Stage7

3D Printing

We’ve reached the present day. We end our journey through time in the era of the 3D printer. This printing technology was actually developed some years ago, in 1983 to be exact, when Chuck Hull used UV rays to harden varnishes. The engineer baptised his invention “stereolithography”: a method that allows solid objects to be created by adding overlapping layers of a photosensitive liquid polymer which has been struck by UV light. But where does it start from? From a 3D model produced by modelling software, like Blender, AutoCAD or OpenSCAD.

Today, there are various technologies for 3D printing. They mainly differ in the way that they assemble different layers: they can use materials that are melted by heat, liquid materials that are hardened or materials that are laminated and bound together.

It has taken years for 3D printing to become widely used. Why? Because the cost of this technology was initially extremely high. But now 3D printing is used in many fields – from architecture to archaeology, from art to healthcare – with more being added all the time.