|rir|irj iiee:

e||irj :|er|ei
Iij: & |t|eriel:
|K|NI|N
Ih| U|I|/I| U|9| I
9
J
S
Introduction

SS
||': rc e\jjer||cr |c :{ ||| J| r|r||rj |:
c|rj|rj ||e wcr|i. ||': ||e \|ri c| |ec|rc|cj{ |||
:cari: |||||e ||| ||\e nj|c w|er {ca |r:| |er
|ca| ||. || ||cw: ie:|jr: cre|ei cr
ccna|er |c |e |arrei |r|c |{:|c|
c|jec|: |{ :ec|||:| nc||re |||
{ca n|j|| |nj|re |e|crj: cr
:ce:||. ||': c|a||{ a||e
:|n|e. J| r|r|er: wcr\ |{
|a||i|rj c|jec|: cre ||r{ |{er
| ||ne, |:ei cr ie|||ei
i|j||| ||aer|r|:.
\|||| :cari: ||\e :c|erce-
|c||cr! ||': rc|. J| r|r||rj |:
|ec|rc|cj{ |||': |eer rcari
|cr iecie:, ri a:ei |r |ria:|r{
|cr {er:, |a| r|j|| rcw, ||':
cr ||e ca: c| jc|rj n|r:|ren.
I|ere re :ec|||:| re|||er: w|c :e||
J|-r|r|ei |cc|:, cce::cr|e:, |c{: ri jewe||er{,
ri ||ere re ccr:aner-jrie J| r|r|er: |cr :|e |r
{car |cc| e|ec|rcr|c: :|c. I|e w{ we n\e |||rj:
- |c|| cr r |ria:|r|| :c|e ri cr er:cr| cre
- |: c|rj|rj, ri |r rer{ e\c|||rj w{.
I||: ja|ie |: ie:|jrei |c |e|| {ca erer{|||rj {ca
reei |c \rcw |ca| J| r|r||rj. rer ||e re\| |ew
c||er:, we'|| e\||r ||e cr|j|r: c| J|
r|r||rj |ec|rc|cj{, e\||r |cw J|
r|r|er wcr\: ri |e| {ca |\e
{car |r:| :|e: |r|c ie:|jr|rj
ri n\|rj :cne|||rj {car:e||.
\ca icr'| reei |c |re {car cwr
r|r|er | |cne, |a| || {ca ic |rc{
|a{|rj cre, we'|| |e|| {ca |||
|ca| || ||e c||cr: r||||e |c
{ca. kri crce {ca're nie {car
|r:| |ew r|r|:, we'|| :|cw {ca
w{: {ca cr |nrcre {car
:\|||: ri n\e ncre
e||cr|e c|jec|:.
We'|| |:c |cc\ | ||e nr{
w{: J| r|r||rj |: |e|rj a:ei |r ||e wcr|i
rcari a: - |rcn J|-r|r|ei ire::e: |c J|-r|r|ei
rcc\e| r|: (ri {ca'|| |ri ncre crer | car
we|:||e - www.Ji-r|r||rj.re|.
|ei{ |c jan |r!
C
c
r
e
r

|
c
|
c
.
H

\
e
r
|
c
|
|
e

|
|
c

|
c
r
I
(
w
w
w
.
n

\
e
r
|
c
|
.
c
c
n
)
c|rj|rj ||e wcr|i. ||': ||e \|ri c| |ec|rc|cj{ |||
:cari: |||||e ||| ||\e nj|c w|er {ca |r:| |er
|ca| ||. || ||cw: ie:|jr: cre|ei cr
ccna|er |c |e |arrei |r|c |{:|c|
c|jec|: |{ :ec|||:| nc||re |||
{ca n|j|| |nj|re |e|crj: cr
:ce:||. ||': c|a||{ a||e
:|n|e. J| r|r|er: wcr\ |{
|a||i|rj c|jec|: cre ||r{ |{er
| ||ne, |:ei cr ie|||ei
i|j||| ||aer|r|:.
\|||| :cari: ||\e :c|erce-
|c||cr! ||': rc|. J| r|r||rj |:
|ec|rc|cj{ |||': |eer rcari
|c |crr ie iec c iie ie:, :, ri i ri aa:e :e :eiii |r |r |r |||ri ri ria: a: a:|r |r |r{{{{
|crr {e {er r:, :, |||a| a| a rr|j |j|| rrcw cw, || ||': ':
cr ||e ca: c| jc| |rj rj nnn| | | |r:: r: r:|r ||r |r |re e e e nn. nnnn. n
I|ere re :ec|||:| re|||er: w|c :e|| |
J|-r|r|ei |cc|:, cce::cr|e:, |c{: ri jewe||er{,
I||: ja|ie |: ie:|jrei |c |e|| {ca erer{|||rj {ca
reei |c \rcw |ca| J| r|r||rj. rer ||e re\| |ew
c||er:, we'|| e\||r ||e cr|j|r: c| J|
r|r||rj |ec|rc|cj{, e\||r |cw J|
r|r|er wcr\: ri |e| {ca |\e
{car |r:| :|e: |r|c ie:|jr|rj
ri n\|rj :cne|||rj {car:e||.
\ca icr'| reei |c |re {car cwr
r|r|er | |cne, |a| || {ca ic |rc{
|a{|rj cre, we'|| |e|| {ca |||
|ca| || ||e c||cr: r||||e |c
{ca. kri crce {ca're nie {car
|r:| |ew r|r|:, we'|| :|cw {ca
w{: {ca cr |nrcre {car
:\ :\ :\ : || || |||: |: |: ri ri n\e ncre
e| e | |cr cr| |ee c|jec|:.
WWe'|| |:c |cc\ | ||e nr{
w{: J| r|r||rj |: |e|rj a:ei |r ||e wcr|i
rcari a: - |rcn J|-r|r|ei ire::e: |c J|-r|r|ei
w
.
n

\
e
r
|
c
|
.
c
c
n
)

t- C|I|| 4|
- W|| | I| |a||aj!
I-II I|e |||c c| I| |a||aj
I1-IJ a|cn c| I| |a|e
It-I W|| n|e|| ca |e I| |a|ei!
I-I W|c w|c |a I| |a||aj
I-II K|c\||e
II-IJ |ae ja|ie
It-I I|e cc| c| I| |a||aj
I-I ||e |a||aj ai |n|| |ec|ac|cj|e
I-II C|I|| IW
II-II C|cc|aj ncie|||aj c||we
I1-I J|aj ncie|||aj c||we
I-I cw |c n\e ae ca ie|ja
w||| wc\
1-1I ||ai|aj ai icwa|ci|aj
ncie| ca||ae
1I-1I ||a||aj a|aj ca||ae er|ce
11-1 \e|||aj a ca |a|e
1-1 Ccnnca |||||
J-JI Ic I|

I
II
1
II
I1
11

JI-JI C|I|| I|||

J1-JI |a||i|aj I| r|a|er |rcn \||
J-J c\|aj car I| r|a|er
t-tI I| :caa|aj
t1-tJ J:|aj na||||e n|er||:
tt-t Cre||aj na|||-r| ncie|:
I-II ||a|:||aj car ncie|:
II-II \|r|aj car ncie|: ca||ae
I1-IJ I|e ||n||: c| |cne r|a||aj
It-II C|I|| |J|
I-I |rc|c||aj
I-I C:e :|ai. I|cci|er
1-I ca:e ai |cne
- Hei|c|ae
-I C:e :|ai. |c|c|ai
I-I |cci
1-I |:||ca
- \cr|:
I-II \ce ai ||j||
I1-IJ Ha:|c| |a:|ranea|:
It-II a|n||ca
I-III Ic:
III-III C:e :|ai. H|ee ||:
II1-IIJ C|I|| ||\|
IIt-II Cceranea|
|ae:|nea| rcjrn:
II-IIJ |rei|c||ca: |cr
||e |a|are
IIt-II I| r|a||aj
cca|rcer:|e:
II-III ||a: |cr reja|||ca
III-III C|I|| \|I
II1-III I| r|a||aj e|:||e:
II-I1I I| r|a||aj :
I1I-I1I I| r|a||aj :|c:
I11-I1J |
I1t Crei||:

J1
J
1

I
It
I1I

I| r|a||aj |: :e| |c rerc|a||ca|:e

naa|c|ar|aj, |a| w|| |: ||, |cw
ice: || wcr\ ai w|c ca je| |arc|rei!
|ei ca |c |ai ca| ncre.

kew lI Werks
Let's start by explaining what 3D printing is. At its
most basic, 3D printing is a process of creating a three-
dimensional physical object based on a digital design fle.
1here are a few diferent methods that come under the
banner of '3D printing', but each of them, in their own
way, involves building an object by slowly putting one
layer of material on top of another.
While traditional manufacturing might involve carving
away unwanted bits of material to create a fnished
object or maybe pouring molten material into a mould
and letting it set into the right shape, 3D printing
builds an object from the ground up. lt's a form of
additive manufacturing - objects are made by adding
material, bit by bit and layer by layer until the 'print'
is completed.
1he diferent methods generally referred to as
3D printing are fused deposition modelling (FDH),
stereolithography (SLA) and selective laser sintering
(SLS). 1here are other methods too, but generally, if
you're talking about 3D printers, you'll be talking about
a machine that employs one of those three methods to
produce its prints.
Usually, if you're talking about a consumer 3D printer,
it'll be an FDH model. 1hese push melted plastics
through an extruder head to make objects, and they
range from the very basic, which create fairly crude,
low-resolution objects, to more advanced (and more
expensive) printers that can create very detailed, high-
resolution objects. Both SLA and SLS machines use
lasers to produce their prints, and those kinds of printers
are usually reserved for industrial use.
k 0l6k IPlkkkl0k 0l Wkk W'k klklk6
k80, 8l0k W 6 5kk0.
||:|er|rj |c ec|e ||\|rj |ca| J r|r||rj, {ca n|j|| |||r\ ||| ||':
:cne|||rj |nc::|||{ |a|ar|:||c - n{|e erer nj|c|. nc||re |||
cr cre|e, |rcn rw n|er||:, r{|||rj ccna|er |e||: || |c :cari:
||\e :cne|||rj ca| c| \|r Ire\, rc| :cne|||rj ||| c|a||{ e\|:|: |r ||e
re| wcr|i. |a| ||': ie|r||e|{ re|. ri ||': :cne|||rj {ca cr ic, r|j||
rcw, erer || {ca're rerer erer :eer J r|r|er |r er:cr |e|cre rcw.
r |||: |cc\, we're jc|rj |c :|cw {ca |cw |c je| :|r|ei w||| J
r|r|ei, |cc\ | ||e nr{ ri rr|ei w{: J r|r||rj |: |e|rj a:ei |r
i|||erer| |ria:|r|e:, ri :|cwc:e :cne r||ca|r|{ |r|ere:||rj a:e:
c| ||e |ec|rc|cj{. |{ ||e ||ne {ca're |r|:|ei rei|rj, {ca'|| \rcw ||
|ca| |cw |ncr|r| J r|r||rj |: |c ||e nra|c|ar|rj |ria:|r{ -
ri {ca n|j|| ja:| |e ccrr|rcei ||| ||': jc|rj |c \|c\-:|r| ||e re\|
|ria:|r|| rerc|a||cr. Hc:| |ncr|r||{, ||caj|, {ca'|| |e rei{ |c :|r|
e\er|ner||rj w||| J r|r||rj {car:e||.
Wh/I |'
J9 |K|NI|N!

a i 0 prining7
9
'' '\'
'''' ''
'''` ' ''''
''' `''
' '` '
' ''
Wha i 0 prining7
9
Meking Medels
Understanding ho 3D printers
ork is onl half the stor,
though. efore ou can produce
a 3D printed object, ou need
a digital fle to tell the printer
hat to make. 1here are lots of
ebsites that ofer 3D printable
fles for donload, but if ou
ant to make our on, ou'll
need to learn to do a bit of 3D modelling.
Hodelling is done using computer-aided design (CD)
softare. Host consumer 3D printers come ith their
on softare that people can use to create, test, and
send designs to print, but there are also man, man CD
softare suites aailable. lt used to be that CD softare
as onl reall suitable for professional designers, people
ho ere used to thinking in three dimensions and
translating phsical dimensions into digital models, but as
3D printing has become more accessible to more people,
CD softare has also become more user-friendl. 1here
are still adanced softare suites on the market for
people ho ork in design and manufacturing, and those
can costs thousands of pounds, but there are also lots
of free and lo-cost programs aailable
that are more suited to beginners and
intermediate designers.
No matter hich kind of softare ou're
using, ou'll need to eport our models in
a form that a 3D printer can understand.
Host models tend to be saed as .S1L fles.
S1L is a fle format created b 3D Sstems,
for use ith stereolithographic printers, but
it's become a commonl used format for
an 3D modelling program. Other formats,
like .OJ or .X3D, ma also
be used, and most online
printing serices, like
Shapeas and Sculpteo,
ill accept an of them.
Host 3D printers, though,
ork from C-code. 1hat's
a computer language that
tells a printer here to moe
its print head, ho fast it should
moe and hat path it should take
to get there. Depending on hich printer ou're using, ou
ma need to conert models from our CD softare into
C-code before ou can print them out. gain, there are
man free programs that can do this for ou, or it might be
a feature of the softare that came ith our 3D printer.
6henging he Werld
ll of that might sound a little intimidating, but reall
the onl scar part is taking the frst step into tring out
modelling softare. Once ou'e created our frst 3D
print, ou'll see ho eas it can be. ll it takes is a little
patience and a little practise.
1he increasing accessibilit of 3D printing is hat reall
makes the technolog eciting. What
makes it reall cool is the a it opens
up the possibilit of people being able
to manufacture things for themseles,
customised to ft their needs eactl.
1he idea that manufacturing might
be less centralised in future, replaced
ith a more personal form of making,
is hat gets 3D printing into the
headlines so often. re ou read to
change the orld

k kl50kI 0l
lused 0epesiIien Medelling
When you see a newspaper headline about 3 printing,
it's usually talking about fused deposition modelling
(more commonly referred to as H). 1hat's the kind of
3 printing method that consumer 3 printers use. lt's a
method that was invented by S Scott Crump in !989.
Crump had studied mechanical engineering at
Washington State University and then gone into business
manufacturing transducers, but he'd always tinkered
with vehicles and gadgets. or his daughter's birthday,
he started to work on making a toy frog, using extruded
polyethylene and wax. fter making one toy, he started
looking into fnding a way to automate the process, and
that led him to create a machine that could basically 3
print. He patented the technology and set up a company,
Stratasys, with his wife in order to try to commercialise it.
lt took several years for Stratasys to produce an H
machine that anyone was interested in buying. 1he
frst model would have cost $!3, - enough that
other companies didn't really want to take the risk on
buying one. Stratasys developed more machines, huge
printers the size of fridges, which could be sold to major
manufacturing companies like Ceneral Hotors. s the
printers improved, companies started to see the value in a
machine that could produce prototypes in-house and on
demand, and Stratasys started to grow its business.
30 Pklklk6 6kk0l06I l5 k0kk6lk6 kI 0kI,
8 l'5 kk k M0Mk 0 l00k 8k6k k Wkk l
kll 5kk0
r:aner J| r|r||rj |: ||r|{ rew |ercnercr. I|e |ie ||| |nc:|
r{cre cca|i w|\ |r|c :|c ri |\e |cne J| r|r|er |: :|||| rer{
rew ri rer{ e\c|||rj. |a| ||e |ec|rc|cj{ |e||ri ||c:e J| r|r|er: |:
|eer rcari |cr w|||e, ri J| r|r||rj |: |eer a:ei |r |ria:|r{ |cr
nr{ {er:.
I|e cr|j|r: c| J| r|r||rj cr |e |rcei |c\ |c ||e |rrer||cr c| I|
r|r||rj ne||ci:, ri ||e r|rc||e: c| ec| re rcaj||{ :|n||r. W|||e |:er
r|r||rj |rrc|re: a:|rj |:er |en |c |c\ a r||c|e: c| c|rjei |crer
ri iec:|| || |r |ce, |r\je| r|r||rj ner: :r{|rj |r\ |r|c ||e rea|rei
||err. I|c:e re, rcaj||{ :e\|rj, ||e :ne :cr|: c| ne||ci: ||| re
a:ei |r J| r|r||rj. I|e i|||ererce |: ||e \|ri c| n|er|| |||': a:ei - ri,
c|r|ca:|{, ||e \|ri c| eri rciac| ||| cr |e rciacei. |e|': |\e |cc\ |
||e iere|cner| c| ec| c| ||e n|r J| r|r||rj ne||ci: |r |arr.
/ I||||N| | J9 |K|NI|N 9|\||||NI
T983
C|r|e: a|| |rrer|ei
:|erec||||cjr|{.
T992
\|r|:{: cre|ei ||:
|r:| ||H nc||re, ||e
J| Hcie|er.
T984
|r |enr ri Cr|
|ec\ri :|r|ei
wcr\|rj cr :e|ec||re
|:er :|r|er|rj (\|\).
T992
J| \{:|en:
rciacei ||: |r:| \|k
(:|erec||||cjr||c
r|a:) nc||re.
T995
\|r|:{: |caj|| ca|
||H': r|i rc|c|{|rj
ier|ner| ri
iere|cei |ria:|r|| J|
r|r|er:.
T989
\. \cc|| Cran |rrer|ei
|a:ei iec:|||cr
ncie|||rj (||H).

e hitor of 0 printing
11
30 Pklklk6
Oer the ears, Stratass acqired seeral other
smaller 3D printing companies, starting ith lH's rapid
prototping diision in the !99s and, most recentl,
Hakerot lndstries, in 2!3. lts printers are no sed
in man diferent indstries all oer the orld. t the
thing that reall made FDH printers take of as the
epiration of a ke patent in 29. Crmp had fled his
patent for an apparats and method for creating three-
dimensional objects" in !989, and hen that epired, it
meant other companies ere free to se his methods in
their on printers.
1hat's hat's behind the recent eplosion in afordable,
domestic 3D printers. 1he PepPap
Project, set p in 25 b Dr drian
oer at the Uniersit of ath, let
earl adopters bild and print their
on printers sing hat it called 'fsed
flament fabrication'. 1he PepPap as
reasonabl poplar, bt it as er
mch a tool for enthsiasts, people
ho eren't afraid to eperiment ith
technolog and machiner. lt asn't
ntil Hakerot lndstries came along in
29 that the idea of idespread home 3D printing reall
started to seem like a possibilit. Like PepPap, Hakerot
had its roots in the open-sorce moement, the idea
that technolog oght to be aailable to eerone, not
locked p ith patents and trademarks. 1he compan's
commitment to open-sorce hardare onl etended as
far as its frst three printers, thogh - the Peplicator 2 as
the frst Hakerot printer not to hae its plans distribted
online for free.
lthogh man critics at the time sa this moe
aa from the open-sorce moement as a betraal of
Hakerot's roots, it also signalled something else: the
moment FDH came of age. Pather than
being a technolog for tinkerers, it had
started to become a alid commercial
proposal, and FDH printers ere no
consmer prodcts, moing rapidl into
the mainstream.
5IereeliIhegrephy
lthogh FDH might be the frst kind of 3D
printing to hit the mainstream, it asn't the
frst method to be inented. lt's jst that it
'''' `
'`''
''''
'' `
\' '
'
''```
2006
ec|rc|cj{ |r||{
|eccne: r|||e,
ri ||e |ec|rc|cj{
|ejr |c |e a:ei |r
|ria:|r{.
2005
|r |cw{er |cariei
e,
r cer-:carce
r|r|er rcjec|.
2008
e |arc|ei ||e
|rw|r :e||-re||c||rj
r|r|er ri |ew{:
|arc|ei :
r|r|e |e| :||e.
200T
J| {:|en: |caj||
ca| |H (||e |
ccnr{ |cariei
|{ |ec\ri).
2009
|e |er| |cr ||H
|ec|rc|cj{ e\|rei,
||cw|rj ccnr|e:
||\e H\er|c| ria:|r|e:
|c rciace ||cri||e
ccr:aner r|r|er:.
20T4
|e |er| |cr |:er
:|r|er|rj e\|re:.

as the easiest to produce in an afordable, safe way for

use at home. 1he frst 3D printing method to be invented,
really, was stereolithography.
Stereolithography (SL) was the brainchild of Charles
Hull. Sadly, there's no adorable story about toy frogs to
be shared here, but then SL isn't really the kind of thing
anyone would invent in their garage. Like FDH, it's an
additive manufacturing method that involves laying down
layer after layer of material to create a three-dimensional
object. Pather than using a kind of plastic that solidifes
when it hits the air like FDH, though, SL uses ultraviolet
light to set its print-outs.
Stereolithographic 3D printers use a liquid
photopolymer as their printing material. n ultraviolet
laser is directed into a tank full of the liquid, controlled
by a computer. s the laser beam touches the
photopolymer, it hardens. y moving the laser through
the liquid polymer, the machine builds a series of
hardened layers, which forms the fnished object.
fnished print-out is usually also cured in an ultraviolet
oven to make sure the layers have bonded properly.
Having created the stereolithography process - and
coined the term 'stereolithography' - Hull fled a patent
for the technology, and then founded a company to
commercialise it. 3D Systems was incorporated in !986,
but like Stratasys, it wasn't an immediate success. Hostly,
that was down to the fact that the technology wasn't
completely ready for the market. 3D Systems had to refne
its methodology and redesign its machines several times
before they started to catch on. ln !996, the advent of
solid-state lasers let 3D Systems refne its methods and
materials further and made its printers a
more viable option.
1he advantage SL has over FDH
is that it's capable of turning out far
higher-resolution prints. Using a laser
allows for very fne detail work, and
the fnish on a stereolithographic
print is usually far smoother and more
professional-looking than that on a
FDH print. 1hat makes it a far more
appealing technology to companies
'
'''''''
' ' ''''
'''`
`
'''''
'``'
who want to either sell printed objects or to create high-
quality prototypes.
ut it's probably obvious why SL printers haven't
become as readily available to hobbyists as FDH machines.
1he printers are more expensive to manufacture, and
they're too complicated for most people to be able to
fgure out how to build, maintain, or fx. 1hey also need
to be vented, due to fumes coming of the resin. nd
that resin itself, the raw material out of which SL prints
are made, is also far, far more expensive than the kind of
flament that FDH printers use, which is another stumbling
block. 1hat's not to say that no one's ever tried to build an
SL machine for themselves, or even to sell them to other
people, but so far they haven't really caught on.
For now, if you want to get something printed using the
stereolithographic method, you'll want to use a 3D printing
service bureau to make it.
5eletIive leser 5inIering
1he third common method of 3D printing
hasn't made the transition into home
printing either, but that might be only a
matter of time. Selective laser sintering
(SLS) was also developed in the !980s, and
that means it's yet another patent that's just
about to hit its expiry date.
Dr Carl Deckard was an undergraduate
at the University of 1exas at ustin when
Th hitor of 0 printing
1
he had an idea. He'd been orking a summer job at a
machine shop and seen hocomputer aided design (CD)
programs ere being used to control machining tools.
1he fnished results eren't ver impressive, but Deckard
thought he could see a a to f that. He spoke to one of
his professors about the project, hich ould use a laser
or electron beam to fuse together tin particles of plastic
to form a hole, and Dr eaman decided to help develop
it. SLS thus became Deckard's masters project.
fter much trial and error, eaman and Deckard
managed to get a crude laser sintering machine up and
running. Deckard then decided to sta on at school and
earn a PhD, hich meant he could carr on refning his
ork. With a grant from the National Science Foundation,
the to men improved their previous design. Funding from
the private sector folloed, and more improvements ere
made. 1he universit team set up the frst SLS compan,
Nova utomation, and built a series of machines until the
came up ith one, named ambi, hich could actuall
turn out useful, reliable models.
fter more fundraising and a rename (Nova became
D1H), Deckard's compan fnall launched commercial
SLS machines in !989. ln !992, the frm discovered that a
patent had been fled for a similar method to the one it
had devised, Poss Housholder had developed a method of
building objects in laers and fled for a patent for a sstem
that used a laser to build the laers, but he'd moved out
of the US to Saudi rabia and had never developed the
sstem himself. D1H acquired the patent from him and
ent on to build and sell a series of SLS machines.
So h isn't the name D1H familiar? Well, the compan
as acquired b 3D Sstems in 2!. 1hat meant 3D
Sstems nooned to major 3D printing methods and
could claim most of the market for itself. Like SL, though,
SLS is mainl used b 3D printing bureaus or in other
commercial businesses - until no. ln 2!4, the patents
that 3D Sstems ons that relate to SLS ill epire.
Mere lnneveIien
1hat should mean a neave of innovation is imminent,
as other companies are able to eperiment ith and
develop 3D printers that use SLS techniques. Just as FDH
printers started to become more and more afordable,
once the patents had lapsed, the same thing might ell
happen ith SLS. 1hat could mean a massive change in
the a e think about domestic 3D printing: rather than
buing reels of flament, e might be buing packets
of nlon poder and creating ever more detailed and
elaborate models in our on homes.
1he development of 3D printing technologies has
accelerated massivel over the last femonths, as
companies fnd neas to use it, neas to refne the
technique and neas to use diferent materials. ut
that, it seems, is onl the beginning. Over the net fe
ears, 3D printing is set to get ever more accessible - and
ever more impressive.

l'5 k5lk 0 k0k5kk0 k0W k 30 Pklkk
W0kk5 Wkk I0'k l00klk6 k 0k.
r|r|er: ccne |r || :|e: ri :|te:. \cne c| ||en re |a||{
erc|c:ei, :cne re cer ne|| |rne:, :cne || cr {car ie:\,
w|||e c||er: |\e a w|c|e rccn: |r |c|cr|e:. We're iec|iei |c
e\||r ccr:aner J| r|r|er |ere, ||caj|, :|rce |||': ||e \|ri
c| r|r|er {ca're nc:||{ ||\e|{ |c a:e. I|| ner: ||': r ||H
r|r|er, :n|| ercaj| |c || cr {car ie:\|c. ere': w|| || ||e
rr|ca: |||: re.
xIruder keed
his is where the flament is melted and then
pushed out (or extruded) onto the print bed.
1he part of the extruder head where the
plastic comes out is known as the hot-end
because, well, it's very hot. temperature
gauge will make sure that the printer is
operating at the right temperature and the
nozzle is easily replaceable. lt also needs to
be kept clear so that prints come out cleanly.
Pklkk
.
n re |a||{
car ie:\,
iec|iei |c
|': ||e \|ri
r ||H
|| || ||e
hen
bed.
d
e
e
to
anly.
kxles
1hese metal bars let the various moving
parts of the printer move, along the X, Y,
and Z axes. s well as the extruder being
able to move, the print bed can usually
move up and down and sometimes from
side to side, so that it's in the right position
for the extruder to print onto it.
T
T
2
2
7
6
5
4
3
Anatom of a 0 printer
1S 1S
MeIers
Anohr self-explanatory one, really:
these motors control the moving parts
of the 3D printer.
PrinI 8ed
1his is where objects are printed. lf
the printer is designed to use ABS
flament, the print bed might be
heated, if it's more geared towards
PLA, it probably won't be. lf it's not,
some users fnd that applying painters'
tape to the print bed helps the print
stick to the surface while it's printing,
keeping it securely in place.
1he print bed should be calibrated so
that it's perfectly level before a print is
started, and some printers can do this
calibration for themselves automatically.
Pewer leed
Although not visible in this
picture, this one is fairly self-
explanatory: a 3D printer needs power,
and this is where it gets plugged into
an electrical socket.
/ J9 |K|NI|K
Anatom of a 0 printer
l0 Penel
Not all printers have these panels,
but the ones that do will be able to
display information about the printer,
like its temperature, or how long it
will take to complete its print.
PerIs
ln order to send a fle to a 3D printer,
it'll need to be connected to a
computer, or sometimes a USB stick
or a memory card. Host 3D printers
have on-board memory, so once
they've started a print, the computer
or USB stick can be removed, and it'll
fnish printing.
lilemenI
Some printers use cartridges, which
have flament loaded inside them
and can then be slotted into place.
Others will feed straight from the
flament reel and might just have a
hook for the reel to hang on so that
the flament can feed smoothly into
the print head.
3 6
7
8
8
4
5

C/N K| J9 |K|NI|9!
k85 {k6kIl0klkll 8k0lk 5Ikk]
WPA7 I5 I7?: etroleum-based thermoplastic.
ADVAN7AC5: S is one of the most commonly
used 3 printing materials, and most consumer grade
3 printers can use it. lt's widely available, not too
expensive and comes in a wide range of diferent
colours. lt melts at a high temperature, which means
objects made fromS are reasonably heat resistant,
as well as being hard, tough and fairly resistant to
impact (so they're unlikely to break if they're dropped).
lt's more fexible than PL, and it's also glossy, so it
produces nice-looking prints.
DI5ADVAN7AC5: ecause it's made from fossil
fuels, it emits a strong smell while it's being printed,
and these can be toxic, so you'll need to make sure
the area is well ventilated. S also isn't suitable for
printing anything that will come into contact with
food, and it needs to be stored carefully, because if it
gets wet it can cause problems while it's being printed.
1he biggest problem is that it needs to be printed
onto a heated surface and can curl up slightly during
printing, causing slight warping to the fnished object.
Plk {P0lIlk6l6 k6l0]
WPA7 I5 I7?: thermoplastic made from plant starch.
ADVAN7AC5: PL is the other material commonly
used in consumer 3 printers. lt's made from starch
extracted from plants like corn and wheat, so it's a
biodegradable material that can be composted. lt
doesn't smell particularly horrible while it's being
printed, though, which is a plus. lt's widely available as
flament in several diferent thicknesses and in a range
of colours and, like S, it's reasonably inexpensive.
lt doesn't warp as easily as S and can be used on
printers without a heated print bed. lt takes longer to
cool than S, but using a fan can overcome that, and
if it's actively cooled, PL can produce objects with
sharp corners and fne details.
DI5ADVAN7AC5: PL has a lower melting point than
S, which means it can warp or melt if it gets too hot
(fnished products shouldn't be left in direct sunlight).
lt's also brittle, and won't bend or stand up to much
stress. nd it needs to be stored carefully, away
from moisture, because it may become unusable if it
absorbs too much water.
Wh/I /I|K|/|'
k0 kll Mkklkl5 kk 5lk8l l0k 30 Pklklk6, 8 MkkI klk65 6kk 8.
I|ere re cr|{ |wc ||n||: cr ||e \|ri: c| c|jec|: ||| cr |e J| r|r|ei. ||e |nj|r||cr c| ||e er:cr ie:|jr|rj ||e
ncie| ri ||e n|er|| ||| cr |e a:ei w||| J| r|r|er. ||||erer| J| r|r|er: ri J| r|r||rj :err|ce: cr a:e i|||erer|
n|er||:, ri ec|e re ccr:|r||{ |jar|rj ca| w{: c| a:|rj rew n|er||:, |a| |ere': raricwr c| ||e nc:| ccnncr
J| r|r||rj n|er||:, w||| :annr{ c| ||e|r rcer||e:.

d7
17 17
Wha maerials can be 0 prined7
6kkMl65
WPA7 I5 I7?: A red clay with a glazed fnish.
ADVAN7AC5: Although you can't print ceramics at
home, it's a material widely ofered by 3D printing
services. Ceramic powder is mixed with a binding agent
and then printed into shape. lt's then fred in an oven and
coated in a glaze that leaves the fnished print smooth,
shiny, heat resistant and food safe.
DI5ADVAN7AC5: You can't get any fne detail with
ceramics, and sharp edges may end up blurred or
softened. Hodels also need thick walls, without much
variation, or it may crack or warp when it's fred.
5kk050k
WPA7 I5 I7?: A gypsum-based powder, coloured
with ink and sealed with glue.
ADVAN7AC5: Also known as 'multicolour' at
some bureaus, the sandstone material is a hard,
gritty material made from printing powder, ink and
binding material together. Finished models are
sealed with glue. 1his is currently the only material
that really ofers multi-coloured prints, and it's
good for fgurines.
DI5ADVAN7AC5: lt's not watertight and shouldn't
be handled often. lt's also not suitable for
functional parts - it should be used for decorative
items only. Unlike most 3D printing materials, it has
a rough fnish.
klMl0
WPA7 I5 I7?: A nylon-based plastic mixed with
aluminium dust.
ADVAN7AC5: Alumide is a hybrid of metal and
plastic and is therefore very hard - and slightly
sparkly. lt's printed using laser sintering to bond
the powder together, so it's another material you're
unlikely to ever use at home. lt can be polished to a
smoother, shinier fnish, although it'll still look more
matte than, say, stainless steel. And it's much cheaper
than metal.
DI5ADVAN7AC5: lt can be quite brittle, and it isn't
watertight or food safe.
5kllk6 5llk
WPA7 I5 I7?: Silver.
ADVAN7AC5: 1his time, the name isn't misleading:
3D printing services will create printed objects in
sterling silver for you. lt's expensive, obviously,
since silver is a precious metal, but it's also
beautifully shiny and perfect for jewellery.
DI5ADVAN7AC5: 3D printing services don't
actually print in silver, so this is a bit of a cheat.
What they do is print a mould, pour in molten silver
to make the object, and then polish it up, so it's not
really 3D printed, and because it has to be polished,
some fne details can get lost.
WkI
WPA7 I5 I7?: A wax-based photopolymer.
ADVAN7AC5: Available from some 3D printing
bureaus, 'wax' is actually a mixture of wax and
other plastics. lt's mostly used for making casts
for moulding other objects, rather than for making
fnished objects, and its non-porous surface is
perfect for that. lt's possible to get a very high
resolution print,with sharp edges and fne details
intact using this material.
DI5ADVAN7AC5: 1his material is designed for very
specifc uses and probably isn't much use if you're
trying to make anything else. And it only comes in
one colour.

6herles '6hutk' kull

Chuck PuII is the man frequentIy
credited with inventing 3D printing,
aIthcugh reaIIy he's respcnsibIe
fcr just cne 3D printing methcd:
sterecIithcgraphy. He invented the
process in the !980s, and then founded
a company, 3D Systems, to create and
commercialise products that used the method.
He currently serves as chief technical
ofcer of 3D Systems, although he
has also held other positions
within the company, including
chief operating ofcer
and president. He was
awarded the Ceorge P
Stibitz Computer and
Communications ward
in 20!3 for his 3D
printing work.
5 5teII
6rump
Crump is respcnsibIe
fcr the techncIcgy
behind mcst ccnsumer
3Dprinters: fused depcsiticn
mcdeIIing. He invented the technique in his
garage while making a toy for his daughter,
and went on to found Stratasys, one of the
biggest 3D printing companies in the world.
He's held many diferent titles at his company
over the years, from chief executive to
treasurer, and currently serves as chairman of
the board. He's received many awards for his
work over the years, including Lrnst & Young
Lntrepreneur of the Year in 2005.
0r 6erl 0etkerd
end 0r leseph
8eemen
CarI Deckard and Jcseph eaman
wcrked tcgether tc invent seIective Iaser
sintering in the !980s. Deckard was a masters
student and eaman was one of his
professors, and both were working
out of the Department of Hechanical
Lngineering at the University of 1exas
at ustin. Over the years, and over
many research projects, they refned
the sintering method and built several
diferent SLS machines at the university.
1he patent they fled on the process has
turned out to be one of the most proftable
patents belonging to the university.
Wh''
Wh |N J9
|K|NI|N!

k k0k0-P 0l k Mkl0k
PlkIk5 lk k 30 Pklklk6
lk05kI
J| r|r||rj |: re|||re|{ {carj |ria:|r{.
||': {carj ercaj| ||| ||e ec|e |rrc|rei
|r cre||rj ||e |ec|rc|cj{ re :|||| ||re, :||||
wcr\|rj ri :|||| rer{ |rrc|rei |r ||e J|
r|r||rj |ria:|r{. I||': r e\c|||rj |ce
|c |e, |r ||e iere|cner| c| rew \|ri c|
|ec|rc|cj{. ere': |cc\ | :cne c| ||e \e{
|{er: |r ||e J| r|r||rj wcr|i.
19
ho who in printing
kbrehem 'kvi' keithenIel
PeichentaI has been president and C0cf 3D
5ystems since 2003. fore that, he orked
at Sealed ir Corporation since !98!, orking
his ay p throgh a series of positions
in engineering, sales and management. He's
enthsiastic abot the ftre of 3D printing and is
passionate abot making the technology more accessible.
He's on to lnnoator ards and crrently seres as faclty co-chair of the
dditie Hanfactring Program at Singlarity Uniersity.
8re PeIIisre Pattis
is the cc-fcunder and C0
cf Nakerct Industries,
but his backgrcund is in
perfcrmance rather than
techncIcgy. He stdied
performing arts at niersity,
as as an assistant at Jim
Henson's Creatre Shop and
orked as an art teacher, before
setting p Hakerot ith friends
dam Hayer and Zach Smith in
2009. He often
speaks at
eents, and
also set p
the NYC
Pesistor
hacker
collectie.
PeIer
Weijmersheusen
Peter Weijmarshausen is the cc-
fcunder and C0cf 5hapeways.
efore Shapeays, he orked for
Not Nmber, the organisation
that pblished the free, open--
sorce 3D modelling program
lender and knethere as a
market for a serice that trned
digital 3D models into physical
objects. 1he company began as
part of the Phillips lncbator in the
Netherlands and moed to Ne
York in 20!2. He often speaks at 3D
printing conferences and reglarly
rites posts on the Shapeays site.
klite eyler AIice 7ayIcr is the fcunder and C0cf
NakieLab, the hrst 3Dprinted tcy ccmpany - and the cnIy
cne, tc date, tc get its prcducts certihed safe fcr ycung
chiIdren. 1aylor sed to be a commissioning editor for Channel
4, here she deeloped seeral edcational games prodcts,
before that, she as ice president of digital content for C
Worldide. She's also another reglar conference speaker.
19
Ping lu
Ping Fu is vice
president and
chief strategy
cmcer at 3D
5ystems, a rcIe
she's heId since her
ccmpany, Cecmagic,
was acquired by
3D 5ystems in earIy 20!3.
Ceomagic created 3D design
softare, hich cold be sed to
captre real-orld objects and
trn them into sable data for
constrcting digital models,
and the company bagged
F an Lntreprener of
the Year aard.
0r kdrien
8ewyer
Adrian
cwyer is an
engineer and
mathematician
- and he's the
man respcnsibIe
fcr inventing PepPap,
the hrst DIY 3D printing prcject.
He as a lectrer in the Hechanical
Lngineering Department of the
Uniersity of ath at the time. y
creating a print-it-yorself printer,
he kick-started a making moement,
and many 3D printing companies,
like Hakerot, hae their roots in
the project he created. He retired
from academia in 20!2, and is no a
director of PepPap Professional Ltd.

