POWERED UP How do 3 D PRINTERS work The Inside Scoop Bored with your toys Whip up a new batch with out even leaving home It's possible if you own a 3 D printer These amazing gadgets can create models of dinosaur bones artificial limbs even cars and houses Yeah real ones So toys Easy peasy Find out what goes into printing three dimensional objects How do the printers know what to build What is the print made of Where do you get the designs
Now if I could just build a shrink ray
JUST THE FACTS Layer Up A 3 D printer looks like an overgrown sibling to the inkjet printer you may have in your house And it works in a remarkably remarkably similar way It has a nozzle that moves back and forth putting layer on top of layer of material to create its print Each layer is fused or joined to the layer below it 3 D printers often build with a type of plastic but they can also use other materials including rubber paper ceramics glass metal and even food Depending on how complex the design is printing can take several minutes hours or even days MIT scientist Skylar Tibbits a National Geographic Emerging Explorer is taking 3 0 printing to the next dimension 4 D PRINTING He prints materials that are programmed to build themselves or transform from one shape to another on their own AFTER BEFORE Addition Not Subtraction Creating a 3 D object by building it up one layer at a time is an additive process and it's not the way most things are made Instead a lot of things are assembled put together by joining individual parts Many other objects are made by cutting materials into a desired shape That way of making things is called subtractive manufacturing A NEW BEAK was 3 D printed for an injured bald eagle FUN FACT LOCAL MOTORS AN ARIZONA BASED CARMAKER IS WORKING TO 3 D PRINT CUSTOM ELECTRIC CARS IT PRINTED ITS FIRST VEHICLE THE STRATI IN 44 HOURS AT A TECHNOLOGY SHOW IN 2015
BUILDING UP A 3 D printer builds a toy by adding layer upon layer of material A Minnesota man Andrey Rudenko built a large 3 D printer and used it in 2014 to print a 12 foot 3 6 ml tall CASTLE out of cement It was a test run for 3 D printing houses The building material often a type of plastic comes out of an extruder nozzle which moves to form the toy's shape The toy is built up layer by layer FUN FACT ARTIST JONTY HURWITZ 3 D PRINTED SOME OF THE SMALLEST SCULPTURES EVER MADE THE NANOSCULPTURES WERE SO SMALL THEY COULD FIT ON AN ANT S HEAD SO SMALL THAT HE LOST THEM
