Can someone please explain 3D printers to me?

[underwaterrhymes]

How do you print food? Or prosthetics? Or motherfucking guns?

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND.

[my4girls]

you can print food? I have only seen ones that "print" plastic

[emjacobs]

You load a printing filament that is used to build an item based on the 3-D computer model that you have generated. That filament can be made out of different materials, plastics, metal, organics, etc.

[emjacobs]

Hershey's has been printing with chocolate lately.

[snipsnsnails]

Ha, you have to think spatially, so it's layering various materials one layer on top of another, until it creates whatever pre-determined object or design. If you want to create a prosthesis, you would design it within the computer program and then load the compatible material and let it do its thang. But you know that part and are more just wondering what array of materials can be used within this technology?

[underwaterrhymes]

Dec 18, 2014 9:07:20 GMT -5 emjacobs said:

You load a printing filament that is used to build an item based on the 3-D computer model that you have generated. That filament can be made out of different materials, plastics, metal, organics, etc.

LOL. Can we try again?

Pretend you're explaining to a five-year old.

[emjacobs]

Dec 18, 2014 9:08:19 GMT -5 toledo said:

Dec 18, 2014 9:07:20 GMT -5 emjacobs said:

You load a printing filament that is used to build an item based on the 3-D computer model that you have generated. That filament can be made out of different materials, plastics, metal, organics, etc.

Thanks for clearing that up. Lol.

You're welcome  

I have only printed with plastic and light metals, but my understanding is the food is done in a more temperature controlled system and is liquid fed (ie chocolate) and the surface it prints on to is able to flash freeze it to keep the item exactly as it's supposed to be. I'll see if I can find a video. 

[underwaterrhymes]

Dec 18, 2014 9:10:51 GMT -5 snipsnsnails said:

Ha, you have to think spatially, so it's layering various materials one layer on top of another, until it creates whatever pre-determined object or design. If you want to create a prosthesis, you would design it within the computer program and then load the compatible material and let it do its thang. But you know that part and are more just wondering what array of materials can be used within this technology?

I just can't wrap my head around it.

How big are these printers? Where do all of the different pieces to make the things you're printing go? Presumably this is just something that large companies are using right now and now something the layperson can just run out and do, right? I mean, I can print my travel itinerary, but I am not going to be printing my eggplant parmesan five years from now, right?

[emjacobs]

Dec 18, 2014 9:12:48 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

Dec 18, 2014 9:10:51 GMT -5 snipsnsnails said:

Ha, you have to think spatially, so it's layering various materials one layer on top of another, until it creates whatever pre-determined object or design. If you want to create a prosthesis, you would design it within the computer program and then load the compatible material and let it do its thang. But you know that part and are more just wondering what array of materials can be used within this technology?

I just can't wrap my head around it.

How big are these printers? Where do all of the different pieces to make the things you're printing go? Presumably this is just something that large companies are using right now and now something the layperson can just run out and do, right? I mean, I can print my travel itinerary, but I am not going to be printing my eggplant parmesan five years from now, right?

The printers are variously sized just like regular ones are.  There are ones that are handheld (http://www.amazon.com/3Doodler-Printing-Strands-Plastic-Black/dp/B00JSGFPCA/ref=zg_bs_6066127011_7) the more basic machines are the size of old TV's and square, large ones are full desk size. 

This article may explain food production better than I can www.cnn.com/2014/11/06/tech/innovation/foodini-machine-print-food/

Also any person can buy and use a 3D printer as long as they understand how to use the software or buy a design from someone else. You might not be printing food but you could be printing toys, accessories, shoes, etc. 

[Booze Raccoon]

Dec 18, 2014 9:08:12 GMT -5 emjacobs said:

Hershey's has been printing with chocolate lately.

I'm going to need one of these.

[snipsnsnails]

It's easiest to think about it in simple shape terms. Say you want to "print" a metal cube. You go into the accompanying program and input your dimensions for the cube as well as determine the various materials for the casting itself. Then, in the forming process, it goes through what I think of as The Jetsons procedure. Meaning, it's typically robotized "arms" that start with the bottom most later (in this simple shape case, it would be a 2-D square), then it continues to layer and cool, layer and cool until it "prints" a cube.

The technology is employed in larger manufacturing right now for things that might need the specificity of something a casting might not work for, but 3-D printers are much more accessible to techies just to play with the technology and see what we can do to make production both more precise and efficient.

And, nah, no eggplant parm just yet! Willy Wonka is working on it, though!

[snipsnsnails]

The food production link is cool! It's like a miniaturized factory line in one printer!

[anonymous]

It's the word "print" that is throwing you off (probably). That was it for me anyway. In my field it's called "additive manufacturing" which is a more accurate way to think of it. You use a machine to build something through adding layer upon layer.

