What Can 3D Printing Do? Here Are some Creative Examples

Several 3D printing processes have been invented since the late 1970s.3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), refers to processes used to synthesize a three-dimensional object in which successive layers of material are formed under computer control to create an object.


The term 3D printing's origin sense is in reference to a process that deposits a binder material onto a powder bed with inkjet printer heads layer by layer.3D printable models may be created with a computer-aided design (CAD) package, via a 3D scanner, or by a plain digital camera and photogrammetry software.


The printers were originally large, expensive, and highly limited in what they could produce.Large 3D printers have been developed for industrial, education, and demonstrative uses. One of the best ways to learn about what 3D printing can do is by researching real-life applications on the technology


3D printing has entered the world of clothing with fashion designers experimenting with 3D-printed bikinis, shoes, and dresses.The use of 3D printing to produce scale models within architecture and construction has steadily increased in popularity as the cost of 3D printers has reduced.


3D printing has been used to print patient specific implant and device for medical use.3D printing can also be used to make laptops and other computers and cases. 3D Printing applications cover various sectors from education to industry,


Below are some creative examples of 3D printing uses:


1.3D Printed Organs:
3D-printing for making artificial Blood vessels.Blood vessels are vital parts of the body's circulatory system that supply the organs with nutrients and remove waste. Scientists have developed artificial tissue from the heart, liver and lungs, but creating a synthetic network of blood vessels to support these organs has been a challenge.
Scientists from the Universities of Sydney, Harvard, Stanford and MIT have been working together to overcome this challenge.Now, the researchers have created artificial blood vessels in a lab using 3D-printing methods. The bioprinted structures could be used for transplants or for testing new drug.


In the future, 3D printing technology may be used to develop transplantable tissues customized to each patient's needs, or be used outside the body to develop drugs that are safe and effective.


2.3D Printed Robots:
3D printed hydrogel "bio-bots" powered by muscle cells and controlled with electrical pulses.Combining biological components, such as cells and tissues, with soft robotics can enable the fabrication of biological machines with the ability to sense, process signals, and produce force.
Engineers at the University of Illinois are working on developing a Bio-Robot which can be produced easily by using 3D printing technology.They developed similar bio-bots few years back itself. But that time they used heart cell.
The frequency of the electric field determines the speed of this bio-bot .


First-ever 3-D printed robots made of both Solids and Liquids.Researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) present the first-ever technique for 3-D printing robots that involves printing solid and liquid materials at the same time.
This 3-D hexapod robot moves via a single motor, which spins a crankshaft that pumps fluid to the robot’s legs. Besides the motor and battery, every component is printed in a single step with no assembly required.


3.3D Printed House:
3D Printing Technology to build 2,500 Square Foot House In 20 Hours. A professor is working on technology named as Contour Crafting which can print an entire 2,500 sqft house in 20 hours.Apart from printing Houses, Contour Crafting can be used for building habitats on other planets. Contour Crafting will most probably be one of the very few feasible approaches for building structures on other planets, such as the Moon and Mars, which are being targeted for human colonization.


4.3D Printed Glass:
MIT's G3DP can 3D-print Transparent Glass of any shape.Glass was first created in Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt 4,500 years ago.Now We can 3D Print the Glass. i-e Glass can be used as Ink in 3D printers instead of plastics
And this printer doesn't have to make straight lines or simple cylinders only. The machine drizzles glass like honey into fascinatingly beautiful shapes.Glass‐based materials hold the potential to provide particular value in the additive manufacturing field due to their hardness, optical qualities, affordability and availability.

5.3D Printed Hair:
MIT's Cilllia makes 3D Printing of Hair easy.Researchers in MIT’s Media Lab have found a way to bypass a major design step in 3-D printing, to quickly and efficiently model and print thousands of hair-like structures. Instead of using conventional computer-aided design (CAD) software to draw thousands of individual hairs on a computer — a step that would take hours to compute — the team built a new software platform, called “Cilllia,” that lets users define the angle, thickness, density, and height of thousands of hairs, in just a few minutes.
Using the new software, the researchers designed arrays of hair-like structures with a resolution of 50 microns — about the width of a human hair.


6.3D Printed Lens:
Light-powered 3-D printer creates terahertz lens.Northwestern University researchers have used metamaterials and 3Dprinting to develop a novel lens that works with terahertz frequencies. Not only does it have better imaging capabilities than common lenses, but it opens the door for more advances in the mysterious realm of the terahertz.
There are two major factors that made this new lens possible. First, it is made from a novel metamaterial that exhibits properties not readily available in nature. Second, the lens was manufactured with a 3-D printing technique called projection micro-stereo-lithography. The technique enables a scalable, rapid, and inexpensive way to produce the tiny features that are needed for the lens to operate at the terahertz frequency band.


7.3D Printed Chip:
Harvard University researchers have made the first entirely 3D-printed organ-on-a-chip with integrated sensing. Built by a fully automated, digital manufacturing procedure, the 3D-printed heart-on-a-chip can be quickly fabricated and customized, allowing researchers to easily collect reliable data for short-term and long-term studies.This new approach to manufacturing may one day allow researchers to rapidly design organs-on-chips, also known as microphysiological systems, that match the properties of a specific disease or even an individual patient’s cells.
Organs-on-chips mimic the structure and function of native tissue and have emerged as a promising alternative to traditional animal testing. Harvard researchers have developed microphysiological systems that mimic the microarchitecture and functions of lungs, hearts, tongues and intestines.
The chip contains multiple wells, each with separate tissues and integrated sensors, allowing researchers to study many engineered cardiac tissues at once.


Are there any other creative examples of 3D printer creations that you have heard of?

Yes, these are the good examples. In addition there are some uses of 3D Printing:
Microscale and nanoscale 3D printing, Cloud-based additive manufacturing, Mass customization, Rapid manufacturing & prototyping, Food, Research, Medical applications, Agile tooling, in industries Apparel, Jewelry Industry, Automotive industry, Construction, Firearms, in Medical Medical devices, Bio-printing & Pills, Computers and robots, Space, in Socialculture Art, Communication & Domestic use, Education and research, Environmental use, Cultural Heritage and for Specialty materials 3D printing can be used.