Life's Great Mysteries - Are 3D printers a gift from a future civilization?

Yeah, I know 3D printers aren’t from the future, but some kinds of technology make me wonder sometimes. Recently, when visiting our daughter Katie, her husband Michael showed me how his 3D printer works. It was the first time I had actually seen one operate. 3D printers have been around for a while, and I suppose they aren’t as astounding as some of the new AI technologies, or even newer cell phones for that matter. But still… they print anything you can imagine as a three-dimensional object. That’s Star Trek territory, maybe even The Jetsons!

How do they actually work? Well, first you have to have on your computer a digital 3D model of an object. A 3D model includes all the spatial information, such as height, width, and the precise measurements of every portion of the object. Every contour, every surface, every projection, everything. 3D models are actually quite common, as almost all products are modeled in 3D before companies produce them. Also, most animated movies and shows are now just 3D characters, 3D objects, and 3D backgrounds. A 3D model can be made from several photos (or drawings) of something, as long as the photos show all the sides of the object.

Next, you use software to convert your 3D model into an STL (stereolithography) file. This maps the object’s entire surface as a series of triangles.

The STL file is then used by software that creates really thin slices of the model, from the bottom of the object to the top. The 3D printer then lays down a thin layer of material for each of the slices, building the object from the bottom up. Basically, it’s kind of like an inkjet printer, but instead of laying down one thin one-dimensional line of ink at a time to create a 2D image, it lays down a heated layer of resin one 2D slice at a time, piling the slices on top of each other. The resin is heated just before being squirted on top of the previous slice, and it quickly cools, then the printer scans the layer with UV light, which cures it.

I recently watched a video about huge 3D printers that print houses by laying down one thin layer of concrete at a time.

Some of the most impressive 3D printers actually use metal instead of resin, using an electron beam to melt metal powder into each layer. These machines can quickly make things like replacement metal machine parts, surgical implants, and anything else you can think of.

Imagine this futuristic scenario: a large ship is out at sea (or, better yet, out in space) for a long time. It is not feasible to store every possible spare replacement part aboard the ship. The parts would take up too much space. But the 3D files for every imaginable part could be available on a ship computer, along with a 3D printer to print any replacement part that is needed (especially if the faulty part can be used for raw material to make the new part) .

Like I said... this is Star Trek territory.

Photo Credits:
- 3D Printer - DepositPhotos