[glw]

My office has several types: a photopolymer printer, a powder-based printer (that one is old and not used very much anymore), and a few extrusion printers which are the newest and most fun.
You can build a decent 3D printer yourself for about $400; all the plans are open sourced (meaning free, editable, and sharable).The RepRap extrusion printer is fully self-replicating, meaning that it can print its own parts, so it can make copies of itself or replacement parts. I've printed in plastic, chocolate, and porcelain.

[MixedBerryJam]

How about looking at it like instead of printing, your building with legos, one layer at a time. The cartridge that holds the raw material can extrude one of many substances (originally plastic, but now it might be a food material or a powdery amalgam) and it lays down one layer at a time, until you eventually have your ::thing:: which might be a prosthesis, or a chocolate kiss, or, or, or ...

[y4m]

Think of like a printer cartridge. But the cartridge is filled with metal or plastic or chocolate. You tell the computer what to print, and then it prints it, layer by layer, using the material in the cartridge.

[everyjuan]

[nomad100]

Dec 18, 2014 9:42:31 GMT -5 glw said:

My office has several types: a photopolymer printer, a powder-based printer (that one is old and not used very much anymore), and a few extrusion printers which are the newest and most fun.
You can build a decent 3D printer yourself for about $400; all the plans are open sourced (meaning free, editable, and sharable).The RepRap extrusion printer is fully self-replicating, meaning that it can print its own parts, so it can make copies of itself or replacement parts. I've printed in plastic, chocolate, and porcelain.

Tell me more about these open source plans!  I want a 3D printer to expand on my jewelry designing and the $400ish price tag is better than some I have seen on the market.  

[wysiwyg]

I've seen one in action. This is how I described it to my niece;

You know playdough? How you can make long strings out of the playdough? Imagine taking those strings and making anything you want with it.

There are many types of 3d printers, but the most common, and really the only ones available to mass consumers, are ones that take what looks like rolled up plastic spaghetti, heats it up the plastic, and uses a pattern that you already programmed into the 3d printer via software to make whatever the hell you want.

3d food printers I'm not sure how they work, but I believe it is the same principle as with the plastics 3d printers.


Now, the pattern part is where it gets complicated. You need to use software to make these patterns, but that software needs to be able to 3d render. So, think of software like CADD.

[glw]

Dec 18, 2014 10:34:53 GMT -5 nomad100 said:

Dec 18, 2014 9:42:31 GMT -5 glw said:

My office has several types: a photopolymer printer, a powder-based printer (that one is old and not used very much anymore), and a few extrusion printers which are the newest and most fun.
You can build a decent 3D printer yourself for about $400; all the plans are open sourced (meaning free, editable, and sharable).The RepRap extrusion printer is fully self-replicating, meaning that it can print its own parts, so it can make copies of itself or replacement parts. I've printed in plastic, chocolate, and porcelain.

Tell me more about these open source plans!  I want a 3D printer to expand on my jewelry designing and the $400ish price tag is better than some I have seen on the market.  

reprap.org/wiki/Build_A_RepRap

I'd suggest the Huxley (http://reprap.org/wiki/RepRapPro_Huxley) for jewelry and other small prints. 

[nomad100]

glw Thanks!

[liverandonions]

Here's my addition to this thread. My brother in law made me a 3D liver, you know, in case mine fails.

Attachment Deleted

[just]

Saw this and thought  of you guys - laughingsquid.com/proto-buildbar-a-makerspace-bar-hybrid-located-in-downtown-dayton-ohio-where-people-can-3d-print-create-drink/

[pantsparty]

I now always think of Portlandia when someone mentions 3D printers. LOL.

[Wallflower]

Where I find this technology exciting is for something like a child's prosthetic. Prosthetics can be prohibitively expensive. When it is for a child, who will grow out of the prosthetic or play roughly and damage the prosthetic, it is even more expensive. (Also, I think some insurance companies won't pay for prosthetics for kids.)

So someone went and designed a prosthetic of kids and made the designs free on the internet. Get a technical person to make some minor changes to the design to fit your specific kid, then go to a 3D printing shop and you suddenly have a very affordable prosthetic. Not a high-tech prosthetic, but something usable as the child grows.

I went to a 3D printing demonstration and they used this example and my mind was just blown.

[WOT?*]

One of my Scout parents has a 3D printer and made pendants, rings and stretchy bracelets for the girls in Girl Scout Green to trade with other troops at roller skating. It was the most popular "SWAP" at the event. I've wanted a 3-D printer since then but I can't even get my damn Silhouette to work, never mind a fancy printer that requires fancy programming.

That's all I have to add to this thread.

[waffletime]

Printing with wood:



Polymer:

[snipsnsnails]

www.iflscience.com/space/how-nasa-emailed-wrench-space

3-D printing is everywhere....even outer space!

[humpty]

All I know is that my Doctor Who cookie cutters were printed with a 3D printer.

[TC]

I don't know if this is everywhere, but sometimes the local libraries will have 3D printers and may even teach classes for them. It's usually pretty inexpensive. See if there is something like that in your area!