3D printing is as limitless as the ability of the imagination.

Anything you can think of to be made, can become a physical reality with a 3D printer. Its starts with creating a 3D model, and choosing your printer selections, and you can create and Print just about anything you want. 3D printing allows a strategic on-demand approach to creating homemade items and designs for everyday use, exactly when you need it.

3D printing is a spectacular technology and extremely helpful for a wide range of people and professions. Professions that predominantly benefit from the product are: engineers, architechs, artists, construction companies, design companies, jewelry companies, medical equipment companies, and many other businesses and industries. It is also a very popular product among average consumers in that they can print anything they need for their daily lives.

3D printing is extremely versatile and flexible, as you can edit 3D models, choose from various model types and numerous variations, you can customize and personalize design settings, change the scale of objects, change the system of measurement, and even choose what type of material you want the product to be made with. You can further advance your 3D printer by purchasing interchangeable parts or toolheads for cutting, milling, laser cutting, and engraving capabilities.

For the consumer, you can find an endless bank of free downloadable 3D models for anything you want to print. Simply, visit websites online for thousands of free downloads. If you want to create your own 3D model instead of borrowing a download, you can download apps from your phone!

There are many different types of material sources you can use to print a 3D model. The most common consumer material product form is plastic. Other industries are successful and experimental with source materials like: metal, medicine molecules, human cells, graphite, carbon fiber, Graphene, bio-based resins, glass, fiberglass and even food product material. More research is underway to continually expand material capabilities.

Once you have a 3D model selected and chosen a model material, you can begin the printing process. Consumers can print a vast majority of numerous things. Objects can be chosen to print from many different components of our lives. Some of those compartments in which people choose to print for include items for practical use, food, office, organizational supplies, kitchen and dining supplies, artistic models, aesthetic pleasure and decor items, educational models and study materials, prototypes, hobbie items, functional musical instruments,  and even human body parts.

Specific examples from the following domains that people have successfully printed include:

Food: Some food examples to print include: pizza, icecream, candy, chocolate, frosting, dough, and hummus.

Medical equipment: Some medical equipment items to print include: Wheelchair ramps, prosthetic limbs, and casts.

Educational Items: Various educational items to print include: Teaching models for anatomy and surgical practices, Nasa provides accurate and exact 3D models of spacecrafts like rockets and planets, museums provide 3D model replicas of sculptures and over 200 famous artifacts ranging from the rosetta stone to marcus aurelius.

Household items: Some household items to print include: Dice, coat hangers, coasters, whistles, bottle openers, keychains, headphone stands, self watering planters, shelfs, stackable drawers, vases, lanterns, lamps, photo frames, light switches, clocks, benches, knife stands, toilet paper holders, measuring spoons, electric coffee makers, toothpaste squeezers, clips for bags , grocery bag carriers, nutcrackers, orange peelers, laptop stands, salt and pepper shakers, fly swatters, bird feeders, locks with keys, pipe fittings, dog tags, spatulas, faucets, windshield scrapers, shower heads, knifes, cookie cutters, cups, glasses, and plates.

Personal Items: Personal items to print include: Dresses, swimsuits, helmets, wallets bookmarks, electric unicycle, hair combs, belts, tweezers, license plate frames,water bottles,  spare keys, custom circuit boards, hats, buttons, jewelry, watches, trophies, phone cases, and shoes.

Interestingly in printing shoe models you can customize them to your exact shoe size as it can factor your height and weight for exact specifications and personalization.

Organizational and office items: Organizing and office items to print include: pencil holders, paperclips, letter boards, and scissors.

Tools: Tools to print include: Hinges, wrenches, gears, nuts and bolts, pliers, screwdrivers, swiss knives, and crowbars.

Hobbie Items: Hobbie items to print include: Working firearms, camera lenses, fishing reels, Fishing lures, Violins, fully functional cameras, chess pieces, gun magazines, guitar picks, saxophones, and guitars.

Toys: Toys to print include:  Legos and any type of toy you can think of.

Toys are advantageous to children and their learning abilities in that children can print their own and really take advantage of using their own imaginations. They can engage and appreciate making their own toys from scratch. Children can even customize the design of the toys by picking their own color, texture, and design effects.

3D printing can also have numerous beneficial advantages to businesses as well.

• Printing objects and designs can reduce or eliminate the cost of labor.
• Provides an artistic outlet
• It’s time saving
• It allows for variations in design for more option decisions
• Has a faster production time
• Can create conceptual presentations with prototypes
• Mass production of engineering parts
• Can create entire physical buildings with recyclable materials.
• A total functioning car has been produced

Ethical and strategic contributions of 3D Printing

3D printing provides an ethical approach to making product in that it doesn’t contribute to global warming, global problems in the making of the product, and it doesn’t deplete natural resources.

Further expansion of 3D Printing

3D printing is rapidly growing and advancing, and currently sits at a multibillion dollar market value industry. More research is being invested in advancing the capabilities of 3D printing, as it is projected to be the gateway solution to make experimenting in making fully functional human tissue in the future. A human kidney has been successfully printed from human tissue, but it is not yet functional. It is said that 3D printing has multiple future projections and will continue to expand to be a successful industry.