3D Printing Made Simple: Exciting & Innovative Technology

By Avikshit Saras

This book 3D Printing Made Simple takes you through this exciting innovation, a technology called 3D Printing. It is revolutionising the way we do a lot of things and not just the creation of physical objects. The huge growth rates are a direct result of its applications for prototyping and mass production in a number of industries, thanks to an ever-increasing list of 3D printable materials. The World Economic Forum describes it as one of the four pillars of the 4th Industrial Revolution alongside AR, VR & AI, big data, blockchains etc. Many developing countries like India, completely missed the 1st two industrial revolutions (steam & petrol engines) and partially benefitted in the 3rd (electronics/computers). Now can we afford to not, or just partially participate in the 4th Industrial Revolution?
Book adopts a practical approach, with step-by-step instructions to help guide readers. Lots of screenshots are given for each and every step where needed to design a high-quality model in Blender for 3D printing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BPB Online LLP
• Release date: Aug 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9789388176439

Book preview

Part 1

1.1 What is the future going to be? An overview.

What you think is the future going to be like, in terms of the manufacturing to consumption eco – system?

So how many of us ever thought about the above? Traditionally we have been told and we do experience that there is manufacturing of goods in factories then there is distribution of the same using some means of transport / logistics. Thereafter it is stored in warehouses / godowns before it finally reaches the consumer. But in the current century we can say with confidence that the logistics & warehousing functions may undergo a sea change, if not get eliminated.

With 3D printing the whole concept of manufacturing then transporting then storing or vice versa is getting outdated.

Figure 1: Astronaut 3D printing a tool in space (ISS) on demand

It is on demand manufacturing that is taking precedence and resulting in operational efficiency and productivity. For example NASA1 has installed a zero gravity 3D printer in the International Space Station (ISS) to 3D print parts on demand. Otherwise each time a payload was needed to be sent from earth to ISS, but now only 3D files can be sent to be 3D printed at ISS (Figure 1). Related to this, is the concept of mass manufacturing over customized manufacturing or mass customisation. Mass manufacturing took shape & popularity in the 19th - 20th century in US / Europe with the advent of the factory system, Fordism etc. Now days, there is more customization than ever before and gone are the days of, ‘I will give the customers a choice as long as their choice is black’, Henry Ford!

When I visited the Jaguar factory in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham, UK, each car on the assembly line was being made custom designed & suited to the customer’s choice of trims, colour, governmental regulation (left hand or right hand drive), technical specifications etc.

However there are ships being converted to factories2, workers producing goods on board, by the time the ship reaches its destination the goods are ready for dispatch to the buyer! The lead times are increasingly getting shorter, a great deal of automation is happening and above all we see a lot of data being captured by advanced analytical software. At times we do not realize this but it’s all around us. You look at a product at an ecommerce site, its starts to follow you in terms of ads in various other places, yours along with others probability of say booking an air ticket makes ticket prices fluctuate and there are loads of such examples. So the way things are being done is changing and we need to ask ourselves, are we ready for that change? (Figure 2)

Your decision to read this bespoke book on this cutting edge 21st century technology – 3D Printing, suggests that you are! So briefly answering our initial 3 questions, 3D (three dimensional) Printing has the potential to manufacture on demand which greatly impacts the need to transport the manufactured goods or store the same. (Figure 3)

Figure 2: 20th century & before scenario

Figure 3: 21st Century scenario

1.2 4th Industrial Revolution

This has received wide spread attention recently. In 2016 Klaus Schwab Founder of the World Economic Forum3, highlighted the term the 4th Industrial Revolution, its role / significance and detailed the technologies that form its part. Many of us who have forgotten the earlier industrial revolutions, I shall recapitulate. The 1st Industrial Revolution happened in the late 1700s in Europe with the advent of the steam engines. The big impact was in the textile industry where the shift from handlooms to power looms took place. The next big industrial revolution (2nd) happened in the late 19th century with the advent of internal combustion engines. Automobiles became centre stage and mass produced. Alongside this the oil & gas industry also got a big boost. Thereafter around the 1960s – 1970s the advent of electronics & computers is considered the 3rd Industrial Revolution. (Figure 4)

Figure 4: From left 1st Industrial Revolution (I.R.) steam engines, 2nd I.R. internal combustion engines and 3rd I.R. electronics & computers

There are a few things to note here. Firstly, with the advent of technology productivity & effciency went up. Secondly there were only 1 or 2 technologies that needed to be mastered. However, those people who did not learn the upcoming technology of its time went from being unemployed, to unemployable. It’s pertinent to note that unemployment is temporary, but being unemployable is long term. So, meaning to say those people amenable to change continued to climb the economic / social ladder, some either stayed the way they were and the rest went down the ladder. There are dozens of professions that have disappeared even in the last 100 years & less, which again many people have forgotten like the chimney sweepers, street lamp oil lighters, carriage drivers, typists, telephone operators etc.

But there is a plethora of jobs / businesses that are associated with technologies that form a part of the 4th Industrial Revolution. These technologies are Big Data, Block Chains, 3D Printing, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Drones, Robotics, IoT, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality etc. (Figure 5) Basically choices galore and people can choose what’s best suited to them, their interests, passion etc. Just as I early chose 3D Printing you should also choose one or more of the 4th Industrial Revolution technologies at the earliest. You will stay relevant longer in the job market or the entrepreneurial realm, as sooner or later these technologies will impact your lives, work, businesses etc. Those people or businesses who were adept say at making pagers, picture tubes, typewriters, video cassette players or other such obsolete technologies, have learnt it the hard way or if survived they might have embraced change early