3D Printers Revolutionize the Manufacturing Industry
If you normally print or copy something, a flat piece of paper comes out. 3-D printers print many of these layers and put them on top of each other to form an object.
3D printers have become important in many fields. Product designers use them to create models. They draw the model on a computer using special software and then send it to the printer.
3-D printing first came up in the 1980s but they were much too expensive for many people or businesses to use. Today the prices are much lower and start at about $3,000.
Many companies use 3-D printers to manufacture products directly. A company in Amsterdam prints furniture and art , as well as iPhone cases and handbags. A San Francisco based company produces artificial arms and legs that they sell to hospitals. Airplane producer Boeing produces some parts with 3-D printers. Many other products are produced with such printers, like toys, electronics, lamps or perfume bottles. In the future the products you could make with 3-D printers is endless. A Californian company is even planning to build houses with a printer that is so big it would only fit on the back of a truck or a trailer.
There still is, however, a big problem with 3-D printing. Although, technically, you can use any material for 3-D printing some materials are easier to form than others. Home printers cost much less because they hardly use anything else but plastic. Printing objects made of metal or concrete require much better and more expensive printers.
People who can’t afford their own printer can use a 3-D printing service. You design an object at home, send it to a printing company and get the desired object by mail. 3-D printing is here to stay and could revolutionize the manufacturing industry completely.
Words
- afford = to have enough money to buy something
- although = while
- artificial = not real or made of natural things
- business = company
- case = box or container that you put something in
- come up = start
- concrete = material used for building that is made by mixing water, sand , small stones and cement together
- create = make
- designer = a person who plans and creates something
- desired = wanted
- electronics = electronic objects
- field = area
- flat = smooth and level, without higher areas
- form = shape
- furniture = large objects, like tables, desks, chairs etc that you find inside a house
- hardly = almost not
- however = but
- layer = level
- manufacturing = the process of making goods and products in a factory
- printing service = company that does the printing for you
- require = need
- revolutionize = to change completely
- trailer = something on wheels that is pulled by a car truck, tractor etc.. It is used for carrying something heavy