J9 |K|NI|N N
kl6k5kkk
k 60M8lkkl0k 0l kW kk0 I6llk6 6kk0l06I
kk0 k kW WkI 0l 6k0W050k6lk6 lk0lk6 5M5
0 8 k Wlkklk6 0k.
, ncre ri ncre rew :|r|-a: re
wcr\|rj cr |ar||rj ||e|r cwr r|r|er:. |a| erer w||| r nt|rj J\|,
||': rc| |w{: e:{ |c |ri |ari|rj |cr {car |rrer||cr. I||': w|{ :c nr{
:n|| a:|re::e: re |arr|rj |c K|\:|r|er.
K|\:|r|er :een: |c e jcci n|| |cr J r|r||rj rcje|:,
r||a|r|{ w|er ||e{ |rrc|re :e|||rj ||cri|e r|r|er:. H{e ||':
ea:e ||e \|ri: c| ec|e w|c re er||a:|:|| ca| |\|rj |||rj:
ri ic|rj |||rj: |cr ||en:e|re: re |:c ||\e|{ |c wr| |c :acr| :n||,
|rieerier| eriercar: r||er ||r |j rri:. r n{e ||': ja:| ea:e
||e |ie c| je|||rj jcci ie| |: |rre:|:|||e! ||||er w{, ||ere |re eer
|c| c| rer{ :ae::|a| J r|r||rj K|\:|r|er rcje|:.
Meking Milliens
k h ! prinr or xmpl ormlbs launched
a Kickstarter project for its afordable 3D printer in
September 2!2. 1he pitch for the FOPH ! was that
it was a professional standard printer available for an
afordable price - just $2,299 (about E!,4). 1hat made
it signifcantl more expensive than most of the consumer
grade printers on the market, but it promised far higher
qualit than those. lt was capable of printing laers as thin
as 25 microns, meaning it could print incredibl detailed
objects with a much smoother fnish than cheaper printers.
1he printer had been full tested and developed when
the project launched, Formlabs just needed the mone to
go into production. 1o that end, the project had an initial
goal of $!,. When the deadline for funding rolled
around, it had raised man, man times more than that: it
closed with $2,945,885 in pledges, from more than 2,
backers. Formlabs had all the mone it needed to go into
production, with several hundred pre-orders to fulfl - a
prett great situation to be in for an business.
nother 3D printer project that also smashed through
the million dollar barrier is the uccaneer. Launched in
Ha 2!3, the uccaneer was a much more afordable
3D printer. lts creator, Pirate3D, said it wanted to make
3D printing accessible to everone, so its pitch was for
a cheap printer that was also incredibl simple to use.
lt didn't require much in the wa of setting up: flament
was loaded in speciall designed cartridges rather than
through fddl spools, and it came with software that
let users customise simple objects without needing to
learn their wa around CD programs. 1o get one of
the uccaneer printers through the project, backers
onl needed to chip in $297 (about E!86). the time
its deadlines rolled around, the uccaneer project
had raised $!,438,765 in pledges - far outstripping its
$!, goal.
lully lunded
1here are other success stories that raised similarl
exorbitant amounts of mone - like the 3Doodler 3D
printing pen, which raised more than $2 million with an
initial goal of $3,. Or the Pigidot, whose modest
$3!,5 goal turned into more than $! million of funding.
nd while not ever project is a success on that kind of
21
S0 printing on Kickstarter
e, it's not hard to fnd more 3 printing projects that
raised far more than the asked for.
Like the Cigabot 3 printer, hich raised $25,474 on a
goal of $4,, meaning that the huge 3 printer could
not onl go into production, but get several upgrades
in the process. fter hitting its initial target, re:3, the
compan behind the Cigabot, added some stretch goals,
including one for $2, that means ever Cigabot
shipped to Kickstarter backers had an LL displa built
into it. (re:3 also thre a part at the Ne York
Haker Faire to celebrate getting funded and invited
all of its backers to come along as a thank ou.
Which is lovel.)
Or ho about the ZLUS printer, touted as the
frst all-in-one printer and copier? Created b lO
Pobotics, the ZLUS as a printer designed to
ork out of the bo - but ith a camera built in, it
could also scan them and produce 3 models that
could be edited on a computer or, ith the touch
of a button, turn out a 3 printed replica ithout
the user needing to do an modelling hatsoever.
lt even had fa capabilities built in, for sending
models to other printers. lO Pobotics set its
Kickstarter funding goal at $!,, and b the
project's end date, it had raised $!!!,!!! in pledges.
ken-prinIer PrejetIs
So far, e've onl talked about projects set up
to fund the production of 3 printers. lthough
printers get a lot of attention on Kickstarter, other
kinds of 3 printing related projects have also done
ell b using the crodfunding site. HonsterHatic,
a 3 printing game that lets users design monsters
on their smartphones and then order 3 printed
models of them, managed to raise $3,798 using
Kickstarter. 1he project's goal as $3,, so the
development of the app is no going ahead.
Or ho about Joshua Harker's record-breaking
Kickstarter to fund the manufacture of his 3 printed
sculpture Crania natomica Filigre? 1he project had an
initial goal of just $5, but ended up becoming one
of the highest funded arts projects ever on Kickstarter
hen it raked in $77,27! in 2!!. Harker even got to
repeat his success the folloing ear, hen he created
a Kickstarter for a similarl elaborate 3 printed
sculpture, natomica di Pevolutis, and raised $36,78 -
again, a more than his stated goal of $5
Hore 3 printing projects are launched on Kickstarter
ever eek, and most of them reach or eceed their goals.
lf ou have an idea for a 3 printing business, ou could
do orse than turning to crodfunding to get it started.
F0PN ! 3D printer
Coal: $!,
Paised: $2,945,885
he uccaneer 3D printer
Coal: $!,
Paised: $!,438,765
3DccdIer
Coal: $3,
Paised: $2,344,!34
Crania natcmica FiIigre
Coal: $5
Paised: $77,27!
4 0verlunded 30 PrinIing kitksIerIers
Here are some of the biggest 3 printed Kickstarter
projects, and ho much mone the raised, at a glance:

k 8Ik'5 6l0
I J9 |K|NI|K'
l00klk6 0 8I I0k
llk5 30 Pklkk?
kk kk 50M 0l
I0k 0Pl0k5.
Meker8eI kepliteIer 2
Price: Frcm!,790
NateriaIs: PL
Print eneIcpe: 4!0cbic inches
Print rescIticn: !00micrcns
Named after the Star 1rek technology
that lets people living on spaceships
create whatever they want at any
given moment, the Peplicator 2 is the
fourth-gen 3D printer from Hakerot
lndustries. Launched in September
20!2, it actually has fewer features than
its predecessor, but everything has
been honed, smoothed, and upgraded.
lt comes pre-assembled, and doesn't
need much doing to it in the way of
maintenance. 1he extruder head has
even been redesigned so that it works
better and needs less upkeep.
Meker8eI kepliteIer 2I
Price: Frcm2,290
NateriaIs: 5
Print eneIcpe: 365 cbic inches
Print rescIticn: !00
micrcns
Launched alongside
the Peplicator 2,
the 2X is aimed at
people who know
their way around 3D
printing and want to
be able to play around
with the technology more. 1he
obvious diferences, at frst glance,
are that the 2X has a slightly
smaller build envelope than its
sibling, and it uses S flament
rather than PL flament.
However, the diferences go
deeper: the 2X features
dual extruders, which
mean it can print in
two diferent colours
at once to create
intricately interlaced
objects. 1he extruders
and the flament loading
system have been designed
to make it more precise and more
reliable, and also to make loading
flament into the printer easier.
6ube
Price: Frcm!,!95
NateriaIs: 5 and PL
Print eneIcpe: !66 cbic inches
Print rescIticn: 200micrcns
1he Cube printer feels very much like a
machine for beginners. lt's small, especially in
comparison to the Peplicators, and it comes
in a range of diferent colours, including blue,
pink, and green, which also helps make it
feel like technology for hobbyists rather than
enthusiasts. Still, it's known for its reliability
and ease of use, and simplicity is by no means
always a bad thing.

buer guide to 0 printer
2
ellemen k8200
Prce: 699.99
NateraIs: 5 and PL
Prnt eneIcpe: 475 cbc nces
Prnt rescItcn: 200mcrcns
frst 3 printer to make it into high-
street stores in the UK, the Velleman
K8200 requires a decent level of skill to
use. or starters, it's sold as a kit, so you'll
need to know your way around an llen
key and a soldering iron before you can
even put the printer together - which
will take several hours, according to the
product page on Haplin's website. lt is
signifcantly cheaper than most of the
other printers on the market, though, so
if you're up to the challenge, you can save
yourself quite a bit of cash. (Velleman also
sells a kit containing all the various tools
you'll need for E44.99, which is handy.)
1he printer has a massive build envelope
and can be used with either S or PL
flament, although you'll have to buy
Velleman compatible cartridges to use with
it. Once it's up and running, it seems pretty
good, but getting to that point isn't easy.
lIimeker 2
Prce: !,950
NateraIs: PL
Prnt eneIcpe: 630cbc nces
Prnt rescItcn: 20mcrcns
Ultimaker is a utch manufacturer
of 3 printers. 1he Ultimaker
2 is, as the name suggests, its
second-gen printer. Like Hakerot,
Ultimaker is interested in making
3 printing easier and more
accessible. 1he Ultimaker 2 comes
fully assembled, and it's ready to
use straight out of the box. lt's a
large machine, which means it can
print some pretty big objects, but
you'll need to make sure you have
room for it
1here are two more interesting
things to note about this printer:
it claims to be very quiet to run,
at 49 decibels, and it can print
at incredibly high resolutions,
printing layers at a height of 20
microns. You can print at other
resolutions for projects that don't
require that much accuracy.
5elideedle 3rd 6enereIien
Prce: 769
NateraIs: 5
Prnt eneIcpe: 5!2 cbc nces
Prnt rescItcn:
!00mcrcns
One of the
cheapest printers
available to buy
fully assembled
rather than as
a kit, the third-
gen Solidoodle
is pretty basic-
looking. lt looks
more like a tool than a toy, and
it has the features to back that
up. lt's pretty big, with a large
print envelope. lt can print at
either !00-micron or 300-micron
resolutions, depending on the
degree of accuracy required. You'll
need to be careful while using it,
because both the
print platform and
the extruder head
get pretty hot while
they're in use.
However, it's an
incredibly robust
and solid machine,
the Solidoodle
website even
boasts that a man
can stand on top of it while it's
printing without afecting the
quality of the print. You probably
wouldn't want to try that, though.

Pl Mini
Pice 990
NateiaI and PL
Pint enveIcpe !04 cubic inche
Pint ecIuticn 200miccn
l you want a 3D printer that fts on
your desk, the UP Hini might be the
one. lt has a small footprint, and since
everything is enclosed inside its glossy
black exterior, it's smart looking and
won't be afected by anything going on
around it. (Because you can close the
door while it's printing, it's also quiet.)
lt comes mostly assembled, to get it
up and running, you'll just need to clip a
few pieces into place, which is nowhere
near as tricky or time-consuming as
putting together a kit. And although
the UP Hini is small, it's pretty smart.
Although it's designed to be used with
UP branded ABS, you can use PLA with
the UP Hini. lt doesn't have wireless
connectivity, but once your object has
been sent to the printer, you can unplug
the USB cable and leave it to fnish the
print by itself.
MendelMex 2
Pice Fcm$!,595
NateiaI and PL
Pint enveIcpe 950cubic inche
Pint ecIuticn !00miccn
1he HendelHax 2 is available
either as a kit or as a fully
assembled printer. Actually, if
you're really handy, you could
build your own printer from
scratch, since HendelHax makes
the design fles freely available
on the internet, so if you have
access to the machinery needed
to cut aluminium pieces to size
and can do a bit of soldering,
you can get a 3D printer at
cost price.
You might have guessed from
that last bit that the HendelHax
printer is an open-source project.
Pooted in the tradition of
PepPap self-replicating printers,
it's all about supporting makers
and hackers in their eforts.
lt's capable of printing with
both PLA and ABS, and other
materials, including nylon and
PVA, may also be possible. 1his
is another one for the more
adventurous among you.
leeplreg 6reeIr
Pice 6!,250(abcut
!,060)
NateiaI and PL
Pint enveIcpe 754 cubic
inche
Pint ecIuticn 50miccn
1he Leapfrog Creatr is
another plug-and-play
printer. lt comes fully
assembled and also comes pre-calibrated, so you really
don't have to do anything with it to get it set up beyond
installing the software on your computer, plugging it in
and starting your frst print. lt has a large print size but
can print at high resolutions, and it's fairly speedy. 1he
Leapfrog Creatr is available with either a single or dual
extruder, so if you want to be able to print in multiple
colours at once, go for the dual extruder version.
1he Creatr can currently print using either ABS and PLA,
and Leapfrog is working on a PVA flament that will also be
compatible with the printer.
Pl Mini

buyers ude t 0 rters

lleshlerge 6reeIer ll
Pic: Fcm79
NatiaI: 5 and PL
Pint nIcp: 96 cbic inch
Pint cIticn: !00miccn
lashForge is a small Chinese 3D
printer manufacturer, and it puts out
new models every six months or so.
1he Creator ll is the latest printer to
make it to the UK, and it comes in two
diferent models: one with a single
extruder and one with a dual extruder.
You do have to put in a couple of
screws to get it up and running, but
that shouldn't be too taxing.
lt can be plugged into a computer or
it has a card reader for sending your
fles to print, and it has a decent-sized
print bed for creating fairly big models.
lf it looks familiar, that's because it is:
it's based on the original Hakerot
Peplicator. 1he Peplicator was an
open-source printer, so it's totally legit
for other companies to use the designs
- and FlashForge has made some
upgrades too. For the price, it's really not
a bad printer.
knie k-5eries
Pic: !,599 (abct !,000)
NatiaI: 5
Pint nIcp: !5 cbic inch
Pint cIticn: !50miccn
small, portable printer, the fna
H-series isn't too dissimilar to
the Cube - although it's capable
of printing at slightly higher
resolutions, and its print bed
isn't enclosed, which might be
good or bad depending on your
requirements. lt arrives mostly assembled, with tools in the box,
and it comes with calibration software to get everything up
and running quickly. You'll need to connect a computer to send
fles to print, but once the printer has received a model, it's got
enough on-board memory to complete the print after being
unplugged, which is handy.
8utteneer
Pic: 47 (abct !)
NatiaI: PL
Pint nIcp: !0 cbic inch
Pint cIticn: !00miccn
1he uccaneer is aiming to
be the most user friendly 3D
printer on the market, and it's
signifcantly cheaper than even
most of the kits that are currently
available, but it comes fully
assembled and calibrated. lt
uses cartridges and comes with
easy-to-use software. lt also has
a cloud printing service already
set up, so you can pull down fles
from the internet and send them
straight to your printer. lt could
be a complete game-changer in
the domestic 3D printer market.
So where's the down side? t
the time of writing, Pirate3D was
still working through Kickstarter
pre-orders, but those were due
to be shipped by pril 20!4, and
pre-orders for the next batch
were open via its website. lf you
want a 3D printer right now, the
uccaneer isn't for you, but if
you're prepared to wait, it might
be a great option.

30 Pklklk6 l5 6lk6 6kkPk

kll k lM, 8 k0W M6k
005 l 605?
||e :| |ew {er:, ||e cc:|: c| J|
r|r||rj |re ircei irn||c||{. I|r\: |c
||e e\|r||cr c| :erer| \e{ |er|:, :erer|
J| r|r||rj ne||ci: |re |eccne r||||e
|cr a:e w|||ca| ||cer:|rj |ee: je|||rj |r ||e
w{, ri ||e ca|r||{ c| ||e |ec|rc|cj{
w||||r ||e \er crener| |: |ei |c ncre
ri ncre ec|e wr||rj |c je| |rrc|rei.
I|e ncre ec|e wr| |c |a{ J| r|r|er cr
a:e J| r|r||rj :err|ce:, ||e ncre J| r|r|er:
ri J| r|r||rj :err|ce: c a, ri ||e ncre
||ere re, ||e ncre ccne||||re |||rj: je|.
ri ||r\: |c ||| ccne||||cr, cc:|: re
||||rj || ||e ||ne. |': rerer |eer c|eer
|c je| |rrc|rei |r J| r|r||rj ||r || |: r|j||
rcw. ere': |cc\ | |cw nac| || cc:|:.
ere are some prices, for comparison:
VeIIeman K82003Dprinter kit
769 - 5cIidccdIe 3rd eneraticn
!,590- Up! PIus 2
2,290- Nakerct PepIicatcr 2X
3,290- CubeX7ric 3Dprinter
Her
6
7
!,
2
3
Ih| C'I' |
J9 |K|NI|N
Ct|e
Irie J9
jrir|er
PrinIers
sking how much a 3D printer
costs is a bit like asking how long
a piece of string is. 1he price of
a printer really depends on how
much you're willing to spend
and what kind of quality you're
looking for.
Uj!
|lt: Z
27
The cot of S printing
27
MeIeriels
rntng mtrls lso vry n pr n you'll
n to rul to m sur you uy t rgt
n o lmnt or your prntr. s r t
ns o prs you'r loong t toug:
23 - !kg of !.75mm P flament
26- !kg of !.75mmS flament
30- 300g of metallic 3mm P flament
56- !kg of !.75mm water soluble PV flament
!00- !kg of !.75mm laybrick sandstone-style
flament
Medelling
5elIwere
odelling software used to rival actual 3D
printers as the most expensive part of the
process, but over the last few years, many
more afordable options have emerged. Here's
a quick overview:
Free - 1inkerCD
Free - utodesk !23D Design
$795 (apprcx. 495) - Zrush
6995 (apprcx. 830) - Phino 5
4,!00- utoCD 20!4
30 PrinIing
5ervites
1here are lots of diferent online services that will
3D print your models for you, in a range of diferent
materials. 1he price will obviously depend on how
big your object is and which material you choose.
ut to give you an idea of how much it costs, here
are some basic prices:
22p- ! cubic centimetre of 3D printed ceramics
87p - ! cubic centimetre of 3D printed nylon
!.86- ! cubic centimetre of 3D printed acrylic
4.98- ! cubic centimetre of 3D printed steel
!2.44- ! cubic centimetre of 3D printed silver

exel PrinIing
e is essentia a D ie. 1he idea behind e
rinting is a bit ie biding ith eg: mdes are
designed b stacing irta cbes n t f ne
anther t frm a shae, and that shae is then rinted
t b a machine that stacs hsica bcs n t f
ne anther. Unie FDHrinting, hich mets dn
its materias and then etrdes them int shae, e
rinting desits discrete nits int ace. lt's a sight
dierent a f thining abt frming D bjects and
ne that's fair eas t nderstand in rincie, since
mst ee i hae aed ith biding bcs r
simiar as chidren.
es dn't hae t be cbe-shaed, thgh: the
can be sherica, ramid-shaed r rea an shae.
s ng as a the es sed in mdeing are the same
shae, the rincie hds. e rinting techng
is sti in its infanc, bt it seems rmising, esecia
becase it's tentia a far qicer rinting methd
than FDHr SS rinting. thgh might imagine
that the rcess d rest in rgh, bc-ing
mdes, that's nt necessari the case, since es
cd be made er sma. lt's rth eeing an ee n
this techng as it dees.
letIren 8eem lreelerm lebriteIiens
ectrn beam freefrm fabricatin F is a methd
created b Nasa, designed t be sed in sace. lt as
deeed at the ange Pesearch Centre and shares
sme simiarities ith SS rinting. 1he rcess ines
directing an eectrn beamnt a metaic srface and
then feeding a ire int the mten meta t frm the
reqired shaes. 1he he rcess taes ace in a
acm, and the ire sidies as sn as the eectrn
kk kk k l0 0l 0lllkk WkI5 0 Mkk klk65.
er :cnecre :{: 'J| r|r||rj', ||e{ ner ||H r|r||rj. a:|rj ne||ei e\|raiei |:||c cr c||er n|er||: |c |crn J|
:|e:. I|e{ n|j|| |:c |e re|err|rj |c \|\ cr \| |ec|rc|cj|e:, w||c| a:e |:er |en: |c |crn J| :|e: |rcn cwier: cr ||a|i:.
cwerer, ||ere re nr{ c||er |ec|r|ae: ||| re :|n||r ri w||c| n|j|| |:c |e c||ei J| r|r||rj, :|rce ||e{ |rrc|re a:|rj
ccna|er |c |e|| nc||re |c cre|e J| c|jec|. ere': a|c\ raricwr c| :cne c| ||e c||er ne||ci: {ca n|j|| ccne crc::.
0kk 6kk0l06l5
5lMllkk 0


Other technologies similar to S0 printing
beam moe on, eing immediaely
ino lace
bioly hi in a oce ha
likely o be anlaed ino domeic
ine, nle in he fe e all
hae acm chambe in o home,
b fo aa i cold oe ey
efl 1hee ae a fe difeen meal
alloy ha can be ed in hi oce,
and he fac ha i ok in a acm mean aona
can e i o in any elacemen ool o a hey
migh need hile on boad a ace aion - iho
haing o ai fo hing o be en fom he gond
5eletIive leser MelIing
Selecie lae meling S i a ey imila
echnology o elecie lae ineing SS lae
beam, ally a yebim fbe lae, i dieced by
a come hogh a fne meallic ode, fing i
ogehe one laye a a ime in ode o odce he
deied hee-dimenional hae
1he oce ake lace inide a conolled chambe,
and a ie i ed o h he ode back ino lace
a he lae moe hogh i Seeal difeen kind
of meallic ode can be ed, inclding ianim,
alminim and ainle eel
lhogh he ay Sok i ey imila o he ay
SS ok - and omeime, j o confe mae,
he em ae ed inechangeably - hee i a ble
difeence, a lea in heoy n he ineing oce,
he meallic aicle don mel flly: heye only
meled enogh o join ogehe n S, he ode
i comleely meled, hich can odce a moohe
fnih and alo mean ha hee ae moe maeial
ha can be ed SS ally eie a meallic alloy o
be ed, o ha he aicle ine ogehe oely
becae Smel he ode comleely, ome e
meal can alo be ed
l50 lllkMk lk8kl6kl0k
ed flamen fabicaion in
j anohe mehod of ining ha
ond imila o he oce: i
eacly he ame inole feeding
flamen ino a ine ha mel he
laic and hen ede i in laye o
fom a hae ecifed by C ofae
hy ae hee o name fo he ame
oce ell, a a ademaked em, o hen
he PePa ojec a e , i coldn e i iho
being ed nead, he em a ceaed o
ining enhia cold e hei ine iho
nning ino licening ie eneally, he ining
done on PePa ine and hei cceo i j
called ining, b hen anohe em i needed o
difeeniae ha hoe ine do fom ha ohe
kind of ine do, i omeime ed
6k6 leeming
CC looming, on he ohe hand, i ey difeen fom
ohe ining mehod, b i a echnology ha
ill come nde he ame mbella ld-fahioned
loom cold eae fabic by folloing diecion e
o by nched cad o bing he oce o dae,
CC loom old ok of aen ogammed in by
a come
CC and fo come nmeical conol, and
j a ining ofae ell a ine in ha
diecion i hold moe he ede head and ho
fa o do i in ode o bild a hae, looming
ofae old ell a CC loom ho o eae a iece
of fabic in ode o odce he deied aen o he
igh ize Uing CC loom, clohing comanie of he
fe cold le come deign hei on clohe
and ge hemined o f omeic loom cold le
donload aen fom he inene and ceae ne
of comied o o ecifcaion oenigh
''
\' ''''
` ' '
''''
'

'I/KI|9
|II|N
{ |c je| {car
|ai: i|r|{! |a
|||: c||er, we'||
e\||a |cw |c
:|r| ncie|||aj
ai |cw |c :e| a
I| r|a|er...

Getting Started Getting Started

S1

6k005lk6 M00
k 6l0 0 Pl6klk6 k kl6k 30
M00lllk6 50lWkk 0 6kk I0k
Pklkk8l 08l65
r| |||rj |ca| |r|rj J| r|r|er |: |||
{ca cr cre|e re||{ nac| r{|||rj {ca wr| w|||
||. |w{: irenei c| cre||rj {car cwr |c{:! \ca
cr r|r| ||en. 4eei re|cener| \rc| |cr c|e:|
c| irwer:! |r|r| cre. |e|cre {ca cr r|r| r{|||rj,
||caj|, {ca'|| reei r|r|||e ncie| |c wcr\ |rcn.
|e|rj ||e |c ncie| |r J| a:ei |c rea|re {er: c|
:|ai{ ri rc||:e, |a| crer ||e |:| |ew {er:, |c|: c|
:|n|e, e:{-|c-a:e ncie|||rj rcjrn: |re |eer
cre|ei, ri ||e{'re re||{ ||cri||e |cc. ere':
ja|ie |c :cne c| ||e nc:| ca|r rcjrn:. C|cc:e
w||c|erer cre {ca |||r\ w||| |e:| :a|| {car reei:.
kuIedesk T230 0esign
tosk hs n ron
sin th !0s rting
softwr for sign profssionls. s 3 printing m mor ssil
n forl for onsmrs thogh it lnh sit of onsmr
softwr tht took yrs of sign prtis n trnslt it into sy-to-
s hp pps.
!23 sign is on of th !23 fmily of pps. t's vill s n pp for
inows or i vis n n lso s in rowsr winow. or
fr pp it's prtty imprssiv n th lrning rv is virtlly non-
istnt. hr's vn lirry of ownlol mols provi to gt
yo strt n pgring to ro ont for yr gts yo fr stf
n vohr of krot printr.
8lender
lnr is on of th most poplr 3 molling
progrms ron. t's fr works with inows s
n in n it hs lrg frinly ommnity ilt
p ron it. t's lso n opn-sor projt so it's
onstntly ing vlop y th thosns of popl
vot to sing n improving it.
f yo'r ginnr it might tk it of fort to fn
yor wy ron spilly whn it oms to mking
sr yor mols r tlly printl t thr r
plnty of ttorils vill for fr n plnty of
forms
whr
popl will
hlp yo
ot if yo'r
rlly stk.
inkerted
inkr is th originl rowsr-s 3 sign
progrm. t ws rt in 20!! n oght ot in 20!3
y tosk so it now forms prt of th !23 sit.
h intrf is firly strightforwr n intitiv to
gt strt yo slt mniplt n grop soli
shps to rt th ojt yo wnt. t will lso lt
yo rt nw shps or import 2 imgs n
tr thm into 3 shps. n it'll port into ny
nmr of ifrnt formts.
t's not fr n priing is ssription s so if yo
wnt to s inkr on n ongoing sis yo'll n
to ogh p
vry month t
thr's fr tril
vill so yo
n hk it ot.
f
w
p
h
o
r
SS SS
hoosing moelling softw
lllk6 50lWkk
I8rush

plies,
Zrush is
all about digital painting - or digital sculpting. t has 30
brushes available to begin with, and models are created
by building 3D meshes and then using the brushes to add
volume and texture. t might be easiest to think of it as
putting clay or papier mache over a wire frame model.
Zrush models can be incredibly detailed, but there are
free plug-ins available to convert them into a resolution
suitable for use with a consumer 3D printer.
1here are lots of learning resources available to help you
get going with Zrush, including ofcial video tutorials
and links to schools that host classes.
khine
Currently
on its ffth
incarnation,
Phino is a 3D
modelling
program
commonly used by design professionals. ts good for
architectural and industrial design, but its got a fairly
manageable learning curve, so it started to become
popular with hobbyists as well as professionals. 1here
are plenty of tutorials available online, and there are
plenty of plug-ins available too, to add even more
features to Phinos already impressive capabilities.
5elidwerks
Positioned at the
professional end
of the market,
Solidworks has a
customer base of
over two million
engineers.
ts been around since the early 90s, when 3D
modelling and printing at home wouldve been
almost unimaginable, but that history does mean the
developer knows what it's doing.
gain, there are plenty of tutorials available online
to help you fnd your feet, but beginners may want
to start out with a simpler program frst. f youre
really serious about design and 3D printing, though,
Solidworks is pretty much the industry standard.
krI 0l lllusien
nother open-source 3D modelling program, rt of
llusion is Java-based and claims to be extremely easy
to use. ts aimed more at artists than engineers, and
its capable of creating some beautiful things, including
amazingly intricate photorealistic renderings of fantasy
objects. You just have to be careful to make sure your
designs can actually be turned into physical 3D objects
t doesnt export to the kinds of fles youll need for
your 3D printer natively, but theres a free plug-in you
can install to add that functionality, as long as you know
that, you shouldnt
have any trouble.
Youll either love or
hate it, but since its
free, its worth giving it
a try to see.
tal painting or digital sculpting t has 30
d b d i f i l t d f

hW I U'|
30 M00lllk6 50lWkk 0lllk5 6kklI 8Wk
k5l0k5, 8 kl5 5k0l0 klP I0 6 5kk0.

arting to use 3D modelling software can be

intimidating. lthough the software is more
accessible than ever before, it can still be a bit
of-putting when you frst try to use it. Well,
unless your job involves daily use of a complex CD
program, because then, naturally, you'd be able to
navigate the simpler 3D modelling software easily. ut
if you're new to the whole thing, you might fnd yourself
overwhelmed with options.
Out of the many 3D modelling programs available for
your computing platform, there will be some that will
look and feel better than others and which you'll be far
more comfortable with using over another version. n
many ways, it soon becomes a personal thing. ear in
mind, though, that it will be some time before you're
able to create the likes of what you'll see advertised in
the media, on the likes of 1hingiverse and on the boxes
of the 3D printers themselves.
s with most projects of this kind, it's often best to
learn to crawl before you can walk, and gathering the
tools necessary together frst is an absolute must.

6heese Ieur Weepen

1he old saying, 'there's a hammer for every job', is
actually quite apt here. You'll need a little trial and error
when choosing the right 3D modelling software, as all
are not quite created equally.
You'll need to fnd one that's easy to learn and use,
especially if you're a beginner. lso, it'll need to be
capable of importing or loading pre-built models and
allowing you to edit something that's already designed.
1his way you'll be able to work from something that is
already conceived, there's little point in reinventing the
wheel here.
On top of that, you'll also need to fnd 3D modelling
software that's capable of either communicating with
your printer or, at the very least, capable of exporting
your fnished design into a format that your printer in
particular is able to read and understand.
bove all, though, it's best to fnd a modelling package
that has plenty of support available for it, in terms of
tutorials, and preferably an active community who can
help answer any questions for you and from where you
can get answers to pretty much anything you're likely to
come across during your use of the product.
n the end, though, the modelling package you use will
be a personal choice.
9||||N '|IW/K|
How to use moelling software
S S
0FF
5INPL, ND
W0PK Y0UP
WY UP
hings e leek 0uI ler
ere are a couple of tools worth looking out for when
choosing a 3D modelling program. lf these tools aren't
available, then it may be necessary to shop around for a
package that contains most, if not all, of the below tools.
CPL1lNC HOLLOW OJLC1S
With the design you want loaded up and ready to be
exported over to the printer, take a moment to consider
the cost of the print. Hollowing out an object is an
easy way to save on both material and time, which
will ultimately mean an overall saving of money. Host
3D modelling programs already come with the tools
necessary to allow you to hollow out an object, some
even do this automatically for you, especially those with
3D printing in their design.
hollowed out object isn't as strong as a solid object,
mind you, and some may even need an elaborate
raft designed into them before being able to print
successfully, so try to fnd software that will allow you to
take all this into consideration. lso, the hollowing out
tool should also be able to reduce the number of internal
polygons, because hollowing can increase the polygon
count inside your model.
FlXlNC NON-HNlFOLD CLOHL1PY
One of the biggest problems associated with modelling
software (or rather the untrained user with their
modelling software) is the creation of non-manifold
geometry. 1his occurs when you have any edge
that's shared by more than two faces. 1he result may
look okay on paper or in the design, but it's non-
manufacturable, which means it's impossible to actually
make it or print it in real life.
Host 3D modelling packages are able to warn you of
a non-manifold geometry issue and, as a result, most
are able to fx the problem for you by cleaning up the
polygons and vertices or, at the very least, highlighting
DD X7P
0JC75 70
INPP0V
Y0UP 5KILL5
7PY
DIFFPN7
5PP5,
FC5 ND
P0IN75
7P PPIN7D
PP0DUC7 WILL
VN7ULLY
W0PK, U7
Y0U'LL ND
70INPP0V
Y0UP5KILL5
How to use moelling software

non-manifold geometr has occrred

and alloing o to resole the isse.
6eIIing 5IerIed
1he trick to starting ith 3D modelling softare is to
take it slo and keep it simple to begin ith. Opening
p the softare and epecting to render an eact
replication of the Lmpire State ilding is onl going to
frstrate o and more than likel trn o aa from
sing 3D modelling softare for the ftre.
Unless o hae preios eperience of 3D modelling
softare, the best place to start is ith an object that's
eas to design in the real orld: a book shape, Lego
bricks, cofee mg, toilet roll - an eerda object that's
er basic in its design, bt one that o can bild p
and get sed to the softare ith.
Net, ith the object in hand, start to
bild it sing oels in the modelling
softare. 1ake or time, and bild it
p as o see it in the real orld or
as close as possible. e carefl not to
start too big or comple, if o're ne
to 3D modelling, there's nothing as
disheartening as failing at the initial
design stages.
Sae it or eport or fnished
model as an S1L fle, and shold or
modelling program ask to f anthing that has become
corrpt dring the saing or eporting process, then
anser es bt check hat changes hae been altered.
With or 3D printer softare open, load p the
design o'e jst made in S1L and rn it throgh
the slicing program, if or softare has this fnction
(otherise o cold se Pepetier-Host and Slic3r to
conert the model to C-code). Once done, o can
frther maniplate the model on the print bed, moe
it arond and pre-heat and select the temperatres
necessar for printing.
Finall, print of the model. lf all goes ell, o shold
hae an eact replica of hat o'e jst designed.
Meving 0n
With the model o'e jst created sitting in the palm of
or hand, o cold be forgien for thinking that this is
all there is to it, and in some as it is. Hoeer, if o
ant to increase or 3D modelling skills and eentall
prodce een more comple and impressie 3D models
on or printer, then o're going to hae to step p
a gear and dele deeper into the modelling program
o'e decided to se.
1aking the model o did at the start of this process,
hae a closer look at the tools that are aailable and
hat the can do ith the arios lines, faces and points
o'e alread created. Consider moing some of the
points and faces, and see hat o can additionall
create. Prel ot of interest and to get a better
nderstanding of 3D models, tr to
create a non-manifold geometr, and
perhaps tr to hollo ot or design.
lf it's small enogh, then o sholdn't
hae too mch of a problem.
Once o'e improed the model in
qestion, sae it as something ne, and
if o're able to and o don't mind
the etra epense, then print it ot and
compare the to together. lt's orth
seeing ho jst a simple alteration on
screen can hae dramatic efects hen
the object is printed. Pls, if o managed to create a
non-manifold geometr, then o'll soon come to realise
hat's possible to print and hat ltimatel isn't.
he linel 5Iege
ssming o'e no spent considerable time sing
the man and aried fnctions of or 3D modelling
program, it's perhaps no time to look back on the
frst model o made and se it as something o
can start again ith, bt no sing eerthing o'e
preiosl learnt.
While e're not tring to teach o ho to sck
eggs, hat o cold do no is open p the modelling
''''''''''
'` '' '
''' '
' '`'
'' '`''
`'''
lling oftware
S7
rogram with a blank canvas and recreate the frst
model again. 1his time, though, you can use the
multi-face, multi-points tools, you can create complex
polygons and actively avoid the dreaded non-manifold
geometry, and you can recreate the model so that
it's economically viable for the 3D printer - in other
words, it doesn't use as much material and it's capable
of being printed relatively quickly to cut down on the
amount of power used while the printer is switched on.
Once you get to grips with almost everything your
modelling software can do, you can then move on
and research certain areas in particular, such as
topologies, edge fow and contour modelling.
1here are plenty of resources available online
to guide you through the more complex steps
of 3D modelling ready for 3D printing.
1he trick at this stage is experimentation, by now
you'll know what works and what doesn't, and you
won't print of something without frst running
it through various checks to see if
it's cost efective and viable, so
experiment away and see where it
takes you.
xperimenIeIien ls key
s with most of 3D printing in the current generation,
many of the tools, applications and ideas you have will
be achieved through trial and error and getting your
head into the product as much as possible.
Lach 3D modelling application is diferent, and
each will go about the same way of doing things in
a diferent manner to the next. Host will allow you
achieve moderate success in 3D printing, and most
will help you through the process of building
your models in an efective and error-free
way. However, they difer radically, and
without using a selection of them, you'll
never really know what one modelling
package can do in comparison to
another modelling package.
Lxperimentation is the key to working out how to
use your chosen software and its accompanying tools.
Cenerating a complex 3D model only takes a few weeks
of work to get to grips with, and by then you'll no doubt
have worked out the intricacies of your printer too, so
the overall efect will be a print that's economical, fast
and pleasing to the eye.
C0NPLX
D5N5 P
P055L F7P
50N PPD
W0PKU5INC7P
NNY700L5
VILL

UK 9|'|N
W||| WKK
hW I /K| 'UK|
kI0k kk5 k 05l6k lk klk Mlk0, 8
6lk6 l 0 Pklk 6kk 8 6kkllk6lk6.

ost 3D printer modelling software has roots

frmly in the computer aided design lineage
of programs, and while there's nothing
wrong with that, it does mean that designs
are often treated diferently for the screen rather
than their destination in the real world. For example,
modelling software such as 3ds Hax will build most
models out of hundreds of separate segments or pieces.
1his is fne for the most part, but unless you're planning
on bonding all those segments together after they're
printed, it's a tad useless.
1he model destined for the 3D printer needs to be
a single, seamless piece. lt can be several pieces that
you later bond together to make a whole Starship
Lnterprise, for example, but each edge and vertex
needs to be merged together until you have a solid
segment to print.
lf you have something from a few years ago, before
3D printing was around, which you designed in a 3D
modelling package, and you defnitely want it printed,

then it's worth going back over it and smoothing

out the edges, merging the segments and generally
cleaning it up until it's a single segment that can
transferred to the printer.
kellewing he 6esI
Although you may have spent signifcant time preparing
your model in the 3D software, take a moment to
consider how it's going to be printed on the 3D printer.
Howbig is it? Does it have a fat bed or a raft to work
on? And is it hollow?
By default, every item modelled and printed is going
to be solid, which naturally means it's going to use more
of the plastic consumable, which is obviously going to
rack up the cost of the printed itemconsiderably, plus, if
there's an area of it that's potentially weaker lower in the
design, then the solid structure above it could cause the
print to warp when the layers are building up.
Cenerally, most 3D packages will be able to hollow
out a model for you by creating an inner and an outer
shell of the design. 1he distance between the two is
the thickness of the model, which can then be tweaked
to make the model hollow, without compromising the
sturdiness of the structure.
S
w t mae ure yur en wll wr
S
l may ak om ial and o, bu hollowing ou
h modl mak i cha o oduc and mo
civ whn ining
6eemeIry T0T
on-maniold gomy i on o h bigg
oblm whn i com o ining ou a cuom
dignd objc, and i' h ingl mo
imoan dign iu ha o you om achiving
a uccul in
aically, non-maniold gomy i any dg had
by mo han wo ac, and h common oblm
inhn o dign i whn an dg i xudd,
bu no oiiond, o h ul i wo ic o h
am gomy on o o ach oh, which ho
won' b ind cocly
Fixing hi can b laivly iml, bu i' nily
dndn on h owa you're using, dierent 3D
modelling packages eliminate non-maniold geometry
in dierent ways.
6hetk Ieur lete
lt's easy in modelling sotware or the outward ace o
an object to be reversed either accidentally or through
an overzealous modelling tool.
Naturally, should this happen,
the vector point becomes a little
messed up and instead points
toward the insides o the model
instead o the outside. When this
is all converted or transerred
across to C-code and the 3D
printing side, the deign itsel
becomes incompatible or at the
very least conuses the printer
and can end up being a bit o a
mess when it comes out.
Solving the problem is easy enough, by reversing the
aces, but as with the non-maniold geometry it can be
dierent or each modelling package, so either check
the help fles or the sotware's orum or website or
more specifc details.
lesI ln 6enversien
Finally, making sure your design will work and checking
that every acet is true and geometrically correct is an
absolute necessity, but it can all be undone in an instant
when it comes to converting your design to something
the 3D printer and its sotware can read.
Host o the sotware that comes with the 3D printer
will accept a wide variety o fle types and convert them
perectly fne. However, there are examples where the
conversion process can signifcantly alter the design in
such a way that it becomes an unprintable mess.
lt's a difcult problem to solve, as each item o
sotware, both modelling and rom the printer side, can
be radically dierent rom one printer to the next. s
with most elements o 3D printing,
trial and error are key here, and do
your research beore committing.
Check the printer sotware
capabilities or what can be one
! converted and what can't.
re there certain issues involved
when converting rom one 3D
package to the next? ls there any
loss in design when converting?
good hour or so o research will
eliminate most o the headaches
you may come across later.
lt's also a good idea, when designing your model, to
avoid any over-technical tools in the modelling sotware.
Host tools can be converted or bypassed by the printer
sotware itsel, but some tools can radically alter the
geometry o your design and conuse the printer.

