Modern day 3D printing

3D Systems enter the Hall of Fame 30 years after 3D Systems had kickstarted the industry, their first ever 3D printer, the SLA-1, was declared a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. This formal recognition of the machine that started it all showed how far 3D printing had come since the 80s. history of 3d printing 3d systems sla-1 3d printer ASME The SLA-1 was hailed a historic mechanical engineering landmark in 2016. At around the same time, two very big technology companies entered the market. Household name big. GE and HP enter The first was HP, leaders in inkjet 2D printing, who in 2016 announced that they would sell printers featuring their patented Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) technology. HP have since gone on to refine this technology, and in 2018 announced full-color 3D printers, industrial 3D printers at a much lower price range of $50,000, and a move into the metal 3D printing market. The second household name was GE. Following the incorporation of a new company called GE Additive, the multinational giant acquired metal 3D printing companies Arcam and Concept Laser in late 2016 as part of a $1.4bn move into the additive manufacturing industry. GE Additive also tried to acquire SLM Solutions, but were ultimately unable to. The incumbents now had HP and GE to worry about too. These deep-pocketed giants could invest billions in gaining a crucial technological advantage, and were now forced to innovate harder than ever. Competition is usually only a good thing for consumers however, as each company worked harder and harder to optimize their technologies to be as effective as possible. The Ultimaker 3 Regarding the desktop 3D printer market, Ultimaker’s October 2016 release of the Ultimaker 3 was another landmark. It was an instant hit, earning boatloads of Best 3D Printer awards and cementing Ultimaker as a key player in the industry, while remaining committed to the open source philosophy. Ultimaker have since released the S3 and S5, which have received positive reviews. history of 3d printing ultimaker 3 The Ultimaker 3 is one of the best 3D printers on the market. 3D printing in construction: a very exciting prospect But while all these companies were concentrating on 3D printing for manufacturing, others saw it as the solution to the growing housing crisis. 3D printing in construction was a $70M industry in 2017, but reports project it to be worth $40bn by 2027. Companies such as Apis Cor and WinSun were started, creating huge concrete 3D printers that could build skeletons of houses far quicker and cheaper than any human. This advance was immortalized by Apis Cor 3D printing a whole house in just 24 hours. Other construction and architectural projects involving 3D printing were completed throughout the 2016-2018 period include 3D printed bridges, houses, and even plans for skyscrapers in Dubai. Ultimaker S5 vs Makerbot Method: The Prosumer 3D Printer Battle 2018/19 Both Ultimaker and Makerbot grew extraordinarily throughout the mid-2010s, and were flying high off their Ultimaker 3 and Makerbot Replicator ranges respectively. By mid-2018 this battle was to move into the prosumer 3D printer range with the release of the Ultimaker S5 in May 2018, and the Makerbot Method in December. Both represented a step up in price, from around $3,000 up to over $5,000. This was a change from both companies’ roots. They started building small FDM printers — remember the original kits made of wood? — and were previously more aligned with the RepRap philosophy. This move upmarket is an interesting one, though it is worth noting that Makerbot offer a Replicator+ model catered especially to 3D printing in education, retailing at around $2,000. makerbot method vs ultimaker s5 The Makerbot Method (left) battles against the Ultimaker S5 (right) for control of the prosumer 3D printer sector. The Low Cost LCD 3D Printing Revolution Resin 3D printers used to cost thousands, and that would only afford you a basic SLA printer. Then Digital Light Processing came along a number of years ago, offering a more scalable and modern alternative. Then it was the turn of LCD 3D printing — more similar in process to DLP than SLA — to usher in the new era of low cost resin printing. Suddenly low cost resin printers like the ELEGOO Mars and AnyCubic Photon offered reasonably accurate resin prints at a printer cost of less than $500. When the first Formlabs printers came out, people found it astonishing that you could print accurate resin objects for $3,500 — oh how things have changed. We have a ranking of 5 of the best cheap LCD 3D printers. elegoo mars and anycubic photon The ELEGOO Mars (left) and AnyCubic Photon (right) are two low cost LCD printers that surprised makers with their effectiveness. World’s Biggest 3D Printed Building: Apis Cor One-Ups Itself Apis Cor already made headlines when they built a house in 24 hours. Then in October 2019 they went further, building a huge 3D printed building in Dubai. Dubai has been known for its openness to innovative new technologies, especially 3D printing, with this huge structure earmarked for administrative staffing. Carl Deckard, inventor of SLS, dies at 58 One of the four original 3D printing company founders, Carl Deckard passed away on December 23rd 2019, at the age of just 59. The genius inventor of Selective Laser Sintering had since founded a number of other companies and held 27 patents, and was the most major figure in the history of 3D printing to pass away. The founders of SLA and FDM, Chuck Hull and S. Scott Crump respectively, are still part of their companies, that are now both public and boast valuations of just under $1 billion dollars. It is unknown how much equity they hold. EOS’ founder Dr Hans Langer, is 3D printing’s first and currently only billionaire, with an estimated net worth of $3.1bn as of August 2020 according to Forbes. The German company never went public, and is still successful 30 years on in the SLS and DMLS 3D printer markets.