This article is geared towards most of us engineers and other tech-savvy individuals, *cough (nerds) cough*.  When I was a kid, I remember thinking I was cool trying to figure how things worked by taking them apart and seeing their inner workings,  that is until my mom put an end to it after having an extra screw or two left over.  At that young age, most science and technology was light-years beyond one’s understanding, but as adults we have come to understand and depend on that acquired knowledge.  I am still fascinated by the fact that something as massive and heavy as a ship or airplane can float or fly.   This brings me to one of the latest trends in technology: 3D printing. (Or additive manufacturing, rapid prototyping, what have you…)

Not only are people using 3D printers to make jewelry, clothes, guitars, home décor, etc., but this relatively new technology has already been used to make everything from automotive/airplane parts, entire vehicles, guns, bicycles and hip replacements.  NASA is even making rocket injectors! (Sure, it’s probably the most custom and complex 3D printer out there, but I digress…)  It’s truly mindboggling to think of the potential that these 3D printers have for our homes, businesses and even in space and on the moon!

So, let’s assume you will be fortunate enough to have one of these rapid prototyping machines for your personal use in your home within the next few years, what would be the first thing you would make?  Perhaps it will be a coffee cup for your sister-in-law or, maybe a tricycle for your kid? I haven’t decided yet, but I’d probably use my rapid prototyping machine to print out a bezel piece, which I would design in Solid Edge of course, to mount a couple of gauges in my project car (which is currently flopping around like a fish on a hook).

               

How about you? Please feel free to discuss and not limit yourself to your first printed object.