3D Printing industry

Waiting for new breakthroughs, I guess.

It could be profitable to sell small 3D printed goods.

Try selling physical bitcoins to people lol (Put 1 BTC on a thumbdrive, embed into 3D printed model....model must be shattered to obtain BTC)

>>2020552
So its a gimmick?

>>2020557

3D printing? It'll revolutionize things once it's more available on a cheaper, larger scale.

Right now it's a gimmick in my opinion, but not in the long term outlook of it.

>>2020548
It went to shit after the "personal 3d printing" fad passed over. After consumers realised that most 3d printers do not print as advertised, they quickly became disinterested.
Industrial 3d printing is where its at from here on out, personal 3d printers will have their place when the time is right. The technology is too early atm.

>>2020548
fad that already died off. look at $ddd.
like every other fad such as wearable tech (smart watches, smart glasses), it won't survive.

vr is next.

>>2020562
What could commercial 3D printers make in the future? Right now it seems like all they can really do is make cheap plastic garbage

>>2020566
VR is going places, I guarantee it, soon enough, every mobile phone manufacturer will be pushing their VR headsets and related accessories to go with their smart phones.
Samsung was first, I bet Apple and the rest will follow.

>>2020566
I can easily see smart glasses and smart watches taking off with tech improvement though. You're being a bit too doubtful I think.

Making prosthetics seems like a likely use. Also has applications in space.

>>2020569
A lot of them can make pretty durable plastic structures, pair that with the fact that many of them are open source, and you've got some pretty interesting things being printed. The sad part is that there are limited people who are actually interested in 3d printing as a hobby, many people who had purchased 3d printers for their household, overestimated their usefulness. I think the makority of the printers that were bought are just sat in a cupboard, or under someones bed, collecting dust.

>>2020579
>3d printing in 0 gravity
How?

it only pays if you are creative and good at 3d modeling/cad.

>>2020584
Thats the point though, It doesn't matter how high tech a 3D printer can get. A 3D printer that can print all types of materials and 100x as fast still wont be that interesting to individual consumers. The only use seems to be industrial even that is not really ready.
>>2020579
I have no idea about the space part but wouldn't advanced prosthetics be better manufactured in a traditional factory instead of a 3D printer? What are the advantages?

>>2020557
>So its a gimmick?

It cannot replicate the crystalline nature of metals, so it has none of the desirable properties. It's basically an expensive plastic alternative to wood.

>>2020557
>>2020548
3D printing is already and will continue to be big in the biomedical engineering field.

>>2020548
3D printing is getting YUUUUUGE in aerospace, where it's typically called additive manufacturing. Boeing and Airbus will both be replacing parts with 3D printed ones soon.

>>2020685
There's metal 3D printing. Usually done with powder.

>>2020629
Traditional manufacturing isn't suited to the high customizability required for prosthetics.

>>2020750
>There's metal 3D printing. Usually done with powder.

Like I said. It does not form the same crystalline metal form that metal casting, forging etc. and is not usable in high stress mechanical applications which metals are mostly used for.

>>2020566
vr is waiting for the killer app just like mp3 players had to wait for ipods.

>>2020548
Well then, you do realize that's the perfect time to invest right?

>production designer 7+ Yrs of experience here

I've had my eye on it for a while. Hasbro / Mattel / Nike all use rapid prototyping to a large extent, most design studios today do to save on cost.

Stratasys (SYSS) and 3D systems (DDD) have cornered the industrial prototyping market. Keep and eye on them. Formlabs is currently leading the personal use market but is still in its infancy and is not public yet. Watch them as well.
Stay away from Makerbot and anyone else specializing in fused filament printing, it's shit.


Hope that helps OP.

>>2020620
And understanding the business and marketing the work you produce. Trust me, it's not easy. Either it's already been done better or no one cares.

