# 3D printers effect on production industry



## DemonD (Jun 12, 2012)

Do you think 3D printers will have a negative effect on the plastic productions industry in the long run?


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## Kormoran (Mar 15, 2012)

Not any time soon. It's very slow, and very uneconomical. Injection molding is still going to be one of the primary methods of mass production. It may well cheapen custom and low number production, though. You also get faster prototyping, which means you can put a product into mass production sooner.

The same thing goes for CNC mills too; injection molding for mass produced, low cost parts, CNC for low number or precision instruments.


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## DiamondDays (Sep 4, 2012)

It's not likely to ever be a real threat to exciting methods of mass production. It just doesn't make sense in that context.


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## Subtotal (May 17, 2013)

I see them as complementary technologies, the benefit of prototyping plastic parts on a 3d printer is the setup costs for small runs is much lower, this means prototypes can be revised more quickly and for less money.


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## frenchie (Jul 7, 2011)

For small and relatively stupid plastic things maybe.

But for larger and more complicated things I doubt that. I don't understand how autocad works nor do I really have any interest in learning. I bet the world at large also doesn't care either.

Although, there have been instances where I wish I knew how to do this stuff when I needed a new part for some random thing. 

Just give me a Star Trek replicator and we'll be alright.


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## Subtotal (May 17, 2013)

frenchie said:


> For small and relatively stupid plastic things maybe.
> 
> But for larger and more complicated things I doubt that. I don't understand how autocad works nor do I really have any interest in learning. I bet the world at large also doesn't care either.
> 
> ...


Based on the things were a few years ago, 3D printers were only useful if you could use 3D cad programs (or knew someone who could) however things are changing.

If you look at the current state of conventional paper printers, most things printed for home use were created by the person printing it. However there is also a large volume of material which is printed as needed from an existing template, given that the design files for a large number of items is already available online (and the number is growing) it is not out of the question that small stores which offer 3D printing from design files (similar to online photo processing) may become prevalent.

Granted, this would not likely have a major effect on the plastics industry at large, but it would reduce the minimum effective volume for small runs of plastic parts. Granted this could (long term) reduce the volume of small runs for plastic parts, but I feel this will be offset by the increase in medium sized runs encouraged by the ease of prototyping.


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## PowerShell (Feb 3, 2013)

Mass production factories still have a huge economy of scale that is hard to beat. It could happen if the 3D printers became very cheap, but overall it's way more efficient to produce something in a factory with division of labor\machinery specializing in simple tasks than to have 1 machine do everything. Plus the economies of scale in the factory buying materials in bulk has to be factored in.


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## wuliheron (Sep 5, 2011)

Although we think of 3D printers as small machines for making widgets, where they are making a lot of progress is in the housing and construction industry. The first robots that build houses are coming on the market including one that builds extremely cheap, but high quality, housing for the third world. Houses that can be safer and more quickly and cheaply built by machines larger than the houses themselves that can sometimes best be described as 3D printers. All the different industries have been exploring new types of mass production and 3D printing is finding its own unique niches as the technology advances, but replacing cheap plastic products is not one of them yet. However, replacing entire houses with largely plastic printed houses looks like a distinct possibility in the near future.


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## PowerShell (Feb 3, 2013)

Here's an interesting and amazing thing that was done with a 3D printer (and I hope more innovation like this is here to come): http://boingboing.net/2013/05/23/3d-printed-bio-absorbable-spli.html


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## DemonD (Jun 12, 2012)

PowerShell said:


> Here's an interesting and amazing thing that was done with a 3D printer (and I hope more innovation like this is here to come): 3D printed bio-absorbable splint saves baby with otherwise fatal impaired breathing - Boing Boing


That's awesome!


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## Stelmaria (Sep 30, 2011)

wuliheron said:


> Although we think of 3D printers as small machines for making widgets, where they are making a lot of progress is in the housing and construction industry. The first robots that build houses are coming on the market including one that builds extremely cheap, but high quality, housing for the third world.


This sounds interesting, can you provide more information or a link?


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## wuliheron (Sep 5, 2011)

Sorry, I don't have any links. 

Industries of all kinds have been investing heavily into researching printing and self-assembling processes in particular as they see the writing on the wall. The same basic approach is being applied to skyscrapers as well with the robots printing and building the next floor in a completely enclosed space if they want. The finished product includes the basic wiring and plumbing done in about the same time it requires a normal crew just to erect the shell because the machines do it all simultaneously. The more things the machine can simply pour or print out the faster it can work. Theoretically, you could design buildings that are "self-assembling" to a significant extent as well and the materials sort themselves out into whatever configuration you want.

The materials science revolution is about to kick into high gear along with robotics.


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## Quinlan (Apr 18, 2011)

I work in the manufacturing industry. The company I work for does screen/digital printing on plastics. Not the same thing, but it is a similar scenario. When digital printing on high quality polymers became an option it didn’t kill screen printing. If anything it allows businesses to be more versatile. We can run a small job through digital more profitably than we can through screening because setup times are reduced. However, depending on the job, large quantity orders with multiple colors just make sense to run through screening.

Businesses that fail to adapt and incorporate new technology are destined to fail. It won’t have anything to do with 3D printers being introduced.


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## Quinlan (Apr 18, 2011)

Subtotal said:


> I see them as complementary technologies, the benefit of prototyping plastic parts on a 3d printer is the setup costs for small runs is much lower, this means prototypes can be revised more quickly and for less money.


I think you are thinking of concept designs. You don't typically prototype on technology that is dissimilar from the technology you are going to manufacture on. There are too many variables that can be left unaccounted for. I'm might just arguing about terminology here though.


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## ThatOneWeirdGuy (Nov 22, 2012)

wuliheron said:


> Sorry, I don't have any links.


Where did you get this information from?


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## wuliheron (Sep 5, 2011)

ThatOneWeirdGuy said:


> Where did you get this information from?


As a teen I visited the library once a month and spent up to four hours merely skimming as fast as I could through all the technical journals. I never understood half of what I read, but it was riveting nonetheless and I always assumed I could absorb a lot through osmosis. Anyway, these days I use the internet.


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## CaptSwan (Mar 31, 2013)

Maybe as time goes by; and it's use becomes more efficient and the manufacturing process becomes cheaper. However, for that to occur, I estimate between 5-10 years; if the technology isn't abandoned alltogether, or other major corporations take over it.


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