Ready to print the future?

Proponents of 3D printing say that it is a major innovation with the potential to radically change a number of industries. "3D Printing will be more revolutionary than the internet" says Abe Reichental, President of the US-based 3D Systems Group, the world's largest manufacturer of three-dimensional printers, to Peter Marsh, Editor-in-Chief of the Financial Times. Although to some this news looks like a "chestnut tree," it remains one of the major innovations in the making.

Photo: Original creation for the exhibition "Multiversités Créatives" at the Centre Pompidou,2012 (convergence of art with technology thanks to 3D printing).

From the 3D model to the physical object in just a few clicks, that is the promise of the 3D printer. Invented in the 1980s, the concept is based on the technique of stereolithography (SLA). Its goal: to have a machine that can produce an object autonomously, by simply submitting a 3D file created with a CAD tool on the market. These machines, initially reserved for laboratories, experienced a sudden development in the 2000s. Their price, in free fall, makes them accessible to more and more companies. Personal 3D printers are even appearing!

In 3D printing - also known as "additive manufacturing" - complex shapes can be constructed from plastic or metal granules to produce parts and products on a basic "one-off" basis. These ideas promise to usher in a new era of "custom manufacturing" in which the barriers between design and production are significantly reduced.

Abe Reichental says this technology promises to be " as revolutionary as the steam engine was in its time, as revolutionary as the computer, as revolutionary as the Internet « . He goes on to say: "3D printing provides the way to democratize manufacturing. Thanks to this technology, any entrepreneur or individual can have the same level of production capacity as a large company. »

Mr. Reichental has few real engineering qualifications. In fact, he says his most significant skill in the field dates back to a three-year stint as a flight mechanic in the Israeli Air Force when he was still living in the country!

At the heart of his corporate philosophy, he likes people who have the opportunity to display a sense of creativity, even if it's not immediately apparent: "I like people who can make things happen, and who can also manage to bend reality. »

He believes that technical breakthroughs rarely come easily, but tend to evolve through hard work:  "If people are encouraged to work this way, then sometimes they have the power to do more than they think possible. « 

He sees few constraints with 3D printing, which is expected to become a major industry. "With Facebook and Twitter, almost anyone can be a news editor. As 3D printing progresses, a large percentage of the population has the ability to design and do things on their own", " he says. "

A little reminder of the history of 3D printing 

● 1950: Patrick Hanratty, an engineer at General Electric, develops software capable of translating information about an object's position and dimensions into binary code, the precursor of the design techniques needed to make 3D printing work.

● 1984: Charles Hull, who started in the US at 3D Systems in 1986, invented "stereolithography" 3D printing, a means of creating shapes by selectively polymerizing a liquid polymer bath with a laser.

● 1986: Scott Crump Crump and Lisa, founders of Stratasys, a U.S. 3D printing company, invent melt deposit modeling - an "additive manufacturing" technology creates prototypes and parts, layer by layer of plastic.

● 1993: Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology designed another form of 3D printing based on the creation of objects by pressurizing powder grains through a nozzle in a process similar to inkjet printing.

(Source: Financial Times / Dec 2012)

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