>>2020691
This is the one sector that I can totally understand its usefulness making organs and stuff
>>2020731
True they are using them to make new aircraft engines cheaper

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/513716/additive-manufacturing/

>GE chose the additive process for manufacturing the nozzles because it uses less material than conventional techniques

but its all just concept and has not been implemented yet
>>2020822
You could be right, hopefully companies test it to make sure it can hold up to the same level of stress
>>2020803
what do you have to customize? Arms and legs are typically all the same right except length wise

>>2021000
Well id have to know that its going somewhere and not just conceptual, Like if the GE plane part breaks under high stress. There goes the all that value and many potential future investments. I guess the risk makes it more worthwhile.
>>2021089
Good to know man, what sector do you design products for? If you don't mind me asking

3D printing actually reminds me a lot of cryptocurency. They're both new large scale inventions of our time, and are visibly making people wealthy, the question is how, where and why.

>>2021163
I've jumped around a bit, started with toys and collectibles, then moved to fashion, now in industrial engineering. Lots of outlets for cad designers.

It's good for making test objects to cast silicone molds from, say for foam molding

File: 20170115_030631-2.jpg (902KB, 2335x2142px) Image search: [Google]

902KB, 2335x2142px

>>2020584
I'm learning how to use zbrush so I can make my own 3d models. I made my own printer and foundry, but I need capital and a few more machines to make my business hum along. Give me a year and you'll see more nice things.

>>2020569
rapid prototyping in labs at Unis. At least that's what we use it for now.

>>2021345
You can start by prototyping and then do larger scale stuff like manufacture for busniesses

3D printing is already huge, but not breakout public psyche huge. It gets media coverage (Printed houses) and already crops up in sports (F1 force India steering wheel). The lack of retail application for it is why you might erroneously think it's not made it big yet.

>>2021480
Its used by researchers and large multi billion dollar businesses, so not that huge yet

>>2021504
I mean that as for the regular consumer its not very useful, when it gets there it will be

>>2021504
Exactly this.
The R&D departments mostly use stratasys equipment, at least that's the main player in the market right now. They have exciting testing going on for full colored plastic objects.
One day there will be no deco paint patterns, no Chinese steel molds, no underpaid workers in a massive factory who literally live there in a dorm.
Instead it will be a data center with machines printing fully functional products, already put together and painted right off of the print bed.
Instead of the mechanic telling you to wait two weeks for the part to come in from Germany for your Jetta, he'll print one in the back for a fraction of the cost and time. This is all easily within our life time if not the next ten to years.

>>2021153
>growing children amputees
>amputated fingers
>every limb is the same size
Do you even think?

Industrial 3D printing, as it is now, cant compete with precision machining in terms of accuracy and quality. Printing metal is basically just a glorified version of mig-welding and the products have serious structural faults because of the heat that is generated in the additive method. Its still a long run until printing can actually compete with machining in an industrial scale

3D printing isn't particularly useful on a small scale. What it's useful for is large scale manufacturing and assembly, but we're talking some pretty specialized printers in well established industries, so it will be some time before it becomes that big. It's mostly about being able to have manufacturing facilities be more mobile. Even then we're talking printing finished products like houses versus parts which are better produced via injection mold/traditional forging.

>>2020731
The 3d printers in the aerospace sector cost millions and print metal. Not consumer viable at all.

>>2020548
3D printing is a stupid meme for libtard techie hipsters

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>>2022964
3D printing got killed off by excessive patents, so that nobody could do anything with it without unknowingly infringing on someone else's overly broad bullshit patent claims.

Threadly reminder that patents are cancer when it comes to spurring innovation.

>>2023152
Aren't there laws that prevent patents that are too broad and slow innovations?

>>2023181
3D printing as most people know it today was invented in the 1980's, about 30 years ago. Does it seem like those laws are enforced?

>>2021089
What this guy said is right. 3d printing is only for industrial prototyping or industrial customization applications. For consumer use to reach mainstream, its gonna require printers that can spit out production quality parts in both metals and plastics. No normie is gonna sit there half assed to post process their own parts. Also they cant into cad designing or 3d modelling anyways.

>>2020548
The only thing I found useful to do with my 3d printer is to make prototypes of builds to get design ideas across to others... there are products in the market that are niche, and will sell efficiently, but i cba to make them because my other investment streams are performing well atm.

>inb4 tell me the niche products

No

I work in the field. Additive manufacturing has many uses but the best use currently is rapid prototyping. This technology speeds up product design quite a bit. Normies should have been kept out in the dark away from this technology.