A quick-fire mini presentation looking at 3D printing in 2013, what are the facts and the science fiction?

1. 3D Printing Debunked

2. 3D Printing Definition
• The process of ‘printing’ a
3D solid object of from a
digital model
• ‘additive manufacturing’
rather than traditional
‘subtractive process’

3. Myth 1: Its new
3D printing technology emerged in early eighties and was
patented in 1986 by Charles Hull.

4. Myth 2: They self-replicate
• 3D printers need ‘vitamins’;
metal drivers, electronics,
rods or motors to work that
can’t (yet) be made on 3D
printers
• The ‘Reprap’ project is an
example of this

5. Myth 3: It’s just for ‘computer geeks’
• Consumer-friendly
software
• Scanning & customisation
• Prices starting from £500
for a 3D printer

6. Myth 4: 3D printed guns, a danger
to society
• Blueprints freely available
online for download currently
• 3D printed gun carried through
an airport
• ‘The Liberator’, it is made of 16
parts for assembly
• Legislation gathering pace to
address security concerns

7. Myth 5: 3D printed food to end
famine
• NASA scientists developing 3D-printed
‘food’ as answer to “food shortage,
inflation, starvation”
• Simulated food made from powdered
‘organic molecules’ from insects and
algae
• Likely to be used in space programs the
the future, still in development

8. 3D printing: creative possibility

9. Ta