6eI WheI Ieu WenI 0nline
ere are lots o websites tat will let you nd and
download a model made by someone else and
print it on your printer, wic can save you a lot o
time and eort. t's also quite andy i you want to
print sometin but aren't condent enou in your
modellin skills to make it yoursel 1ere are so many
3 model repositories online tat it's totally possible to
own a 3 printer and print everytin you need witout
ever avin to model any o it yoursel - you can
download all te models you'd ever need rom te web.
Host o te 3 model sites work in muc te same
way, and it's very easy to ure out ow to use tem.
Cenerally, tere are two ways to nd a model to
download: you can eiter searc or te tin you're
ater, weter it's sometin as specic as a screw in
a specic size or sometin as eneric as a Cristmas
ornament, or you can coose to just
browse te paes o uploaded models
until sometin catces your eye.
Wen you've ound a model you like
te look o, click trou to its pae
to see more details. 1ypically, sites
will list tins like wic proram te
model was made on, and any special
instructions you'll need to print or
assemble it. 1ere sould also be more imaes, oten
includin potoraps o te model as printed by te
creator or oter people wo've also downloaded te
model, so you'll be able to see exactly wat te nised
product will look like. nd some sites even o so ar as
to list ow lon a model sould take to print, and ow
muc lament it'll use, so you'll know exactly wat to
expect rom te print beore you et started.
you're sure te model you've ound is te one or
you, it te download button and te
le will be saved to your computer.
Some sites will ask you to sin up or a
membersip beore you can et les,
but tat's usually ree. Host sites oer
ree models too, altou tere are
some tat carry ees, it's always wort
ceckin te ree ones beore andin
over your cas, tou, just in case
I0 6kk 5k lM kk0 ll0k 8I 00Wkl0k0lk6 M00l5 l0k I0k Pklkk 0kllk
re :cne |||rj: erer{cre wr|: |c n\e cr ||e|r J| r|r|er. \cne c|jec|: re c|r|ca:|{ er|ec| |cr J| r|r|er:. |cre c:e:, |cr |r:|rce, cr
cri|e |c|ier:, ie:\ ||i|e: cr rr|ca: re||c: c| jee\{ HcCa||r:. Hcie| |r|r :e|: ri ic|||ca:e |arr||are re |:c ccnncr, : re |arc||cr| |||:
c| jije|: cr |cne wre: ||| c||er je| |rc\er ri reei re|c|rj. \ca cca|i a:e {car c|c:er J| ncie|||rj :c||wre |c n\e || ||c:e |||rj: ri
ncre, |a| w|er erer{cre e|:e |: r|r||rj ||e :ne :cr|: c| |||rj:, w|{ |c||er!
9||' |K Ih| |NI|KN|I
||N9|N /N9 9WN|/9|N

Pining an ownloaing moels from the internet
kny kequesIs?
oe e somein e
spei o n nd model
o online nd n model osel,
n o do? Well, if ou know
n tlented 3D modellers, ou ould
sk friend to mke the model for
ou. nd if ou don't, ou n log
onto 3D printing forum nd sk
someone there to do it insted.
You'll fnd most 3D modelling
relted messge ords will hve
request setion, where people who
fn hllenge will tke on our
projet for ou - sometimes the'll
even do it free of hrge, lthough
sometimes ou'll need to p fee.
ini Ftor hs huge request
utton on its home pge nd if
ou lik tht, ou'll get to form
where ou n get quote from its
designers for designing our item. lf
it's something it rekons the whole
ommunit might wnt, it'll even
onsider doing it for free, so if ou
wnt something tht inorportes
our nme or something else tht's
personlised, ou might hve to p,
ut if it's something more generl,
well, it's worth sking nd fnding out
if ou n get it designed for nothing
5IerI PrinIing
One downloded, open our
model in our 3D printer's
softwre nd send it to print. lf
ou don't wnt to, ou don't hve
to do n designing t ll. lf ou
do wnt to, though, ou ould
open the fle in 3D modelling
softwre nd mke hnges
efore printing our ojet.
ht's where online models might
ome in hnd even if ou're
rillint designer lred - ou
n downlod si model
nd mke our own ltertions
to it, so tht in the end ou've
got something unique tht ou
designed, ut ou didn't hve to
spend s long mking it.
lthing to get strted? here
re lot of sites ou n use. he
most ovious nd ommonl
used one is hingiverse, whih is
owned kerot. lt's got n
enormous ommunit ehind it,
nd hundreds of new models re
dded ever d. he front pge
showses the newest nd est
dditions, ut dig k further
into the rhives nd ou'll fnd
literll thousnds of models,
most of whih hve een tried
nd tested the ommunit so
ou'll e le to fnd out out
n potentil fws efore ou tr
printing model ourself.
nother good option, espeill
if ou hve Cue printer, is
Cuif. s the nme suggests, it's
ssoited with the Cue printer,
nd lso hs thousnds of models
designed speifll for use
with those printers (though the
should work with most domesti
3D printers). Or there's ini
Ftor, owned ikr, whih is
prtiulrl good euse it tests
ll the models on its wesite to
mke sure the n e relil
printed efore the're mde
ville to the puli, so ou
shouldn't hve n disppointing
filed prints. nd if none of those
hve wht ou're fter, there's
lso utodesk !23D, urosquid,
Cuoo, CDou, nd mn,
mn more.
s lst word of wrning:
rowsing online 3D model
repositories n e dngerous, s
ou might end up wnting to print
n wful lot of new things, so e
reful out there

0kllk 5kl65
k0 kklk6 I0k 0Wk 30 Pklkk W0k' 50P I0
lk0M 6lk6 I0k 05l6k5 Pklk0
ne:||c J| r|r|er: re je|||rj ncre irrcei ri |e:: e\er:|re |{ ||e i{, |a| ||e{'re :|||| rc| e\c||{
w|| {ca'i c|| c|e, ri ||ere re :|||| ||n||||cr: |c w|| {ca cr r|r| cr ||en. \c w|| :|ca|i {ca ic ||
{ca're ie:|jrei :cne|||rj ri {ca |rer'| |rre:|ei |r J| r|r|er {e|! r w|| || {ca wr| |c r|r| || |r
n|er|| ||| {car |cne r|r|er cr'| |ri|e! I|e r:wer |: |c a:e r cr||re J| r|r||rj |area.
PrinIing 5ervites


ve it print your object out and send it to you in
the post, which saves you needing to have a printer
at home, and it also means you can often get higher-
resolution or even multi-coloured prints or prints
made of metal or other non-thermoplastic materials.
1he only real disadvantage of using these kinds of
services is that you don't get your print immediately,
since it has to be made and then shipped to you,
so depending on where you live and where your 3D
printing service of choice is located, you might have
to wait a few days or even a couple of weeks to get
your object. nd since making it on your own 3D
printer would probably mean you had your object
in your hands in a matter of hours, that might seem
like an intolerably long wait.
However, if you don't need your object
immediately, and you haven't got a printer at home
that can do what you need, well, it might seem like
a really good option. f you're considering buying a
printer but haven't quite decided yet, then getting
some of your models printed by someone else might
be a good frst step into the world of 3D printing.
WheI 6en hey 0e ler Ieu?
et's take a closer look at what online printing
services ofer. 1he three best-known online 3D
printing services are Shapeways, i.materialise and
Sculpteo. Lach of them lets users upload their models
to their websites and order a physical print-out to be
manufactured and sent to them in the post.
Shapeways ofers a wide range of materials,
including a few diferent types of plastic, silver,
steel and ceramics, and in case you're not sure
which one will work best for you, there's even a
handy decision making tool that lets you select
the characteristics you want and suggests the
best match for you. f you're really struggling,
Shapeways sells sample kits containing small pieces
of each of its materials, so you can see the colours

Printing using online servies

4S 4S 44S 4S 4S 4S
and textures for yourself before you
commit to buying a model printed
in that material.
How long you'll have to wait for
your model depends on which
material you want to use, but all
the lead times are spelled out
on the website, which is helpful.
1he company has two production
facilities, one in New York and one
in the Netherlands, so you should
be able to get your print from the
one closest to you. lf you're really close, you can
even go pick it up from the facility in person.
i.materialise ofers a similar set of services: you
upload your model, pick a material and scale your
model up or down if necessary, and the website will
automatically calculate how much it'll cost. Having
everything on one page means you can tweak
things to get your model at the price you want,
although it might mean compromising on material
or size.
1he range of materials available is impressive,
including gold, titanium, and multi-coloured plastic,
alongside the usual range of plastics and ceramics.
Sample kits are available here too, and i.Haterialise
says it has more materials and fnishes available
that aren't listed - you'll need to
drop it a line to fnd out more about
those. 1here's even a 'Creation
Corner', where you'll fnd a list of
designers you can hire to help you
if you're struggling with designing a
model for yourself.
Sculpteo might be the service
that ofers the most comprehensive
online 3D printing service, though.
When you upload your model, you
can view it in the in-browser 3D
viewer, to check everything is as it should be. 1he
site will also check your model for any potential
problems before it prints and can help you repair
any problems there might be. Sculpteo also ofers
lots of diferent materials and an easy way to toggle
the price of your model by altering various factors.
nd Sculpteo ofers the fastest turnaround time,
the exact time you'll wait for your object depends
where in the world you're based, but it estimates
that your print will be shipped within three days
and will arrive one to !5 days after that.
Peally, then, even if you can't decide if you want
to buy a printer for your own home, you've got no
excuse for not ordering your frst 3D print. 1here's
nothing left to stop you
eking he ery lirsI 5Iep
ecause you're reading a book about 3D printing,
you're probably interested enough in the topic to
want to own your own printer and get printing your
own stuf. ut if that sounds a bit intimidating to you
(or a bit expensive), don't worry. You can get started
with 3D printing without needing to shell out for a
printer or even learn how to use modelling software.
1here are several online 3D printing services that
will let you try out the technology, designing your
own objects using their simple browser- or phone-
based apps, and then get your personalised object
printed and sent straight to you. lt's a really good
frst step for people who maybe aren't convinced
3D printing is that exciting or who don't really
understand how it works.
Know someone like that? Cet them to try out
something like !23D Creature, an app by utodesk,
which lets you design your own monsters and order
a print-out from Shapeways or any of the apps by
HixeeLabs, which let you create your own toys,
necklaces, bracelets, dog tags and other trinkets.
Once you're holding something you designed online
in your hand, you'll never look back.
Printing using online servies
'' ''
`\'
` '`
`'\` `
'
' '''
'''
4S

UK |K|NI|K
5lk6 P k Pklkk l5k' 00 0llll6l, klk06k 50M Pk6l5l0k l5 k00
ther you have an of-the-shelf 3D
printer or one built from a kit, you'll
need to set it up before you can
actually start printing. 1he specifc
steps difer from one model of printer
to next but, on the whole, each one will normally require
you to go through the same sort of procedures in order
to get the possible results from your printer. lso, it's
worth noting that over time your printer can lose its initial
settings, so retracing the steps detailed here will help keep
it in tip top condition and keep it printing
successfully as much as possible.
k level Pleying lield
One of the most important steps to
getting your printer ready, and the one
that often needs to be reviewed from
time to time, is making sure that the print
bed is level.
1he calibration process can be very
diferent depending on the model of
printer used, but they usually require
you to raise the bed until it's within
a few millimeters of the tip of the
extruder nozzle.
Once there, move the bed so that one corner of it is
directly under the nozzle, and slowly, usually by hand if
possible, raise the bed until the distance between the tip
of the nozzle and the top of the bed is 0.25mm. 1his is
obviously a very minute measurement, and getting a set
of callipers in there to measure it can be difcult. What
you can do in this instance is use the callipers to measure
the thickness of some card or a few sheets of paper - even
folded paper is ideal. With the 0.25mm ascertained, you
can then carefully slide the card or paper between the
Hoving o level
prin| bed is on
obsolu|e necessi|y

Setting up your printer

4S


Now, carefully move the bed until it is under another
corner and check the distance with the card again. lf the
card is nipped the same as the frst corner then proceed
to the next corner and so on until you've measured all
four corners of the bed. lf it's a little out, you can often
fne-tune the bed by turning the thumbscrews or with
an llen key turn the screw that raises or lowers that
particular corner of the printer bed.
s mentioned, move the printer bed so that the nozzle
is above each corner and repeat the process. lf you
want, you can also move the nozzle so that it's above
the centre of the print bed and see if the distance is
the same as the corners. lf not, then there's likely to be
some warping of the print bed, which can come as a
result of an over tightened bed (the screws that fasten
the bed to the X and Y axis mount). ln cases such as
this, you can often gently push the centre of the bed
down or loosen the screws that fasten the bed slightly
so the centre bulging is lessened or removed.
Once the print bed is level and the same distance from
the nozzle across all four corners, you can begin to zero
out the distance and confgure the printer software to
identify that distance as 'home'. Usually one corner of
the bed will be classed as home at a specifc distance.
PreheeIing
While we're on the subject of the print bed,
it's worth mentioning that preheating both
the bed and extruder can make the printing
process signifcantly more successful than
diving in and heating the nozzle and going
for the print.
y preheating the bed, for example, you're
setting up the printer with a stable platform
on which to adhere to. One of the most
common problems in 3D printing is the
curling and warping of a print on the bed. lf
it's preheated, to around 50C on average,
then the flament will stick to the bed and
form a stable area on which to print.
Likewise, preheating the extruder and nozzle will
remove the frst few blobs of what was previously left in
the extruder reservoir and start you of with an amount
of melted plastic ready to print with.
Lither way, heating both, with the bed being
preheated around !5 minutes before printing, can make
the process a lot more successful.
6hetk he MevemenI
When setting up your printer, it's worth taking a moment
or two to check that the movement of the motors is
free and that anything they move, such as the cogs
used in the extruder, move freely without catching or
unnecessary stifness.
lf you fnd that the movement is jerk and stif, you
could try loosening the mounting screws that attach
the motor (or the part that's particularly stif) and see if
that frees the movement enough so that the motor isn't
under as much strain.
lf the motors and their attachments can't be loosened,
then consider using a small amount of grease to
lubricate the movement so that it works a little better.
1his is particularly needed on the Z-axis struts, as they
can become tight over time.
ln addition to the motors, also check the tightness of
the drive belts (if your printer has any). 1hey should be
Freheo|ing wi|h
por| ol |he se|up
mokes lor o more
successlul prin|

f necessar.
lthough ou'll onl need to go through these steps
the frst time ou come to set up our printer, the are
parts that can eaken over time and through frequent
use. lf our printer is beginning to make an odd noise
from the motors or ecessive squeaking hen moving,
then go through the setup process again.
5eIIing he elIege
lf ou've built a 3D printer from a DlY kit, then ou'll
no doubt have alread set the voltage for each of the
motors through the drivers on the controller board.
1he usual setting for the likes of the Velleman K8200 is
around 0.425V, but it can be increased to at least 0.55V
if the motor is sticking slightl.
lnitialising the voltage of the motors is a vital part of
the setup process and one that can greatl afect the
performance of the printer and the results of the prints
themselves. ln order to make sure that the voltage is
set correctl, it's best to check each drive point ith
a multimeter, and make minor adjustments if needed,
then poer of the controller board and discharge an
remaining current stored both on the board and in the
poer brick, if our printer uses one.
Once the ecess current is discharged, reconnect the
poer, and measure the voltage once more across all
the motor drivers to check that the values
specifc to our printer are correct.
Priming he xIruder
efore ou're able to print anthing,
ou're going to have to prime the etruder
and feed in a small section of the reel of
flament, so that some of it is sitting in the
etruder reservoir read to use.
Pegardless of the model of printer, the
frst thing ou'll need to do to set up the
etruder is to heat it, normall to around
!90C, but other printers ma require
slightl more or less heat. Once the printer
is up to the correct temperature, ou can pull back the
etruder butterf bolt that attaches the feed spring and
feed the flament into the etruder hole ith some slight
pressure. Usuall, ou'll have to either ind one of the
etruder motor gears b hand to feed a section of the
flament into the etruder or ou'll just need to appl
some pressure and use the softare that came ith the
printer to automaticall turn the etruder motor to catch
the flament and feed it in to the etruder.
Lither a, after a moment or to, ou'll begin to
notice some plastic foing out of the nozzle. When this
happens, ou can move the etruder to the zero (home)
position and remove the blobs of plastic from the nozzle
ith a set of teezers.
6hetk Ieur PlesIit
Clancing at the reel of plastic attached to the side of
our 3D printer ma be perfectl fne if ou've recentl
ftted a nespool. Hoever, after a fedozen prints,
ou ma ant to make sure ou have enough for the
task at hand.
lthough it's quite difcult to gauge b ee homuch
plastic ou have, in terms of length, it's possible to unroll
just enough to check ithout making too much of a
mess of the spool. You should be able to unroll around a
couple of metres' of plastic from the spool ithout too
much difcult, hich is generall more than enough for
Noke sure |ho| |he
drive bel|s ore |igh|
ond connec|ed
7
Setting up your printer



Plus 2
software, for example, is reasonably accurate at letting
you know how much in length the current print job will
consume. Hore often than not, though, the software will
simply slice the model and start the C-code process, so
it's always best to quickly check the amount of plastic
on the spool before you commit to the print.
t's fairly easy to add more plastic should you run out
mid-print. ll you need to do is pause the print and run
through the priming of the extruder, adding the start
of the new reel at the end of the old one, making sure
there's enough plastic in the extruder reservoir. Or you
can just be at hand when the plastic runs out, and feed
in the start of the new reel at end of the old without
pausing the print. t depends on the printer model.
t may sound very simplistic, but you'd be surprised
at how many users print away without considering how
much material they're using. fter all, most of us print
on paper without checking the ink levels every time.
5eIIing p he 5elIwere
s with the hardware calibration, setting up the
software is also a vital step in the setup of your printer.
Host printers use diferent software packages to
control the printer itself, so it's a little difcult to
pinpoint any particular issues inherent to one program
over another. However, as with most software, the
values contained within can become corrupted for
a number of reasons: crashes, software updates,
hardware upgrades and frmware updates can all
contribute to the parameters of the software being
altered in some way. t's not often it happens, but you
can guarantee if it can, it'll happen just when you least
expect it or when you need to do something important.
When you frst set up your printer, you'll no doubt
enter the model into the software or run through
some sort of calibration routine where the printer will
determine the dimensions of the print area and the
measurements of the Z axis. f the initial calibration is
successful, make a note of the numbers used. Should
they ever be wiped or corrupted in any way, then you
can return them to their default working values easily.
1he initial setup is relatively easy and the instructions
for your model of printer will no doubt be included
with the print itself, but pay special attention to the
section that involves the movement of the printer either
manually or automatically. 1his is where the printer will
be fne-tuned to the dimensions of the print bed and
the nozzle, as well as the movement of the motors.
Noke sure |he e|ruder
hos enough mo|eriol in
|he reservoir prior |o prin|
lerums kule
f you need more specifc help with
your printer, it's worth looking for
forums associated with that model
- or 3D printing forums in general.
You'll probably fnd that other people
have had the same problems as you're
having and will have valuable advice
and tips you can use. nd don't be
embarrassed to ask any questions
- chances are, other new users are
thinking the same, and the majority of
experienced users will be more than
happy to help you out.

Plug knd Prey

Fist of, 3D printing, at the moment
at least, isn't as easy as some would
lead you to believe. Building a 3D
printer from a kit is a complex afair,
and understanding the instructions, rough
translations and incorrect images can make for
a rather stressful project.
Additionally, an of-the-shelf product also has its
fair share of nuances, with incomplete instructions,
incompatible software and issues with feeding the
plastic through the extruder.
Just remember that this is a long-term project, and
more often than not you won't be able to simply plug
a 3D printer in and expect to design an elaborate chess
set within minutes.
Also, be prepared for some signifcant trial and error
when it comes to the frst half dozen or so prints you send
through. As you'll soon fnd out, not all designs are created
equally, and while some may look
wonderful on the screen, when it comes
to the printing of them, they can rarely
resemble your idea of what it should
eventually look like.
1he lack of a fat printer bed or fat surface
for the printer is a common issue among many
users. 1he instructions that came with your printer
should detail how to fne tune your settings and check
the bed is fat and level. Beyond that, make sure the
surface the printer is sitting on is also fat.
Added to all that we the fact that many 3D printers
have somewhat questionable accuracy, and while the
computer control program side of the printer may
state that the nozzle is 0.25mm from the base of the
printer, it can stray from frequent use, loose bolts
and poor maintenance. 1herefore, it's always worth
checking everything before you go and send a job
through to print.
0esign PiIlells
1he frst pitfall that plagues many new 3D printer
users is the fact that the designs they download,
from various sources, simply won't print.
1here could be a number of issues relating to this,
from a poor design in the frst place, through to some
hidden driver problem. Hore often than not, though,
it's simply down to the fact that the job in question is
just too much for the model of printer you have.
Pemember, not all free-to-use models are
designed with a home 3D printer in mind,
most are tested out on a commercial

6kl kk0 lll

6urling end lilIing el
prinI jebs is ene el Ihe
mesI temmen piIlells
end preblems wiIh 30
prinIing, buI iI's else
ene el Ihe eesiesI Ie
selve wiIh e liIIle werk.

s with any other mechanical and electrical

device that requires human intervention
and is subject to open conventions, in
that users from around the world can
contribute to it, there are inevitably going
to be some pitfalls that the unsuspecting user will no
doubt come to experience over time.
From the building of a kit, to the design process,
through to the actual printing of the object
in question, there's plenty that can go
wrong and many hidden problems to
overcome. Let's address them now.

9 49

Wkk kMkk5 kk0

Mk6klk5 60M
06kk, Pk08lM5
Wlll kkl5
ll k kk
Meke sure IheI yeur
prinIer bed is suiIebly
heeIed belere Ihe
prinI sIerIs. Meny
6-6ede designs elreedy
etteunI ler Ihis, buI il
iI deesn'I, edd iI in.
Common Pifall
PrinIing leil
Hoe often than not when stating
out youll be making some etty
citical eos which youll kick youself
fo in time. ne itfall that most new
uses fall into is temeatue.
lthough this isnt set in stone the
temeatues of can ife eening on the colou.
Why? We have no idea, but use trial and error here.
s well as that, the ambient temperature of the room
can also greatly afect the result in that draughts and a
cold environment can cause lifting of edges, curling and
an uneven setting of the PL, which can solidify the top
section before the lower and make the print job fall over.
Host exposed kit build 3D printers sufer from
environmental temperature fuctuations, while of-
the-shelf units tend to be more enclosed. 1he general
consensus in this case is to print in a warm, evenly heated
room or enclose the printer in a box.
ecause of the temperatures needed
to melt the plastic, it also common for
faulty C-Code to set the temperature
to an incorrect value to begin with. So
before printing, it's worth looking through
the start-up section of the C-Code to check
the initial temperature.
C-Code issues, as already mentioned, can be a very
common pitfall. Some C-Code may contain a simple
mistake, in that the incorrect temperature may be set (as
above) or that the bed isn't heated frst. Others may have
glaring problems that could even afect the motors or
damage the printer. Lither way, it's always best to check,
before you commit the job to the printer, if you don't
have software that'll check the C-Code for you frst..
Finally, the problem of not reading the manual or
instructions properly and going ahead with an all-out,
loose cannon style approach to printing something is
unfortunately all too common in this industry.
device, with unwavering accuracy and teams of
engineers at hand to tweak it to perfection.
One of the most common of all design pitfalls
relates to the objects being designed in the modelling
software not being 'watertight' or solid.
Solid, watertight or manifold basically means the
model is a single, complete enclosure, so if it were to
be flled with water, for example, nothing would come
out. You can create patterns in the object, but
generally speaking for the home 3D printer,
every edge in a model must be bordered
by two other faces.
keep k level 8ed
f you have signifcant curling, then try these steps:
P|ace a sheet of paper on top of your bui|d p|atform.
Hove the print head to a corner of the bui|d p|atform
and home the Z-axis. 1his shou|d start to pinch the
paper between the print nozz|e and the printer bed.
Wobb|e the piece of paper and ad[ust the height of
that corner. eep raising the bed on that corner unti|
you can fee| a bit of tension on the paper, as the
print head and bed begins to pinch.
Repeat for each of the three other
corners of the printer bed.

k 60ll6l0k 0l
5ll lP5 0 klP
I0k 30 Pklklk6
l0kkI

re's nothing worse than starting of with

a project only to reach the mid-way point
and wishing you'd spent a little more time
researching the ins and outs to begin with.
1o help combat that, here are some top tips to
help your 3 printing go smoothly.
e 8egin WiIh
efore you go and spend heaps of money on a 3 printer,
frst ask yourself what it is you want to get from it. f it's to
test new technologies, to enjoy the building of something
from a kit form or to fulfl a niche in your design processes
at home or at work, then do some research frst as to
which printer will ft your needs.
Host 3 printers available are capable of printing
the basics, like smartphone cases and odd-shaped
decorations, but if you have something more specifc in
mind, you may need to hunt around for a model that's
capable of producing intricate designs. Cet the dimensions
of the print bed, the height the printer is able to print to
and how fne a level of detail it's capable of achieving.
f you think you've found the perfect printer, take
a moment to browse the forums of the respective
device and see what kind of support is ofered by the
company that made it. lso, while you're there, check
out what problems tend to arise from other users, and
any tips they may have for that particular model.
Pemember, too, if in doubt, don't be afraid to ask a
question on a forum. Host forum users are more than
happy to help and will ofer some useful advice.
t's worth mentioning here that once you've picked the
model of printer and before you commit to the purchase,
check out the price of the consumables. (i.e. the plastic
used to print with). Host printers are generic in their
use of the plastic, but some do require a specifc brand,
which may cost considerably more than the competition.
While the printer may be reasonably priced, the
consumables could cost more than twice that of other
printers. 1ake your time and do a little research.
f you're planning on grand schemes and building your
own business based on the 3 models you're going to
print, think about the type of printer you'll be using. s it
robust enough for continual, daily printing? oes it eat
through consumables faster than other printers, raising
the overall cost? s the software that communicates with
it capable of handling your designs?
1here are undoubtedly many more questions you
need to ask yourself if 3 printing is going to provide a
0etiding en
Ihe meke end
medel el prinIer
is en ebseluIe
netessiIy


al income for ou, so once more
check out forums, ask questions and
see if it's possible to fnd out which 3D
printers the competition are using.
Finall, for this section, if ou're
building our printer from a kit, make
sure ou have all the necessar tools
at hand. Check in the instruction manual, usuall at the
beginning, that ou have everthing and that it's suitable
for the job. Using a wooden ruler in place of an accurate
calliper isn't an option in most cases.
lso, read ahead a little during each step of the building
process. 1here's nothing worse than reading something
like 'screw X into Y', and after scrolling down, seeing in big
red print 'DO NO1 OVLP 1lCH1LN'
0esigning knd PrinIing
lthough most 3D modelling software is compatible with
virtuall ever 3D printer available, there'll be some that
require a particular program to communicate with the
printer. ln this case, make sure our designs are compatible
with the software and that the can be imported easil
without too much adjustment.
Consider limiting the number of polgons our 3D
model has. Hake sure our design has no unnecessar
polgons or internal surfaces. Lliminating these can
improve the speed the design is converted to C-code,
read b the printer or generated to an .S1L fle.
Knowing our printer's limitations will help cut out
a wealth of problems in the long-term. re the model
details too small? re the too big? Pemember, the
width of the thread is determined b the diameter of
the printer nole. Cenerall, most
printers have a .4mm or .5mm
nole, which means anthing printed
is alwas two thread widths deep:
.8mm thick with a .4mm nole
to !mm thick for a .5mm nole. lt's
been said b man professionals that
the smallest feature ou can create is
double the thread width.
Supporting our designs can be a
problem. lf ou're not careful, our
design can be subject to all sorts of
warping if it's not supported correctl
- if ou print something with a thin or
small base, for eample.
1o help combat warping, consider
using mouse ears, which are circular
supports on the bottom of an object,
to give the structure some foundations to build on.
1he're eas to snip of when complete without
marking or deforming the rest of the design.
Controlling the rate of fow of the plastic through the
nole can drasticall alter the result of our design. lf
it's possible, through our control software, consider
increasing the fow to allow the maimum amount of
plastic to build the design, but don't food it. 1his is a fne
balancing act at times.
Orientation is a vital element of 3D printing that's often
overlooked. n object ou've designed ma look great on
the screen, but printing it is entirel diferent. 1ake a table
shape, for eample. Printing from the legs up is out of
question, but turning it !8 will allow the printer to print it
out correctl.
Hake sure our print bed is as level as possible, and the
correct distance from the nole on all four corners and
the centre. While it's ma seem almost impossible to get
the bed completel level, having it close allows the prints
to laer up without an snagging when the nole moves
across the bed following the design.
dditionall, some printer beds have a slight curve
towards the centre, usuall where the thermistor is located
(if our printer has one). 1hese are usuall the kit built
printers, and ou can solve this b gentl bending the
centre bulge down, which over time will
eventuall disappear.
lf ou're printing with S, make
sure our printer bed is thoroughl
preheated to avoid edge curling in
our designs.
Finall, make sure ou regularl clean
our printer bed with rubbing alcohol,
as the oils from our hands can cause
problems and stop the design from
sticking to the printer bed.
'' '' '' ''
' '''' `
''`'' '
''''

ace {ca're n:|erei ||e |:|c:, ||': ||ne |c ncre

ca |c ncre iracei I| r|a||aj |ec|a|ae:...

lthough there are plenty of prebuilt 3D

printers available now, there are still
some frst-gen DlY kit form printers on
the market.
Like during the !970s, when home computers
were delivered in kit form, requiring users to solder
the components and build the systems themselves,
you can still purchase a working 3D printer in its
entirety as a box of parts, along with a lengthy
set of instructions. And like those DlY computers,
there's something fascinating about building your
own 3D printer. However, it might be more work
than it's worth.
0isedvenIeges 0l k 0lI 30 PrinIer
1here are a few drawbacks to constructing your
own 3D printer, which are no doubt the same with
anything you can buy in kit form.
One of the main disadvantages involved with
building your own 3D printer is the kit itself.
Building fat pack furniture is one thing (you can
always drill an extra hole if you need to), but a 3D
printer is a precision device, and if the components
are missing or there's a hole missing in a part
where there's meant to be one, the entire kit and
KU||9|N / |K|NI|K
lk0M k kl
8ll0lk6 I0k 0Wk 30 Pklkk lk0M k kl 6kk 8 0llll6l, 8 l'5 0k
0l k M05 kWkk0lk6 IPklk65 I0 6kk kk Wlk k 0lI Pk0l6
he ellemen
k8200 is e
methenitelly
wenderlul
methine

Builing a printer from a kit

fcult to understand,
no matter hat language ou're
reading them in.
1here's also the fact that the
person building the printer ma not
actuall be up to the task. 1his might
sound horrible, but consider that
there's a fair amount of mechanical
and electrical processes inoled here,
and if ou're not able to isualise the process
and the fnal product or ou can't solder to sae our
life, then ou're going to struggle.
1ime is also a point that could fall into the
disadantages categor. Building something like the
Velleman K82 3D printer kit takes a considerable
length of time - on aerage, around three and a
half das. lt might not be orth our time to build a
printer hen ou could just bu one prebuilt.
inall, using the Velleman K82 again as an
eample, building a 3D printer isn't a one-person
job. 1here are a number of points along the a that
require more than one pair of hands, een if it's to
hold something up hile
ou solder.
kdvenIeges 0l k 0lI
30 PrinIer
1o address a couple
of the possible problems
mentioned, let's start ith the kit
itself. ln the case of the Velleman
K82, eerthing arries in a
single bo, ith an optional set of
tools in another. Lach indiidual
set of parts is bagged, sealed and
numbered according to the steps
in the instructions, hich means
there's little chance of anthing going
rong, missing or being machined
incorrectl in the frst place. ln
addition, Velleman clearl states
that should an parts be missing
or fault, a simple email ill let
the support team send ou the
components in question.
Where the instructions ma
appear a little ague or are
lost in translation, it doesn't
take much these das to scour
the eb to fnd a better set or a
forum here someone can proide
fed instructions.
Cenerall, there's a lot more personal control oer
a DlY printer than ou eer fnd in an of the of-the-
shelf products. You can increase the oltage to one
or all of the motors, for eample. Or ou could alter
the tolerances of the aes or the feed of the etruder.
urthermore, ou can see here problems might arise
and create a f for ourself, improing the operation
of the printer.
ks every geed
tub steuI
elreedy knews,
iI peys Ie be
prepered
8uilding
semeIhing like
Ihe exIruder
essembly is quiIe
impressive in iIs
ewn righIs
MesI 0lI 30
prinIer perIs teme
in numbered begs,
meking iI eesier
ler yeu Ie build

s, wh l yu're e se he gur
he rer uy xse s e, yu
rese he eerure, he he r ed s eve
d e ue y se he ud ress h w
uey rve he rg uy
y, er udg rer, shud yhg
g wrg d s, here's rey gd he
h yu' e e dey he ssue whu hvg
sed he u he sre yu urhsed
r l yu h yu y hve uwgy essed u
he sderg he hersr, he yu' e e
regse y eerure res d uy re
sehg yu e rss erer he ud
u ge uh eer sese hw wrs d hw
x r e er use whe yu ud yurse
udg rer s zg re ge
yur hds , vers s y ss d res
exerse h 's de r hgh sh r ege
sude d here's hg ue e seeg wr
r he rs e
8uilding Ieur PrinIer
eedg he yu uy, here w ey e se
vr he s eeded ud yur rer
euy, he srus yu ge w e he
s eeded, u geery here re er hgs
h shud e eugh suessuy ud s l
rers
e's use he Velleman K8200 as an example once
more. Here we have a reasonably large 3 printer in
kit form measuring 600 x 450 x 600mm when fully
constructed, and coming in a single box with everything
you'll need to get up and running.
ln terms of the tools needed, you'll need the following:
set of snap ring p|iers.
set of !.5 to 6mm ||en keys.
6-22mm spanner kit.
so|dering iron.
P|enty of so|der (go for the |ead-free stuh).
Sma|| at -head screwdriver.
Wire stripper/cutter.
mu|timeter.
Ca||ipers (digita| he|ps, but the c|assic wi|| do
perfect|y we||).
1ape measure.
Sma|| ceramic screwdriver, at head wi|| do (not
abso|ute|y necessary, but very handy towards the
end of the bui|d).
sma|| |e .
Heat gun (or you cou|d make do with a hairdryer).
lthough the build process may difer from one printer
to the next, there's not that much diference in the
mechanics surrounding the movement of the various
axes and the extruder, so these tools should be enough.
WheI e leek 0uI ler
e can't walk you through the process of building
your 3 printer here, but what we can do is ofer some
advice at crucial points in the build process.
irst and foremost, make sure you read the
instructions before you start putting the printer
together or, at the very least, read a few steps ahead
to make sure you don't build yourself into a corner.
he old saying 'a picture is worth a thousand words' is
never more apt when you're trying to build something
as complex as a 3 printer and you're following a long
string of text.
lf it's possible, try to fnd some visual examples of
the steps from the printer kit manufacturer or via its
support pages. here are a number of times where
the terms of the parts can cause confusion, especially
if you're not familiar with the named components, so
Builing printer from kit
S7


