Machine or Material - where to now?

I think that it is fair enough to say that the machinery aspects of 3D printing are close enough to being locked down now. The mechanical and digital means of moving the print head, be it laser or extruder, have been set for some time. Any new machines are most often just tweeks in design of the original RepRap concepts.

I believe that the on-going development of 3D printing will be in the area of printable precursor. We have the simple thermoplastics like PLA and ABS. We can print with wood and nylon. Metallic powders and resins are used by some. But now we are getting reports of printing with materials that are biologically compatible as shown in the story of the doctors who printed trachea to save infants (see the News Thread).

I think that the 3D community should withhold support a little from projects in places like Kickstarter that are simply for the production of another version of a 3D printer, and instead, support those projects that deal with the development of new print materials.

Old Man Emu

I couldn't agree more. Every day there are announcements about new 3d printers that are coming out. Each and every one of these, for the most part are pretty much the same as everything that is already out there. It's simply getting to a point where companies are not innovating at all. They are simply just trying to make some money by building and selling printers that are already out there. We need to see new innovative technology, not the same old stuff. I know I wouldn't back a 3D printer unless it is extremely innovative. One good example is the Mark One, which is said to print in carbon fiber. Now that is innovation. Let's see 3D printers that use a completely different technology than FDM, SLS< SLA, that would be truly groundbreaking

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Originally Posted by NJ_Lifer

I couldn't agree more. Every day there are announcements about new 3d printers that are coming out. Each and every one of these, for the most part are pretty much the same as everything that is already out there.

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You are quite correct there. Look at this: Galileo Smart 3D Printer By Kentstrapper

It is just another version of a Prusa. Good luck to them if they sell, but where is the technological progress?

Old Man Emu

I think the materials science part of 3D printing is still in its infancy and we'll see some amazing things to print with being developed over the next few years.

That being said; the mechanical part is still fairly simple and I think there are still great strides to be made. For example, take a look at this laser-based 3d display. It works by creating plasma at the intersection point of a couple of lasers. If it were possible to create heat at the intersection point of, say, two x-ray lasers, one could conceivably create an SLS printer that doesn't need to lay down powder in layers.