the technology?   “While there are no real legal challenges to 3D printing now, some may come as the technology becomes more popular, Rad said. The proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), with 37 nations negotiating new intellectual property protections, could make it more legally difficult to reverse-engineer products in many countries, she said,” leading to the inventors of the printers liable (10). Could this make or break 3D printing? It will definitely throw  a spanner in the works.
Not just the automobile, medical, architectural, and defence industries in demand of 3D printers, but general hobbyists, musical instrument makers and many other industries (11).  Why?  Because anyone can be the master and retailer of their own creation.
Industrial push and pull is described as, “… last December's show featured 3D printers ranging from car-size to desktop models, and 3D-printed items as various as artificial limbs, aircraft door hinges and high-fashion clothing creations.  Diegel says an Italian company is producing tens of thousands of replacement hips using the technology” alongside the jaw replacement detailed above, the medical industrial sector has adopted the technology with limb replacement mechanisms and bright prospects for the future of 3D printing (11).
A 3D printed skull implant is only too possible, or as suggested, 3D printed skin for burn victims (12).
Imagine a 3D printer microwave…….At this stage, one can predict that 3D printers will be common tools of the electrician, plumber, mechanic, etc.  As parts break down, the tradesman can instantly print one off.  Imagine a 3D printer that fabricates food i.e. a steak, just at the press of a button (13).


References

1. Trendhuntertv. (2010, December 21).  Top 20 trends in 2011 forecast - The 2011 trend report [Video file]. Video posted to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qgFTQ8zu3g.
2. Bowling, D. (2012, February 6).  WebProNews/Technology. 3D printer creates jaw implant, turns 83-year-old woman into awesome cyborg.  Retrieved July 31, 2012, from http://www.webpronews.com/3d-printer-jaw-implant-2012-02.
3. Silverman, M. (2012, August 1). Mashable tech how does 3D printing work, anyway? Retrieved August 1, 2012, from http://mashable.com/2012/08/01/how-does-3d-printing-work/.
4. K. Stevenson. (2010, August 20). Entries in aeronautical.  Retrieved August 7, 2012 from http://fabbaloo.com/blog/tag/aeronautical#.UCDXL00geSo.
5. Mings, J. (2012, July 25). Solid smack: sexy cool 3D printed shoes from Janina Alleyne. Retrieved August 7, 2012 from http://solidsmack.com/fabrication/sexy-cool-3d-printed-shoes-by-janina-alleyne/.
6. Foti, J., Tiffany, A., Tolstikov, I., Fabre, J.P., & Rawat, R. (n.d.). Madam Eureka: 3D Printing, Diffusion of 3D printing.  Retrieved August 12, 2012, from http://madameeureka.wordpress.com/diffusion-of-3d-printing/.
7. Rocketboom. (2009, April 7). Makerbot, the 3D printing robot. Retrieved August 10, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fScRYhq-5M0&feature=player_embedded#!.
8. Krell, A. (2011, December 27). 3-D printing on way to becoming affordable. Retrieved August 10, 2012, from http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2017076177_3dprinting27.html.
9. Yu, A. (August 6, 2012). 3D Printer: 3D Printers, obsolete firearm supply controls and the right to build self-defense weapons under Heller  http://www.3dprinter.net/3d-printers-obsolete-firearm-controls-and-the-law.
10. Gross, G. (2010, November 21). Computer World: 3D printing a minefield of legal challenges.  Retrieved August 13, 2012 from http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/technology/3d-printing-a-minefield-of-legal-challenges.
11. Doesburg, A. (2012, March 23). New Zealand Herald: 3D printing makes ideas real.  Retrieved August 9, 2012 from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10794000.
12. J. Green, email communication, August 9, 2012.
13. Olson, P. (2012, November 7).  Forbes: Airbus Explores Building Planes With Giant 3D Printers - Updated With Video.  Retrieved August 7, 2012 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2012/07/11/airbus-explores-a-future-where-planes-are-built-with-giant-3d-printers/.
14. Citation. (2012, August 15). In Wikipedia, 3D Printing.  Retrieved 1205hrs, August 16, 2012 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing.
15. Hutchings, E. (2012, February 7). Now you can 3D print a house.  Retrieved August 16, 2012 from http://www.psfk.com/2012/02/3d-printing-buildings.html.
16. Fox, Z. (2012, August 16). In Stuff, 3D printed meats may soon be on the menu.  Retrieved 1105 hrs, August 16, 2012 from http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/gadgets/7490844/3D-printed-meats-may-soon-be-on-the-menu.