'e boght,
there's a prett good chance o'll hae to t the set of
thermistors orself. 1he thermistor is an ineplicabl
small tpe of resistor that measres the temperatre
of both the etrder and the heated print bed. 1he
Velleman K8200 reqires o to solder the thermistor
beteen to points on the printer bed - a step in the
bild process that's nbelieabl difclt if o're not
p to scratch ith or soldering skills. 1he best adice
e can ofer here is to se a set of teezers to hold
the thermistor and recrit someone else to carefll tin
the ends and solder it to the board. lf possible, se the
smallest head or tip aailable for or soldering iron,
and solder it ith the aid of a magnifing glass and
plent of light.
Haing a leel print bed can make the diference
beteen a sccessfl print and a series of rined and
epensie attempts at 3D printing. 1hankfll, ith a
DlY 3D printer, o're able to ne-tne the leelling of
the print bed, and in most cases the distance beteen
the print nozzle and the top of the print bed can be
as little as 0.25mm. 1he thmbscres nder the print
bed, as on the Velleman, can be altered to gie the bed
fractions of a millimetre tolerance, bt een then it's still
er difclt to hae a leel bed de to the design of
the bed itself.
Some sers hae reported haing great sccess ith a
mirror placed and taped in position on top of the print
bed itself, ofering a more leel area and a sbseqentl
better platform on hich the print jobs stick to.
6eed lutkl
Bilding a 3D printer from a kit is an etremel
rearding project, and it's qite fascinating getting to
kno the intricate parts of the printer and ho the all
come together and it nall orks.
WiIh e 0lI
prinIer, yeu
ten ne-Iune
suth espetIs es
Ihe prinI bed
levelling

h/CK|N UK
30 Pklkk

kk'5 M0k 0 I0k Pklkk kkk I0 llk5 k06k. kI kk6klk6 l kk0 5.

f y st y 3D t y t
stt t t wys y t t
t ts s
t t y wt 3D t
y ts t f y f
s t s t wtt
ss tty y 3D t
s y t y w s
ketking he 5elIwere
3D t s t sftw
t
f t s st t s f w
ss Bt wt 3D t s
s ts ty t t s t
ft w t w t s t sts
t t s tt t t
st t s t s t t t
t
t s t tt t ts
ft f ts st t t t s
y t t t stts
ftty s 3D t sftw wt
w y ts, t yss yt t t
stt t t t s f ts
tst t s xt
tt ws y t t t t
s w s w y t t stts f
y t t t f ts
st t t t
With Pepetier installed, you're able to load an
existing S1L fle, then slice the layers with the
included 'Slic3r' program. 1his takes the model and
converts it to C-code before sending it to the printer,
allowing you to manipulate the code. or example,
once a model is loaded into Slic3r and the C-code is
in the editor, take a look at the headers.
rom here we are able to set custom
temperatures for the nozzle and the
printer bed, we can control the extrusion rate of
the plastic, create a raft for the object to sit on (if
it doesn't already have one) and we can defne our
own fll density to produce a more economical or
better looking print.
Hacking our S0 printer
S9 S9
Hacking our S0 printer
nce ou've altered the C-code, ou
can then save and use it with other 3
printers or convert it back to another
format. lso, in Pepetier, ou're able to
directl alter our printer's hardware
parameters, from the extruder fow,
home points for each of the axes and
the temperatures of the bed and the
nozzle without having to go into the
C-code side of the model.
ln Pepetier, after ou've manipulated
the C-code ou can then re-save the
model back to S1L format from the
'Object Placement' tab in the main
program itself. You can then upload or
share our newl edited fle with the
wider 3 printing communit through
the likes of 1hingiverse.
ketking he kerdwere
Software hacking a 3 printer is one
thing, but the real core controls of a
3 printer are through the motors,
electronics and thermistors and so
on. Here ou can alter the printer in
such a wa that it,s so far removed
from its original form that ou could
be forgiven for thinking ou have an
entirel diferent make of printer.
MeIers
1he dimensional motors of a 3
printer - X, Y and Z - can be tweaked,
in most printers (especiall the lY
printer models) so that the current
fowing through the drivers connected
to the motors can be calibrated to
generate a little more voltage.
Cenerall speaking, the motors on
most 3 printers are set to 0.425V, but
to give them a little more grunt or to relieve an stifness in them,
ou can safel increase the voltage to at least 0.55V. You can also
increase the voltage on the extruder motor, which ma improve the
fow rate of the plastic through to the nozzle, but this is generall
unnecessar and can in some instances damage the printer.
efore ou hack the motor voltage, though, make sure that ou
can't achieve the same results simpl though greasing up the
various components that interact with the motors.
lmpreving he PrinIer 8ed
Hore often than not, it can be near impossible to get the printer
bed perfectl fat. 1o help resolve this and ultimatel hack the
printer to make it work better, take a mirror that's roughl the
same size as the printer bed and cover it with blue tape (Kapton
tape or PL1 tape), then fatten the tape, removing an air bubbles
and avoiding overlap.
1ape the mirror to the bed using masking tape and recalibrate
our printer so it's roughl 0.25mm from the tip of the nozzle to
the new height of the printer bed. 1his will now make the bed an
easier surface to adhere to.
lso, b adding a mirror that's larger than the base, ou could
increase the size of the area that ou print on. While this is quite
intriguing, it can lead to more work on our behalf, in that the
axes will need to be recalibrated, the motor cut-of will need
adjusting, and the software will need to be recalibrated to take
into account the new dimensions. Plus, there's the added fact
that the printer ma travel well beond its normal operating
parameters and get damaged in the process. So treat this one
with a bit of care.
sing a mirrcr tc
hack the printer
bed has been
met with much
success

v n 3 pnn m num l
n mn mn u
v lp mn n n n
j m l l n pn
ull lv 3 n pl pl
nn m v j
u ll lmn n n
n n pl n n
p mn lmn u 3
nnn n l 3 pnn m mkn v
n mnuun n mpun 3 nnn
ln nnn nl u
k n vll n
ull upp
kew lI Werks
mmn 3 nnn n vn l
vlun n 3 pnn lu n
n nn 3 pn n n
pn ukl 3 nnn ll mu un
v n m ul vl n n
pl nnn n n j n l
l nl n pnpl
n l nu
k u mpl ll nml
pp mnnl kn v
l u nl ln n p
ppn u k pp
30
mn un n n 3 m m
v n u n un m
vpn l p lk u
nu knn p mn u ll
ll un m lv k l n n
nkn j ull mnnl
p mn n p n
num plm mpl
n m p n
mn ul n m n
u 3 pnn j m
n pm nu ll n v n
mn p m n ll n
v ln vn up k u n u
6kk 30 56kkklk6 llll k 6kP lk k 30 Pklklk6 0ll0k?
WiIh e
tembineIien
el lesers end
temeres, teuld 30
stenning beteme
Ihe new musI-heve
Iethnelegy?

u o i il wh
h u hiv
Ah mho o D ig i
o u l o oj h
ig h li o h
ompyig ow owv
v h hiu h i limiio
om o h oj
mi uig h o x h
h u i ui o mov h oj
ou k om mulipl gl hi wy
h ow i l o omi h pu om
h vyig gl h poil il
ouly h oh limiio o hi w
hology h i o oj i immi hul
i h u D oly pl o ig
livly mll wih y g o uy
uully ou ix o igh u ih A h
oppoi o h l i h il i oo mll l
h mio) h gi hyll hv polm
wih ig oly
p mil lo polmi u
h l will p hough hm o h h om
k wo ough o poply h oj
youll l wih omhig uogil
viouly h wy m ou
h iu Fo xmpl mpoily
piig o ovig h oj whil ill
iig i hp will llowh l o
pik up i oou
kig h oj ow
io i ompo p will
llowyou o i omhig
h lg h h ol llow
WheI's kexI?
A wih lmo ll mo hology
h ll mh o pog m
h y h im you hi h x
gio o D i poly ig how
om v omwh o i h ifcult to say
with any confdence that X and Y products will be the
best available.
What's next in 3D scanning is likely to include multiple
lasers, combined with stereoscopic imaging and twin
camera viewpoints. 1he cameras themselves will no
doubt be of the 4K-resolution variety, and the lasers will
more than likely be able to food the environment with
data before and after the object is placed in front of
them to mathematically gauge its true depth.
WheI's kveileble kew
ln terms of what the public can buy now, the choice isn't
great, but what you do get are some interesting devices
that can further complment your 3D printer.
ot Digitizer
HakerBot's Digitizer is a step closer to the future
than you could ever imagine. lt consists of a
circular, turntable bed, a webcam and a couple of
lasers. 1he object rotates on the turntable and the
combined camera and lasers scan it in at resolutions
as small as 0.5mm, with surface depths as shallowas
0.5mm, and making up around 200,000 triangles for
each 3D object scanned.
1he object, nowrendered, can be saved as an S1L fle
and imported or loaded into 3D printer software ready
sing Ihe luel
30 hendheld
stenner, e
5unewer ten be
digiIised, reedy
Ie prinI
he luel 30
stenner is e
hendheld, nexI-
genereIien
stenner

o pining o loaded ino a

modelling package o fne-ning.
When canning objec ih
he igiie, hogh, o do hae o
make o epecaion ealiic. canning o hand
in going o come o paiclal ell, and i o
equire very fne detail and precision, then you may
be disappointed with what it can do. Also, to properly
render a real-world object into the digital
world, you'll need to take scanned images
froma reasonable number of angles, as
mentioned earlier, before you get the
object detail you're looking for.
Ambient light and the surfaces of the
object can also greatly afect the scanning
process, and refective or transparent surfaces will
fail to scan at all, resulting in a mess of data.
Nevertheless, for a consumer product, the
Digitizer is pretty amazing. lt lets you take a real-
world object, scan it and recreate it on your 3D
printer. Lxciting, right?

1he Fuel 3D is a handheld scanner that uses
stereoscopic imaging to capture a high-resolution 'Hesh'
of an object. 1he software and algorithms behind the
Fuel 3D then process the image to create a 3D scan
within seconds.
1he resolutions the Fuel 3D is capable of vary
depending on the distance from the object, but a
recorded resolution of just 0.25mm, based on an
object that was scanned numerous times, is certainly
something to be impressed with. Additionally, the Fuel
3D is able to output the fnished scan of the object to
the popular S1L fle format, and it does it in the true
colours of the subject.
As with the Digitizer, though, there are some
limitations. 1ransparent and refective objects
ofer their challenges, and objects with holes
or deep recesses may prove to be an issue as the
cameras can have difculty seeing into themand
resolving the 3D image. Also, an entire object may
require many shots fromall angles, and if it's particularly
complex, then there will need to be a third-party
software package available for the user to stitch the
images together correctly.
he Meker8eI
0igiIizer 30
stenner is
tepeble el seme
extellenI resulIs
WiIh iIs IurnIeble,
lesers end temere,
Ihe Meker8eI
0igiIizer is en
extellenI 30 stenner
Ie sIerI wiIh ~ elbeiI
e reIher expensive
ene

Cubify 3D Systems
Sense Scanner
he ene canne
fm Cubify 3D
ytem i anthe
handheld canne
that ue camea
and an P en t
tanfm the eal
wld int a digital
epeentatin
eady f pinting.
t ha a elutin
f 0.9mm with a
depth f !mm and
can can fm a
cle a 0.35mm
up t thee mete
away, but thee ae
pblem when canning malle bject.
Ftunately, the ene canne i a vey
ue-fiendly device, and it in't eally intended
f anything the than implitic canning f
peple' face lage inanimate bject.
Hweve, the technlgy i gwing at
an atnihing ate, vein 2.0 f the
ene canne may well impve n me
f it fible in the vey nea futue.
0ees lI Werk?
de 3D canning wk? Ye, but it
ha limit. Fitly, it' expenive, and what
yu get a a eult may nt neceaily be
wth the initial ct. he Digitize de
an decent jb f canning bject, but i it
gd enugh t jutify E!,000? ecndly,
the limitatin f hme 3D pinting and
canning can mean the eult end up
being a little
diappinting.
On the plu ide,
thugh, thee ae
me vey pactical
ue t 3D canning
in it peent fm
- eplacement
pat f a bken
bject, f example,
me atitic
intepetatin f
eal-wld bject.
3D canning
admittedly ha a
lng way t g
befe it' f value
and wk with
evey bject yu
can put in fnt f it, but the ptential f
applicatin i incedible, and thee' little
dubt that the technlgy being ld nw will
be eveely ut f date thi time next yea.
F the time being, thugh, thee'
plenty f enjyment t be had fm 3D
canning, and pvided yu teat it a
intended, yu'll n dubt fnd a ue f
it. t' niche at the mment, but a the
pen-uce cmmunity gw aund
the ceatin f 3D peipheal, pinting
and canning, the demand will inceae.
3D canning i facinating,
and althugh yu might nt
be able t ceate a pefect
cpy f yu pein
ight nw, jut imagine
what will be achievable in
the next decade.
k single
sten reveels
seme el Ihe
pelygens end
deIeils.
While ve
pregressive
stens will
reveel e leI
mere deIeil
he 5ense
5tenner is
ene el Ihe
rsI hendheld
stenners reedy
Ie buy ler Ihe
heme user

t pnt conm 3D pint ha

two choic o matial with which to pint
L (polylactic aci) an S (acylonitil
btain tyn). 1h a om oth
matial yo can ch a polycabonat ()
high nity polythyln (HDL) polyphnyllon
(SU) an nylon bt tho matial a gnally
conn to mo intial an nich poc ath
than hom .
1h two main thmoplatic L an S ont
otn gt to play togth an mo otn than not
th two cant b tck togth. With a littl patinc
an om cl ign wok thogh it' poibl to
both L an S an pt th two togth o a
ingl 3D pint mol.
kelIing
On o th bt way to combin matial i to a
L at with S o th actal
pint ign. 1hi way yo can
tn own th tmpat o
th hat pint b o la it
aon 0 an in mot ca
th S will tick to th L at
pctly n.
1h a a copl o
aantag to thi th t
bing that th L at mak o a btt ac o
th S an pnt any nncay cling at th
ba. 1h con i that th L at ont ha to
b oly thick to bgin with omthing lik 0.mm
i otn mo than nogh o a ccl at. n
bca L ha a low mlting tmpat than
S with a p-hat b yo can a L at
mltipl tim bo it bcom nconomical.
How ing S a a at int paticlaly goo.
lt ha a naty habit o cling an waping which can
kitt away on th pint b whn yo' pinting
on th top o it an yoll n to kp th b hot
nogh thoghot th pint job to kp th S
at in plac. ln th n it bcom a mo xpni
xci whn ing S a a at ath than L.
5IrutIurel lmprevemenIs
1h a al aantag to ing two matial
togth whn biling a mol which
hlp impo th tct o th
ign. 1h popti o both L an
S can b combin to mak a btt
mol than i yo w jt ing a
ingl matial.
S with it tngth mil fexibility
and the fact that it can be machined
after printing, is an ideal material for
U'|N U|I||||
Mkklkl5
5lk6 MllPl Mkklkl5 0llk5 k kkk6 0l kl0 P055l8llll5 kk06k klk 60ll6l Pk0Pkl5
A FIA rol|
is be||er lor
prin|ing A5 on
S
Uing multiple material
intrloking pis. 1h high mlting tmpratur also
mans that S is grat or parts that ar gnrally
xpos to intns sunlight or xssiv hat (rgular
us in a ar is a goo xampl hr).
With a rop o aton, its also possil to wl two
S parts togthr, aus S oms solul
in ontat with aton. n thanks to this t,
its also possil to smooth th as an gs with
aton to rat a glassy nish to S parts.
PL, ing a littl mor rigi than S ut also
apal o nr tail an with a lowr mlting point,
an us or making parts that rquir a slightly
ttr nish. lso, y printing multipl layrs with PL
an inrasing th fow, your al to improv th
strngth o a PL part. ut rmmr that PL is quit
rittl an is likly to snap i its us as a part whr
an intronnting S part is ing fx.
1hr ar a numr o ways th two matrials an
omin to orm a ttr mol, ut th main on is
th printing o stions that will intrlok. Printing a
working hing, or xampl, rquirs oth fxiility
an strngth an is ntirly possil with lvr us
o oth S an PL. S is also an ial matrial
or us in a pin joint, u its strngthn proprtis,
so you oul hav two PL parts, with an intrloking
S pin joint to omin th two.
8ritk leying
small numr o 3 printing nthusiasts insist that
layring signs with oth PL an S rats a
muh ttr print ojt, on that not only looks
goo ut also has som antasti proprtis to it.
1h thory is simpl on papr sign your ojt,
start with a PL rat, thn swap th PL or S an
print o th rst hal ozn or so layrs. 1hn, or
th matrial ools too muh, a a oupl o layrs
o PL, thn swap ak again to S - lik uiling a
wall, with S riks an PL mnt.
1hy laim that th PL ons th S ttr to
th sign o th mol, maks it strongr (i th
mol is hollow out, or xampl) an improvs its
omprssiv proprtis. 1h mol is also sai to last
longr than a singl matrial xampl in nvironmnts
whr prolms suh as warping woul normally our.
Howvr, using this pross o rik laying is
xtrmly tim onsuming, an unlss you hav
popl to ln you a han, its almost impossil to
swap th matrials or th prvious layr ools
too muh. Plus thrs th a ifulty o altring
th tmpratur at swap-out points, so a Y printr
is us on ths oasions an on that is most likly
'hak to prorm a rtain uty.
MllPl 30 Pklklk6 lk
k6lkklk6
lthough avan nginring
prosss ar usually onn to
th sign an nginring gurus
o soity, thr has sin n an
inras in popularity thanks to th
growth o 3 printing in th hom.
Jaguar Lan Povr, or xampl,
is using morn an xprimntal
multipl matrial 3 printing
thniqus to prototyp th nxt
gnration o air vnts.
1h arospa inustry is also
kn on multipl-matrial printing.
irus is prototyping a titanium-
powr-as aitiv layr or
manuaturing larg-sal an
omplx onstrutions.
Whats happning in th
manuaturing inustry is likly
to trikl own to th hom usr
vntually, so its worth kping an
y on th latst vlopmnts.
This A5
ossembly wi|h
FIA cen|re
[oin| uses |he
proper|ies ol
bo|h ovoiloble
mo|eriols

r spnn som m prnn ou vrous

mols r rom lks o 1nvrs or
y rn your own you m ry o
mov on o mor nr sns n you
n r mulpl prs wll onn or o
orm wol mol
1 pross sn oo fcult, but it does require some
skill with 3D modelling software, plus a fair amount of
patience et's assume you already have the necessary
knowledge of how to use your chosen 3D modelling
program, and you know how to create various faces,
polygons and so on For your frst multi-part model, it's
probably best to come up with a simple idea
keep lI 5imple
s with most aspects of home 3D printing, you'll probably
have to rely on good old-fashioned trial and error
You can use whichever modelling program you're
comfortable with, but we'll use the free online tool
3D1in for an example here
1o make your frst multi-part model, start
by creating a simple '1' shape, followed by an
interlocking 'U' shape ake sure it's only a few blocks
in size to keep the potential for problems to an absolute
minimum Next, add another slot and interlocking '1'
shape from the opposite direction, so the centre part
is in the shape of an 'H' and there are two '1' shapes
interlocking into the slots
CK|/I|N U|I|
I0 6kk Mkk M0k 60MPlI M00l5 8I Pklklk6
kk0 k55M8llk6 MllPl Pkk5
lthough this may seem extremely simplistic, it's a good
way to start fguring out how pieces should ft together
- especially helpful if you fnd it difcult to visualise the
end result When printed, the parts should ft together
relatively easily
Meving 0n
With a successful multiple part print-out on the two-
dimensional plane, you can now move on and design a
series of parts that can interlock in three dimensions
Start of with a simple cube shape - 7x7, for example
- as a single layer, and cut out a plus sign in the centre
1hen cut out a single block from the middle of the four
faces Now build up the layers of the shape until it's 7x7x7,
and make sure you fll in any gaps that may appear in the
shape when drawing out the inner sections
With the main part complete, create four parts that have
a single block that will interlock with the slots on the faces,
and a single 'plus' shape block that will interlock
with the centre of the main shape

he snap-tc
pegs can be
brittIe when
printing with
PL
-part moels
67 67
|/KI 9||'
Creating multi-part moels
No yoll p on n or
mn nr p or or nrlokn pr
n nl 'plus' shpe tht will slot into the middle of
the min setion of the model.
lf you wnt, you n now sve the design s n S1L
fle nd import it into your preferred 3D printer softwre
redy for printing. fter the prts hve een printed,
you should e le to slide them into ple resonle
esily (er in mind tht the print my hve reted
some rough edges tht need smoothing of for the prts
of the model to ft together properly).
Plein 5eiling
Designing your own 3D models is inredily stisfying,
ut it lso tkes time. lf you wnt to print something
little more quikly, try heking out n online 3D model
wesite nd see if you n downlod fle for the thing
you wnt to mke. For exmple, the model sil ot
reted y Stt!3 t 1hingiverse, whih onsists of two
prts: the ot itself nd n ompnying sil.
ht mkes this design so good is its pure simpliity
nd the ft it's very quik to print of - it should tke
just over 30 minutes on most 3D printers. One printed,
the se of the sil should ft snugly into the hole
reted towrds the ow of the ot.
1his design my very well e simple, ut it's good
exmple of using multiple prts to rete n ojet
tht's oth useful nd ppeling. 1he esy peg nd hole
design is the key to this model's suess nd n e
used in vriety of diferent irumstnes to gently fx
one model prt to nother with the minimum of efort
involved on the prt of the designer nd the
3D printer user.
Meving p k 6eer
Hoving on to something little more omplex
thn the simple peg in the hole design, you
n try printing set of ellipse gers. Serh
for 'printle rosslink ellipse gers' on
1hingiverse to fnd this model, whih onsists
of four seprte prts tht snp together nd
move with the help of ouple of gers.
1he ovl-shped rosslinks re designed
with snp-to peg on eh end, whih in turn
snp into the holes provided on the gers,
one set either side. 1he result is ner perfet
mesh of the gers, whih turn nd move the
rosslinks.
1his is design is interesting in numer of
wys. First, it shows of the ility to design
nd print working set of gers tht n
interlok nd turn without ny difulty.
Seondly, it uses the snp-to peg design,
whih llows model prt to ft seurely in
ple with the other prts, without it slipping
of during use. nd fnlly,
it lso shows just how
intrite nd omplex
your design n e nd
tht it's entirely possile
for home 3D printer to
produe it.
he mn
prts cf the
5tarship
nterprise
mcdeI

1h oupl
o poin oh noing
h hough i ou
inn o u hm
in ou ign 1h
i h lhough
np-o pg
g o kping
mol p in
pl h o
n o ui
il on
pin ou n
onl lhough
om D molling
pkg llo ou o uo- g h n
ngining n omul h ill nu ou g
ill ok pl im o i oh king ou
im n luling h pih num o h n o on
8eldly 6eing
1h mol o h hip npi
1hingi u i!4 is a good example of using
multiple parts that are simply glued together to form
a whole.
1his design comes in ten parts and, once printed, it
can be glued together much like the old irfx model
kits. While this isn't anywhere near as complex as a
gear assembly or
even connecting
joints or slots, it
does go to show
that multiple
printed parts
don't necessarily
have to contain
any advanced
engineering
know-how or
intricate interlocking sections. 1his is a fne example of
fxing model parts together to create a whole design.
s long as the design is created frst, as a whole, you
can then slice it up using one of the arsenal of tools
available in most 3D modelling packages, keeping in
mind the limitations of the 3D printer.
1here's some sanding and fling needed to get the
printed sections to marry together correctly ready
for gluing, and the small size of the model makes it
slightly harder to piece together, but with a little work
everything should ft together nicely and the results can
be impressive.
hings e eke lnIe 6ensidereIien
1he examples here show how simple or complex creating
multiple part models can be. However, there are a few
things we need to take into consideration when we're
designing a model with connecting parts.
HKL SUPL l1 l1S
1he frst consideration goes without saying but it's one
that's easily overlooked, especially if you're designing
many parts individually, and you lose yourself in the
three-dimensional perspective. You have to make sure
that all the parts you're creating will actually ft together
as a whole. So before you commit the design to the
by
creating a
very simpIe
muIti-part
mcdeI
Using basic
bIccks tc make
a design heIps
ycu visuaIise
the varicus
parts
7he saiI bcat
design is a
simpIe muIti-
part mcdeI
Creatin multi-part moels
69
inter, take a moment to doble-check the dimensions
of each part, and make sre that a sqare peg isn't
tring to ft into a rond hole.
CN l1 L HDL LSlLP?
While it ma be er professional to create a doe-tail
joint in a 3D model, then print it ot and atch as it all
slides together, consider if the same efect cold hae
been achieed in a more simplistic form.
lnstead of a joint, cold the pieces hae been gled
together? Cold the be fed in place ith a peg or a
snap-to peg? Pemember that as ell as considering the
secrit of the connecting parts, o also hae think abot
the amont of material sed and the time it takes to print.
lso, ill the design print correctl or ill it print ith an
obios eakened area here the joint sits?
WH1 H1LPlL WlLL L USLD?
PL and S are the to main thermoplastics sed
in consmer 3D printers, and both hae diferent
properties. PL, for eample, demonstrates mch less
arping and crling than S, hich is hand if o're
printing ot gears and sharp corners and o ant
dimensionall accrate parts. lso, PL is generall
more rigid and brittle than S, the feibilit of hich
makes it an ecellent material for interlocking parts and
peg connecting pieces.
While it's almost impossible to accont for eer
eentalit, bear in mind the limitations of each
material and tr to ork or model arond them as
mch as possible.
HOW HUCH WlLL l1 COS1?
1ake a moment to plan ot roghl ho mch o think
or mlti-part design ill cost to print. While it ma be a
fantastic design, if it simpl costs far too mch in terms of
the time taken to print and the amont of material sed,
then nless o hae a desperate need for it, it's hardl
going to be orth the epense of printing.
1PY l1 OU1 LFOPL DVLP1lSlNC l1
1his goes ithot saing reall, bt it's far too common
an problem. lf o'e designed a model for 3D printing,
and o'e ploaded it to one of the free 3D printer
resorce sites, then please make sre the fnal design
can actall print before o hit the 'pload' btton.
1here are far too man designs online that haen't
been tested b the designer on an actal 3D printer.
Cranted, not eerone has access to a 3D printer, bt it
doesn't take mch to ask the commnit if the'd like to
gie it a tr and proide feedback.

Creating and designing mlti-part models is a fantastic
se of or skills and it pshes the limits of 3D printing
technolog ell. mlti-part design can be as simple
as a peg ftting into a hole or as comple as joints,
gears and cogs. s long as it orks, the onl limit is
or imagination.
esign
ycur mcdeI
reaIisticaIIy,
and keep it
as simpIe as
pcssibIe

kemeving he 5upperI
is is probably too obvious to even mention, but it's part of fnishing a
printed model. Depending on how your object is structured, you might have
had to add some supporting parts to it while it was being printed.
Once the model has fnished printing, though, it ought to be able to
support itself, so you'll want to remove those supporting bits. Cenerally,
you'll be able to do that by hand, either the supports will just snap of when
you pull them or you'll be able to cut them of with a knife. Please be careful
while you're doing that, though, and make sure your models are securely
held down while you're working on them. lt's not worth losing a fnger over
5meeIhing keugh dges
Once the support material has been removed, you'll probably want to
smooth away any evidence it was ever there and clean up the outside
of your model. nd smoothing the outside of your models is probably
something you'll want to think about anyway. Depending on the size and
level of detail, the exterior of a print might seem a bit rough, and you may
well be able to see the layers the printer used in making it. 1hat's cool to
look at, but if you want to give your models a more professional look, you'll
need to smooth them over a bit.
One way to do that is with sandpaper. lt's a little labour intensive, but
with some fne grain sandpaper, you can smooth away many of the rougher
edges of your models and achieve a cleaner, tidier fnish. lf you wipe the
model of as you work, you'll see how the surface is improving. lf you
||N|'h|N
/ |K|NI
l5 86k5 k Pklkk'5 00k
l5 Pkk 005k' Mkk I0k
M00l l5 k655kkllI llkl5k0
|rj ||e |c J r|r| c|jec|: | |cne |: |r||||r|,
|a| ||e |r|:| cr r|r| |:r'| |w{: e\c||{
w|| {ca're |cc\|rj |cr. Hc:| |cne r|r|er: cr
cr|{ r|r| |r cre cc|car | ||ne - cr n{|e
|wc! - |a| || {ca're n\|rj ieccr||re ||en,
{ca n|j|| wr| ncre cc|car: ||r |||. ri
w|||e icne:||c J r|r|er: re c||er|rj ||j|er
re:c|a||cr: || ||e ||ne, ||e :ar|ce c| |r|:|ei
r| cr |c{ n|j|| rc| |e : :ncc|| : {ca'i
a|||n|e|{ ||\e.
\c erer w|er {car r|r|er |: |r|:|ei, {ca
n|j|| :|||| |re :cne wcr\ |c ic |c n\e {car
c|jec| : :ncc||, :||r{ cr ie|||ei : {ca wr|.
I|ere re |ew i|||erer| |ec|r|ae: {ca'|| wr|
|c |re a {car :|eere |cr |r|:||rj r|r|:, :cne
c| w||c| re ||| ncre |ii|{ ||r c||er:.
71
inishin a print
eel oe no making enogh oge,
aing ih a coae andae and
oking don o a ne gain gadall
Anohe mehod o ceaing a moohe
D ined ace e aceone lll onl
ok i oe ing AB laic in o D
ine, becae LA in olble in aceone,
b i o ok in AB, o can bhing
aceone oe he ace o o model o
een dnking i ino an aceone bah o ceae
a moohe nih Again, be cael, becae
beahing in me om hee chemical in good o
o, and o alo don an o diole o model
comleel, b i o ok lol and in a ell-enilaed
aea, o hold be able o e aceone o imoe he
look o o model
6ive lI 5eme 6eleur
D ining lamen come in a lo o dieen colo
noada, b i doen come in ee colo o migh
an o e, and o can e man colo a once hen
oe ining, o i o an a mli-coloed model, i
migh be ime o beak o he ain
Aclic ain can be ed diecl on boh AB and
LA, o nd o neae ca o model ho and ock
o can alo ge ime o ceae a bee ace o
aining ono, and i oe meiclo abo i, o migh
nd ing ime and ain hel make he ace o o
model look idie ana, een i o didn ge i eecl
mooh ih o andae o aceone he ain hold
make o model look moe ineeing eihe a
l i hine oe ae, a ell a o inead o colo,
o cold alo add a coa o anih o o model ha
migh alo hel oec i om he elemen, o alhogh
i an ea e, i migh be oh doing
leining Pietes
coe, i oible he in oe made in
nihed becae i onl a o a lage objec hee
ae lo o a o migh join o a o anohe
objec, ome o hich ae e obio o cold
dill a hole in i and ce i o omehing ele o o
migh hae ined i ih hole alead in lace o
ha oe) or you could use glue to stick pieces
together. Super-glue should be strong enough for most
purposes and will bond together separate 3D printed
pieces quite well, you could also use a hot glue gun.
1here are some other ways you can fx 3D-printed
pieces together too. lf you're using ABS, you can use
the material's tendency to melt slightly in contact with
solvents to stick two or more pieces together, a plastic
welder like Same Stuf, brushed onto the pieces you
want to join together, will melt the surface of the print
slightly, then bond them together. lf you're using PLA,
which melts at a lower temperature than ABS, you can
use a heat gun to melt a bit of flament and efectively
weld two pieces together using flament. 1hat method
is particularly useful if the two pieces you want to join
together don't ft perfectly, since the extra flament can
be used to fll in the gaps.
Sound like a lot of hard work? ln a couple of years'
time, we'll probably have fnishing machines to go
along with our 3D printers - machines that can create
vapour baths or sand blast our models to give them
the perfect fnish. For now, though, you'll just have
to put in a bit of extra efort to make your prints look
extra special.

6heesing k 5iIe
he ft thing yoll ant to do
i pick a ebite to hae yo
deign thogh. o cold
jt pload them to yo on
peonal ebite, of coe,
bt the adience i likely to be
limited thee, and only omeone
eaching pecifcally fo the
object yoe deigned old
fnd it by chance. lt bet to join
an online 3D model epoitoy,
like hingiee.
hingiee i HakeBot online 3D pinting
commnity, and thee ae thoand of e adding
nedeign eey day. hingiee ofe a fe
difeent ay fo e to boe model, and it alo
allo inteaction beteen e. So if yo pload
yo deign, yo can ee homany people hae
donloaded it o liked it, and people can alo leae
comment o ak yo etion abot the object. And
they can een pload thei on photo of thei pint of
yo deign, hich yo might fnd atifying to ee
hingiee i pobably the bigget and mot ell-
etablihed ite fo haing 3D pintable model, o if
yoe going to dip a toe in the
online 3D pinting commnity,
it a billiant place to tat. lt
imple to e and fee to ign
p. o jt need to egite
fo an accont by poiding
a fedetail abot yoelf,
then yo can tat ploading
yo deign. hat petty
taightfoad too. Click on
Ceate, then pload A hing,
and then yo jt need to
follothe diection to add yo deign. Do take the
time to ite a fll deciption of hat yo thing i, if
yo can itll make it eaie fo people to fnd it
Spend ome time on the ite and yoll ee people can
fnd yo deign in to difeent ay: eithe thogh
eaching fo omething pecifc o jt by boing.
hingiee alo feate paticlaly impeie,
eleant o popla deign on it font page, o yo
might fnd yo deign pominently diplayed to
eeyone ho iit
Althogh hingiee i a good place to tat, if it
not fo yo fo one eaon o anothe, thee ae plenty
of othe choice. o cold ty Atodek 23D, CADyo,
Wkk 0 5kkk I0k 30 Pklkk8l M00l5 Wlk k W0kl0?
| e e ji |j ||e ie:, |j| :|e e: || e | ja:| {car |r|eri: ri |n||{. ri :|rce
J| r|r||rj |: |eccne :c ca|r |r ||e n\er ccnnar||{, ||ere re |c|: c| |ce: {ca cr ic e\c||{ |||. I|e ca||are c| J| r|r||rj |eri: |c |e
cre c| :|r|rj ri cc|||cr||rj, ri |er|{ c| J| r|r||rj :||e: |re :rarj a cr||re. I|ere': w|c|e ccnnar||{ ca| ||ere ja:| w|||rj |cr {ca |c
:|re {car ie:|jr: w||| ||en.
'h/K|N UK 9||'
0kllk

ini o
o n nm o oh
i o n
hih i n ommni
i o h oh
h inpi o o
mh h
Meking Meney
o
goo moing o migh
oning i h o n mk
mon om o ign ppi h
n i om i i
o po o f n h pi
o oh o n ono
hm i i on h i n
m i oi ih h
ompn pin o on
h o on o hm o h i
ik hingi o ign p n hn
poing o mo h n
n ino n o n o
on pi o o mo o
on n of that money, Cubify
takes the rest.
What's good, though, is that you don't
just have to sell the fles outright, you
can also sell the physical objects, which
will be printed and shipped by Cubify.
1hat means your potential
market isn't limited to just
people with 3D printers at
home, people who want to
buy 3D printed objects can
buy them too. nd there
are other sites that ofer
similar services. Shapeways
and Sculpteo both ofer
similar services: you sign up
and create your own online 3D printing
shop, uploading your designs to the site
and letting customers buy the physical
products, which are printed by the 3D
printing bureau you've picked. oth sites
let you set your own prices: they take the
basic price of printing the object, add on
any relevant taxes and fees, and then you
set your mark-up on top of that.
lthough it might seem like you're
not making a massive proft that way, it
does mean you can run a shop without
ever having to worry about inventory or
shipping. ll you ever have to do is design
the products and let the money roll in,
which is pretty cool Whichever site you
choose, be sure to check out what other
people on the site are doing. You never
know, you might even fnd yourself making
new friends.
WheI keI e 5here
When you sign up for a 3D printing site and prepare
to share your designs, you'll usually be presented with
a set of rules for things you can and can't upload. 1he
rules are generally just common sense, but here are the
guidelines you'll generally be expected to adhere to:
C| p|od or o dsigs
You wouldn't want someone downloading your
designs and passing them of as their own, so don't
do it to them. Only upload things you've created or
substantially modifed, and give credit where it's due.
Wch o or coprighd mri|
lt's not a good idea to upload things that violate
other people's copyright, for obvious reasons Some
companies have issued takedown orders over things
that just looked a bit like the things they sold, including
fan-made merchandise, so do be careful about that.

