{"id":3414,"date":"2016-03-08T00:12:22","date_gmt":"2016-03-08T00:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/get3dsmart.com\/Stagingsite\/\/\/?p=3414"},"modified":"2017-07-04T15:12:11","modified_gmt":"2017-07-04T15:12:11","slug":"3d-printing-today-technology-convergence-tomorrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/get3dsmart.com\/Stagingsite\/2016\/03\/08\/3d-printing-today-technology-convergence-tomorrow\/","title":{"rendered":"3D Printing Today and Technology Convergence Tomorrow"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, The Huffington Post published an\u00a0article<\/a>\u00a0from Peter Diamandis about 3D Printing & Technology Convergence. While I respect Peter and Avi Reichental as innovators in their respective fields, I feel compelled to disagree with several of their points.<\/p>\n

But, let\u2019s start with where we do agree. Peter starts his article with this:<\/p>\n

\u201cAn expert might be reasonably good at predicting the growth of a single exponential technology (e.g. 3D Printing), but try to predict the future when A.I., Robotics, VR, Drones, and Computation are all doubling, morphing and recombining\u2026 You have a very exciting (read: unpredictable) future.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll agree with that statement wholeheartedly. In fact, virtual reality and 3D printing both use similar types of input (3D renderings). The main difference is in the output. Would you like that as a virtual experience or physical product?<\/p>\n

I also think Avi\u2019s point about speed is spot-on. New technologies like those being touted by HP, Carbon and others do show amazing promise. But, I think other machine specifications, like build area, are equally important. When people think of larger size machines, they immediately think of larger parts. One of the key learnings in 2D was that a larger print area could also allow you to create lots of small pieces in one pass (gang runs).<\/p>\n

It comes down to economics. Even though the cost of acquisition is much higher, the productivity of a large machine generally equals lower cost. I think we\u2019re a few years from that type of throughput.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where we start to disagree:<\/p>\n

\u201cToday we can 3D print in full color and in over 250 different materials ranging from titanium to rubber, plastic, glass, ceramic, leathers and even chocolate.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

First, from a numbers standpoint, arguably the best source of information is the Senvol\u00a0database<\/a>. It tracks, among other things, the number of printers and substrates available for 3D printing. It currently lists over 550 different 3D printer models and over 725 substrates available for printing.<\/p>\n

My real problem with the statement though, has to do with 3D printing in full color. Today, there are basically 3 ways to do it:<\/p>\n