The 2012 3D Printing Media Darling

Saras is not that far off in a previous reply, because of recent acquisitions and some rather lame tech/geek media appearances by entrepreneurs - 3D printing has made it to the spotlight in 2012, mostly on fumes and false pretense.

3D printing in it's current "portable" form has been around since the early 90's, SLA (stereo-lithography) has been around since the mid 80's. SLA machines which use liquid resin have not changed very much at all in the last 25 years. Walter Reed Army Medical Center has been using SLA technology to "print" prosthetic's for injured war-fighters for years - they also use that technology to create visual surgical aids and mocks for implants, this is nothing new.

Now referred to as "additive" manufacturing, 3D printing holds promise in several areas, particularly as earlier noted - in the medical and mold industries. The latter though, will call into question the entire legal/copyright infringement process as items with creative content are "3D printed". But lets get real as it applies to the everyday consumer... which is why this technology is making the headlines recently - low cost 3D printing for the "household".

Low end 3D printing devices ($500 to $5000) are crap, aside from the techno geek spendthrift who wants to tinker with a glorified glue gun to make an ambiguous facsimile in 3D plastic goop that only they may be able to recognize - 3D printing is a long way from any useful insertion into the modern consumer household. Printing a pair of 3D Shoes will cost you upwards of $300 in semi-durable material stock and be completely useless when it comes to wearing them - shelf objects only.

Machines that are capable of producing truly durable items with any degree of accuracy start at $50K and rise to over $1M (that's million) dollars - higher degree's of accuracy in reproduction and ascending material capabilities drive the cost of these machines so high that only the elite of the elite corporations can afford these machines. This has not changed in the last ten years and is unlikely to change anytime in the immediate future.

What has changed; really good stepper motor/controller electronic technology, bound with decent open source g-code processing software has made it to the land of the common man. All of which means... if you want spend a $1000 on something that melts ABS plastic in to a semi-recognizable pile of goo, then consider yourself an official geek. Practical application for the consumer is not here - yet. Someday? Maybe 10-15 years..? To be sure, higher visibility in this technology will escalate it's maturation for the consumer market - but don't believe that you can print apparel or that replacement widget anytime soon in your own home at any degree of sane price or cost investment. Online services are the ones to watch, they do volume printing and have high end equipment to produce decent parts/objects - but initially, you will have to supply them with a 3D model.

That process alone - of supplying a digital model for 3D printing - is fraught with an entanglement of legal implications and the lines for litigation regarding 3D digital copyright infringement are being drawn in industry as we speak.

But the low end stuff is what is making all the headlines these days - as all of the current news articles are churned out about 3D printing they talk about items produced with high end hardware, not the low end junk that has been seen on TV and trade shows as of late. There is a distinct "gap" in this 3D printing news of the day that people who are unfamiliar with the technology don't seem to recognize. The exciting "new" 3D printing technology articles - are half truth's, propagandized media phenomenon promoted largely by the news-wire and uninformed writers in this area of technology.

It is nice to know that the genre of 3D printing technology is making it to the lay person - but at the lay level, for all the stories running out there, it is still more fantasy than fact for the common consumer.