You'll have heard about the controversy over 3D
printed guns, but it's not a good idea to make to
try to distribute any kind of weapon, really. Stick to
nicer things
a
s
a
p
p
l
b
a
s
n
d
e
s
t
w
c
p
k
n

Ih| |||I/I|N'
| J9 |K|NI|N
/I h|
60k5Mk 30 Pklkk5 kk 6kk, 8 kI 00k'
Mk6k P 0 lk05klkl M00l5.
|e | | |cne |re e ecn|rj c |ie| |||e | je
ner || \|ri c| ec|e r |e| |ri |r|rj, ||c
reei|rj c |re |je ncr c| ncre c reei|rj |je ncr
c| e||| \rc|eije || c're |cc\ei | :cne c| ||e |||rj: ||j
|a:|re::e: re ||e |c c||ere w||| ||e|r J| r|r|er:, {ca n|j|| |re
re||:ei {ca cr'| a||e je| ||e :ne re:a||: w||| icne:||c r|r|er.
J| r|r|er: re ||| ||\e |ri|||cr| r|r|er: |r ||| re:ec|. I|e i|||ererce
|e|weer ||e ||cri||e J| r|r|er: nie |cr ||e ccr:aner nr\e| ri
||e rc|e::|cr| J| r|r|er: nie |cr |ria:|r|| a:e |: ||\e ||e i|||ererce
|e|weer {car |r\je| r|r|er ri ||e r|r||rj re::e: a:ei |c r|r|
rew:er:. \car ie:\|c |:cr n|j|| |e er|ec||{ |re |cr r|r||rj ca|
||e iccaner|: {ca reei |c a:e |cr wcr\ cr er:cr| arc:e:, |a| ||
wca|ir'| cce w||| c|arr|rj ca| |ew ||ca:ri er: erer{ i{.
I|ere re |ew \e{ re: w|ere icne:||c r|r|er: ri |ria:|r|| r|r|er:
i|||er. |e|': :ee |cw ||e{ :|c\ a.

5ize
st s r t sr
rtr str s t sz. Prtrs
t t s s r ry s
t st s, str rtrs
t yr r t st.
y sr rt ss szs
rts t ry str rtrs r t
st t sz r t t sz s r
r. S t tt systs t r
tr rs s t s rts y st r
r rs t t. Lsr str rtrs
rs s t t t rt s s
t sr sss tr t rt rt.
r sz s t rr r t,
sr rtrs t st t r E000
str rtrs r t st t ts tt.
sz r str rtrs s t s
t ss t yst srs t ty t t
t r s rss rsts.
PrinI keseluIien
tr r r str rtrs r
sty s rt rst. H rtrs t t t
rt rsts t 00 00 rs
s't t t s tt t rt yrs
ry s t s ts.
Prss rtrs r
rst rts t tt. sts rs
r't s rtrs rt
yrs st s rs t. t tt
rst t s ts r r r
ss s r y t t
t s st s t rts.
lstr rtrs s t t t rt
r rty rt rsts t
rtrs. r r rts r s tt 't t
rty st str ts rt t r
rsts t t r y. y t
t str t rtrs r t
r r. O rtr y t t t
s rt r st s r

t t rtr r t ts t t t str
rtrs tt's r ss y.
Osy t st st s 3
rtr 't t trt tr ts
r s r tt, ty'r t r
ss rt tr . t str rtrs r
r stry s ty'r t s
rs r s ss.
MeIeriels
t t t 3 rtrs s t
rt t ry ty s t
rt trs S r PL r t y'r
y. lstr rtrs t rtrs t
ty t s SLS r SL rtrs r s
s t tr t tr ts.
t s tr r r r trs tt
rt rs ts sts rs
sr tys yr tr. lstr rtrs
t s t rt s t t
rt t trs t .
L t t ts str rtrs t
y t s t t s s tt t
3 rt stry s stty t str
t ttr rtrs t r rs. Or t
t yrs y t trs str rtrs
ry strt t tr
r r rtrs t st sr s

77
Real world uses for S printing

U'|' |K J9 |K|NI|N
Real-world uses for S printing
77
I| r|a||aj |: |e|aj a:ei |a na{ i|||erea|
|aia:|r|e: - {ea n|j|| |e :arr|:ei | |ew...

5hine k lighI
Lt's look at som xampls, to illustrat
just how quick and fcint 3 printing
can b at turning concpts into rality.
coupl of yars ago, !2!2-Studio was
askd to crat custom lighting dsigns
for an upcoming U2 tour. 1h band wantd
to crat an LL vido scrn on th
roofs of th vnus thy wr playing in.
1h dsign involvd light-up pods bing
installd into th vnus' cilings, and th
whol thing incorporatd ovr a thousand
custom pics. 1h dsignrs wr givn
four wks to fgur out how it should
work and thn dlivr th parts. lt sounds
lik a nightmar brif. ut !2!2-Studio
ownd a Stratasys imnsion printr,
which mant it could gt straight to work
on producing prototyp parts.
Within thr days, aftr svral
itrations, it had a prototyp that
workd. lt was approvd and
wnt into production
th following day.
Using traditional
mthods, th dsign
frm would probably still
hav bn waiting for its frst machind
prototyp to arriv by thn. s it was,
!2!2-Studio got a follow-up commission
fromono, asking it to produc a custom
LL microphon h could suspnd from
th ciling and swing on. 1hat was an vn
mor complicatd brif than th original
on, but again th 3 printr savd th
day and allowd th company to dlivr an
incrdibl-looking stag prop.
6reeIing 6ers
On industry that's rally mbracd
3 printing is th automotiv industry.
1h ability to crat rapid prototyps is
invaluabl, and car manufacturrs including
Lamborghini, Ford, Jaguar Land Povr,
Hyundai, and HW hav usd 3 printing
tchniqus in ordr to dvlop and tst
nw parts for thir cars. 1his isn't a rcnt
dvlopmnt ithr. Whil 3 printrs hav
only rcntly startd to b mad afordabl
nough for consumr us, industrial
printrs hav bn around for yars, and
manufacturrs lik Ford hav bcom
xprts in using thm to slic wks or
vn months of thir dvlopmnt tims.
86k5 30 Pklklk6 l5 50 M6k 0l6kk kkk kk0ll0kkl Mkklk6klk6
Mk005, l 6kk klP k66lkk k5kk6k kk0 0l0PMk.
|e|cre r{ c|jec| je|: n:: rciacei, | |e:| cre rc|c|{e reei: |c |e nie. W|||ca| rc|c|{e, ||': |ri
|c \rcw w|e||er rew rciac| cr |nrcrei ie:|jr w||| wcr\ |r ||e re| wcr|i. W|e||er we're ||\|rj |ca|
rew \|ri c| erc|re w|rj cr rew :|e c| cc| |rjer, rc|c|{e: re r e::er||| r| c| ||e ie:|jr
rcce::. I{|c||{ crier|rj cre-c|| rc|c|{e |: a||e e\er:|re ri re||{ ||ne-ccr:an|rj |cc. |{ ||e
rer{ ie|r|||cr c| rc|c|{e, ||ere': rc e\|:||rj nca|i |c wcr\ |rcn, ri n\|rj r{|||rj cre | ||ne |:
jerer||{ ncre e\er:|re ||r n\|rj || |r |a|\.
cwerer, w||| J| r|r|er:, ||| w|c|e rcce:: cr |e :ei a ri nie c|eer. |{ |r|rj J| r|r|er
|r-|ca:e, ccnr|e: cr ccne a w||| rew |ie: ri ie:|jr:, r|r| rc|c|{e w||||r n||er c| |car: ri,
|| :cne|||rj': rc| r|j||, n\e ||e rece::r{ ija:|ner|: ri r|r| rc||er cre ||| wcr\: |e||er. kri rc||er
cre ||er |||, || rece::r{. kri rc||er cre, ||er |||. |r ||e ||ne || wca|i a:a||{ |\e |cr cre rc|c|{e |c
|e nie ri ie||rerei, c|er||| rciac| ie:|jr cr jc ||rcaj| :erer| ||er||cr: |{ a:|rj J| r|r|er.
ownd a Stratasys im
which mant it could g
on producing prototyp
Within thr days, af
itrations, it had
workd. l
wn
th
Us
m
frm
g
79
PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPrrrrrrrrrrrrttttttttttttttttttttyyyyyypppppiiiiinnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggg
77777999999
futu in which you coul pint nw g tick o io
fci t hom. n if you gg coul pint nw
wincn wip o wing mio to t you c mning
you only h to wit hou th thn wk to gt thing
x tht woul b billint wouln't it
lreedem e xperimenI
cu of th wy pinting wok by builing
up ly upon ly of mtil to fom th ncy
hp it might lo opn up compltly nw wy
of thinking bout mnufctuing. ign i igl
pouc pototyp of concpt c tht coul b
ntily built ini pint n coul
b ponli to mt cutom'
pciction. h c i built fom th
ini out o tht th out pt built
oun th inn woking.
h pint c pototyp w
lop igl' thi pojct whil
h w tuying fo g in hicl
ign t th oyl ollg of t o it'
not omthing tht' likly to pop up in
c howoom n you ny tim oon
but it i fcinting i nonthl.
o ngin b t th ch ly chnicl
nt in ichign fo xmpl u nomou inutil
pint to pint pototyp pt incluing bk oto
n cylin h in fction of th tim it' tk to
gt thm m by ny oth mtho. t might not oun
y glmoou but bing bl to lop n impo
on th ntil componnt of c i obiouly ptty
impotnt if you' c mnufctu.
h p with which nw i cn b tt lo
mn ngin omtim gt to xpimnt n n
ply littl bit. n o ngin lop nw
kin of g tick on tht poi hptic fbck to
th i to lt thm know th bt tim to chng
g) uing pint knob n
th ini of n box
contoll. t oun
littl o now but if in th futu w'
ll iing c tht ibt to tll u to
i mo cintly wll w'll h
pinting to thnk fo tht lopmnt.
n o clly bli pinting
will oon bcom n mo wip
thn it ly i bcu it ckon tht
in th futu it cutom might b bl
to pint thi own plcmnt c
pt. ow myb you won't b pinting
you own bk cbl t hom ny
tim oon but it' not h to imgin
'''`
' ''
'' ' '`
' `''`
' ''''
'''
'''' '
'''`
79
Prttyping

pt car that might make it onto the roads in the
near future, though, is the Urbee. Designed as a clean, eco-
friendly alternative to traditional cars, the Urbee is a small,
sleek, three-wheeled vehicle that's made up of around 40
3D-printed parts. y using fewer parts, Kor Lcologic, the
company behind the Urbee, reckons it's found a way to
make the car both stronger and lighter. 1he lighter the car,
the less fuel it needs, the fewer joins there are, the fewer
potential points of failure.
lt's a smart idea and an incredibly bold design. 1he
Urbee is small, low to the ground, with smoothed-of
rounded edges, and it looks more like a UFO than a car,
but the design makes it more aerodynamic, which again
reduces the amount of fuel it needs to use.
1he Urbee has gone through several rounds of
prototyping, and it's currently on its second major
iteration. nd although 3D printing is much quicker than
many other types of manufacturing, the entire car still
takes around 2,500 hours to print. 1o put that fgure into
context, it's a little under !5 weeks, if the printers were
running nonstop and consecutively. ut 3D printing is less
wasteful than other manufacturing methods too, which
just adds to Urbee's green credentials.
PrinIing PrinIers
lthough we could cite many more examples of
3D printing being used as a prototyping tool in the
automotive industry, let's move beyond cars now. One
company you might not expect to be involved in the 3D
printing revolution is Xerox. 1he company name is pretty
much synonymous with printers of the ink
on paper variety, but it's also a company
that's embraced 3D printing for product
development.
Ofce printers tend not to be well-
loved objects. 1hey're complicated, noisy
and prone to jamming or otherwise
malfunctioning. 1hat's because they have
a lot of moving parts, and need to be able
to move very small objects - thin sheets
of paper - very precisely through those
moving parts. Lach part needs to be carefully designed
and tested to ensure that it can carry out its task properly,
so you can probably guess where 3D printing comes in.
Xerox has a team of engineers working with a 3D printer
in its UK ofces, in Welwyn Carden City. 1he team there
work with the team based in 1oronto to print out parts
overnight. y the time the designers in Canada have
woken up for work, a part they designed the previous
afternoon can have been printed and tested by engineers
working in the UK - which again is a much quicker
turnaround than they would have been facing using more
traditional machining methods.
s a result, Xerox has been able to cut the time it takes to
get a newly designed product onto the market. nd if you
thinklikeaproduct designer or abigcorporation, that means
it can also potentially get the jump on its competition, as
products that takethemmonths andmonths todevelopand
test can already be on their way to stores following several
3D printed prototypes.
6elleine 8uzz
Finally, how about a more domestic example? Nestle's
Nespresso cofee machines have become a common sight
in our kitchens thanks to their ability to quickly and easily
turn out a perfect cafeine hit. From a consumer point
of view, they're pretty simple: you pop in a pod and out
comes cofee. ut the way those machines work is the
result of hours and hours of dedicated testing time.
Until around 2003, Nestle had to outsource the
production of its prototype parts and wait for weeks to
actually try out new designs. y the
time the fnished prototypes turned up,
its engineers had often already come
up with new ideas or ways to improve a
design to get better results, but in order
to test those ideas they'd have to wait
even longer. lt must have been incredibly
frustrating, and the hold-ups meant it
would take a long time for any kind of
innovation to actually make it into a
customer's hands.

weve, yu ca gue hw thi ty ed te
eeig a 3 ite detated at a tade hw, the
head ete eeach ad deveet tea decided
it wa tie the iveted i a achie that wud et
it egiee duce thei w ttye i-hue
uddey, the wee waitig aud t ee hw a ew
idea ight w i actice evaated ee had
a idea a way t ate ay at a ee achie,
they cud deig it, ed it t the ite ad ee it i
acti i a atte hu ecaue the ite ue
atic, a ehy ited, edeiged hade ht ate
cud be teted ut a ea achie t
Meking lI Werk
ay thee cae, 3 itig ight t be
aiate ducig ihed bjects to be sold

to the public. 3 printer might be able to turn out a

prototype much more quickly that older methods, but
it's not always going to be a match for mass production
- after all, making vast quantities of a product is a very
diferent proposition to just creating one to try it out.
Nevertheless, by cutting the length of time needed to
develop and test a product, 3 printing can massively
speed up the time it takes for a company to launch new
products. nd as more companies get on board with
the technology, anyone who doesn't have a 3 printer in
their ofce might start to fnd themselves falling behind.
Over the next decade, 3 printers are set to become even
more vital to the product development cycle than they
are now, and it's likely that every industry will fnd a way
to make the technology work for them.

You can pick the pen up and create objects just as

easily as you would paint something or draw something,"
explains Daniel Cowen, one of the founders of 3Doodler.
t's got a lot of similarities to traditional 3D printers, and
it uses many of the same parts, but it's free of software,
free of expensive hardware and free of the complex
machinery that's otherwise required in a 3D printer."
t frst glance, the 3Doodler looks like a fairly chunky
pen. You load sticks of plastic (either S or P, the
3Doodler works with both) into the end, then start it up.
1he 3Doodler melts the plastic and the nib is an extruder.
s you draw, the plastic is pushed out of the end, it quickly
sets hard, so you can make three-dimensional objects by
drawing upwards as well as drawing on a fat surface. nd
just like a traditional 3D printer, you can use the 3Doodler to
build up layer upon layer of plastic to create solid physical
objects. t sounds like magic, like an object that could only
exist in fantasy, but it's very much real.
1he idea for the 3Doodler came from a mistake. Cowen's
co-founders, Peter Dilworth and ax ogue, had set up
a toy company, WobbleWorks, in 20!0. 1hey were using
a 3D printer to create prototypes for their toys, so they
could more easily pitch them to clients. One day, Dilworth
noticed that their 3D printer had made a mistake partway
through creating a toy and found himself wanting to grab
hold of the printer's extruder to correct it. 1hat was the
'eureka' moment," Cowen says. 1he notion that you could
disassemble the 3D printer, pick up the extruder head, and
do the work yourself. fter that, one thing led to another,
and the most obvious form for something like that was a
pen." Pather than using a 3D printer to make toys, suddenly
WobbleWorks realised that the 3D printer was the toy.

0 5 k 30 Pklkk, I0 k0 0 kk0W I0k WkI
kk0k0 50M 6k0 50lWkk. kl5 30 Pklklk6
Pk Mkk5 k lkkklk6 6k k l0 k5lk 0
6lkM8k P.
rer ||e || |ew er, erer| ccnr|e |re |arc|ei J r|r|er |||
c||n |c |e |n|er ri e|er |c ae ||r rer|ca |rcrr||cr. H\er|c|'
|e||c|cr ri J \|en' Ca|e r|r|er re ja| |wc e\n|e c| cce|||e,
||cri||e r|r|er ||| |re |e|ei ||e |ec|rc|cj |ri || w |r|c ||e
|cne c| J r|r||rj |c|||| ri er||a||. |a| erer ||e |n|e| J
r|r|er rea|re ||e aer |c a| |r ||| c| ||ne ri e||cr| |err|rj |cw |c ae
||. I|e Jcci|er, cr ||e c||er |ri, n|j|| |e ||e |r| jera|re| |n|e J
r|r|er - || ca cr ae er, ca cr |jare ca| |cw |c ae ||e Jcci|er.


1 tt t at a 3D t a t a
u t t t vc t uct t cay
t u a Kctat ct 1 ta u a wa
$30,000, but by the time the deadline had passed, more
than $2.3 million had been pledged. lf WobbleWorks
wasn't sure about the viability of it product beforehand, it
was now. nd now it had 30,000 orders to fulfl.
1he company grew rapidly, and soon the 3Doodler was
in production. y February, those 30,000 Kickstarter
backers will have received their 3Doodler, and
WobbleWorks is already taking pre-orders for the next
batch, with plans to get the pen stocked in electronics and
toy shops all over the world by mid-20!4. y the time it
hits stores, though, it'll already be the highest selling 3D
printing device on the market - which is a pretty awesome
boast to be able to make.
Cowen reckons that's because the 3Doodler is so
accessible. 1he 3D printing community is mostly
male-dominated, but our audience is about 50/50
male/female," he says, nd it spans age ranges from
!6-year-olds to retirees. Suddenly, there will be people
of diferent ages and genders who have access to a
technology that gets them familiar with 3D creation and
with the materials involved. You can use S or PL with
our pen, and people are going to start discussing which
plastic they prefer. 1hat's an introduction to 3D printing,
and l wouldn't be surprised if people graduate from a
3Doodler to a 3D printer."
1hat's the thing: the 3Doodler is similar to a 3D
printer, but it isn't really the same as one. We see it as a
complementary tool," Cowen says. lt's a ramp up to 3D
printing, a way of introducing people to something that
sounds like a very complicated and potentially confusing
technology in a gentle, easy way that'll make them more
confdent about moving on to bigger and better devices.
1he price doesn't hurt either. While even the cheapest
3D printers on the market cost around E700, the 3Doodler
retails at $99 (approx. E60) - and that includes 50 strands
of plastic to use in it. lt's a much smaller investment to
make, which means people who might not be entirely sure
that they need a 3D printer in their lives right now might
be willing to pick up a 3Doodler as a toy.
Cowen and co have big plans for the future of the
3Doodler. 1hey're building a community site for it, where
users can go to discuss what they've created, and they're
also going to ofer free downloadable stencils, so even
people who aren't great at drawing or don't have the
architectural skills to fgure out how to build a model in
three dimensions can learn to make impressive models
using the pen.
lt's one of those items that has to be seen to be
believed," Cowen says. You can see an image of it and it
won't make sense, you can see a video of it doing what it
does, and a lot of people will respond with 'is that real?'
When you see it being demonstrated in a store, that's
when things change." Once the 3Doodler hits stores, it's
going to fnd its way onto a lot of people's wishlists.

hU'|' /N9
h|'
8ritk 8y 8ritk
g ytes, a project by msterdam-based architect
rian Peters, reckons the future of house-building might
involve 3-printed bricks. Peters adapted a desktop 3
printer by adding a new extruder head to it and then
used the printer to create ceramic bricks. 1he material
he used was a kind of liquid earthenware mixture, often
used in mould making, and the 3 printer he used was
able to turn out a brick in approximately !5 minutes.
Peters experimented with a few diferent brick
designs, including x-shaped bricks and interlocking
bricks, but the most striking are probably the
honeycomb shaped bricks. 1he 3 printer made these
elaborately curved bricks so that they're modular and
stackable. Once built into a structure, they're strong
and resilient, and their shape allows them to be built
into a variety of diferent forms, depending on the
needs of the project (much like, er, bricks, then.)
ased purely on speed and cost, uilding ytes
aren't an obvious improvement over traditional
oblong bricks. ut what makes these bricks
potentially useful is that they can be made on
location. Pather than having to transport tons of
bricks to the building site, construction workers might
lkk6I lllk6 lk k 30 Pklk0 k05? k lk 0l
kk6kl6k Ml6k 8 Mk0 0k Pklkk5.
|| ||ere': r{ rc|e::|cr ||| cr c|r|ca:|{ |ere|| |rcn ||e |||||{ |c |arr ca|
||ree-i|ner:|cr| ncie|: |r ||e :ce c| cca|e c| |car:, ||': rc|||ec|are.
krc|||ec|: reei |c |||r\ |ca| ||e w{ ||e|r ie:|jr: cr |e ccr:|rac|ei,
|rc|ai|rj |cw:acr| w||| wcr\, :c Ck| :c||wre |: |rei{ r| c| ||e|r
r:er|. W|er ||e{'re ||c||rj |c c|er||| rewc||er|:, rc|||ec|: c||er a:e
:c|e ncie|: c| ||e|r |ie:, :c erer{cre cr :ee w|| ||e |r|:|ei c|jec| |:
jc|rj |c |cc\ ||\e, :c ||': rc :arr|:e ||| nr{ rc|||ec|are |rn: |re |rei{
wcr\ei ca| ||| a:|rj J| r|r|er |: jcci w{ |c |arr ca| :|rac|ar||{ :cari
ncie|: |c iencr:|r|e ||e|r r|:|cr:.
cwerer, ||e a:e |cr J| r|r||rj |r rc|||ec|are jce: |ar||er ||r ja:|
n\|rj ncie|:. |rer ||e nc:| |nre::|re ri ie|||ei :c|e ncie|: |cc\
|||||e |ne w|er ccnrei w||| :cne c| ||e w{: rc|||ec|: ri |a||ier: |re
|cari |c a:e J| r|r||rj |ec|r|ae: |r ||e ccr:|rac||cr c| c|a| |a||i|rj:.

Ile
|eri:teje
het:e


hv gs of ry rmis mixtur n
row of 3 printrs hurning out riks to
us s n whn thyr n
1h othr vntg is sthti ry
1h riks n sign in ny shp
th rhitt wnts n print to orr
1hy ont n to uniform ithr,
uiing ou onstrut of hunrs
of ifrnty shp riks tht
tsst to rt nish smss
strutur with ompty uniu
rikwork pttrn
1h nxt phs of th uiing
yts projt wi s trs n o
xprimnting with ifrnt kins of
mtri to n uiing mtris tht
r oth pproprit for onstrution
n for 3 printing Conrt n mnt
r possiiitis n it might vn
possi to n nw kins of mtri
tht wou so work or whih wou
mor suit to rtin imts or
ifrnt uiing irumstns
he lirsI 30 PrinIed keuse
nothr mstrm-s projt this on y US rhitts is
urrnty working on onstruting th wors rst ntiry 3-print
hous ot ontnt with printing iniviu riks or othr mnts
US rhitts hs vop gignti 3 printr tht sits on
th si of n in mstrm n hurns out pis tht wi
vntuy form who n hous
C th mrkr k Poomuir th 3 printr is
hous insi six-mtr-high mt ontinr nsi thrs 3
printr tht's simir to th sktop Utimkr printr just muh
muh iggr Using mixtur of psti n woo rs th printr
is uiing normous pis tht wi rst form th outr ws of th
hous thn th iings intrn ws oors n oors vntuy
vn th furnitur n ortiv mnts of th hous wi
print too 1h pis wi ok togthr n thn h in p
y st s to giv th uiing strutur intgrity
US rhitts strt work on th projt t th ginning of 20!2
n is ogging h nw vopmnt on its wsit 1h pn is
tht on th rst room is nish it us s kin of shows
for 3 printing n th pui wi to om n s wht its
out thr pns for th mrkr inu xpning th
kins of mtris it n us so tht vntuy it might to us
ry psti n turn unwnt junk into nw struturs
gin t th momnt its sow going n prtty xpnsiv ut if
th mrkrs rst hous is suss th ssons US rhitts

kew kinds 0l 8uildings
anjaa ijssenaars f Uniersal Archiecre has been rking
ih rbicis nric Dini n a ne a f cnsrcing elabrae,
imrbable srcres sing a massie D riner. Dini deeled he
D-Shae D riner in . l's erhas he rld's bigges D riner,
hich mies sand ih a binding mire rin massie rck
sclres. er he las fe ears, Dini has been rking n sing he
D-Shae rin arifcial cral reefs, hich migh be insalled in he
seabed ride hmes fr fsh. Wrking ih ijssenaars, hgh,
he migh als be bilding hses fr hmans.
ijssenaars had an idea fr a ne kind f bilding in 9, when
Universal Architecture took part in a competition to design a new
structure in Belwell, lreland. Struck by the natural beauty of the
countryside, he decided to create something fowing, continuous,
Ile
|eri:teje
het:e
9t:
/rtli|et|:
has learned from this project will be
applicable to future projects, and it
might be possible to think about house-
building in a slightly diferent way - as
something that uses fewer resources,
as something that uses recycled
material and as something completely
customisable. What will the houses of
the future look like? Well, it turns out,
that's a very good question.
mes
S7
Houses an homes
S7
fcial
structure as much like the
landscape as possible.
What he came up with was
the Landscape House - a
construction based on the
mathematical model of the
Hbius strip. lt's a kind of
curved loop, twisted in the
middle, with no beginning or
end. 1he Landscape House
didn't win the competition,
but Puijssenaars didn't want
to let go of the idea. He'd
tried to build a scale model
of the building and found it
difcult until he used a 3D
printer. and when he met
Lnrico Dini, he decided 3D
printing might be the best
way to create the fnished
structure too.
1o create a structure of
the size of the Landscape
House with a 3D printer, you'd
either need a mind-blowingly
massive printer or you'd have
to print it in parts. While the
architects are looking for
a third way, it looks like if
the Landscape House ever
becomes a reality, it'll be
made in pieces and then
assembled on location.
Dini has big plans for
his D-Shape printer in
future, whether or not the
Landscape House gets built.
He reckons it could be used
to help colonise the moon,
using moon rock to sculpt
habitable structures in space.
Mere kew kinds 0l 8uildings
While the race to complete the world's
frst fully 3D-printed building continues
apace, more and more architects are
experimenting with diferent kinds of
3D printers and the diferent kinds of
structures that can be made on them.
Hichael Hansmeyer and enjamin
Dillenburger, both architects and
programmers, experimented with a
digitally generated and 3D printed
room. 1he Digital Crotesque project
used algorithms to create lavish
shapes designed and built entirely
by computers. 1he result was almost
alien, like a cathedral on Hars -
not the kind of thing you'd want
to move into immediately but
fascinating nonetheless.
Lqually alien and weird is the
Protohouse, created by Softkill Design.
Working with Haterialise, the architects
created a !:33 scale house made from
3D-printed fbrous pieces. 1he design
was supposed to move away from
the heavy, solid structures of most
buildings, towards something more
lightweight and organic.
Still, it's amazing to think that
everything we know about architecture
might become a thing of the past. New
techniques and new materials might
open up entirely new possibilities, and
maybe techniques could be formulated
that are more environmentally friendly
or better able to stand up to extreme
weather conditions or that make better
use of the space available to them.
8ring 5eme 30 PrinIing e Ieur keme
Come back down to earth for a moment, most of the architectural uses for 3D
printing are currently at the theoretical or prototype stage. lt'll be a while yet
before they become widely adopted, if they ever are. ut there are ways you can
use 3D printing in your own home or for your own projects. Using a consumer
3D printer to turn out a model of a new construction project isn't a bad idea, for
starters, whether it's a new extension you're planning or just a garden shed.
3D printer might come in handy in other ways if you're doing a bit of DlY too.
1here are all sorts of bits and pieces we take for granted in our homes - until they
break. 1hink about towel rails, curtain rings or toilet paper holders. ll of these
would be pretty simple to turn out on a 3D printer and fairly easy to model too.
lf you don't have a 3D printer, you could try an online printing service either to
print something you already have a model of or to buy something someone else
has designed. mong the toys, jewellery and other fun but useless stuf on sites
like 1hingiverse and Shapeways, you'll fnd hundreds homewares to print or order.
uying a new 3D-printed light switch or coat hook isn't quite the same as moving
into an entirely printed house, but it's a step in the right direction.
3D-printed furniture is another common product. Dirk Vander Kooij has created
a whole line of 3D-printed furniture, including the 'Lndless' chair, which is printed
in one piece, made from one single unbroken line, using recycled plastics. lt's
deceptively simple, and it says a lot about the possibilities of 3D printing.

Wlll k05Plkl5 0l k lk 60M 0lPP0 Wlk

30 Pklkk5?
e ||e |ie c| J r|r||rj rerc|a||cr|:|rj ||e nra|c|ar|rj |ria:|r |:
ec|||rj, ||': c::||| erer ncre ec|||rj |c ccr:|ier ||e irrce: ||| n|j||
|e nie |r nei|c|re ||r\: |c ||en. |rei, J r|r|er: re |e|rj a:ei |c
n\e ec| ncie|: c| ||er|:' |ci r|:, |r crier |c cre|e rc:||e||c: |||
|| cr n|c| ||en er|ec||, ri :cne re|cener| r|: cr |rei |e J
r|r|ei. a| ||ere re erer ncre n|rj |||rj: ||| J r|r|er: w||| |e ||e
|c ic |r |ewer:' ||ne.
rjrcrc, ||cr|r||rj ccnr |:ei |r \r |ejc, |: ier|:ei w: |c
r|r| :n|e: c| ||r|rj |anr ||::ae ||| |arc||cr |r ||e :ne w : ||e
wca|i |r ||e |ci. \erer| i|||erer| \|ri: c| ||r|rj ||::ae |re |eer rciacei
| 'r|r||rj' |ri|r|ia| ce||: |c cre|e ||r ne:|e:. I|e ce||: rerciace ri
|ej|r |c wcr\ |cje||er ja:| ||\e ||e wca|i || ||e'i jrcwr r|ar||.
\cne c| ||e i|||erer| \|ri: c| ||::ae ||| |re |eer :acce::|a|| cre|ei
re ||rer ||::ae, :ncc|| na:c|e ||::ae, ri eric||e||| ||::ae (||e \|ri c|
||::ae ||| ||re: ||e |r:|ie: c| ||cci re::e|:). |rer|a||, ||e:e \|ri: c|
r|r|ei ||::ae n|j|| |e r||||e |c |e |n|r|ei |r|c ||er|: |r reei. r ||e
ner||ne, || cr |e a:ei |r nei|c| re:erc|, ||\e iraj |r||:.
PrinIing 0rugs
Oe edca eseaces see e ses f es
Pfess Lee f e esy f Casg s
g a ay se es ceae dfee
yes f dg dead sg seg e dbbed
a 'chemputer', Cronin sees a future in which 3D printers
can work at a molecular level, putting together diferent
kinds of chemicals to build whatever kind of medicine
is needed at any given time. 1hat would make things
a lot simpler for pharmacies, which wouldn't need to
keep so many diferent drugs in stock, and it could also
be invaluable for hospitals in remote areas, which have
difculty in sourcing the things they need to keep their
local communities healthy.
Cronin even thinks it might be possible in future to
program a chemputer printer with information about an
individual patient's genes and have it print out the exact
kind of medicine they need. lt's the sort of prediction
that seems to belong in a science-fction world, where

yu n rr mutr uilt int

yur wll t mk yu th xt kin
t yu lik in th mrning ut
my thts th kin utur wr
wrking twrs
kepletemenI limbs
k in th rsnt 3 rinting is
inrsingly ing us t vl
rsthti lims r muts 3 rint
rsthtis n m t xt th tints
sitins n thy n ls m mr uikly
n hly h mtrils us my ls lightr r
strngr thn ths m y nvntinl mns whih
might mk ll th irn t hw usul thy r
t tints n thy n m mr sthtilly
lsing t
sk lnnvtins is Sn rnis-s mny
-un y n rthi surgn n n inustril
signr whih ims t mk rtiil lims mr
ling lt rts ruts ll irings whih
r vrs sign t t vr rsthti lgs us
rsthtis r gnrlly m t untinl rthr thn
utiul thy tn t irly lin n si, sk
lnnvtins wnt t mk vitims lim lss l mr
sitivly twrs thir rsthtis
h mny n ml irings s n th sh
th tints rmining lg t mk th lims mth
mr lsly unr lthing ut th min thing it s
is rt wnrully striking signs r th lims srs
n rsnlis thir wn irings hsing rm irnt
mtrils n ttrns ing thir wn iniviul
tuhs (lik th ttt ttrns r slting
mtlli r mss nish ning n
wht th wrr intns t with th
iring lik lying srts thy
n hs t ik mtril tht
st suits thir urss ut
ll thm r sign t
lightwight n stury
lthugh irings might
thught s smti rthr
thn mil sm smti

rurs rlly n mk mssiv

irn t th ulity li th
tint Lst yr n lrly nr
tint wh lst lrg rt his
t tumur h 3 rint
rsthti m t t him tr multil
rnstrutiv surgris il
h sign n rinting rss tk six
wks ut th nish rsthti min
with rint muth gur rstr muh th
tints ulity li ltting him t n rink nrmlly
gin n it ls gv him th nn t g thrugh
with wing h stn yrs g llwing his
surgry hts rlly rillint ut tht stry is tht th
il rsthti is th kin uimnt tht nly ns
t m n r n rsn ut it hs t mt vry
si ruirmnts n ths r xtly th tims
whn 3 rinting thnius shin
Meking Medels
Sking iniviuls n s nthr rnh
miin tht is lry mking us 3 rinting
thnlgy is rthntis rs silly rtinrs
n t t tints muth xtly n ntists nw
tn us 3 snning n rinting thnius t rt
rli mls tints muths n tth Hving
ml t wrk rm n rr t n invlul
whil in th utur it might ssil t 3 rint
wrl rs whih ul rl s n
whn nssry
ln th utur trs rly wnt vn n t hv
ny xtr silist knwlg in rr t us 3 rinting
in th urs thir wrk 3 Systms hs just lunh
lu srvi ll sk lling whih llws
usrs t miy n 3 rint ull ntmil mls s
n whn n h mlling stwr wrks with
mil vis n in w rwsrs n its xil
nugh t rt mls tht urtly rrsnt rl
tints lt might ls usul t mil stunts (r
nyn ls wh r whtvr rsn ns li-siz
ntmil ml
h utur miin thn will rsnlis n
ssily rint n mn mzing isnt it

lo e a no eperene prnn
eorean e soon re o a e ne
enolo ol e a oo a o reae ne ners
a ere o eaper an sroner an e oer
opons earn e nerne e ame aross an
en o a reae a prne roo an
msel an e o men ee o ollaorae
an ol srp as somen a asn
n m sope o eperse a e me an s eplans
e onae akero an e sa e poenal n e
ea so e onae o prners o s e reae m
s an en anoer aml n o ra onae s
san a er son a amno an snrome
an ol onser rn o elp em
s a r ee a an ase aros pes o
eormes n e ase o e aml o o n
o an s er son as mssn a an en
an an s orke oeer aan ollaoran a
emals an kpe o reae a ll nonal roo
an a ol e prne on er akero replaor
prners re eno e manae o reae a smaller
an or a l en e pose ao er
reaon on e nerne e ere nnae
smlar reess rom amles all oer e orl
Hoeer an s n an o rn s reaon no a
monespnner Han alrea soere a prose
s ere proel epense e ane o reae
an aessle aorale erson a people ol
make or emseles He pose e ooan esn
les o akeros nerse se ere e ol
e onloae or ree moe an reproe
anone o neee em ll an s as reen
nmeros reess or elp as people sanne er
ans an aske m o elp em reae a man
prose or em
e seer nmer o people o ere nerese n e
ea as oerelmn no leas or s poor oerorke
eplaor e open sore ea asn so a one
lke me as masspron ans an s sa ese
prners aren mae or a e mae 89 hands myself,
and then my printer packed up, but apparently there's
something like 35,000 others that have been made."

k080kkk0
k 0lI Pk0l6 Wlk k 30 Pklkk l0 0 k
Pk06kkMM kk'5 6kkk60 k ll5 0l P0Pl
kll 0k k W0kl0
||r\ c| || |e ||rj {ca ic w|| {ca |ri cr i||{ ||. 4cw
|nj|re |c|rj |e ae c| cre c| {ca |ri ri |cw n|re r |nc
| wca|i |re cr {ca |||e. |c nc c| a, |i |e e{ ier|rj,
erer || || we ic | wc\ |r r c||ce ere{ i{. |c ||c|i \r ,
cere |cn \ca| ||c, |c|rj |ca c| |e |rje cr || icn|rr
|ri |r w|rj cc|ier cca|i |re |eer i|e. a \r i|ir
j|re a. W|er |e |cari ca | c|e|c |rje wee |c| e\er|re
ri rc |ca||{ c|||cei, |e iec|iei | wr jcci ercaj|.
|rei c| e||rj, |e iec|iei c ie|jr || cwr c|e|c.
91 91




e tud - Robohnd
e e n 3D pnn pe ne
e n n e peple e e
e l pe ele epleen n n
un pun ln pn n en
e Pn n e ee $470 (about E290).
Lven if ou factor in buing a akerot printer into
the equation, the hole thing onl comes to a little
over a grand. When even that cost as too high for
some of the families ho got in touch ith Van s, he
created a donations button on the Pobohand ebsite,
so generous tpes could help bu a ne etremit
for people in need. an of the people Pobohand has
helped are children, some as oung as to ears old,
and the're scattered all over the globe, from ustralia
to the United States.
While the Pobohand doesn't have all the functionalit
of a bioelectric model, it does have a surprising
amount of grip strength - Van s once broke a glass
earing his. lt also has the added bonus of being
aterproof, so earers can sim or shoer ith it on
ithout an problem. 1he Pobohand is a fairl
simple device, but that's prett much the point. 1he
compleit of the design is simplit," Van s sas. With
3D printing, the a it las don laers, ou couldn't do
this an other a. lt's prett aesome."
1he Pobohand project is one of those things that
reall demonstrates ho useful and important modern
technolog can be. Without access to a consumer-
level 3D printer, ithout access to the internet, ithout
access to CD softare, it never could have come
about, and all those hundreds of people ould either be
saving up for a prosthetic hand or tring to fnd a a
to function ithout one.
When Van s had his accident in 20!!, he could never
have imagined it ould lead to something on this scale.
What started out just being something helping mself
became something that's global," he sas. People are
scanning their hands, sending me the moulds, and e're
printing those out to make Pobohands. lt's craz stuf.
t least !89 people are better of - it's good, eh?"

ithout an problem 1he Pobohand is a fairl

30 PrinIing ler 0inner

aural Hachines is a Barcelona-based start-up that's
working on a 3D food printer. 1he prototype, the
Foodini, is a type of 3D printer that's designed to be
used in domestic kitchens, to make eiher elaborate
food items. 1hose might be decorative, like intricately
piped chocolates, or more normal, like ravioli, either way,
the Foodini printer would take time-consuming food
preparation tasks out of the hands of the cook, leaving
them to get on with other things.
lt's a fairly practical idea, and Natural Hachines
emphasises the potential health benefts of the Foodini
printer: rather than buying processed food, users would
be able to print things like crackers or pasta at home, so
they'd know exactly what was going into their food. lt'd
mean even relatively unskilled or nervous cooks could
confdently make fresh food too. But obviously there's a
more frivolous side too, since the Foodini would also be
able to print elaborate patterns into the food it creates,
meaning novelty baked goods or geometrical tortillas
could become everyday foods.
Lssentially, the Foodini is a sophisticated piping
machine: using the same principle as an FDH 3D printer, it
extrudes ingredients into pre-programmed shapes. While
most 3D printers can only print in one material at a time,
the Foodini would be able to use ingredients from up to
six diferent capsules, which the user would fll themselves,
depending on what they wanted to make. Obviously, it's
not quite Star 1rek standard, since it can't just print out
anything the user asks for on a whim, and the cook still
has to prepare the dough or other materials to be printed,
but it's a step in the right direction.

