3D Printers: Almost Mainstream

[PC World]

Richard Smith needed to build a wall-climbing robot for a customer — so he printed one.

Smith, director of Smith Engineering Gb Ltd., used a CAD program to design a 3D model of the WallRover, a dual-track roving robot with a spinning rotor in the chassis that creates enough suction to hold the device to a wall. He then sent the design file for each component to a 3D printer, which sliced the objects into sections less than 1/100th of an inch thick by printing it, one layer at a time, using molten ABS plastic as the “ink.” …

And he did it using a consumer-grade 3D “plastic jet printer” that he built from a kit. The RapMan, from 3D Systems’ Bits From Bytes division, cost just $1,500. Smith spent another $180 for plastic filament — the “ink” consumed by the printer. “It saved five months of development time and somewhere in the neighborhood of $15,000 to $20,000 in models” that were created in-house instead of being sent to a service bureau, he says. …

Smaller and cheaper

3D printing isn’t new. …. But over the last 24 months, prices have dropped to a level that makes it appealing to a wider audience. …

3D design gets easier

It’s relatively easy to use a free tool such as Google SketchUp to create simple objects for 3D printing. But for complex shapes and geometries, designers still reach for professional modeling tools like SolidWorks. …

Pete Basiliere, an analyst at Gartner who covers 3D printing, doesn’t see consumers using the technology for personal printing of unique, one-off household items. “What’s inhibiting consumer use is cost. It’s too expensive for most people.” Instead, he says, service bureaus may step in to fill those needs. …

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