3D printing is a process of making a three-dimensional solid object of virtually any shape from a digital model
3D Printer
Video describing 3d printing
A 3D printer can be compared to an industrial robot that is capable of carrying out an additive process under computer control.
3D printing technology has been around since the 1980s, it was not until the early 2010s that the printers became widely available commercially.The first working 3D printer was created in 1984 by Chuck Hull.
The market for 3D printers and services was worth $2.2 billion worldwide in 2012, up 29% from 2011.
To perform a print, the machine reads the design from 3D printable file (STL file) and lays down successive layers of liquid, powder, paper or sheet material to build the model from a series of cross sections.
RepRap 3D Printer
RepRap is one of the longest running projects in the desktop category. The RepRap project aims to produce a free and open source hardware 3D printer, whose full specifications are released under the GNU General Public License, and which is capable of replicating itself by printing many of its own parts to create more machines.RepRaps have already been shown to be able to print circuit boards,metal parts along with plastic objects...
A MakerBot Replicator 2 3D Printer
Makerbot provides a commercial version of 3d printers which can be purchased by users.The open source Fab@Home project has developed printers for general use as well.
3D bio-printing technology has been studied by biotechnology firms and academia for possible use in tissue engineering applications in which organs and body parts are built using inkjet techniques.This will have a strong impact on medical fields in next 25-30 years as we will be having bio-3d printers printing a kidney or liver !!!
A 3D Printed Ear
3D Printed Small Kidneys !!!!
The cost of 3D printers has decreased dramatically since about 2010, with machines that used to cost $20,000 costing less than $1,000.