60l0 5kk-kk-5Il l000 kPll6k0k5 860M k

kkllI lk k kkk lk?
| || ||e :c|erce-|c||cr |rrer||cr: |r || ||e :c|erce-|c||cr I\ :|cw:
erer, ||e cre ||| wca|i |e ||e nc:| a:e|a| |r car erer{i{ ||re: |: \|r
Ire\': re||c|cr. |e|rj ||e |c |e|| ccna|er |c n\e ca c| |e :cari:
||\e ||e ie|r|||cr c| |ec|rc a|c|. 4cw ||| J| r|r||rj |ec|rc|cj{ |:
|eccn|rj ncre w|ie|{ a:ei, :erer| ccnr|e: re wcr\|rj cr n\|rj
rer:|cr c| ||e re||c|cr re|||{.

Mere 6entepI PrinIers
e d s't te
y rttye fd
rter arud eter
Harce e, a researc
afate ad raduate fr te
Hassacusetts sttute f ecy, s
wrk a we st f dferet fd
rters s Dta cater crrates a caruse
f dferet sweets ad decrats ad wud et users
rt ersased treats dead t eve as a c
caber vved, s te eted ccate ardes
qucky ad s ready t eat ast edatey
s Dta abrcatr ccet s a bt re vved, abe
t rt ad ck ayers f redets tat ca be ed
refrerated casters attaced t te rter e
evss a rter tat ca x ts w redets ad
rt wt a eve f accuracy, s yur der cud
be reseted deft d s Virtuoso Hixer
concept has several rows of ingredients available, as well
as the ability to crush and mix ingredients, and precisely
weigh exactly how much of each ingredient is being
used. lf these concept machines ever become a reality,
HasterChef will never be the same again.
30 PrinIed 5weeIs
While we're waiting, though, there are
several companies making 3D-printed
food products that are available right now.
Choc Ldge, a company founded by Dr
Liang Hao from the University of Lxeter,
makes 3D-printed chocolate sculptures,
which can be ordered online. Chocolate
is a pretty good material to use in 3D
printers, because it has some of the
same characteristics as thermoplastics
like S and PL: it's solid at room
temperature but can be melted and
easily pushed into shape. lt's not quite
capable of achieving the same kind of
precision, but the obvious upside is
that chocolate is safe to eat and tasty.
Choc Ldge began as a research project for Hao, but
there was so much interest in the printer that he decided
to make it a commercial entity. 1he printer is available to
buy through the Choc Ldge website. lt costs E2,888 plus
V1, though, which is substantially more than your average
consumer-grade 3D printer. 1he more afordable option is
to order 3D-printed chocolates from Choc Ldge. You can
choose your own message or design and get 3D printed
chocolates delivered straight to your door.
nother sweet 3D-printed treat you can buy online is
3D-printed sugar. Yup, sugar. 1he Sugar Lab was set up by
Liz and Kyle von Hasseln. s graduate students living in a
tiny fat, they didn't have an oven capable of baking a cake
for their friend's birthday, so they decided to try to 3D
print one instead. 1he cake didn't quite work out, but they
did manage to print a sugar cake topper. lt went down so
well with their friends that they realised there might be
a market for elaborate sugar sculptures, and they got to
work refning their process. Using a mixture of water and
alcohol, 1he Sugar Lab binds together layer after layer of
granulated sugar to turn out amazing geometric shapes.
lthough the sugar sculptures look gorgeous, you
probably wouldn't want to eat them just as they are, but
1he Sugar Lab has begun experimenting with adding
favours to their prints. ln September 2!3,
the budding company was acquired by 3D
Systems, so the likelihood of commercially
available sugar printers looks assured. ln
the meantime, though, 1he Sugar Lab is
working on custom sugar sculptures for
its customers.
esIy PrinIs
1here are lots more types of food
that could potentially be 3D printed,
and lots of people are already working
on expanding the possibilities. NS, for
instance, has invested in a 3D pizza
printer that can make custom
pizza in space. Haybe we're not
as far from actual replicators as
we thought.

M
H
afliat
Hassachu
working on a
His Digital Choc
and

60l0 30 Pklklk6 kkkl0 k kkk 0 650M-ll0 6l0klk6?

'|:| |:||cr' |:r'| r :|r||cr| |ern. |': ccne |c ner c|e c|c|||rj, nra|c|arei
crer:e: |r |c|cr|e: w||| |crr|||e rea|||cr: |cr n|:|re||rj ||e|r ccr|{ |i en|c{ee:,
nie |c |e wcrr |ew ||ne: ri ||er ||rcwr w{, |c nca|ier |crerer |r |ri||| :||e:. a|
|| {ca cca|i |\e w{ ||e :we|:|c e|ener| ri re|||r\ ||e w{ we a:e ri i|:c:e c|
c|c|||rj, n{|e |:| |:||cr cca|i |c\ a :cne |e:: w|a| ccrrc|||cr:. ||er ||, w|| e|:e
wca|i {ca c|| ||e |ie ||| {ca cca|i rciace {car cwr J-r|r|ei :|ce:, ie:|jrei
e:ec|||{ |c || {car |ee|, w|||e {ca're :|ee|rj!

he idea of mass produced clothing
is a relatively recent one, in the grand
scheme of human history - it's pretty
much a 2th century phenomenon.
efore that, clothes were made
specifcally to ft the person who was
going to wear them, either by a tailor,
a maid or the wearers themselves.
lthough the kinds of materials that
can be 3D printed on consumer-grade
printers right now aren't necessarily
appropriate for making clothing, the
idea that clothes and accessories
might be made individually again in
the future isn't a completely ridiculous
one. Various designers have already
begun experimenting with 3D-printed
clothing, and although at the moment
these garments seem more at home
in high fashion shows than in high-
street shops, it might only be a matter
of time.
0n he 6eIwelk
One designer who's done a lot of
work with 3D-printed garments is lris
van Herpen. During the 2!3 Paris
Fashion Week, her show included a
3D-printed skirt and cape ensemble,
which had been produced by a
Stratasys Object Connex printer.
1he outft showed of the Connex
system's ability to print in multiple
materials, using both hard and soft
materials to create elaborate textures
and weird structures. From a distance,
it looks oddly alien, close up, it's even
more amazing. lt's not the kind of
thing you'd throw on to pop down to
the corner shop, but you could easily
imagine someone like Lady Caga
wearing it for a performance.
nother lris van Herpen piece that
was shown of as part of the same
collection - named 'Voltage' - was a
black dress designed in collaboration
with architect Julia Koerner. Printed
by Haterialise, the dress was a
delicate fligree made of 1PU-92, a
new 3D printing material known for its
elasticity and resilience. Despite the
dress's intricately printed lacy texture,
it was strong and durable. and, um,
a bit see-through. gain, it wasn't
exactly an everyday piece, but it was a
strikingly original and gorgeous item.
1he Voltage collection is far from
the only time van Herpen has worked
with 3D printing, she's good at
fnding ways to make the most of the
technology, creating wearable art. Her
creations are the kind of thing that
couldn't be created in any other way,
made from unexpected materials.
1he usual benefts of additive
manufacturing, like the lack of waste
and the ability to make products
quickly, economically and to measure,
are also obvious advantages, but by
bringing 3D printing to the catwalk,
van Herpen demonstrates how
beautiful it can be.
5hee 5hepping
s well as dresses and skirts, van
Herpen has also experimented with
3D-printed shoes. s part of her
'Wilderness Lmbodied' collection,
she has displayed !2 diferent pairs
of 3D-printed shoes. Working with
another architect, this time Pem D.
Koolhaas, van Herpen developed
shoes inspired by tree roots. Using
Stratasys's rigid opaque material
in black and white, Koolhaas and
van Herpen created shoes with
elaborately twisted lattices that wrap
themselves around the wearer's feet.
Developing the shoes so that the
models could actually walk in them
took several iterations, but being
able to 3D-print prototypes and test
them out meant the designers could
improve on their designs until they

''
`'
'`
' ''
'` ' `
\' ''
'/'

came p wih omehing hey wee
aied wih
lhogh he van Hepen hoe
look heavy, he maeial hey'e
pined in mean hey'e pobably a
lighe han yo aveage plaom
hoe nd he Svc hoe, ceaed
by Coninm Fahion, ae lighe
ill 1aking advanage o he ac ha
-pined nylon i pey eilien,
hee hoe ae made o naow
line, ping hei ce and he
weae' ee on diplay epie
looking delicae, hey'e acally
ong, and hei complex heel ae
capable o ppoing he weae'
weigh 1hey'e no a ncomoable
a hey look eihe, becae hey have
a leahe inole inide and a bbe
ole on he boom, o make hem
weaable in eveyday lie
1he Svc line encompae a
ew dieen deign and can be
comied o an individal come,
becae, a yo'd expec, each pai
i pined on demand 1he hoe
ell o 900 abo 0 a pai, o
hey'e no an imple pchae, b
hey'd deniely be a alking poin
Coninm ha alo expeimened
wih ohe elaboae and inicae
yle, phing a he limi o wha
can even be ecognied a a hoe, and
again, ha' a lea paly hank o
he popeie o -pined maeial
Pelke 0eI
nohe hing Coninm Fahion ha
expeimened wih i a -pined
bikini Yp, eally Sop imagining
ince Leia' ncomoable,
nbending gold bikini, hogh, he
N! bikini i ligh yea ahead o ha
l deign i made p o hnded
o conneced cicle, which allow
he -pined plaic o bend and
cve o he hape o he weae'
body 1hoe cicle give he bikini a
ikingly exed look, he deign
migh have come om neceiy, b
i alo look pey aweome
1he name N!' ee o he ype o
plaic i' made o, nylon !, which i
a olid, ong, exible maeial, and
i can be pined in exemely hin
laye and ill hold ogehe l' alo,
helplly o omehing being ed o
ceae wimwea, waepoo
l ond incedible, b he N!
bikini in' j a concep, an idea o
omehing ha cold happen one
day l' available now , a lea,
he op pa can be bogh hogh
Shapeway l come in o pa,
all o which ae pined and have
o be hooked ogehe, and i can be
made in a ange o dieen ba ize,
o women o vaying heigh l'
one o he mo aodable piece o
-pined clohing o dae, and i
bode on geni
kttesserise
1he ohe aodable way o wea a
piece o pining, i yo'e ae
omehing le eaonal o evealing,
i o by -pined acceoie
-pined eyewea i becoming
inceaingly common: each o
glae' on Shapeway and yo'll nd
pined glae ame in all o o
hape and ize ice a om
aond 0 abo , and hee
ae ally a ange o dieen colo
and maeial available
1aking comied glae one ep
he ae band like O Lyewear,
created by fashion designer Pon rad
to show of new and stylish ideas for
what glasses should look like, and
Protos Lyewear, a Kickstarted project
that ofers customers specially
made-to-measure 3-printed glasses
in the style of their choice. Host
of-the-rack glasses require a bit of
tweaking on the part of the optician
to get them to sit properly on the
wearer's face, because not everyone's
nose is the same shape, and not

ys s cly ll,
u g l g glsss
scclly d yu c s
s
uly d
ccssy s c gdg
cs Usully, ls s, s css
P Pd, u y'
ls ll ds
s d ls ks
ss, cus gdg css ly
sl ss, ly sll d d
gd l lsc ll
ls k sul
g s sc
1 ds s
y lck cy dsgs
ll, ug uck scll
ug gs d gs css
ll ys Cuy
ls l gc ss,
uky d uul s, d
ls d ls dy cs
culu ll y
df clus d sly
sl cs, yu P lly
s cus kd
5hiny hings
1 lly udds
df ccsss c
d, kygs slc
dcs, u sc sc s ld,
ls ju sdys df
cgy l Jlly s
cly d , sclly
y d dsgs d
ucu d s ls
sck, d d jlly
k ll ly d
scus ls lk z,
slss sl d sl d gld
ld ckl cly ll
g ss d
jlly s ls s sls
cuss dlly
cd jlly, sc s s
k djuss sz dd
ddcs sl dls
l dl s k
s cgs , sy, gld g
d C, dsg d
clgy cy udd y
dsg J Ky, slls g
d jlly ss
f cls clgy
1 ls c gc
ss d y dls uld
d c y y,
cully cs s s
ll g sd
sucu cs, l,
c d g szs
lss E9.
PrinI kI keme
Kyttanen seems to think the days
of buying physical objects in stores
or even online might be numbered,
though. Working with 3 Systems,
he created four diferent styles of
3-printed
shoe that can
be downloaded
and printed at home. 1he
models are available for free
and can be printed in a range
of diferent sizes. t reportedly
takes between six and seven
hours to print each shoe, so it would
be possible to print a pair of shoes
overnight and wear them the next day
- or two days later, at any rate.
omestic 3 printers aren't
common enough yet that
3-printable accessories and clothes
are likely to become everyday objects
any time soon, but it's not hard to
squint and see those kinds of things
just over the horizon. What does
seem unlikely is that many designers
will want to follow Kyttanen's
example in ofering their models for
free. Hany 3 printing sites already
ofer downloadable print fles for a
fee, and that seems like a much more
likely model, since designers will still
need to get paid for their work.
Still, it's exciting to think we might
be able to modify and make our own
products at home without needing to
go to the shops or wait for a delivery.
1he only problem would be making
sure you had enough 3 printing
materials on hand to fnish printing
whatever it is you needed. or that,
then, we're still going to need shops.

kkl5 0l kll 0l56lPllk5 kk 5kklk6

0 kk k0kkk6 0l 30-Pklk0
lkk0kl0k5.
r ||e wcr|i c| :cr|:, r{ \|ri c| irr|je n|j|| ner
||e i|||ererce |e|weer w|rr|rj ri |c:|rj. ||': w|{ ||ere':
n::|re |ria:|r{ iei|c|ei |c :e|||rj i|||erer| \|ri: c| |r|rer:,
i|||erer| \|ri: c| :w|nn|rj cc:|ane: ri i|||erer| \|ri: c|
:cr||rj ea|ner|. |rer{ nra|c|arer wr|: |c |e ||e
|c |c:| c| :cr|: cce::cr|e: ||| re ||j||er, |e||er ||||rj,
ncre erci{rn|c cr c||erw|:e |e||er ||r ||e ccne||||cr.
I|e |||||{ |c a|c\|{ cre|e rc|c|{e: ri |e:| ca| rew w{:
c| ic|rj |||rj: |: c|r|ca:|{ r|a||e - : |: ||e |||||{ |c
n\e |||rj: ie:|jrei e:ec|||{ |cr |ri|r|ia| ca:|cner:. ||
:|ca|ir'| ccne : :arr|:e, ||er, ||| |c|: c| i|||erer| :cr|:
nra|c|arer: re |arr|rj |c J| r|r||rj |c je| r eije.

8eIIer 5hees
n nn ill ll h h imn ing
h igh kin f in n mn h ifn n
inning n iking n in h g f
h h inl nning n n
g ml f hfl ining i in ling
i h ik ln fll l
h h ign ing in n
n lmi in ik ign nl ihl
Jhnn gi n h infmin ign h
h f hi h ing n in h l
n h ihin m f h
ik in h nl f mnf ing
ining in h ing ih i h
l m h hnlg
ing in h mn h
f hniin n
l h iin f h
n h mn m iin f
ign il f h
fnished product ships.
t the moment, these companies
are onl using 3 printers to help in
the design process, but in the future,
it might be possible for even the
average Sunda runner to get shoes
printed to ft their feet eactl.
knd 8eIIer 5hees ler kerses
lt's not just humans ho can beneft from 3 printed
shoes either. Scientists at the Commonealth Scientifc
and lndustrial Pesearch Organisation (CSlPO) have created
custom-made shoes for a race horse using a 3 printer.
Using 3 modelling softare and a handheld scanner,
the researchers created a digital model of a horse's hooves
and then designed titanium horseshoes to ft. Horse shoes
are commonl made from aluminium no, but these
netitanium shoes ere far lighter. Pemoving that etra
eight meant the horse as free to run faster, and, ith
an luck, in more races.
Horse shoes are obviousl far simpler than running
shoes for people, but even so, it's prett impressive to
kno that the hole process of creating 3 printed
horseshoes takes less than 24 hours, from scanning the
horse's hooves to printing out four brand ne shoes.
lt's not cheap enough that the horse racing industr ill
immediatel get on board, though (the titanium shoes
cost around $600 to make), but it's et another case that
proves there's almost no area of life or business here 3
printing can't help.
6eI k 6rip
Lnough about shoes. 1he Universit of 1sukuba, hich
does a lot of research and development into sports
equipment, has developed a method of 3 printing
fencing hilts. 1raditionall, the hilts of fencing sords
ere customised b fencers b
hand. Lach competitor ould fle
the hilt of their sord until it ft
perfectl in their hand. 1hat as a
time-consuming task and a prett
unrearding one too, because if a
sord broke in a match, the hole
process ould have to begin again
ith a nehilt.
Pesearchers at the universit
realised there as a better a,
though. 1he scanned the hilts of
the sords the fencers ere using
and created digital models of them.
1hen, using an etremel high-resolution 3 printer, the
reproduced the hilts to order.
kll 5hepes knd 5izes
1here are man more eamples of 3 printing being used
in sportsear too, from specialist simming goggles being
to titanium biccles made to order. Sportsear, even more
than normal everda clothes, needs to be ell ftting,
and despite the best eforts of mass production methods,
humans still come in a ide range of shapes and sizes.
1hanks to 3 printing, it looks like e're ell on the a
to not onl developing better and more efcient sports
equipment, but also more personalised sports equipment.
Poll on the net Olmpic Cames.

'|/C|
/N9
|||hI
'|/C|
/N9
|||hI
30 Pklklk6 l5 M0k kkk
PkPkk0 l0k kk-0ll.
re rer'| nr{ |ria:|r|e: w|ere je|||rj
erer{|||rj r|j|| |: a||e : |ncr|r| : || |:
|r erc|re |a||i|rj - ||caj| rcc\e| :c|erce
n|j|| |e cre c| ||en. W|e||er ||': |re cr
:cecr||, ||caj|, ||': r||||{ |ncr|r| ||| erer{
:|rj|e r| |: || |cr arc:e, : we|| ie:|jrei :
c::|||e ri er|ec||{ nra|c|arei. I|ere re
nr{ e\c||rj :|riri: ||| r{ |rcr|| na:|
nee| |e|cre || cr |ere ||e jrcari, :c || :een:
cr|{ :er:|||e ||| ||e ||j|| |ria:|r|e: |re |eer
a:|rj J| r|r||rj |c n\e rc|c|{e r|: |cr {er:
rcw. ri : J| r|r||rj ne||ci: ri n|er||:
|nrcre, ||': |rcre:|rj|{ |e|rj a:ei |c rciace
||e |r|:|ei r|: |cc.

Bigh
101
PrinIing ler Plenes

99s. We're not
just talking about FH printing here, oeing has also
worked with stereolithograph (SL), selective laser
sintering (SLS), laminated object manufacturing (LOH)
and electron beam melting (LH).
1here are advantages and disadvantages to each of
these forms of 3 printing, but the one thing the have
in common is that because the're additive methods,
the can cut down on the amount of waste produced
b more traditional methods. nd the're prett quick,
compared with machining parts using other methods,
so the allow for quick turnarounds of prototpe parts.
1hat's the main thing oeing uses 3 printing for,
producing prototpes of various parts that can then
be tested before the parts go into production. lt's
not alwas possible to use 3 printed parts in the
construction of actual planes at the moment either
because the materials haven't been tested enough or
haven't proven suitable or because the fnish on the
print isn't completel up to scratch.
However, oeing's engineers are working on solving
those issues. lread, more than 3 parts used in its
planes are 3 printed - the just tend to be internal
plastic parts rather than more obvious metal or carbon
elements. For instance, the F/-!8 Super Hornet fghter
plane has 3 printed environmental control ducts,
and the 787 reamliner jet also has ventilation and air
conditioning ducts that were made using 3 printing
processes. 1hose might seem like minor parts, but
the're prett important to the safet and comfort of
the planes' passengers.
nd the're not entirel simple parts either, previousl,
those kinds of parts had to be made of several diferent
pieces that were assembled before being installed, but
3 printers can construct complex structures one laer
at a time, so the can now be produced whole, which
cuts down on construction costs and labour time and
also makes the pieces more structurall sound.
oeing has big plans for using 3 printing in its
planes in the future too. 1echniques are alread being
developed that might allow aeroplane wings to be 3
printed. s it stands, 3 printed metal parts sometimes
warp or bend as the're printed. 1he bigger the part, the
more likel it is to become distorted, and when it comes
to something as huge (and as carefull designed) as
the wing of a plane, even a minor amount of distortion
presents a big problem. Civen the speed at which the
3 printing industr is innovating and improving its
technologies, though, that might not be a problem for
much longer. Since 3 printed wings could potentiall
be both stronger and lighter than traditionall
manufactured wings, there's quite an incentive for
aircraft companies like oeing to fgure out a solution, it
probabl won't take long for someone to crack it.
k PrinIer he 5ize 0l k kenger
oeing isn't the onl compan working on 3 printed
planes either. irbus's fagship plane, the 38, alread
incorporates some 3-printed parts, including hinges
that are stronger and more durable than traditionall
machined ones, but that's nothing compared to the
future machines the compan is working towards.
astian Schafer, a designer at irbus, reckons it'll be
possible to build a 3-printed plane b 25. Not just
an plane either: Schafer's concept for the jumbo jet of
the future is 65 lighter than a normal plane and built
from transparent materials that would make passengers
feel as if the were just foating through the clouds.
Space and Bigh
101

25 is a lng ay , and chaer's cnce is rey

elabrae s ell as being ligher, he lans make i
mre enirnmenally riendly 1he amn ase i
ld rdce shld be ler, is cabin ld be lly
recyclable, and he seas ld be caable haresing
assengers' bdy hea and sing i as energy 1he
bdy ld incrrae neral nerks, alling r
inelligen resnses enirnmenal acrs, and he
lane ld als be sel-cleaning
s y migh hae gahered, r he cnce lane
becme a realiy i'll reqire n nly seeral imran
deelmens in D rining rcesses, b als r
he inenin seeral dieren kinds maerials
ha dn' ye exis, rm adanced bilymers
srenghened, see-hrgh alminim cmsie l's
an incredibly ambiis rjec n a massie scale, he
riner needed creae sch an amazing aircra ld
need be he size an aerlane hangar, hich is an
exremely exensie idea all by isel
Heer, he ac ha irbs is een cnsidering i
shs js h cmleely D rining mehds hae
changed he design rcess 1hings ha cld neer
hae been ssible sing any her mehds n seem,
i n imminen, a leas n cmleely side he
realm ssibiliy
0ne 5mell 5Iep
ere e qie ge here, hgh, irbs's aren
cmany, he Lrean ernaic Deence and ace
Cmany LD, has sme her ideas ab h
i migh se D rining creae ne and innaie
rdcs ln 2, LD rdced a rye bicycle
made sing D rining echniqes
Dbbed he irbike', i as made nyln sing a
laser sinering rcess, hich mean seeral key ars
cld be cnsrced hle, reming he need bh r
labr ars geher and r mch mainenance
in he re lhgh i as nly a r cnce,
i's n hard imagine smehing like he irbike
becming a iable cmmercial rdc, esecially since
he manacring mehd alls r adjsmens be
made si he indiidal rider
e's g back fying machines, hgh nher
LD innain as resened a he Farnsbrgh
irsh in ly 22: a D-rined drne r nmanned
aerial ehicle 1he rcess LD ses is dbbed
addiie layer manacring l's essenially a
sinering rcess, sing geher dered maerials
in his case, nyln
1 design and bild he drne, LD rked ih
sdens rm he niersiy eeds' Facly
Lngineering 1he baery-ered, reme-cnrlled
mini-lane had a ingsan 5 meers, and he
sdens en hrgh seeral ierains ing shaes
and sizes bere seling n he bes ssible design
again, a rcess ha ld hae been s exensie
and ime cnsming sing radiinal manacring
echniqes ha i rbably ld hae becme
imracical een bher ih, b hich sing D
rining echniqes as qick and cs eecie
Flling he sccess ha frs rye ,
LD decided manacre a meallic ersin, again
sing laser sinering echniqes s are increasingly
being manacred r se in sreillance erains
ecase hey're nmanned, hey can be sen in
enially dangers siains and sed ransmi
ide age back heir cnrllers, s hey hae
leny enial ses in miliary r disaser resnse
siains LD says is D-rined drnes are ligher,
srnger and mre ecien han s made sing her
mehds, and since ligher aircras se less el, hey're
likely be mre cs eecie
1hse eares are he adanages e'll kee cming
back hen e're alking ab D rining lhgh
here are many reasn is exciing, he abiliy d
hings mre qickly and chealy is he key reasn s
many dieren indsries are aking an ineres ny
inesmens made in he echnlgy n cld
enially ay in a massie ay in he re, and
many cmanies hae already realised ha

Space and Bigh

10
hh h igh h gh gh d Bigh Big Bi Big d BBigh igh nd B nd nd and and an pace an e a ce ace ce a acce nd e an Spac pa Spa Sp Sp Sp SSSp S d B pac
10
e he Meen knd 8etk
nh ml h in l
im n in ining h gn n
h i n n ining mh ln m
m iin hih n k in m
hi i lnning n in h
nninl in h ill ill
n in hi n n l n
lng h h n i hn
li in ll ngin l nii
n ing l in -h lli
m h in hih l n
nmi k gn nl
n j li n ml ining in
in ih h gn i l hin h lmn
n kin in hih migh l n ging
n h mk lighl m iing
inn n hn h jk n -i
i m h
h n n m iing lmn i h
l ing -in k inj
hih i in g !3. 1he component
was made of a nickel-chromium alloy, which had been
printed using selective laser melting. asically, particles
of the powdered alloy were fused together using a
computer-controlled laser beam, which built the part one
layer at a time.
Once fnished, the injector was incorporated into a
rocket engine, which was then fred. ln order to get a
rocket of the ground, its engine needs to create an
incredible amount of thrust, which involves
generating an awful lot
Space and Bigh
of pressure and heat. ln this test, the
3D-printed part apparently withstood
!,400lb per square inch of pressure, and
temperatures of around 6,000F (about
3,3!6C). 1hat's pretty impressive, no
matter which way you look at it.
1his successful test isn't the last one
3D-printed parts will have to undergo
before they can be used in rocket ships
for real, but it's an important step on the
way to changing how Nasa's spacecraft
are manufactured.
lile 0n Mers
1o fnish on an optimistic note, the Hars
Foundation, an organisation that's working
towards developing technology to allow
people to settle on the red planet, has
announced that 3D printing could be a vital
part of creating future space colonies.
Lngineers working with the Hars
Foundation are confdent that using raw
materials found on Hars, they could extract
things like plastics, fberglass and cement.
nd using 3D printers, those materials
could be turned into tools and building
materials. eing able to use those materials
would mean potential settlers wouldn't
need to bring as many supplies with
them from Larth, and the fewer supplies
necessary to create a colony, the more
feasible the project would be.
lt's a long way of, obviously. t the
moment, the foundation is running
experiments in Hawaii, which is literally
millions of miles away from Hars.
Nevertheless, all of those Star
1rek jokes suddenly feel
prophetic, rather than
fippant, don't they?

U'|C/|
|N'IKU|NI'
30 Pklklk6 l5 klPlk6 Mkk 8klll M5l6, lk kll 50k5 0l WkI5.
\|rj n|| |rnr | ||j|| \||| jc. rnr r c ||| cr c | | cr
jcc |r r |cc\ jcc r cn|c| c |. |rj cn||rj crj c| | |r | |c|
r |||-cr|rj j| c |c||r r|rj ||| nc |r | c| cc || cn |rj cr |.
||\ c nr c| |r| | n| |r | \|rj c | r| c| |r|rj. |c| |
| |c| |j|rj c c| |r|rj |rnr | r||\ r c r
0dd 6uiIers
e f the riit thigs ut 3
pritig is tht euse it's dditive
ufturig tehique, it prdue
shpes tht wud't e pssie usig
trditi ufturig presses.
uitrs, p fuded
desig egieer f iege, retes
the st ig istruets tht
re ie wrs f teprr
rt th pe guitrs.
Strtig with ruded d shpe
ispired the ssi es u guitr,
iege hs desiged rge f
3-prited guitrs tht irprte
itrite desigs - ie he
ptter pete with ees,
stepu-ispired guitr fed
with iterig gers, d spider
we pttered guitr with, tur,
3 prited spiders estig g the
iterig ies f the guitr's d.
A f the guitrs re prdued usig
the SS press, the're de f
stregtheed fr f d prited
t resuti f !00 microns. 1hey're
beautifully detailed, with all sorts of
design elements that would be difcult
or impossible to include in any other way.
Not all the parts of the guitar are
printed, though: the core and bridge are
made of wood, and the various pickups,
switches and knobs are the same as
they would be on any other electric
guitar. Lach guitar is fully customisable,
depending on the needs of the customer
- they can easily be altered for left-
handed players, for instance. And they're
all strikingly unusual and gorgeous to
look at.

30 Pklklk6 l5 kl
\|rj n|| |rnr
jcc |r r |cc\ j
r |||-cr|
||\ c nr c|
| |c|
0dd 6uiIers
One of the brill
printing is that
manufacturing
shapes tha
traditiona
ODD Cu
design e
the mos
look mor
art than p
Starting
inspired
Diege
3D-
intr
pa
st
w
w

S
he kevemped
5Irediverius
nothr 3 printd
musical instrumnt basd
on a classic is th LS
3 printd Stradivarius
violin. Pal violins built by
th Stradivari amily ar
worth millions o pounds
now thy'r rputd to
produc such antastic
sound uality that no
on has vr bn abl
to match it, lt alon surpass
it. ut 3 printing company LS had
a go anyway.
Using LL H3, a kind o industrial
polymr, LS printd out a violin body that lookd
almost idntical to a ral Stradivarius violin. Suint a bit
and it looks lik it's mad o wood, vn though it was
printd ar astr than vn th most skilld violin makr
could carv on. ( prossional violin makr was brought
in to assmbl th violin, though, and som o th parts,
including th tunr, pgbox and strings wr mad in th
usual way, not on a 3 printr.)
1h fnishd violin has bn dmonstratd by
prossional violinists, and it dos sound prtty grat.
Muical inrumen
10S
Whthr it's uit at th Stradivarius standard is up or
dbat (and most classical music ans would probably
hav prtty strong opinions on it), but just the fact that
beautiful and functional violins can be turned out of 3D
printers at all is pretty impressive.
t the moment, the LOS Stradivarius violin is a one-of,
and the ODD Cuitars are pretty expensive, running into the
thousands of dollars, so 3D-printed instruments probably
won't take over from traditionally manufactured ones any
time soon. ut we're not far from a world in which you can
design and print your own personalised instrument, which
is pretty exciting.
keIhinking kteusIits
s well as being able to reproduce or customise
familiar instruments, though, 3D printing might be
able to produce some completely new instruments or
instruments that use their acoustics in new ways. mit
Zoran, a PhD student at the Hassachussetts lnstitute
of 1echnology, is working on a research project that
looks into the possibilities of combining traditional
technologies with emerging ones - and producing
interesting musical instruments along the way.
1he frst instrument he developed using a 3D printer
was a fute. Using an Objet Connex printer, he created
a fute from three diferent 3D printed materials - two
rigid materials and a soft one - and the whole thing was
designed so that it came of the printer all but complete.
No real assembly was needed to get it working, all Zoran
had to do was add a couple of springs and the fute was
ready to go.
Following the success of that project, Zoran moved
onto thinking about something much more elaborate
and unusual. 1he recoustic eCuitar is a concept for an
instrument that would incorporate several diferent sound
cells, with separate strings and bridges, that would allow
players to create a completely diferent kind of music. lt
sounds incredible, and it's another thing that could only
really be imagined using 3D printing technology. ny
other method would take far too long (and cost far too
much) to test and develop.
he
5Ire
n
mu
on
3D
v
t
w
o
to m
it. ut 3D prin
a go anyway.
Using PLLK HP3, a k
polymer, LOS printed out

50P-M0l0k kklMkl0k
k0lk5 6kkkk6k
M00l5 0 8 6kklllI
56lP0. 0k 30 Pklk0
\c-nc|cr r|n|cr ||er c
c c ||. r\ c iee|cner
|r ccne r|n|cr ecrc|c,
nc r|nei ||n e nie
|r |ec\e ce, ||\e |\r':
|erierHr. ||er ||, w|c wca|i wr|
|c :eri |car: cre|a||{ nr|a|||rj
|{:|c| ncie|: ||| |re |eer
|r:|\|rj|{ nca|iei |r|c :|e
w|er {ca cca|i ja:| a:e ccna|er
|c ic ||e ncie|||rj |cr {ca ri :\|
wcrr{|rj |ca| je|||rj |rjerr|r|: cr
||e |erc': |ce!
6relIing 6ereline



9 adaptation of Neil Caiman's novel, which
was the frst stop-motion animation flm to use 3D printed parts. Laika, the animation
studio that worked on the flm, used three diferent Objet 3D printing systems to
create thousands and thousands of parts that made up the sets and characters in
Coraline, including Coraline's face.
One of the things that's difcult in stop-motion animation is getting characters' facial
features to move convincingly. 1he animation technique involves taking thousands of
images of models as they're slowly moved a tiny bit at a time and then stringing the
images together to make a flm, so if you want a character to move across a room, an
animator would move themgradually across the set, adjusting their legs for each shot, to
make it seemlike the character was moving smoothly.
djusting a facial expression isn't as easy, and often involves swapping out one
model head for another pulling a diferent face. For 1he Nightmare efore Christmas,
Selick had 800 diferent expressions made for the main character Jack Skellington. ut

for Coraline, he wanted more, and he

wanted the animation to be smoother.
lt would've taken an unimaginabl
long time to hand sculpt the number
of diferent expressions he wanted for
her - 207,336 in all - and that's where
the 3D printer came in.
Cla models of the characters were
made b hand and then scanned. Digital
models were made, then adapted on a computer
before being printed out on an Objet PP Poljet 3D
printer. 1he whole process, though painstaking, was
manageable and meant that Coraline could be wa more
expressive than an stop-motion character before her.
knimeIing Perekermen
Having pioneered the technique, Laika improved on it
for another stop-motion flm it worked on. Characters in
ParaNorman had their facial features individuall printed
on 3D printers. Using 3D Sstems' ZPrinter 650, Laika
printed more than 3!,000 individual parts. For the main
character, Norman, Laika was able to model a frankl
astounding !.5 million diferent expressions.
Printing the characters for ParaNorman was a massive
task: Laika used 3.77 tons of printer powder in four
diferent 3D printers for a total of 572 das to get it all
done. 1he result, though, is an amazing-looking flm that
just couldn't have been achieved using more traditional
methods. nd one bizarre printing mistake actuall
ended up getting incorporated into the flm. printer

malfunction led to some faces being printed on top of one

another, inspiring the animators to create a sequence in
which two diferent characters fall into one another and
have their faces merged together.
nother development Laika took advantage of in
ParaNorman was the abilit to print in colour. On Coraline,
the characters' faces had to be painted once the'd come
out of the printers, which was a lot of extra work. On
ParaNorman, the could use a colour printer. Lven
so, it wasn't a totall straightforward process.
Laika worked closel with 3DSstems to
get the colours it wanted to showup
accuratel on the models - something
that's far more complicated than it
sounds - and even once the were
printed, the characters' faces still
needed to be sealed and fnished. lt's
exhausting just to think about, reall.
PireIes knd PrinIers
Laika isn't the onl studio working with 3D
printers. ardman nimation, best known for
the Wallace & Cromit flms, used them to help create the
characters in Pirates ln n dventure With Scientists.
Hainl, it printed characters' mouths. Cetting a character's
mouth to match up with his or her dialogue is trick and
gets harder the more realistic the character looks and the
more accurate ou want their movements to be.
1o create convincing mouth shapes, the animators
listened to the recordings of the actors reading the lines
from the flm and fgured out all the diferent mouth
shapes the'd need. Once the shapes had been fgured out
and modelled, the were printed on a 3D printer, and then
sanded and painted for use in the flm. gain, it's still a
long and involved process, but one that's far quicker than
tring to do the same job b hand using cla.
3D printing and stop-motion animation is a strange
match, in some was: it's a ver new kind of technolog
crossed with a ver old one. ut the combination of
the two has been prett successful, and stop-motion
animators aren't ditching their old was of working, the're
just building on them.

