3D Printing Technologies for Hobbyists

“3D printing” also known as additive manufacturing is defined by ASTM as the "process of joining materials to make objects from 3D model data, usually layer upon layer, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing methodologies, such as traditional machining. Synonyms include additive fabrication, additive processes, additive techniques, additive layer manufacturing, layer manufacturing, and freeform fabrication".

In manufacturing, and most especially of machining, subtractive methods have often come first. In fact, the term subtractive manufacturing is a retronym developed in recent years to distinguish traditional methods from the newer additive manufacturing techniques. Although fabrication has included methods that are essentially "additive" for centuries (such as joining plates, sheets, forgings, and rolled work via riveting, screwing, forge welding, or newer kinds of welding), it did not include the information technology component of model-based definition; and the province of machining (generating exact shapes with high precision) was generally subtractive, from filing and turning through milling and grinding.

The use of additive manufacturing takes virtual designs from computer aided design (CAD) or animation modeling software, transforms them into thin, virtual, horizontal cross-sections and then creates successive layers until the model is complete. It is a WYSIWYG process where the virtual model and the physical model are almost identical.

With additive manufacturing, the machine reads in data from a CAD drawing and lays down successive layers of liquid, powder, or sheet material, and in this way builds up the model from a series of cross sections. These layers, which correspond to the virtual cross section from the CAD model, are joined together or fused automatically to create the final shape. The primary advantage to additive fabrication is its ability to create almost any shape or geometric feature.

Domestic 3D printing is mainly for hobbyists and enthusiasts as of 2012, rather than practical household applications. Designs such as a working clock have been made, not as a practical, or particularly accurate timepiece, but as an interesting project. Gears have been printed for home woodworking machines and other purposes. 3D printing is also used for ornamental objects. One printer (the Fab@Home) makes a point of including chocolate amongst the materials that can be printed. Web sites associated with 3D printing tend to include backscratchers, coathooks, and so on. The RepRap Web site includes such examples. The Fab@Home gallery had many objects without practical application, but included examples of what is possible such as a flashlight/torch using conductive ink for the electrical circuit, a battery-powered motor, a case for aniPod, a silicone watch band, and a translucent cylinder completely enclosing a brown box, something difficult to fabricate any other way.

Miniature human face models made through 3D Printing

The open source Fab@Home project has developed printers for general use. They have been used in a research environment to produce chemical compounds with 3D printing technology, including new ones, initially without immediate application as proof of principle. The printer can print with anything that can be dispensed from a syringe as liquid or paste. The developers of the chemical application envisage that this technology could be used both in industry and for domestic use, so that "people in far-flung regions could make their own headache pills or detergent. The technique might also allow people to print and share recipes for niche substances that chemical or pharmaceutical companies don't make – because there aren't enough customers, or they simply haven't dreamed up those ideas."