BENEFITS OF 3D PRINTING

Prototyping and production preparation are becoming faster and easier, thanks to professional 3D printing. However, these are not the only areas profiting from this technology. To give you some examples, 3D printing is popular also in marketing, sales, architecture, medicine, education and research.

In the following article we allowed ourselves to summarize some of the advantages of 3D printing. If there is still something you don’t understand about this technology, we recommend you to start with reading our blog …What is “3D printing” actually?
 

 

NEW STRUCTURES AND SHAPES

3D printing has brought such possibilities for structures and shapes of the artistic or utilitarian objects, that unfortunately (or fortunately?) we are forced to use the cliche “there are no limits in the imagination and the originality associated with 3D printing.” One example of the uniqueness of this technology is the production of the object directly in another object without the need for gluing or other bonding.

CONSTANT INNOVATIONS

The continuous growth and innovations in thinking, possible use, designs, materials and combinations, and in the above mentioned structures and shapes of products – it’s all part of the creative boom that 3D printing has initiated. Every day more and more enthusiasts appear with amazing ideas, leaving us open-mouthed. Development in medicine, research, science, and even in the food industry has taken a clear direction of 3D printing, to ensure the highest quality of our lives.

IDEAL PRE-PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY

Despite the fact that 3D printing has still not become a very convenient means of quantitative production, it is ideal for low volume production, preparation of production, design and functionality testing of future products or as a complementary technology for molding or working with other materials.

SPEED OF PROTOTYPING

3D printing has been originally known as „rapid prototyping“. Apart from other prototyping methods, 3D printing is much faster. For this reason its popularity is growing in production companies and research institutes every day.

PRICE OF PROTOTYPING

Traditional prototyping methods are usually much more costly than 3D printing. 3D printing reduces the cost of production preparation by saving materials, energy, time and money. Even storage costs are reduced significantly.

CUSTOM MADE

Each product of 3D printing is the result of its creator’s work. Companies benefit not only from the faster and more economical prototyping and preparation for quantitative production, but even from the possibility of tailor-made gifts for clients or original solutions for campaigns and sales techniques. And individuals? They can finally hold their idea in their own hands.

FULL-COLOUR 3D PRINTING

The possibility of full-colour paper, composite or plastic 3D printing is appreciated by all sorts of people and companies – those who expect aesthetically appealing products, stop-motion animators, designers, museums or collectors of various replicas of 3D scanned artifacts. Thanks to the fact that the objects are 3D printed directly in colour, they don’t need to be subsequently painted. Even better news is the objects are equally coloured inside as outside, so we don’t have to worry about its colour to be scrubbed away.
 

 

STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY

3D printing technology provides a perfectly smooth surface without any joints on the 3D printed object. Naturally, only to the maximum build size of the 3D printer. For example, the maximum build size of ZPrinter 650 (3D Systems Projet 660Pro) is 254 x 381 x 203 mm.

HIGH DETAIL

Professional 3D printers print with extremely high accuracy.

ALMOST ZERO MATERIAL WASTE

3D printing is a method of producing the objects by adding the material. This means there is a minimum amount of material waste, in many cases even none.

ECOLOGICAL MATERIALS

3D printing is often considered a green technology and not only because there is almost no material waste. Ecological are even some of the building materials. For example, one of the most common methods of 3D printing uses gypsum composite and resin-based adhesives. The objects are then finalized with water, hot salt, superglue (also resin-based) or wax.

 
No wonder 3D printing is gaining its popularity. And what’s more, people and companies can concentrate on the quality of their idea rather than on its materialisation, because a professional 3D printing service simply provides exactly what they designed.

 
Upcoming related article: Drawbacks of 3D printing.
 

Image sources: shapeways.com, designboom.com, joshharker.com, dezeen.com, designboom.com, imgur.com, illusion.co.th, dailymail.co.uk, 3dprinthq.com, designboom.com