PrinI Ieursell
On o ponli o i o lill ponli
i o ik ou on on i hil lk-in 3
pining vi ill in hi inn i oming
iningl ommon o o nning vi h
llopopl o o l mol o hmlv o
3 pin vn upmk gin go in on
h gm oing ooh on o i o o
popl o g nn n u pin u ho pin
n ll o in h u n h ll ju
oiv oj
io ponli upho ion gu on
h oh hn nil o uom n o
n in oupl o l phoogph o hmlv
om h on n omh i n hn hoo om
lion o in omi ook ho n villin
inluing upmn mn omn n ho
30 Pklklk6 l5 kll0Wlk6 0I Mkkk5 0 6kk kW
klk05 0l 0I5, 5P6lkllI Pk50kkll50 0k5
ri: |r |c{: re |ri |c rei|c|. re C|r|:|n:, erer{ \|i n|j|| |e |er
arr{ ||\|rj rc|c|, ||e re\|, || n|j|| |e w|ri-a |c{ rc|c| cr rew
jne: ccr:c|e. W||erer ||e |c{ c ||e ncner| |:, rer|: w||| rerer |er
||e eri c || | ||e|r c:r|rj ice:r'| je| cre - cr, wcr:e, je|: ||e wrcrj
ncie| c ||e r|j|| |c{.
I|r\: |c J r|r||rj, ||caj|, ||e i{: c erer{cre c|ncar|rj cr
||e |:| na:|-|re ic|| |r ||e :|c n|j|| |e crer. || :cr|: c ccnr|e:
re e\er|ner||rj w||| J r|r||rj |r cre cc||{ cr rc||er, rcn
e:||||:|ei |c{ n\er: |c cre||re |{e: w|c rec\cr ||e{ n|j|| |re
|r||||r| |ie c||e c c|rj|rj ||e w{ we |cc\ | |c{: ||cje||er.

io hn 3 mol o h uom h
pin i ou n n i o h uom long ih h
ion gu o hi hoi
onliing upho on om hp: io
ki o 999 pop u ion gu iono
n u h o lil ju oing pin h
n uing i o pl h h on n ion gu h
l on imoi pin h om in ng
o in iz o in kin o gu n
3999
Meking Mekies
o uom ho lik h i o uomiing oll u
no nil mking hm look l lik hi on
h ki h ompn lim o o
h ol 3-pin o in h om o i ki
oll h !" ll ull iul oll hih n
ompll uomi vhing omhi il
u o hi kin olou o hi hi n ou n
l uing ki onlin ion ool h lo
moil pp o igning oll i ou h o i on ou
phon o l
On h ign po i ompl uom n ju
hi h k Pl uon o o pin-ou o hi
oll gin i no hp lhough i o pl oun
on h i n o n v ponli
mol i o 99 o ull g hm pin ou ill
oniing homzingl il n ll nih h
i on m oion n ki i quik
o poin ou h i' in h n h impiv
nvionmnl nil o i oll om ompll
guil-
h uomiion po on nil n on
h ki h n pin n liv ih h i
o hug onlin o ull o oi o i oll
nging om hng o loh o ui h on vn
inluing Hllon oum o plmn hn n
o uom ho n hi ki o l o
po inl
ki h 3-pin o o iv -
iion onming h h ppov h

fo hiln g h n ol An h ompn
go ki ing o ok in l-ol
o ll ing ill onlin h hol
ki n in lfig in onon fo inn
h om n ih pil iion ki of
h hlf o h poi i o ign n o
hi on ponli oll Bo ho migh n
n h h of pining migh mp h
m-looking oll o ki migh n p ing
f inoion o h nhnolog o om popl
Meduler eys
f o're a 3D-printing enthusiast already, though, you
might be more interested in something you can make for
yourself. HodiBot is a modular, buildable fgure that can be
customised in almost every way you can think of. Created
by Dynamo Development Labs, the basic HodiBot is a
fgure called Ho.
Ho is essentially a stick fgure, made of various
3D-printed parts that can be clipped together. He has
ball joints, so that he can be fully posed, and he can be
Ct|il
Ke|e|:
printed in any of a range of colours. 1he various parts
are available through the Shapeways print-on-demand
service, or the fles can be bought from the HodiBot
website and printed out at the customer's home
All of which would be interesting enough by itself,
but the basic Ho isn't the limit of the HodiBot models.
Various accessory kits are available from the site, again
in a range of colours, so a standard Ho can be turned
into a knight, a pirate or a ninja. All of the parts are
interchangeable and all ft together, so they can be
combined in various ways.
And then there are the creatures. Ho is a humanoid
fgure, but HodiBot also ofers a raptor kit, for
dinosaur lovers, and rhinoceros-human hybrid beasts
for, um, lovers of rhinos and weird hybrid monsters.

lts ls pssile, f urse, fr fns t mke
their wn extr its nd piees t dd t their
Hs, nd if they hve 3D printer t hme,
the skys the limit.
Anther ty yu n ssemle yurself is
the ver he p puzzle ue. Devised y
designer skr vn Deventer, this puzzle ue
- whih is ville, gin, thrugh hpewys -
hlds wrld-rerd fr eing the mst
elrte uiks-style puzzle ue.
lt hs !7 ues in eh diretin
nd is insnely mplex. lf
yuve ever wnted t thrw
stndrd uiks ue ut
f the windwfr eing t
frustrting t slve, yu shuld
prly steer ler f this ne.
Althugh the ver he p
puzzle is little stifer nd mre difult t
mnipulte, it n e turned in ll diretins
like the fmilir versin f the puzzle, nd
with s mny ues lng eh edge, its
esy t imgine it getting very, very mixed
up very quikly.
he 3D-printed kit t uild n ver he
p is prly prhiitively expensive fr
mst peple - it retils fr !,42!.45 (ut
E!,200), nd the time it wuld tke t put it
tgether nd get it wrking wuld prly st yu yur
snity, n tp f tht. till, its testment t 3D printing
nd the ingenuity f puzzlers tht wrking prttype f
this mnster exists t ll.

As well s llwing newstrt-ups t lunh their wn
kinds f tys, 3D printing is eing used y estlished
ty mkers t dd r imprve n existing lines. Httel,
fr instne, uses 3D printers t rete prttypes fr its
rnds, inluding Ht heels, Hnster High dlls nd, f
urse, Bries.
Previusly, prttype tys wuld e mde ut
f wx r wd nd hd t e shped y
hnd. sing 3D printer lets ty designers
mke ll kinds f tweks nd djustments
t their ides withut hving t spend
hurs refully tling them, nd it ls
mkes the whle itertin yle fr quiker.
ht mens ides n e frmulted, tested,
hnged, imprved r srpped nd repled
with newides muh mre quikly thn y using
ny ther methd, nd it pens up ll srts f
pssiilities fr future designs.
Anther mssive nme in the ty mking
industry is getting int 3D printing t. Disney
hs lredy experimented with setting up 3D
printing ths t its theme prks. isitrs
uld g nd get themselves snned,
then rder 3D-printed versin f
themselves t e sent hme. his eing
Disney, thugh, the mdels werent just
strightfrwrd representtins f
the peple in questin. ne th ws set up in
ssitin with the tr rs rides, nd let peple
pse s if they were tking Hn ls ple in tht
lk f rnite. Anther similr th let little
girls (nd prly ys nd dults t) envisge
themselves s Disney Prinesses. hey uld get
snned in the th nd then hse Disney
Prinesss style t replite. Agin, pretty l.
lts ls pssile f urse, fr fns t mke
d piees t dd t their
3D printer t hme,
ssemle yurself is
ue. Devised y
enter, this puzzle ue
n, thrugh hpewys -
eing the mst
uzzle ue.
retin
lf
rw
ut
t
shuld
his ne.
p
d mre difult t
ned in ll diretins
f the puzzle, nd
g eh edge, its
g very, very mixed
uild n ver he
vely expensive fr
r !,42!.45 (ut
wuld tke t put it
urse, Bries.
Previusl
f wx
hnd.
mke
t th
hur
mke
ht m
hnged,
with newid
ny ther m
pssiilitie
Anther
industry is
hs lre
printing
uld g
then
them
Disn
stri
the peple in q
ssitin w
pse s if they
lk f r
girls (nd pr
themselves
snned in t
Prinesss st
rse fr fns t mke

he luIure 0l eys
f in migh n m
iing 1h in h l h n
imning ih ining fninl in
lng ih n n h inf
ini ligh- 1h j - nm
iil in i - hlm
in n il ining hni l i
lmn in ml igh i n i
l i ligh n ini h hih in
h g inl ligh- h i n
mini mn
1h h l imn ih ining
n il n h-nii f in h
ll in h kin f lmn
n m f l ifn
n n h migh il kn kn
ing ining h hl hing n m n

i nl im ill ll h in migh i
l h hnlg h fnil m
fn iilii
igh n h n mn mni mking
lling -in n if h ining
ing ll h m lm in
hng l f inn h i nn
hh in mil il f ng
hiln n f n mking in
ki h hn i il hil-f
ing in n if h fm n i h
n n h mni n
n if mni n mk n ll -in
h l mk n ll ml f ining n
mi in n m him
hing migh iml n -f
ing in nning nigh n h
h f h mmn Wln h illin

saw there was a need for better tools for creating

customisable objects," Liang says. met a lot of people
who were interested in 3D printing and wanted to
make something, but they didn't know where to start."
Hixee Labs provides several places to start: working
with designers, it creates JavaScript apps for producing
customisable products. 1hrough the Hixee website,
customers can choose from a range of products and then
make changes to each one to create a unique, personalised
object. 1he actual 3D printing is done through Shapeways
and then shipped out to the customer - who never has to
touch any CD software at any point in the process.
love technology because it enables people to do
things," she says. t's a great enabler, and 3D printing is all
about enabling people to design objects." nd Hixee Labs
is all about enabling people to take their frst steps into that
process. 1he frst customisable product launched on the
Hixee Labs platform was something Liang and co-founder
aron arnet created together: the Hixee He.
s the name suggests, they're customisable fgurines
that users can personalise until they resemble themselves
or a friend (or an alien, the range of skin colours on ofer
includes blue and green, so there's defnitely scope to
create something weird, if the urge takes you). Hixee Hes
have proved very popular, which Liang puts down to the
fact that they're so personalisable - and personal. f you
give someone a Hixee He, it shows you've put thought into
it," she says. nd it's something that's completely unique
and that's cool. People like personalising things."
t's also something you'd struggle to make using any
method but 3D printing. 1o make recognisable models of
your and your friends, you'd have to be good at some kind
of craft, whether that's woodworking, knitting or modelling
with clay, and it's a process that'd take a lot of time and
efort to complete. Hixee Hes, by contrast, are fairly quick
and easy to make. Using the browser-based Hixee He tool,
you can pick from a range of colours, hairstyles, body types
and outfts and come up with a recognisable caricature of

Wkk 0 Mkk Pk50kkll50 lWllkI 8
00k' kk0W Wkk 0 5kk? MlI lk85 kk5
k kk5Wk.
k:\ r{cre w|c wc\: |r | |r|rj w| |e ||jje: ||e c w|ie
ic|cr |: ri |e{|| e|| {c |: |e :c|we. |err|rj |cw |c n\e
r|r|||e J| ncie|: a:|rj Ck| (ccna|er |iei ie:|jr) :c||wre |:
e:|er rcw ||r || a:ei |c |e ri ||ere': |c| ncre |ree, cer-:carce
ri c||erw|:e ||cri||e Ck| :c||wre cr ||e nr\e| rcw, |a| ||': :||||
r |r||n|i||rj |||rj |c |r{ |c |err |c ic. 4rc{ ||rj w: wcr\|rj |
\|ew{: w|er :|e rc||cei nr{ ec|e were :|rajj||rj |c |arr ||e|r
|ie: |r|c J| ncie|:. \c|||rj r ccr|ar||{, :|e :e| a |er cwr ccnr{,
H|\ee ||:, |c |e| |cwer ||e |rr|er: |c J| r|r||rj.
:carce
|': :||||

''
'''`'
'''' ''`'
'' ''' ' ''''`
Sudy - Mixee Lab
yuef ue e ue - a yu ' ee ave
ay ecca exee
l think there is a trend towards simplifying things," Liang
says. 1here were CD programs at frst that you had to
go through years and years of training to get good at, and
those were more for professionals than hobbyists. 1hen
there was the next wave of CD programs, like 1inkerCD
and Sketchuo, which took the professional versions and
made them easier to use for non-professionals. l see what
we're doing as part of the third wave of simplifying the
process. lt's not really CD at all, it's design at a very high
level. You don't have to think in terms of polygons and
vertices, you just think 'Do l want my Hixee He to be sad
or happy?'"
Once users have a Hixee He they're happy with, they can
save it to the site or order it to be printed - it's one of the
more afordable 3D-printed models available, since it only
costs $25 (about E!5) per Hixee He. 1he fnished Hixee
Hes are made of a clay-like substance and the colours
are printed on before the whole model is dipped into
superglue to fnish it. 1hat means that although they're
pretty sturdy, they're not designed to be handled roughly,
and they don't mix well with water either, so they're best
displayed somewhere safe and away from childish fngers.
lt's worth pointing out, too, that Hixee He fgures are far
from photorealistic. lthough there are dozens of services
that can scan your face or even your entire body and
create a 3D-printed version of you, Liang says Hixee Labs
deliberately chose to avoid that. l found that a lot of the
time, things that look realistic but not completely realistic
can fall into the uncanny valley," Liang explains, whereas
if you've got something more stylised - with a big head,
small body and cartoony features - it steers clear of that."
Following the success of the Hixee Hes, Hixee Labs has
branched out into more products and more materials. 1he
site currently ofers a variety of customisable jewellery
and accessories, including 3D printable cufinks and
3D-printed molecule-shaped pendants and earrings
Other designers also sell their wares through the Hixee
Labs site, and as the company grows, Liang and arnet
are working with even more designers to make the
process even more user friendly and versatile in future.

Ca Ca Ca Ca CCCCa
yourself in under ten minutes - and you don't need to have

|K J9
Ih| |UIUK|

e ae\| |ew {er: re :e| |c |e

e\c|||aj cae: |cr I| r|a||aj, w|||
ncre |aacr||ca ca ||e w{...
|K|NI|N

\|KN|NI|UN9|9

KWIh
30 PrinIing ln 5theels



















W0kl0 60kkMk5 kk Plk6 klk
M0kI Wkk klk M0k l5 l0k 30
Pklklk6 Pk06kkM5
! We||, || |cc\: ||\e ||e |ec|rc|cj{
|: re||{ |r|j|| |a|are. : we|| : ||e nr{ ri rr|ei
ccnr|e: |||||rj || ca| |c rciace erer |e||er, |:|er ri
c|eer J| r|r|er:, ri ||e nr{ i|||erer| |ria:|r|e: |jar|rj ca|
w{: J| r|r||rj cr |e| ||en |nrcre ||e|r rciac|:, :erer|
jcrerrner|: |re ccnn|||ei |c |rre:||rj :|jr||cr| ncar|: c|
ncre{ |r|c e\ri|rj ||e |ria:|r{. ere re ||e w{: jcrerrner|
rcjrnne: w||| |e| J| r|r||rj crer ||e re\| |ew {er:.
30 PrinIing ln 5theels













ccnr|e: |||||rj || ca| |c rc
c|eer J| r|r|er:, ri ||e n
w{: J| r|r||rj cr |e| ||en
jcrerrner|: |re ccnn|||ei |c
ncre{ |r|c e\ri|rj ||e |ria
rcjrnne: w||| |e| J| r|r||r








-funded growth
117 1177 117
in i in l
in nmn
nnn i nin
m 5 nin
m ill l
imn in i
m i nmn i
knlin i m
i in n j
in l n in
k in in mll il
f i il n n i
nl l m l n
n in i i
i iin in inin
n nn k ll in in
l nn ln i l ll
i i n ill m lik
nil i
n il 5 in n innil mn
mn i l n m nmn
l n in mk inin
ilm ill n
mk n mmimn ill n n
l n il i
l lk miin
8usiness lnvesImenIs
k in nmn i inin in
inin in m n j in n n
in in l nnn nn
in lkin
l inin j
nl n
nil i in 8 millin il
millin m m i inmn mkin l
millin nin ill i kin
in in l ill kin
n nmnin lin in
l n n ini
in inin
j ill nf m
nin ill l n n
n n l n
i mi l j
ill i i nin
l n nnn
n l ninin mn
ni ill l il imln m
in n l i ill k
n lin in i imln n i l
iil lin i kin n m
in mi inl i ill l l i
in lk l
inin n mi
millin inmn in nl
in nmn i m i kn n
k in nin mn n l
iin i lin i n nl n
in nin in j nl
m lik in
m ni m li
in n niin
i innin
inin in
nmn i kin n imin
nm i i min
i in il in inin j
mn i in nl n
inmn nmn m in inllin
in in nl l n i
m nmn i inin ll
i mn nl in
n mnin in n
nmn n i n n
lin
' '
''
\'
' '
'
\`

ktress he Pend
o h in h onl on oking h
on ning o p pining o ok. n g
! h hi o nnon h i lnhing
nini h ionl ii ning
nnoion ni (). p in no
inil iling in ongon hio
k ih h mll m o olioniing
mning in h .
h m miniion in million
in ing p h nini ih l l
gni - including the Department of Defense, the
Department of Lnergy, the National Science oundation
and NS - also committing to invest signifcant
amounts of money in developing the project. ll those
agencies stood to beneft
from the institute's work too:
for example, the Department
of Defense wanted to invest
in fnding ways to create
specialist parts on site, while the
Department of Lnergy wanted
to fnd more energy-
efcient manufacturing
processes like, well,
3D printing.
ll in all, NHll
had a wide-ranging
brief that basically
meant its job was
to fnd ways to apply
academic research to real-
life situations, and to put new
solutions into place as quickly
as possible. nd in its frst year,
it racked up a number of impressive
milestones. Some of those were admin-type
tasks of the dull but necessary kind: it hired a
director, four deputy directors and a factory manager,
and it partnered with 79 organisations, including
companies, universities, and non-profts, and established
a governance board and an organisation charter. lt got
the lnnovation actory in Youngstown up and running
and funded seven diferent research and development
projects. lt also began to put together an education and
outreach program.
lnterestingly, it also rebranded itself. ln little over a
year, NHll had shed both its tongue twisting full name
(seriously, try to say 'National dditive Hanufacturing
lnnovation lnstitute' ten times fast) and its forgettable
acronym. lnstead, in October 20!3, it became merica
Hakes, which is both easier to say and much more
inspirational. nd since part of the institute's brief was
to make manufacturing seem less like a grim industry
full of grinding machinery and coal dust and more like a
sexy, exciting, innovative new world, well, we'd say the
new name helps.
Obama was clearly
impressed. 1he US
government has
already given the
go-ahead for several
more innovation
institutions to
be set up across
the country, all
made in NHll's
image. Sorry,
merica Hakes's
image. gain, what's
exciting here is that
3D printing is part of a
government's plans for
the future, it's seen as
central to revitalising
the economy and
Gvenment-funded gwth

Gvenment-funded gwth

considered an important new industr that's set to

grow dramaticall over the next decade or so. lt seems
like it's a reall good time to be a 3D printing business.
knd he kesI 0l he Werld
1he rest of the world hasn't been slow to catch on
to the possibilities of 3D printing either. Like the UK,
the Finnish government has also committed funding
for 3D printing lessons in schools. ln September 20!3,
the Finnish Hinistr of Lducation created a 30,000
fund to bu 3D printers for schools in Helsinki, Lspoo,
Vantaa and Piihimaki, with most of the funding
going to Helsinki. 1hat might not sound like a lot of
mone, but Finland is a relativel small countr, with
a population of just fve million, so in context it's not
that insignifcant.
Further afeld, the Chinese government has set
up its own 3D printing institute. 1he 3D Printing
Pesearch lnstitute of China was created in ugust
20!3. 1eams from several Chinese universities,
including the 1singhua Universit, Xian Jiaoton
Universit and the Central China Universit of
Science and 1echnolog will be coming together to
work at the institute, which is in the Zijin Hightech
Zone of Nanjing Cit. 1hanks to a Y200 million
investment from the government, the institute will
be working on developing 3D-printed electronics,
vehicles and other machiner. nalsts predict that
China's 3D printing industr will be worth more than
Y!0 billion in three ears - so, again, now seems like
a good time to start investing in the technolog.
nd, naturall, the Japanese government is looking
to develop its own 3D printing industr too. For
whatever reason, Japanese businesses don't seem
particularl interested in plastics, instead, the focus is
on developing 3D printing methods that can use metal.
1he Japanese Lconom, 1rade and lndustr Hinistr has
called for businesses and universities to come together
to develop better metal printing methods and hopes to
have a whole host of next-generation 3D printers up and
running within the next fewears.
Werldwide lnneveIien
1o take a step back, then, it looks like there's an awful lot
of mone being poured into 3D printing b governments
all over the world. 1he last fewears haven't been
particularl prosperous for man countries, so it makes
sense that governments would be looking for new was
to improve their economies. 3D printing looks like a
promising candidate. lt ofers businesses a quick wa to
tr out new ideas, it can potentiall cut manufacturing
costs and it's also more environmentall friendl than
man more traditional manufacturing methods.
lt's also a relativel new technolog that seems to be
growing fast, ever week, there's good news fromthe 3D
printing world, whether it's a new invention, an improved
process or an astounding medical breakthrough. Crowth
industries had started to seem few and far between, but
analsts are constantl making predictions about how
rapidl the 3D printing industr will grow over the next
few decades. lf ou were a world government, ou'd be
looking to invest too.
lt'll be reall exciting to see how all these new
innovation centres develop over time. 1he pressure
is on right now, with everone looking to exploit the
capabilities of the new technolog and ever countr
ving to become the world leader in 3D printing. 1hat
element of competition should be a good thing and
should mean that ever institute has to work hard to
be the best, and the innovations that come out of them
should, with a bit of luck, be genuinel impressive.
ased on the evidence of the past few ears, 3D
printing is going to get better, more useful and more
common, and it's going to do it ver quickl. Can it
reall change the world? Well, it looks fairl inevitable
at this point, doesn't it?

|UIUK| |
J9 |K|NI|N
Ih| |||KI' |K|9|CI Ih|
Wkk'5 kI l0k 30 Pklklk6? W k5k0 k
IPk5 l0k klk lW5.
kr|{:|: re ccr:|r||{ rei|c||rj ||j |||rj: |cr ||e |a|are c| J| r|r||rj.
I|e J| r|r||rj nr\e| w||| jrcw |{ I1 erer{ {er, cccri|rj |c cre
rei|c||cr. I|e nr\e| |cr J| r|r||rj n|er||: w||| |e wcr|| crer
;t11 n||||cr |{ I1IJ, cccri|rj |c rc||er. 4c n||er w|c {ca ||:|er
|c, {ca're ||\e|{ |c |er ||| J| r|r||rj |: |ar|||rj |cwri: n|r:|ren
ic||cr ri ||e nr\e| w||| cr|{ je| ||jjer |rcn |ere.
cwerer, erer ||e nc:| er||a:|:||c ircc|e: c| J| r|r||rj
|re |c in|| ||| ||e |ec|rc|cj{ |:r'| a||e rei{ |c |\e crer
||e wcr|i ja:| {e|. W|||e |ria:|r|| r|r|er: cr rciace c|jec|: c|
nt|rj a|||{, ||e{'re :|||| rc| a||e a|c\ ercaj| cr c|e ercaj|
|c er||re|{ re|ce |ri|||cr| nra|c|ar|rj ne||ci:, ri ||': rc|
c::|||e |c r|r| |r || ||| nr{ i|||erer| n|er||:.
k: |r : ccr:aner J| r|r|er: jc, we||, :cne c| ||c:e re re||{
jre| r|j|| rcw, |a| |c| c| ||en :|||| rea|re cer||r ncar| c|
e\er|erce ri e\er||:e cr ||e r| c| ||e|r cer|cr, ri |c je|
re||{ jcci a|||{ r|r|:, {ca reei |c :eri a||e |c| c| ncre{ cr
r|r|er.
|| wca|i |e e:{ |c jte |r|c cr{:|| ||| ri rei|c|, |:ei cr ||c:e
|||rj:, ||| ||e |a|are |cr J| r|r||rj w||| |rrc|re c|eer, |e||er a|||{
r|r|er: ri ncre w|ie:rei ic||cr. I|ere re rew |re\||rcaj|: |r
J| r|r||rj |nc:| erer{ wee\, |eca:e ||e |ec|rc|cj{ |: |eccne :c
we|| \rcwr ri :c ||j||{ r|:ei ||| erer{cre wr|: |c je| |rrc|rei
w||| ||. k|| ||| e\c||ener| ri ccne||||cr |: ir|r|rj |cr: c| |rrcr||cr,
ri ||| cre|e: ncre |{e ri e\c||ener|, ri ||e c{c|e ere|a|e:
||:e||. ||': ie|r||e|{ r |r|ere:||rj ||ne, ri || re||{ ice: |ee| ||\e
||e |a|are |: |e|rj |a||| r|j|| rcw, |{ ||e rr|ca: er|rererear: ri
r|:|crr|e: w|c re wcr\|rj |c a:| J| r|r||rj |c ||e re\| |ere|.
Ic ||ri ca| w|| ||| |a|are w||| re||{ |cc\ ||\e, we iec|iei ||e |e:|
|||rj |c ic w: |c jc :|r|j|| |c ||e |cr:e': nca||. We ||\ei |c ||e
|carier: ri nrjer: | rrje c| i|||erer| J| r|r||rj ccnr|e:
ri :\ei ||en w|| ||e{ ||caj|| ||e |a|are c| J| r|r||rj w: jc|rj
|c |e. ere': w|| ||e{ :|i.

"
3D PPINING
WILL MAK K
PAN8IION
FPOM 8ING
A NOvL
CKNOLOG
O A NW
PPODCION
MCKANI8M
"
kndy MiddleIen, 6enerel Meneger
ler urepe, Ihe Middle esI end
klrite eI 5IreIesys
ln terms of the growth of 3D
printing and the direction it
is heading, l believe that the
development of materials will be
a major factor. 1he ability to print
multi-material models in a single-
build is an increasingly sought-after
requirement from product design
professionals and is something that
diferentiates our ofering at Objet
over other market providers.
1his capability means that a
design studio, for example, can
print complex objects and fnished
assemblies with a combination
of rubberlike, fexible and rigid
materials. 1his - together with our
increased printing accuracy - means
that such users are able to produce
models that better emulate the
look, feel and function of the fnal
product. As materials continue
to develop, l believe 3D printing
technology will move further
and further into short-run rapid
manufacturing.
Hoving forward, both the
Luropean Union and the Obama
administration have set their sights
on 3D printing. 1hey're looking to
this and other key technologies
to help lay the foundation for a
revival in manufacturing across
both continents. Along with other
innovations such as nanotechnology
and biotechnology, 3D printing can
help to reverse the lag in innovation
and efciency that we've seen in
Western economies still reeling from
the economic downturn."
6lmenI Mereeu, 60 el 5tulpIee
3D printing has shifted from being a niche 'rapid
prototyping' technology used by architects and for
professional purposes. Now it is much more of a
mainstream technology We see consumer-oriented
3D printing evolving a lot, and making a transition
from being a novelty technology to a new production
mechanism.
We believe that in the near future 3D printing
will be an alternative means of creating products.
Customers and providers will make a choice between
traditional moulding, machining or 3D printing based
on the advantages of each technology. 1his will lead
to a fantastic new era within the industry where the
creation of unique pieces all over the world will be as
normal as sending a letter to a customer."

Mert kuger, 6e-leunder el lsis 30
n easy question ere is 'Were is 3 printin oin
to be in 50 years?' t tat point, tere are oin to be a
lot of 3 printers everywere, in omes and in sippin
facilities, and you're oin to be able to print out
laptops and crazy tins really fast. 1e conventional
manufacturin paradim will be completely one.
1e bier question is 'Were is it oin to be in ten
years' time?' l don't know. l tink we're oin to see, in
te sort term, printers at te several tousand dollar
price point tat can do crazy stuf, tat can print fast,
tat can do multiple materials, tat can do incredible
amounts of detail.
l tink tat tis is oin to be accompanied by
new C software tat is accessible on a wole new
level. Pit now, C software is almost te exclusive
province of professional enineers, l tink we're oin to
see it become a lot more like word processin software:
sometin tat your averae person may not be an
enineer but tey will ave some basic fuency wit it.
nd we'll see an increasin amount of diital
distribution of pysical tins. 1ere's a lot of ype
rit now about personal manufacturin, l really don't
tink tat's of ae yet. Pit now, tis tecnoloy is
tremendously limited. lt's slow, it's limited in wat it
can do, it can only do one material at a time, you can't
et surface fnises tat are comparable to injection
mouldin. you can et sometin tat's useful for
prototypin, but it can't really compete industrially.
l tink tose limits are slowly oin to o away.
Haybe we won't be able to print out laptops at ome,
but factories may print out te vast majority of teir
components and assemble tins for muc less money,
wit a muc less complicated supply cain."
"IN 50 AP8, K
CONvNIONAL
MANFACPING
PAPADIGM WILL 8
COMPLL GON"

"KP'8 GOING O 8 A LO
MOP INNOvAION. MACKIN8
WILL G 8MOOKP AND MOP
CON8MP FPINDL"
kenty Ii lieng, 6e-leunder el Mixee lebs
pinting a kin o mb in th 'ak
omnt'. 1h ak omnt i not loing
on, an pinting i a tool in that momnt.
ik all tchnolog, it' a tool it' omthing that
nabl popl to o omthing l. 1h oc
holn't b on th tool bt on th intnt, an
think th intnt i that popl mo an mo ant to
mak thing o thml.
1h oth thing i that ' pinting' co a mai
ath o tchnolog an onl a naoction i
actall pinting: th' btacti manacting,
la inting, tolithogaph an o on, o i o
think abot pinting in that boa n, thn am
hopl that a mo popl a intt in it, an a
mo patnt pi, th' going to b mo innoation.
think on o th aon pinting ha blon p
in th pat a i that th patnt on th tion
mtho on th lamnt pi a a ago, an
that nabl compani lik Ultimak to mak chap,
ktop-i machin. Nt a, on o th patnt
o lcti la
inting, anoth
majo poc, i
piing. Onc that
pi, th'
going to b a lot
mo innoation
in that pac, an
think that' all
h popl ill
t to gt pic
on, p p
an qalit p.
achin ill gt to
b mooth an
mo conm
inl.
on't think pinting i going to plac taitional
manacting hn innt ing machin,
it p p poction o clothing, bt o till n
cio, an o till n pattn mak."
lesse kerringIen ku, Meker kdveteIe eI kuIedesk
1h nt big tn i nitl going to b ot goo.
W'll b abl to ign an pint om ot o ot
goo, hth it'll b a kin o N looming opation
o om oth mtho, think that' going to b th
nt big thing.
n in pinting a
it i no, ' going to
mch btt-qalit
machin. 1hing ill
ol o tim, o o
on't ha ail pint
an mo, th matial
a going to kp
gtting btt an mo
intting, an pic
ill go on. Hopll,
hn om o th patnt p too, 'll a lot
o int tl o pinting popping p that can all
ait in th nt innoation in th int."

5emenIhe 5nebes, 6e-leunder el 6igebeI

l frmly believe that software and
material science limits wide adoption of
3D printing. However, these challenges
can be easily addressed through the
open-source community, leaving
only our imagination to constrain the
future, software and material science
developments will open new avenues for
3D printing."
OP KID8 WILL 8K
O ON D, 'I8
I P K WKN
O WP KID,
O DIDN' Kv
3D PPINP7 KOW
COM7"
5ylvein PreumenI, 60 el iMekr
ln the iHakr store, although you can't see it, it's full of tiny bits
everywhere where we needed something and we created it. And
that's something that is not impressive, and it's not mind-blowing,
but it is real, and tomorrow it will be everywhere.
People challenge that, saying, 'You really think we'll use 3D
printing to print that kind of thing? lt's much easier to do it
another way.' Well, yes, you will use 3D printing for that. Lven
though it's perhaps easier to do it other ways. How come? 1hink
about music. How can you listen to music? 1here are a few
possibilities. You can use a hi-f, you can use a turntable, you can
use a tape, you can use a Walkman. or you can use your mobile
phone. And what's the one you use? lt's not the best one to use,
but there are so many things you do with your phone: you use it
for your email, you use it for You1ube, you use it for everything,
and now you use it for music.
3D printers are the same. Once you have that machine, and
you've used it for a couple of reasons, when you need something
more, you'll use your printer. You could do it many ways: you
could take a piece of wood and carve it or you could take a piece
of plastic and cut it or you could press a button, and it will make
it. You will use your printer. lt will be easy, it will be everyday, and
kids will do that like that. lt's one of those technologies where
your kids will ask you one day, 'ls it true that when you were a kid,
you didn't have it? How come? 1here has been life before that?'"
The experts predict the future of S0 printing
12
kndre Wegner, 60 el kuIhenIise
l think that in !5 years, !0 of everything that's
manufactured will be 3D printed. 3D printing's had
an interesting trajectory over the last ten years. ln
200! we produced virtually nothing that was made
on a 3D printer, nothing that was made for primary
use, it was all functional or raw prototypes. Now
20 of use cases are for manufacturing.
ll of that is in-house stuf - for example, oeing
making parts for its plane or CL making fuel
nozzles for jet engines or Nike making its boots.
ll of those are done in-house or by trusted third
parties. ut once you start getting comfortable
with internal production, you can start outsourcing
it, and then that results in a more distributed
landscape - the idea that you can make 3D printed
parts wherever they are needed.
Lvery year there's an oil spill the size of the Culf
oil spill somewhere in the world, and a lot of that is
due to spare parts not being available. lf you could
get the right spare parts at the right time in the
right place, if you can suggest a new solution to
that, it's a very good way of doing business."
0eniel 6ewen, 6e-leunder el 30eedler
l think there'll be three main advances. One is that
the prices are going to plummet. People are getting
better at sourcing components, they're getting
better at building things efciently, and l think that
monopolistic approach is going to disappear.
Secondly, the software is going to improve,
there are so many areas where it can improve.
Software has to get to a point where anyone can
create a 3D model and print it easily. For example,
right now, it's hard to take a 2D photo and create
a model from it, that'll need to be improved. ut
just generally it'll need to be easier for people to
manipulate CD and create 3D models.
1he third thing is that it'll become more integrated.
1here'll be more fles and archives online and it'll be
easier for people to share and understand the fles
that they're putting into their 3D printer."
WIKIN 15 P8, 1% OF
vPKING WILL D
PPIND

CNIK\|K'||'
llk kkI 8k60klk6
lk05kI, 30
Pklklk6 kk5 kk0
l5 lklk 5kkk 0l
60kk0k5l5.
r r||rc|cj rc n||
|c||||r| ||| r|||
|c || |r||| r
|rr|c ||cj|c| |||c
| r |n |r
|| |cr ||| c | r
c-c| |n|r| r
|r ||' r |nj|r
|| 4c|e|, |cr e\n|e, w:
:c |crr||ei |{ ||e w{ ||:
':|e' e\|c:|re, i{rn||e, w:
erce|rei : r |r:|raner| c|
ie|| ||| |e :e| a r|te |ari
|cr nt|rj cccn||:|ner|:
|r crier |c j|re ||: rne ncre
c:|||re ccrrc|||cr:.
||\e re||{ nac| erer{|||rj
e|:e, ||er, |r :||e c| ||e nr{
w{: J| r|r||rj cr c|er||||{
|nrcre car ||re:, ||ere re |:c
|c|: c| w{: || cr |e a:ei |e::
rc||{. |||caj| ||e |ec|rc|cj{
|: cr|{ |eer r||||e |c ||e
jerer| a|||c |cr |ew {er:,
ec|e |re |rei{ |cari
|ew ccr|rcrer:|| |||rj: |c ic
w||| ||.
6uns
fa h s had-gabbg us f
a da as h a,
, f a fug d gu h
gu as h f f sbud,
a sa baa gasa s
u b d Ws h a f h
gasa, adg s bs, s
dfd h b f ua ass
as as guaad b h d Sas
su", ad 's d a had
s
Wh f sbud as fs s
u, auhd a dCC aag
as bu a h
aag's ga as ,, ugh
bu a ad ugh fa f
sa as f h gu Wh h
s, h had aad ,
das, bu Ws sa ha
, baus dCC shu d h
aag bf s d da h s's
s ad ds hb a f
usg h s as f a,
ad a h das s ba h
ds u ha dd' u Ws f, ad
s h f sbud bs as
ag
das d
S, f
sbud dd'
ha h
bu a
ugh, s sad
h gasa ddd d
h h f h , Saass,
fud u ha as gg b usd
f, sd , sdg a a
h f Ws bf h
had a ha g u f h b
ad a hs fs
hs sbas sd a
f sbud dd
fsh s , hugh, ad b a
, Ws had a g
ubbd 'h ba', h hadgu as
as d h -
d a as a a usd as a fg ,
bu h ha ha, h h hg a
u f a d as aab f
fg bus
s had-gabbg us f
da as h a,
g d gu h
f f sbud,
sa baa gasa s
Ws h a f h
, adg s bs, s
b f ua ass
ad b h d Sas
" ad 's d a had
ag
das d
S, f
sbud dd'
ha h
bu a
ugh, s sad
h gasa ddd d
127
Cotovsis
Sy t 1 tt
nyon mt l to pnt
un n t own om
wtout ny kn o ln
o ulton to top tm
ptty tnn n t
t tt to un woul
m o plt n tu y
to nk pt mtl tto
nto uppoly u
loton ont lp mtt
owv wtn ou y o
t to l on onln
ty to tkn own
n 1 S ptmnt o
Stt k n tut
to tk own t l wl
t nvtt wt o
not t tuton o 3
pntl l ount volton o t
ntntonl 1 n m ulton
t t tm o wtn to
nvtton w tll onon om 3
pntn tll nw nou tt t lw
nt ut m llown o t yt
w mn t plnty o ttl to
ov t n t llt o mkn
un t om n t S ptty omplx
ly lon y onult
lwy n n not lln wpon
ntly wtn t to pnt
own wpon plly n ol
m ln
t mn to n wt o not
ll llow to tut t l
o ot popl to opy ut n t ou
y t to l w onln ty
w pupotly ownlo mo tn
!00000 tm n tt mn ty tll
out t poly tll n Culp
kM 5kimmers
not touln u o 3
pnt om om t ot o
t wol Syny pol v pot n o
mnl un 3 pnt v to tl popl t
tl om1 o y tv v n onn v
tt t ov t lot o mn uully wt
m to o lon wt tm to tl mony om t nk
ount o unwy u ut to v u to ly y
to pot n ty m om unuul mtl o ty
nt olou om t t o t mn o ty ovouly
uly tool
1nk to 3 pntn tnoloy tou tv n now
mk tt kmm n to t p mn
n lmot ompltly unnotl n u 3 pnt
n mk pt ukly kmm tt n ov n
toy n ukly pl too
t not l ow mny o t v n m ut n
un 20!0 t ln 3 pntn uu tl pot
tt t v n o o utom 1kmm t
ln to pnt t pt n m t known pully tt t woul
nv pou v tt uppot mnl tvty ut t
nt n uk to on wt t pt w tn oul
v on ntly tl lo pont out tt t v
w vy wll n n poly woulv n mpol
to ntt om pop 1lot t op t woul
mm nt mn to t t o pnt lw
ss s si i si s s v v si ov ov ov tov o to ot t t Co o Co Coo ov t CCCC v Co
t
o pnt

n
m
n t
woul
tu y
tto
u
lp mtt
ou y o
on onln
kn own
ptmnt o
n tut
t l wl
wt o
uton o 3
ount volton o t
l 1 n m ulton

kM 5kimmers
not touln u o 3
pnt om om t ot o
t wol Syny pol v pot n o
mnl un 3 pnt v to tl popl t
tl om1 o y tv v n onn v
tt t ov t lot o mn uully wt
m to o lon wt tm to tl mony om t nk
ount o unwy u ut to v u to ly
to pot n ty m om unuul mtl o ty
t olou om t t o t mn o ty o
tv n no

? lt gets orse. Daid Larence and

Lric Van lbert, stdents from the Hassachsetts lnstitte
of 1echnolog, hae deised a a of sing 3D printers to
dplicate high secrit kes. 1he kind of kes that come
ith a 'do not dplicate' arning printed on them to tell
ke ctters not to make copies. 1he kind of kes that hae
been speciall designed to be difclt to cop, becase
the tend to open important kinds of locks.
1he stdents' method basicall consisted of scanning
the kes ith a fatbed scanner, creating a 3D model
based on the scan in a softare tool the'd created
themseles and then sending the fles to print. ecase
the didn't hae their on printer, the ploaded the fles
to Shapeas and i.Haterialise and, sre enogh, the
printed kes the got back orked.
No, in order to make their copied kes, Larence and
Van lbert frst needed access to the original ke in order
to scan it, so it's not like their method lets anone print
kes to anthing ill nill. Neertheless, it does open
p ne potential secrit fas, as anone ith access
to a ke can no make a cop for themseles - or een
distribte the fles to let eerone else print a cop too.
1he're not the onl ones to hae fgred ot ho to
3D print kes either. t a hacking conference in 2!2,
a hacker knon onl as 'Pa' demonstrated ho he'd
managed to 3D print a handcf ke. gain, he'd had to
get access to the kes frst, bt that might not alas be
the case.
1alented 3D modellers hae been able to model
orking kes jst from photographs of the originals.
Yo might be ondering here anone old get
a photograph of a high-secrit ke from, and the
anser is a little ironic: on at least to occasions,
hackers hae been able to replicate kes based on
photos sed to illstrate online articles abot eactl
that topic.
1he Ne York Post had to pll don an article that
had been illstrated ith a photo of a Ne York Cit fre
eleator master ke - hich are onl spposed to be
aailable to fremen and engineers - and Forbes posted a
photograph, taken b one of its reporters on his iPhone,
of a handcf ke.
oth photos led to models of the kes being made and
distribted online, hich is possibl a bit embarrassing
for the otlets inoled. t it also jst goes to sho ho
carefl e'll all need to be in ftre. Sho or hose
kes to the rong person at the rong moment and o
might fnd the're able to let themseles in later on to
reliee o of or alables.

