The word technology pervades just about everyone’s vocabulary these days. From phones to cars to data storage to healthcare, it has continued changing the facets of our lives in Aurora, Oswego, Montgomery, Sugar Grove, Naperville and Yorkville (IL).

Along the way, this rapid technological change also has applied major revisions to traditional manufacturing procedures for shaping raw materials into useful products.

Historically, conventional manufacturing has been mainly subtractive, meaning that an object is made by forging or removing it from a larger material.

Molding, forming, machining and joining have been leading traditional manufacturing methods. Because of the effort and cost to set up each production run, these formats have been much better suited for large-scale manufacturing: The cost to set up a run of 500 parts is far less economical than one for 50,000 parts.

That stark production reality has since receded with the evolution of 3D printing.

What Is 3D Printing?

3D printing creates a physical object from a file that contains a digital model. Unlike the subtractive process of traditional manufacturing, 3D printing is an additive process through which constructive material layers can be affixed to complete a desired three-dimensional object.

When 3D printing was invented in the 1980s, it was initially referred to as “rapid prototyping.” Like early-stage cell phones in the 80s, the first 3D printers were large and costly. Companies used them to develop prototypes with greater speed and precision than other methods allowed at the time.

Where traditional manufacturing requires mass production to better amortize the expense, 3D printing frees manufacturing from overhead such as tooling for casts and molds for small and medium runs. It also is not influenced by quantities needed, removing the great expense of limited volumes as a cost concern.

Industries that mass-manufacture products including plastic, wood or steel (e.g. bottles, furniture, auto parts) have historically depended on traditional production processes. Today, instead of waiting weeks for a prototype, those same businesses can use in-house 3D printing to design, fabricate, test and revise their models in days.

In the end, design and development cycles are faster and less expensive, and the final product can reach users sooner.

How Does 3D Printing Work?

3D models for 3D printing can be developed from scratch with CAD or digital 3D software or downloaded from an existing 3D library on a platform such as Tinkercad, Blender or FreeCAD. Tinkercard is especially useful for those just beginning to work with 3D printing (it’s also free).

If you’d rather not design from scratch, you can use a 3D scanner to upload a model or part to a CAD program and then adjust the mesh for transfer. 

Once you’ve established a printable file, the next step is preparing it for your 3D printer, a procedure known as slicing. Performed with slicing software (e.g. Simplify3D, Slic3r, UltiMaker Cura), this is the dividing of a 3D model into its layers. Some CAD software also now integrates slicing software into the program.

Once the file is sliced, it’s ready for transmission to the 3D printer by USB, SD or Wi-Fi for printing layer by layer. Items also can be printed from beyond the local area network by using cloud-based tools. Plus, once a file is sliced and stored in a digital library, it doesn’t need to be sliced again for printing.

3D printing further can produce a product with a single machine, something not always possible with traditional manufacturing.

3D Printing Applications

3D printing’s steady growth and capabilities now make it a great asset for applications well beyond manufacturing. It is now also used by engineers, educators, architects and medical professionals, as well as by hobbyists. 3D printers can even be used to print human organs, bionic limbs and entire houses.

Consumers also can use 3D printers in a vast range of applications at home in in Aurora, Oswego, Montgomery, Sugar Grove, Naperville and Yorkville. For example, they might fix household items such as lampshades or create special art projects for the kids.

The benefits of additive as opposed to subtractive manufacturing within a supply chain will only increase 3D printing technology as a pivotal production and development tool in most major commercial sectors. 3D printing is currently a $20 billion dollar industry, and it is expected to grow by 24% in the next five years.

In addition to manufacturing, the other top industries using 3D printing today include automotive, aerospace, robotics and education.

Car makers can now use 3D printing to design and print product aids such as tools, fixtures and jigs at a much lower cost. The aids then support the efficient pre-production of a vehicle model by allowing more rounds of operator testing and feedback. Mechanics and auto shops also use 3D printing to fix and modify cars faster, easier and more affordably.

Aerospace professionals use 3D printing technology to design parts that can conserve more fuel and simplify aircraft maintenance. Within robotics, 3D printing is automating more tasks and improving turnaround times, as well as producing more robotic components and parts.

In a complementary way, robotic arms are also enabling large-scale 3D printing to achieve production on scales once thought not possible.

Within education – especially science, technology, engineering and math – 3D printing is inspiring greater invention and problem-solving among students.

We can also anticipate 3D printing to make advancements in areas such as:

3D printing can even adjust to accommodate trends spurred by a need. For example, a 3D printing business in Michigan used the technology to develop a quieter pickleball in response to noise complaints from neighbors of public courts.

The business co-founders designed the ball to emit a low-decibel “click” instead of the usually noisy “pop.” 3D-printed from a thermoplastic elastomer, the ball is softer and more flexible than typically injection-molded or rotomolded balls. At the same time, it maintains required traits for performance.

3D Printing: Looking Ahead

As we’ve touched on, 3D printing has significantly altered our ability to test, evaluate and create items that support our daily lives. It also achieves this with much less expense.

Because it is an additive process, 3D printing further results in:

less waste or excess material

a favorable carbon footprint aided by reducing the need for long-distance shipping of parts

profitability independent from scale

reduced storage space and costs for unused parts

Factors still to be monitored in maintaining 3D printing’s growth and utility include:

consistently improving quality control

upgrading the conditions and digital & electrical requirements at print factories

systems that can provide a greater increase in throughput (the number of parts per unit of time)

Printer Near Me: Contact Us Today

Aurora Fastprint has three leading passions: to create, to print and to serve. That includes helping you be aware of the different ways you can invent, solve and communicate with less cost and greater efficiency.

If you would like to discuss more about 3D printing, or you have a message, idea or campaign you’re ready to bring to life in Aurora, Oswego, Montgomery, Sugar Grove, Naperville or Yorkville (IL), simply give us a call at (630) 896-5980. We are your resourceful “printer near me”!