Question: what is 3d printing

Sophie Louth answered on 17 Sep 2019:

Hi Steak Girl,

3D printing is a way to create physical objects from images.
First your have to create a 3D computer model of the thing you want to build. This is like an image of the thing only in 3D so you can rotate it one the screen to see all the sides, kind of like holograms you see in scifi films.
Then you send the information about the thing from the computer to the printer.
There are lots of different types of 3D printers which print in different ways and also different materials, you can print in plastics and metals, but also chocolate, an even cells to create new organs like the heart or lungs (we are still working on that though).
One type of printing is extrusion where the material is squeezed out of a nozzle like toothpaste and you move the nozzle around to make different shapes. The type I use is for printing metals and it works with lasers. First a layer of very fine powder is laid down then the laser melts the shape you want, which quickly solidifies to create a solid layer in the right shape, then a new layer of powder is added and the laser works again, and so on. In this way very complex shapes can be created that are very hard to make in other ways.
3D printing is very cool and changing lots of different areas of science and engineering, for example I am using it in medicine to create new hip replacements. But it can also be used in cars, airplanes and chocolate puddings!