Imagine a world where everything could be made exactly how you want it at the push of a button. Whatever your imagination sees, hears – or drives.
‘This technology could be bigger than the Internet, even bigger than the industrial revolution’ says Abe Reichental, founder of 3D Systems.
And it all begins with… printers?
3D-Printers go way beyond paper. His company produces 7 different types of printers that use more than 100 materials, from waxes to metals and rubber-like materials.
Car-Parts Can Be Printed
Now even complicated car-parts can be printed. ‘The only traditional way to have all these sections and partitions in it would have been to build it in sections and then weld or screw it together. With 3D printing the whole assembly can be done in one part with no extra work needed’, Abe Reichental says.
Bumper on Mid-Sized Sedan
The biggest printed object for commercial use so far is the bumper on a mid-sized Sedan. But race cars for example need new parts faster than they can be replaced.
Nascar-company Pensky Racing is taking 3D Printing to the next level. Pensky-Engineer Thomas Delange uses a 3D-printed airfilters used by race car-drivers so they can breathe fresher air in the cockpit.
