3D Printing Third Edition - Christopher Barnatt.pdf

(5610 KB) Pobierz
3D PRINTING
Third Edition
Christopher Barnatt
ExplainingTheFuture.com
First published by ExplainingTheFuture.com
®
For press, rights, translation and other enquiries, please e-mail chris@explainingthefuture.com
Copyright © Christopher Barnatt 2016.
The right of Christopher Barnatt to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Disclaimer
While every effort has been made to ensure that the content in this book is as accurate as possible, no warranty
or fitness is implied. All trademarks included in this book are appropriately capitalized and no attempt is made
or implied to supersede the rights of their respective owners.
Contents
Preface: Beyond the Hype
1. The Revolution Continues
2. 3D Printing Technologies
3. The 3D Printing Industry
4. Direct Digital Manufacturing
5. Personal Fabrication
6. Bioprinting
7. Brave New World?
Glossary
3D Printing Directory
Further Reading
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Preface: Beyond the Hype
3D printing transforms digital models into physical reality by building them up in layers.
When the first edition of this book was published in May 2013, the idea of ‘additively
manufacturing’ things in this manner had just started to capture the public imagination,
with the popular press reporting that it would soon be possible for anybody to 3D print
almost anything. Indeed, in another 2013 book called Fabricated: The New World of 3D
Printing, Hod Lipson and Melba Kurman wrote that the field was moving ‘faster than the
speed of light’, with technological advances taking place ‘in huge leaps and bounds’.
By the time that the second edition of this book was published in November 2014, the
mainstream appraisal of 3D printing had changed dramatically. To industry insiders it
remained clear that innovations were accruing at a steady pace. But the popular perception
was that all of those claims made in 2013 had been no more than hype. Most journalists
subsequently abandoned ship, apparently surprised that personal fabricators capable of
producing anything they could imagine were not yet on sale. Since late 2014 investors
have also been spooked, with the share prices of many 3D printing companies having
fallen dramatically.
The now-widespread view that 3D printing has been over-hyped remains to the field’s
detriment. As one of those who strove to bring 3D printing to mainstream attention, it is
also a matter that I feel a need to specifically address. Back in 2013, I gave the first edition
of this book the subtitle The Next Industrial Revolution. It is therefore not a surprise that, a
year or so later, I ended up in the firing line of those journalists and academics who
believed that false hopes had been raised.
While labelling 3D printing as the Next Industrial Revolution, in both the first and
second editions of this book I nailed my futurist colours to the mast in a fairly precise
manner. Specifically, I noted that:
… 3D printing is not going to replace all forms of traditional manufacturing. 3D
printing will be ‘revolutionary’ even if it changes how perhaps 20 per cent of things
are manufactured, transported and stored. The key thing for us to try and foresee is
therefore just which industrial activities 3D printing is most likely to
‘revolutionize’, as well as those which are more probable to remain untouched.
The idea that a technological development should be labelled ‘revolutionary’ if it
changes how 20 per cent of things are manufactured, transported and stored is, I think, a
very reasonable proposition. Back in 2013, I was also very strongly of the opinion that,
within two decades, 3D printing would be used directly or indirectly in the manufacture of
about 20 per cent of products. Occasionally in 2014 and 2015 I did start to believe the
naysayers and to doubt whether this will actually occur. But the more that I study the
development of 3D printing technologies and the 3D printing industry, the more
convinced I become of my previous ‘20 per cent in 20 years’ prediction. Today, I am
therefore once again staunchly of the view that a 3D printing revolution is on the cards.

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin