What would YOU print in 3D?

If you could print anything in 3D, what would it be?  It sounds like something out of sci-fi, but 3D printing is here to stay, and one day you may have the technology in your own home.  Nokia have just unveiled plans to allow users to print their own mobile phone cases – the first big brand to back 3D printing.  In the words of Nokia’s John Kneeland, it’s a Very Big Deal.

The film industry has already seen the potential of 3D printing, and is starting to realise it in live and animated settings.  Oscar-nominated ParaNorman, up for Best Animated Picture this year, broke new ground in stop-motion animation using 3D printing.  To achieve the variety of facial expressions without a blip in the continuity of the film, animators used replacement animation, printing multiple copies of the faces of the characters with different mouth shapes.  These could then snap on and off the puppets for each shot – and with 24 different mouth expressions representing one second of a character’s speech, it was a huge task where 3D print technology provided essential consistency. This excellent video, Faces of ParaNorman, shows how it was done.

If you’ve seen Skyfall (and for those who haven’t, don’t worry, no spoilers) then you’ve seen this elegant Aston Martin DB5 taking some terrible treatment.  Or have you?  As the DB5 is such a precious beast, the idea of inflicting even a scratch on the bodywork was unthinkable.  The solution?  Print off a few copies and detonate at will.  Check out this article from 3ders.org for more (still no spoilers).

The technology has been around for decades, gradually refining itself.  “Stereolithography” first appeared in 1984, with a patent to produce items from digital data for the first time granted in 1986.  3D precision machining has been around for a lot longer in manufacturing from the pre-digital age onwards.  The systems are shrinking while the capacity and capability increase.  For those who think such technology is not going to reach the home, take a closer look at the device upon which you are reading this blog, and consider its pedigree.  Whether it’s a PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone, it started life as a room full of analogue, then digital, processors, laboriously churning through increasingly complex programmes.  The development of computer technology in our lifetime has been incredible, and continues to accelerate.  3D printing could be the next revolution.

What else can we expect from this technology, even at this stage?  An astonishing idea coming from Japan is a 3D printing photobooth, according to this article in The Week.  Personalised action man figure? Hmm…..  But on a more serious note, as printing become possible in everything from plastic to stainless steel, silver, and ceramics, industrial and business applications are appearing at every turn.

So back to the original question… what would you print?  We’d like sledges to have fun in the snow, the missing screws and fittings from a self-assembly pack, pocket sized copies of pets, and clean mugs!   What about you?