What is 3d printing? How does it work?

A 3d Printed Object

     3d Printing is an innovative technology that takes help of the 3d scanner and 3d printer to produce a real life model from a digital design.

     The main purpose of  3d printing is to create prototype design of a design faster and cheaper. It perfectly nailed for which it was innovated. After the innovation of the 3d printing technology, even creating complex prototypes of a design became easier. Nowadays you can print anything using a 3d printer.

How does 3d printing work?

      3d printing unlike conventional manufacturing, does not remove any material, instead it adds layer after layer to form an object. Due to its this quality, it is also known as additive manufacturing.

A 3d Printer Printing an object

      First you need to create a 3d model of anything that you want to print. That can be created by designing in a 3d modelling program known as CAD(Computer Aided Design), or you can use a 3d scanner to scan a object you want to print. You can also download 3d models online created by other people to print. Once you'r 3d file is ready, you are ready to proceed further.

      Now you have to chose in which material you want to print in. You can use plastic, metal, ceramic or even metal. But in most cases, it is preferable to print in plastic which is cheaper and easily available. These materials obtain precise finishing and can be used for printing various things.

     The last thing is the finishing process. This step requires specific skills and materials. The object thus printed cannot be used directly without being sanded, lacquered and painted to complete the thing which was to be printed.

      But how does the printer print the desired object? A 3d printer works like a normal inkjet printer. It builds a model by adding layer after layer after the base by printing at the same area.  A 3d printer works automatically and turns a 3d Computer aided design into a many 2-dimensional prints that are stuck on top of one another. Just the ink here is the plastic filament which is deposited layer after layer and is fused together to make the structure with adhesive and ultraviolet light.

      With ithe help of 3d printing, it is possible to create prototypes of designs very quickly in just matter of some hours rather than days.

A 3d printed Spanner

       3d printing has various applications in day to day life. Doctors can practice surgeries on 3d printed hearts with no risk. Prototypes and models of bulky fighter jets can be made before manufacturing the whole jet to make any design changes and finalize the jet.

       With the help of 3d printing, you can also print things of daily usage like a small screw with all its thread to a whole house and building. Just you have to do is feed in the design or walk through the building with 3d scanner and the 3d printer will replicate the whole building.

      There are also 3d pens available in market at cheap prices which make use of plastic filament and with the help of electricity, you can create your custom models at your home. The 3d pen generates heal from when connected to the electricity and melts the plastic filament to such level that you can create your own models, action figures and much more.

      The list of applications of 3d printing is never ending as it continuse to grow and is rapidly changing. Its has become very easier to create prototypes with the help of 3d printing. It has not only lowered the cost of manufacturing but also has speedened up the process. In future, it is also possible that all the things we use in our day to day life are wholly 3d printed!!!