{"id":988,"date":"2016-11-19T20:51:40","date_gmt":"2016-11-19T19:51:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mukom.mondragon.edu\/ecoingenieria\/?p=988"},"modified":"2016-11-19T21:02:27","modified_gmt":"2016-11-19T20:02:27","slug":"truths-and-lies-around-3d-printers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mukom.mondragon.edu\/ingenieria-eco-tecnologias-industriales\/en\/2016\/11\/19\/truths-and-lies-around-3d-printers\/","title":{"rendered":"Truths and lies around 3D printers"},"content":{"rendered":"

3D printers are here to stay, no doubt about that. We hear news regarding this technology almost everywhere; they tell us they make planes with them, and prosthesis and jewellery and almost any kind of product, we can buy them cheap at any commercial centre, we hear they\u2019ll the next big thing this Christmas\u2026<\/p>\n

This is a recent boom\u2026 or not<\/strong>? For how long have 3D printers been around? Why are we hearing now so much about the subject?<\/p>\n

\"lasexta<\/a>

3D printing these days: a short report (Spanish)<\/p><\/div>\n

Just recently, we heard that in the future 99% of the production will be via 3D printing<\/strong>. That sounded like some weird data and, without forgetting that this can of predictions sometimes are worth less than a football bet, we decided to ask: will it be like this?<\/p>\n

There are many questions around this technology and we found answers\u2026 to almost all of them.<\/p>\n

When were 3D printers created?<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

First 3D printer appeared in 1984, so it has rained a lot since then. Actually, it was called stereolithography at the time; today we use the term additive manufacturing.<\/p>\n

You can find the History and all its details in any article. But there\u2019s something not mentioned very often when talking about this subject, and this something can explain this boom happening now:<\/p>\n

From 2013 onwards, the most important patents affecting this technology expired. <\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • First one, in 2013, limited the use of FDM or fused deposition modelling (that\u2019s the basic of the technology).<\/li>\n
  • At the end of 2014, a patent titled Simultaneous multiple layer curing in stereolithography <\/em>got free.<\/li>\n
  • In 2015, the one called Method and apparatus for prototyping a three-dimensional object<\/em>.<\/li>\n
  • In 2016 it was the turn for Method and apparatus for production of three-dimensional objects by stereolithography<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    That had another effect. Suddenly, somebody liked 3D printed, and very fast that \u201csomebody\u201d turned into a massive worldwide community that worked, sometimes underground, sharing information related with this technology. The used open source codes most of the time, and the knowledge developed and spread really fast.<\/p>\n