WHAT IS 3D PRINTING, AND HOW DOES IT WORK?

There must be at least one time every one of us wondered about what the whole 3D printing technology concept is, how it works, what it is widely used for, how much it would cost, etc. it has been changing the way we produce objects from tools and toys to clothing and even body parts. Charles W. Hull invented the first-ever 3D printing machine, and it worked using the stereolithography technique. It was first founded in the year 1984. However, one person named Hideo Kodama first came up with a similar concept for rapid prototyping in 1981 itself.

Although 3D printing has been around since the 1980s, it has only experienced a significant rise in the early 2000s. And it started to become mainstream all over the world in the year 2005. Since then, many people have begun to invest in 3D printers of their own and start their businesses with a variety of services like 3D scanning, Metal 3D printing, product design, sample blueprints designing, etc.

To know more about 3D printing, we need to know how we usually manufacture things. There are four ways of manufacturing:

The first one subtracting, is basically a way of removing from what already exists to make a product, for example carving wood or making a statue from stone.

And then we have forming, which is putting together things or raw materials and applying force to mend them together and form a product, for example, pottery.

The third one is casting; this is where you take a solid material and make it into a liquid to pour it into a mold. This process makes chocolate bunny and easter.

The fourth form of manufacturing is additive manufacturing, and this is the only form of manufacturing where we have nothing, to begin with. So you take your desired material and add it exactly where you want it until you have the final object.

3D printing is one such type of additive manufacturing that involves making anything by adding a material one tiny layer at a time and repeating it again and again till we reach the product we require. You might be wondering how do you do that? Well, it starts by making a drawing of what you want to make on your computer.

The computer then makes a particular type of file that can be sent or transferred into the 3D printer. The 3D printer reads that file and prints the object layer by layer to make the thing you drew.

Why did 3D printers gain such significant roles in manufacturing? They allow people to make new shapes and new objects that were not previously possible, and all sorts of different materials can be used, like plastics, metals or food, or even living cells that your body is made of. They also save time and effort and help us manufacture things that would take years to be done in months or maybe days!

Who uses them the most? Engineers use 3D printers to make parts of ket engines that are lighter and stronger to make airplanes much more efficient and use less fuel. Doctors are using them to create new arms, legs that are perfect for people in need. They even use them to make bones to repair terrible fractures or maybe replace the broken ones. They are also used for many small-scale products like making tools for the tool kit, manufacturing electronic equipment, welding, etc. So they really did help cut off the cost of production for a lot of different industries. 3d printers have revolutionized the world of production and manufacturing as no other machine has ever done in the past, and they might even get better in the near future so let’s