The History of 3D Printing

 

In the early 1980s, S. Scott Crump submitted a patent for Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), a new process for manufacturing objects by adding layers of thermoplastic material. After his patent was approved, he and his wife started a company called Stratasys. This new industry grew rapidly, and fought for contracts in industrial prototyping with mass-market manufacturers. In 1987, three companies released their first commercial FDM printers and three more followed soon after.

The first patents related to 3D printing were issued in 1954 by Raymond F. Jones. He described it as a "molecular spray." In 1953, Johannes F Gottwald patented a machine known as the Liquid Metal Recorder. This machine used a liquid metal to form a reusable surface for fabrication. The resulting object can then be salvaged and printed again. The Liquid Metal Recorder appears to be the first patent describing 3D printing.

Stereolithography was introduced in 1981 by Hideo Kodama, who developed a technique called stereolithography. In 1987, Chuck Hull, then of 3D Systems, invented the first 3D printer. Other expensive systems followed, but once the patents expired in 2009, the cost of these machines fell dramatically. The advent of more affordable and reliable 3-D printers made it affordable to more people, and today, most homes have one.

CAD files and 3D scanners are necessary for using a 3D printer. The parts can be made of almost any material and can be customised to any size and shape. With this process, you do not need a mould or block of material to create a customized product. This way, you can create an object with a unique design. You do not need to be a master to use CAD software. Even amateurs can create a custom design.

Many 3D printers come with software suites, which can be downloaded and installed on your computer. The software suite usually includes a program for controlling the printer and a slicer for the objects that are created. The slicer automatically formats the object file and sets up the machine to print the desired shapes. It can even be used to create complex objects that require less material. It can even be used to produce prototypes for product-based startups.

3D printing originated as a concept for prototyping. The first 3D printer was patented in 1984 by Charles Hull and was called the Stereolithography Apparatus (SLA). As more people realized the value of the technology, the company began to manufacture machines and sold prototypes. The technology quickly spread, and in 2009, the first commercial 3D printer, the SLA-1, was released to the public.

The 3D printing process begins with a virtual design. The virtual design is produced with a computer-aided design (CAD) program. This software can create precise drawings or technical illustrations for a product. A 3D scanner can also create a virtual model from an existing object. The virtual model is then broken down into layers called slicing. During the process of building a model, the model is separated into thin, horizontal layers, called a'slice'.