The First 3D Imprint

I admire creativity. My father used to work for Motorola and when I turned 12 he took me to see the company museum. As he patiently explained the inner workings of the mobile phone system, I thought my dad was the most brilliant person in the world. I wanted to be a part of the tech world just like him. Unfortunately, I didn’t grow up to be one of the greatest engineers; but I am inspired by them.  I am not the kind of person one might expect to be writing a blog about 3D printing. To tell you the truth I didn’t know anything about 3D printing until recently; but what I have seen over the last year is nothing short of a revolution; a change that is going to affect all our lives in a profound way over the coming years, and I want to share that change with you.

3D printing technology has been around since the mid 80’s; a time when E.T. was born and before the Berlin Wall came down. It started off as rapid prototyping so that engineers could see their 3D designs in actual form. In the last three decades, 3D printing technology has evolved immensely. It has already become relevant to the average person.

From iPhone cases to jewellery, to dental implants, to bicycles, to prostheses; the list of 3D printing capabilities is endless and just at its beginning. When I talk about 3D printing, people like to sceptically challenge its potential. “It’s never going to be as efficient and cheap as mass production.” Henry Ford would be proud. Assembly lines and mass production have been so perfected in the last century that it’s difficult for people to imagine another form of manufacturing.

In the next century, I believe that we will develop different values. It will no longer be about buying cheap and buying bulk. The brilliance of modern-day engineering is pulling us towards customisation and ethical consumption. And 3D printing will be an enormous enabler of this shift in consumer ideals.

If you have ever had a crown or a mouth guard made at the dentist, you know about biting into the clay tray. After the horrible experience of gagging on the clay, the mould is taken to a lab, then hand-sanded again and again to fit. Now, dentists are able to use a wand to take a digital profile of the patient’s mouth and directly print the device.

During the Paralympics, prostheses are heavily regulated. We saw Oscar Pistrious complaining about other runners’ artificial legs. The controversies gave the public a false image of the prostheses industry. The truth is that many amputees still must rely on one-size-fits-all prostheses. With advancement in 3D printing technology, bodily measurements are used to generate 3D designs and customised prostheses can be printed for each individual.

3D printing is not a technology of the distant future. It’s happening now. It will disrupt the way we think and live.