/|ENED 3D
MDE||E|S
/\E BEEN
/B|E MDE|
w|K|NG KEYS
JdS ||M
PG|/PS

6epyrighI lnlringemenIs
tu tee e rereet e t vury ue
3D rt tey, tey ry ret te t tt
w uttey ed t tter reut 3D rter we,
exet ye te u e, te t tt ue t
ered ut yrt reet ver te t ew
yer, weve ee te teret e te wy u d re
dtruted, d eue te u d dutre weret
ute eu t t , t rt r re w y
rted e t te dvet rde, ey
t ue e 3D rter, ud te e t
e t y d
redy, tere ve ee ew e
wre ver 3Ddeed et tt
e ereved r ter
yrt y 22, ety
reted ue de ed
rter e r ure
v reted t d e e
w y wt, ety uded te
de t vere. and promptly
received a takedown notice. Citing the
Digital Hillennium Copyright ct, Cames
Workshop said he had to remove the fles or
face legal action so, sensibly, he took them down.
similar thing happened to Fernando Sosa. s a
fan of Came of 1hrones, he created an iPhone dock based
on the sword-covered throne from the show and ofered it for sale
via his website. 1hen he was contacted by HO, the network that
owns Came of 1hrones and was forced to remove it from sale,
refunding everyone who'd ordered one of the docks.
Fan works tend to be legally problematic at the best of times, but
there's a big diference between fan-fction and fan-made physical
objects, and it's understandable that companies are a bit twitchy
about it. lf you're going to buy merchandise, obviously the licensee
would rather you bought it from them rather than an unofcial
source. nd as 3D printers become more common, you might not
be buying toys from anyone at all - why bother, when you could
just print them out for yourself at home?
pdeIing he lew
1he last few decades have demonstrated
pretty clearly that the law has
trouble keeping up with the march of
technology, things keep becoming
possible that were previously unthought
of (and therefore not legislated against).
1he problem is that the people in
charge don't always understand
what they're trying to
guard against. 1he
seizure of a bunch
of harmless
3D-printed
parts as part
of a raid by
Hanchester
police in
October
2!3 shows
that a better
understanding
of how things
work is needed -
otherwise, headlines
about 3D printed guns
will just lead to hysteria.
Over the next few years, governments
are going to need to fnd some
informed advisors to keep them up to
date about new technological advances
and help them make meaningful laws
to stamp out criminal activity without
stifing innovation in the process. lt'll be
a tricky thing to balance, but getting it
right will prove crucial to both existing
companies and the burgeoning new 3D
printing industry. Let's hope they fgure
it out quickly.

'Haker
Hovement', which, as the name suggests,
is all about making and doing things for
yourself. 1he frst afordable 3D printers were
open source, meaning anyone could make, copy and
alter them, and most of the 3D printing communities
online are based around sharing and collaborating
on models. 1he whole thing has an almost folksy feel
to it sometimes, and 3D printers could be seen as
emblematic as a kind of independent, DY philosophy.
However, as more people get involved in printing
and more companies produce their own consumer
printers, that's going to change. f domestic 3D printing
becomes a commonplace technology, it could be
seriously disruptive to traditional manufacturing. nd
that's either a great or terrifying thing, depending on
who you are and where you currently work.
t's already possible to see how some types of
manufacturer could adapt to take advantage of the
growing popularity of 3D printing. f everyone has a 3D
printer in their homes, for example, then toy companies
could start selling fles to print toys, rather than making
and shipping the fnished objects. 1he same goes for
fashion or jewellery designers, who could potentially
sell exclusive or customised designs to be printed of
by their customers in shops or in their own homes.
Yet there's a faw in that idea that might mean
companies are reluctant to jump on board: once 3D
printed fles have been sold, what's to stop people
producing multiple copies of the object and selling them
on? Lven worse, what's to stop customers sending the
printable fles to their friends or just uploading them to
the internet for everyone to download?
kuIhenIiteIien 5elIwere
Well, there might be ways around that. uthentise
is a start-up dedicated to building systems that will
allow companies to sell one-of fles to customers. ts
W||| Ih| J9 |K|NI|N |N9U'IK
k0 0 8
k6lk0?
k5 30 Pklklk6 860M5 M0k P0Plkk, Wlll 60kk0l5 k0 0 8 lkk0060, kk0 ll 50, k0W?
1S1
Will the S0 printing industry need to e regulated7
"Spotify of 3D printing":
like Spotify, it would allow customers to pay to access
material but not to keep it.
While Spotify lets users stream music (but not save
it), uthentise is working on software that would
allow models to be streamed straight to 3D printers.
1he user would never see the actual model fles and
wouldn't be able to save or redistribute them, while
the uthentise software would monitor the progress of
the print and ensure everything worked smoothly.
1hat kind of system could work either with home 3D
printers or with in-store printers. lmagine going to a
shop and, rather than browsing the shelves, browsing
screen after screen of printable objects. Once you'd
decided what you wanted, you could pay for the fles,
which would be streaming to a 3D printer, and in a
matter of hours your object would be printed.
Okay, so maybe you'd actually order your object at
home, to avoid having to wait around, but the principle
is the same. lt would be like going to rgos, only
instead of all the products being kept in a warehouse,
the backroom storage would just be full of printable
materials. 1he best thing about that too, would be
that the shop would never be out of stock of anything
you want, since it would all be made to order. lt's just
a fantasy scenario right now, but it's not beyond the
realms of possibility.
PrehibiIed liles
s well as worrying about copyright issues, 3D
printing companies are also already trying to come
up with ways to stop their printers being used to print
weapons. Understandably, no one wants their products
to be associated with activities like that Following the
successful fring of the Liberator 3D-printed handgun,
printers and legislators alike have scrambled to fnd
ways to stop more people printing their own frearms.
Create lt PLL, a Danish 3D printer company,
reckons it has a solution: smart software, which
is capable of scanning 3D models and identifying
frearms. Using a set of characteristics associated with
guns, the software then prevents a user from printing
or even viewing a fle that seems to be a gun part.
How accurate the software is and how it's able to
diferentiate between parts used to build a gun and
parts that might be similarly shaped but used for
diferent purposes isn't clear just yet. ut if software
can be developed that can identify certain types of
models, all sorts of restrictions could be introduced into
3D printing. Potentially, companies could pay to have
models that are too similar to their products blocked
from being printed on certain brands of 3D printer. nd
that, too, is something that's either great or terrifying,
depending on your perspective.
legel kesIritIiens
One way or another, it seems the absolute freedom of
being able to print anything you can design (or fnd a
model online for) might have an expiration date. lt's
a little bit sad, but regulation tends to be something
that comes along whenever any new product or
industry becomes mature. Legislation is defnitely
coming: the New York City Council has already
introduced a new law that restricts anyone other than
licensed gunsmiths from making 3D-printed guns, and
that's something that's likely to be brought in in other
places too.
While some enthusiasts will see any attempt to
control their printing activities as overly authoritarian,
the rest of us will probably have to acknowledge that
some restrictions are necessary. 1he ideal situation
would be the introduction of laws that take into
account the fact that technology evolves and only
forbid things being done with 3D printers that would
have been against the spirit of the law anyway. Like, for
example, copyright infringement and the production
of unlicensed weapons. We might never live in a world
where those things don't happen at all, but 3D printing
also shouldn't become a scapegoat for criminal activity
that would have gone on regardless.

J9 |K|NI|N
K|'UKC|'
re rcaaiei a ||e |e:|
we|:||e:, : ai :|c: |c |e|
{ca je| ncre ca| c| I| r|a||aj

Peneke
www.peneke.tem
P a aat f
ut a a b
a bu t a atf
f u tuf a t a
wa f a a
bt tat b t aft
a t t u a f 3
t ata a avaab
u at a
ta a at a a f
ft u t a f
ata fab a a w w a b ut
av a av
My esy 30
sIeples.myeesy3d.tem
a 3 w b
u a Sta, t
au fa t a
fa t at t t
but Sta
a ta u wt
3 t a
w u
a at ta at a a
t ata t
t a tu bt
a at b bu u a
aft a f ata w
t a t a
5hepeweys
www.shepeweys.tem
Sawa at 3 t
ut but u t
u w 3 t t ta
at, t abut bu t atua
bt u a t ua u
w bw tu
t t a
t a w a
f ft ata avaab f
at t u at a
vat f ft ta t
t a f w a f
u u aft Sawa a
t t f u
hingiverse
www.Ihingiverse.tem
f u t v at
u w bt
u f at
v t a t
v ut
u a a wt tat
w a a t
a t tab wt
t w Ow b at t t bt t
f t t wt ta t avaab
t wa f u a a t a fatat
a t w f u t ua u
t ua a f t t tv a a t
u ba t u a u u a
fau wt t 3 t tuat

Webite
1S

Mekielebs
mekie.me
Ala and dign
n dll chanc
Haki a acin dll ha can
b cmid b h bf
h ind and hid
dn nd ha an aicla
dign kill ca dll
j h in-b l
ch dll facial fa,
hand, f, hai and clhing
nc fnihd, click Hak i al and Haki
dll ill b ind h n cha and 99),
but they're carefully fnished and beautifully made.
1here's even a shop full of 3D-printed accessories.
6ubeye
www.tubeye.tem
Cuboyo is aimed at people who
have 3D printers but don't want to
model their own objects. You pay
to download printable fles of any
number of diferent objects, from
dog bowls to toy boats. Prices start
at just $! and all the object pages
give you an estimated printing time
and printing cost, so you know
what you're getting into before you
download anything. lt's at a bit of a disadvantage when it
comes to competing with sites like 1hingiverse, which ofer
fles for free, but if there's something you can't fnd there, it
might be worth checking Cuboyo.
6 Megezine
www.ItImegezine.tem
1C1 stands for '1ime Compression
1echnologies', but don't worry
about that. lt's a website and
magazine (and exhibition and
conference) all about the additive
manufacturing industry. 1he site
ofers news about 3D printing, and
it's aimed at professionals rather
than enthusiasts or hobbyists, so
it might sometimes seem a little
dry, but the writing is sensible
and informative, so if you want to
know what's really going on in the
world of 3D printing, check it out.
Meke
www.mekezine.tem
Hake is a website and magazine
dedicated to all things made. lt's
run by Haker Hedia, the company
behind Haker Faire, so the focus
is on doing exciting things for
yourself. 1he 3D printing section
is huge, there are news stories,
features, videos and dozens of
projects. Hake also reviews the
latest 3D printers, so if you're
considering buying one, you can
fnd out which might be best
for you. 1he site also covers
programming and crafting.
1S
ll I0'k lkk50 lk
llk0lk6 0 M0k 0k
6lk6 5kk0 Wlk 30
Pklklk6, kk kk l05 0l
W85l5 kk 6kk klP.
0 printing webite

6ubily
www.tubily.tem
A the sa 3D ritig services are fere this
site: y ca sh fr 3D rite bjects, y ca
wa es t rit at he r y ca create
ew esigs reay fr ritig. lts we by 3D
ystes, which aes
Cbe 3D riters -
hece the ae Cbify.
1he sh has a ecet
seecti f ites,
icig he cr
a sica istrets.
Hay f the es y
ca wa are free,
a the eig ts
rvie are sie a
ititive. 1here are eve
as fr ritig secia
es f yrsef.
MyMiniletIery
www.myminiletIery.tem
1he ie atfr assciate with iHar, HyHiiFactry
ries itsef tw thigs: ferig es free a
ferig es that efitey rit yr he
riter. 1he site taes it acct the caabiities a
iitatis f the crret geerati f cser-eve
3D riters a aes sre a es its site wi wr
rery withi thse araeters. Csierig it y
ache i Hay 3, theres a ecet-sie city
there areay, a its
grwig a the tie.
HyHiiFactry as
has a fr fr y
t f i if theres a
bject y wat that
it hast gt, a if
yre cy a esiger
wi ce ag a
ff yr reest
5tulpIee
www.stulpIee.tem
Base i Frace, cte
is e f the best-w
ie ritig services.
lt fers as t he
y esig bjects a
a ritig service that
ca rit yr stf i a
wie rage f iferet
aterias, fr the
staar astics t etas
a eve wax. 1here are
iteractive wrshs that
et y esig a the
rer bjects a, as y
exect, theres a secti
where y ca set yr w sh t se yr
wares r by rite bjects create by thers.
Mixee lebs
www.mixeelebs.tem
Hixee Labs fers a atfr fr
cstisabe bjects, s esigers
ca fer eess recfgrabe
versis f their esigs witht
eeig t w hw t ce a 3D
ritig a. ia the Hixee Labs site,
y f a srts f cstisabe
rcts, fr s t g tags t
jeweery a cfis. 1he sites ga
is t ae everythig sie, s y
jst chse a rct, cic thrgh t
the i-brwser esig t a twea
the rct t yr iig. 1he cic
t by a yr bject wi be rite
a eivere t y. lts e f the
easiest, getest itrctis t 3D
eig a ritig ar.

i.meIerielise
www.i.meIerielise.tem
Anohe in he eaonably
coded online D ining
eice makelace,
i.maeialie i baed in
Belgim and iche iel
a he moe dicening
deigne. 1hee a ange
o D modelling oae
aailable hogh he
ie and he obligaoy
makelace, b he main
hing he ie home age
he i i.maeialie
D ining eice. l yo hae he fle, ill in hem
and in hem ell. 1he ange o maeial i iably
imeie, inclding mlile kind o laic inclding
ainbo and anaen one, aio dieen ye o
meal, ceamic and a ihy bbe-like maeial.
0l6k0
delted.tem
Alhogh i ill ealy day, hi migh be he mo
conoeial, diie D ining ie on he eb
hen i lly and nning. Ceaed by he eole
behind Deence Diibed, he D-ined gn
deigne, i aiming o be he Piae Bay o hyical
objec. l hold oide donload o almo
anyhing yo can hink o, hehe o no i old
ally be oeced by coyigh, and aleady, in i
alha hae, he ie ha moe han ,000 fle in i
libay. l i he DlY, oen-oce, defan elemen o
D ining
aeal
o yo,
hi ie
cold be
a alable
eoce.
kuIedesk T230
www.T23depp.tem/design
Aodek ell a ange o D
modelling oae, b i alo
ha eeal ee online a
Deign i one o hem. l
aily iniie, b hee ae
alo exenie oial on he
ie, l o om i
yo need moe hel. eed
ome iniaion? 1hee
a galley o objec ohe
eole hae deigned ing
he a. Alhogh i imle,
i hold be ohiicaed
enogh o mo deign ojec, and he fnihed model
can be ined on mo home D ine. A ell a he
eb eion, yo can donload Deign o yo Hac,
PC o able o e ofine. lf it was any better, Autodesk
might be in danger of not selling much of its software.
30-PrinIing.neI
www.3d-prinIing.neI
Haybe it's wrong for us to blow
our own trumpet, but we're going
to anyway. 3D-Printing.net is our
regularly updated 3D news site,
where you'll fnd news, analysis and
dodgy jokes every weekday. As 3D
printing becomes more popular,
we're expanding our site, recruiting
new writers and generally working
on making it the best 3D printing site
on the web. As well as telling you all
the latest from the major players, we
make sure to regularly feature indie
designers who are doing interesting
things with the technology and to
fag up any Kickstarter campaigns
that deserve your backing.

J9 |K|NI|N /||'
6ubily 0rew
ler i05 devites lree
Create D printable les with
this free esign app. Yo can
raw freehan or import images
from or phones photo
librar to raw aron. 1hen
ore onl a few taps an tweaks from creating a D
printable le. 1he app connects to the Cbif site, as
o might expect, so o can orer or object to be
printe there or if ove got a D printer at home,
o can export or object as an S1 le to print ot.
ts mch, mch easier than tring to learn to se
elaborate CD software, bt its also a lot simpler, an
oll onl be able to crate simple shapes. Still, for
beginners, its prett woner-inspiring.
Mekrz
ler i05 devites lree
akr is another online
commnit for esigning an
sharing D printable objects, an
this app lets o easil browse
an ownloa les from that
commnit. 1he app is esigne so that o can
browse b image, so oll see exactl what ore
getting. Yo can qee ownloas, if ove fon
a lot of things o want to save, an or akr
accont can snc with a Dropbox accont, so all or
ownloas will be waiting for o on or compter
when o sit own to o some printing. 1he apps
creators have several more featres in the works, so
itll onl get more sefl with time.
hingiverse
ler i05 devites lree
1his new app b akerot lets
o browse the 1hingiverse
commnit from an iPhone. Yo
can search b categor, incling
Poplar an New or se the
search fnction to n exactl the D printable moel
o want. Yo can also a or own images, so if
ove D printe an object sing a 1hingiverse moel,
o can snap a photo on or phone an ploa it
to the object page withot having to mess aron
transferring the pictre to or compter. ts basicall
jst a slightl more convenient wa of sing 1hingiverse
from a mobile evice, bt if ore an avi 1hingiverse
ser, that might be exactl what o want.
k0 5llk6 k I0k 60MPk? kk kk PlkI 0l
kPP5 I0 6kk 5 0 05l6k kk0 0k0k 30 Pklk5 0k
l5 6k6k 0 30 Pklklk6-klk0 klk65
30 PrinIing 5tulpIee 0esign Meker
ler i05 devites lree
Using this app, o can esign an
orer or own D-printe objects
within certain parameters, at
least. 1he app oers o several
ierent objects, incling a
mg, a vase an an iPhone case, which o can tweak
an personalise then sen to a Sclpteo printer to be
elivere to o. 1here arent man apps that can oer
to trn an image of or face into a mg, so thats
prett impressive 1he interface is clean an slick an
mae to be se with toch-screens.

Printing Apps
1S9
Meker0reid
ler kndreid devites lree
h n mn
pining pp ill
ni i
lp n u
n i f hn hink
u ni l
ni u will
n pin lil whil unil hing g
u h i l n pp h wh
iniging hugh ki piul knwn
in i n pp h l u l hp
hn n i in ml pin
w igh nw n i nl n lph l
u i h h pnil ll ining in
uu u h pin n ni i
n n npiing pii u migh l u i
mhing whwhil
T230 6eIth
ler i05 devites lree
nh w u u ihn
m mk ml in h u
k i phgph n j upl
hm in h pp n hn l i pl m
h img mk ml i fl
n u ph n p g kn m
ull ng ngl wkl ml
u gin i wh ing ll h pp
n k lil whil p u img in
n ml ull
n pin u i h
mpl in h pp gll
nhing g i
wh ining lil
im in mking i wk
T230 6reeIure
ler i05 devites lree
ik h hi pp w
lp uk whih
knw i w un mlling
hi pp i ign pifll
i n n pup
nl ing u u gging jin
in pl m kln n hn u wigh
n h u uing h pp ulping u
inll u n lu n u n ing u
u li n u h n in-pp u
wh u n phil pin u u
li u h pp mk u u
u i mmil n pinl u n ju g
n wih mking i wi n wnul u lik
rimensienel
ler i05 devites E0.69
hi hn pp un u ihn i in pl
nn ing h m u n pu j in
h imnin hn i hm uing ng in
ning m h u hugh i u wn un
n u ml in pinl fl ull n
mk n in-pp puh n h fl whih i i
nk n i n p g g ul u n
nk up h ighn n u
ihn n un u ll h ligh
in h kgun ill mp
wih uing nn i
lil n inpni w
pimn wih mking pinl
pi iing j
1S9 1S9

66ede 5imuleIer end PrinIer

ler kndreid devites ET.70
n hk i ml i ging in
l hi ni ill nl -
fl hk hill ll k ing ighl
l imlin h in n n n l
gi n im in im nm l
n j igh
n i h fnih
j
k ih
in hl
k ih h in
h in ih
limi hk
miili f
kuIe030
ler i05 end kndreid devites E20.99
migh g m h i hi in l
h j n l ih igning i
il i gm ill m mil
i i i ng ing n iing
l n i n fnih ml in ng
m inling n fl h
l mk i lk ml m
ng in ngl hih
i l hn hinking
j n
n n 1he learning
curve is a bit steeper than some
of the more basic apps, but
there's a lot more here.
5l iewer Pre
ler kndreid devites lree
Want to vieour S1L fles
on the go? 1hen ou need S1L
Vieer Pro. Created b Solid
1echnologies, it does prett
much hat ou'd epect. You
import our S1L fles and then
use the app to visualise it. You can pan and rotate our
model and save screenshots of it from various angles,
if necessar. You can't order a print straight from the
app, but it ill let ou email our fles from S1L Vieer
to Solid 1echnologies, hich ill be able to give ou a
pricing estimate for getting it printed. 1he developer is
orking on nefeatures and is open to requests, so if
this doesn't do hat ou ant no, it might in future.
kuIe6k0 360
ler i05 end kndreid devites
lree
Here's another CD app for all
ould-be designers among us.
1he free features of this app
alloou to draand edit 3D
sketches. 1hose sketches can
be saved in the cloud to be
orked on via the app or on a PC, and ou can open fles
in the other direction too, to see on our phone hat ou
ere orking on on our computer. Sharing is built in. lf
ou ant to use the pro features, though, ou'll need to
pa for an utoCD 36 Pro subscription, hich starts at
$4.99 a month. nd ou can't 3D print straight from the
app, ou'll need to convert the fles and make sure the're
printable. Still, for modelling, it's orth tring.
S0 Prt Apps
11
Metube
ler i05 devites lree
Hcu vy
n h yu
c un
cu Ph
hn nn wy
u n w
u u hw D
c w u
whn un n hyc c wn h
yu u n cn cu cu n
c un hy h h yu wn n hn
yu nh c hwy l y
wh n h nh c
cy w h y uch h u c
n w hn c
MensIerMeIit
ler i05 devites 86
A h wn h
hn unch y
u h hv y h
yu h cu
h c c
h un h
u HnHc h
u n n l y
n nchn n n h
h hy y h hy unc A
w n vn u u w
chn h cu n h h n n
h D nn c u n l y
u nh D nn vnu h
nn n h h h chny
Mekies 0ell letIery
ler i05 devites lree
1h Dn cny h
n h yu n yu
vy wn n h v n
h yu cn u
whch cu n
vy wy yu cn ch n hn ch
cn y h uh n
h hn n n cu n hn
ch n cc 1hn yu cn ch
hv yu vy wn 0 uy n
n n yu 1h n n uchn
yu n hv wy u uyn
hhy yu n uh uch n
n yu c c h hyc
e8ey xetI
ler i05 devites lree
By D nn
cuny ny v
cu n h n
whch wh
nn 1h nn
ucn n u wh
D nn x cu HB n H
Fcy c h whch u ch n
n n n n n
c hn h n n n h
1h n ny n c v y n h
hn h v n y vuny
y wy n ncnc u w
y u uv nywy h ny uc
unch n h n u w n hn u h
11
J9 |K|NI|N
'h|'
kk kk 5kkl 5k0P5 kk0k0 k W0kl0
00l6k0 0 5lllk6 30 Pklkk5 kk0
Mkklkl5. l'5 kk k l00k.
|r||rj |ec|rc|cj je|: ncre ca|r ri ncre ||cri||e, J
r|r|er: re :|r||rj |c n\e ||e|r w |r|c ||j| :|ree| :|c:. rer
||e :| er, re|||er: |rc|ai|rj H||r, \||e:, ri |C Wcr|i |re
rrcarcei ||| ||e're jc|rj |c |e :|cc\|rj J r|r|er: |r ||e|r :|cre:
ri cr ||e|r we|:||e:, ri w|||e ||e're cr| c||er|rj cca|e c|
ncie|: r|j|| rcw, ca cr jarr|ee ||ere'|| |e ncre c|c|ce :ccr.
cwerer, w|||e njcr e|ec|rcr|c: c||r: re cr| ja:| :|r||rj |c
i| ||e|r |ce: |r|c ||e ii|||re nra|c|ar|rj w|er:, ||ere re c||er
|a:|re::e: iei|c|ei :c|e| |c J r|r||rj. r er| IIJ, ||e ||jje:|
J r|r||rj :|c |r ||e wcr|i cerei ||: iccr: |c ||e a|||c. |H\r,
|cc|ei cr C|er\erwe|| |ci |r |cricr, c||er: crer I,J :are |ee|
c| r|r|er:, ||ner|, ri r|r|ei c|jec|:. \||| crer |wc |ccr:, ||
c||er: reja|r wcr\:|c:, r|r|-cr-ienri |c|||||e:, ri |r|eri|
ir|ce cr erer :ec| c| J r|r||rj.
Meking PrinIers kttessible
repreneur Sylvain Preumont, iHakr prides
itself on customer service. 1he store is bright, airy and
aspirational, with 3D-printed objects displayed on the
walls. lt doesn't feel like a technology shop, and there's
nothing intimidating about it: there are several printers
working all the time, and the staf are happy to help. iHakr
is focused on the consumer end of the 3D printing market
rather than the industrial end, but it does work with some
small businesses too. Preumont feels that 3D printing will
become an everyday technology within the next decade or
so and wants to help make people feel comfortable with it.
We are focusing on afordable technology, because
our aim is to bring this technology to the general public,"
Preumont says. We know the high-end, expensive
machines very well, and we use them and sell objects
that have been printed on them, but we don't sell those
machines. We sell the machines that the average person
would buy.
We don't just sell the machines and forget about them,
we service our customers. We have a large support service
with talented engineers who know each and every machine
we sell. We're the only ones, as far as we know, to do that. "

duteIing he Messes
t tuy s 3 rtrs t v
mr tr utut r try rt s tm yurs
m mssv r t t wy yu t ut 3
rt yu'v vr t r s t
rs s r mr xt t v wt v
r's strt t ms t ms 3 rt sm
r ss t w mt t trws v
v r t ty
urs t str s't ust m t mt rs, s
w s t rtrs r s ss mt sr rts
rs trss srvs s ustmrs v y rms
wt tr rtrs ut rumt sys ts t utr t
sm s usts rm wu ustmrs t str
ust s s t sy t s yur w t t
t rt" sys swr tt wt t tr ts
w v str t's sy stu wt mutr rtr
sm ts w'v rr v y
smt wur struts strt rm
wt ur ty v wt t t tr s
t's mw xr ust ur yu
sm rm t wr's sv
w'v y r ut 3 rt t t y
w w'v s rt smt tt's
vry xt"
k kelping kend
tr ust s us s wt m t rt
wt ts 't wt t s ts" sys rumt ur
swr s ytrym, t's trm r
t t tt ty w t r r rt t"
r vts vry t tt ts u t ts ytry
trm t m sur t tuy sussuy rt
mst 3 rtrs t s urs r ts
rm ss sts t susss rms t w rts
v t w r t's rtty mz rsur
tt rumt ss s wr s t ys r
str t rv sy ss 3 rt t ustmrs
3 rt s t m mstrm t w'r
t mr strs ts ut r s strt
t yrs my w' t t s t rst my
sst 3 rt strs z tr r trs t w
he Meker8eI 5Iere
s w r t rt tr s t m
ms sts ts rt u uy
t wst rt rtrs srs r
s w s u mt rry urs
str s ss 3rt ts yu
ust wt suvr tr's rw um
ms tt st ut ty 3rt ts r
t s sts rur wrss vts
he 30 PrinIer xperiente
3 rtr xr sts mr t
2 rtrs str ut t's mr us
xrs t mrs tvr yu wt
t rt wt 3 rtr t xr w
yu u t t t t rt
us tr stwr t s yur w ts r
v ust t st yu'v rw t
tr srs tur t t 3 m

30 prinIing seunds reelly

templiteIed end luIurisIit,
is iI reelly geing Ie beteme
temmenplete?
A e dea e a ce
ceae a ca bec d e cece c,
ea D ec a bee
ad ce e 80s, and lots of big companies
have been using it for decades to either produce
prototypes or actual products for sale.
A few years ago, 3D printing was something
only experts could do and only businesses could
really aford. Now, though, the technology has
become much more accessible, largely thanks to
organisations like PepPap and HakerBot. Lots of
other companies are making domestic 3D printers
now, and they're starting to become easy enough
to use and cheap enough to buy that anyone with
a bit of patience and willingness to learn can start
making 3D-printed objects. And prices are only
likely to go down further, so it'll be accessible to
even more people as time goes on.
30 medelling seunds
inIimideIingly diltulI.
kew ten l geI sIerIed il
l'm e beginner?
For starters, you can learn a
lot about it in this book lf you're still
feeling a bit intimidated, though, a
good place to start is online. 1here
are lots of 3D printing services that let
you customise objects using simple
browser-based interfaces and then
order a 3D printed model of your
object to be sent to you in the post.
1hat's a pretty gentle way to get
started with 3D printing, and anyone
can do it. Once you've seen for yourself
how amazing it is to get a completely
unique model made just for you,
you'll want to move onto trying out
some free 3D-modelling software, and
uploading your fles to 3D printing
services to be printed, and maybe even
buying your own printer after that.
Where ten l ge il l wenI semeene Ie
Ieeth me hew Ie use e 30 prinIer?
3D printing workshops are starting to pop up all over the
country, so check out your local schools and universities
tosee if anyone's runningany classes. lf not, youcouldpay
a visit to a dedicated 3D printing service or shop to see
printers in action. Hany shops run workshops too, where
you'll get one-on-one tuition in 3D modelling software
and printing.

60 05l0k5? kk kk 50M 0l6k kk5Wk5.

Will 30 prinIing reelly thenge enyIhing?
lt ey to be cepticl bout new technologicl
innovtion Lqully, it ey to get oveexcited
nd decle ech newgdget gme-chnge
thtll oeve lte the wy we think bout the wold
3D pinting i ledy petty embedded in mnuctuing, though,
nd the ide tht the vege peon will be ble to mke thing
o themelve t home i petty exciting
kren'I 30 prinIers
expensive end herd Ie use?
lt depend on you defnition
o expenive 3D pinte
deigned o hobbyit tt
om ound E nowdy, which int
exctly chep, but it not hoiyingly
expenive eithe
he downide o the elly chep pinte
i tht they tend to ume level o
expetie on the pt o the ue they
oten come kit, o intnce, o youd
hve to be willing to pend time building
you pinte beoe you cn mke nything
Hoe expenive model e oten plug-
nd-ply though, nd they uully come
with dedicted otwe to ee you
though the whole poce, omdeigning
n object to fnihing you pint
WheI kinds el Ihings
ten l prinI?
At the moment, home
pinte cn only elly ue
couple o dieent kind o
themopltic hey tend not to hve
huge build envelope eithe, o you cn
only pint eltively mll thing But
tht till men you cn mke thing
like toy, keying, phone ce, nd
ny numbe o tool nd eplcement
piece tht youd nomlly hve to buy
becue theye too dicult to mke
nce you knowhowyou pinte wok,
youll fnd ll ot o ue o it

6en l prinI in mulIi-teleurs?

ht depend on the kind
o pinte Hot conume
pinte only hve ingle
extude hed, which men
you cn only ue one colou o
mteil t time ome hve
dul o tiple extude, which
men you cn pint in two o
thee colou t once
Lven
poeionl
3D pinting
evice cn
uully only pint in one colou
t time, but tht depend on
the mteil ome mteil
cn be mixed with ink nd
pinted in ull colou, but thoe
e unuul
ls new Ihe righI Iime Ie buy e 30 prinIer?
3D pinte e contntly getting moe dvnced
nd chepe l you buy one, chnce e within
ye theell be bette, chepe model on the
mket But becue 3D pinting i becoming moe
popul, nd ince it ledy eonbly odble, i you do wnt
to get on bod ely, nowi petty good time to buy pinte

ll l geI reelly geed eI meking 30-prinIed medels,

hew ten l sell Ihem Ie eIher peeple?
ht depend i you wnt to mnuctue them
ll youel l you wnt to mke nd ell model,
you cn do tht though the uul kind o online
elling webite, like eBy, Lty o Folky l you dont
wnt to pint them ll t home, though, you cn uplod
you fle to ite like hpewy, whee people cn py to
hve hpewy pint them - nd you get cut o the poft

ditcriaI (roduced by SLtd)
Srh obbs, vid Hywrd nd Simon rew
rt irectcr Lur ssmore
Prcducticn ditcr nthony Fnticknp
igitaI Prcducticn Nanager Nicky ker
HNFHFN
Nagcck PubIisher hrmesh Histry
0peraticns irectcr obin yn
N cf dvertising Ju|in L|oyd-Fvns
Newstrade irectcr vid rker
N cf nterprise Hrtin e|son
hief 0perating 0mcer rett eyno|ds
rcup inance irectcr In Leggett
hief xecutive Jmes ye
hairman Fe|ix ennis
he Hgook brnd is trdemrk of ennis ub|ishing Ltd.
30 C|eve|nd St, London W! 4J. Compny registered in
Fng|nd. || mteri| ennis ub|ishing Ltd, |icensed by Fe|den
20!4, nd my not be reproduced in who|e or prt without the
consent of the pub|ishers.
he U|timte uide o 3 rinting ISN !-78!06-309-5
LICFNSIN & SYNICIN
o |icense this product p|ese contct Cr|ott Serntoni on
+44 (0) 20 79076550 or emi| cr|ott_serntoni_dennis.co.uk
o syndicte content from this product p|ese contct n[ os[
H|i on +44(0) 20 7907 6!32 or emi| n[_dos[-h|i_dennis.co.uk
LIILIY
Whi|e every cre ws tken during the production of this
Hgook, the pub|ishers cnnot be he|d responsib|e for the
ccurcy of the informtion or ny consequence rising from
it. ennis ub|ishing tkes no responsibi|ity for the compnies
dvertising in this Hgook.
he pper used within this Hgook is produced from sustinb|e
bre, mnufctured by mi||s with v|id chin of custody.
rinted t o|estr icester.
Ih| U|I|/I| U|9| I
J9 |K|NI|N
9i:terer wle|
i|': je::i|le |e
ie wi|l
J9 jrir|irj

www.magbooks.com