Though the three – the soldier, the horologist and the architects – have little in common, all of their needs could be met by the same device. A 3D printer could, fairly easily, ‘print off’ a prosthetic lower leg, a tiny, highly complicated watch part and a complex architectural model. All this in a matter of hours, at a fraction of previous prices of any of the three items.

For example,  a high-grade prosthetic limb could cost thousands of pounds and may need  to be replaced after a certain number of years, but a ‘printed’ leg could be manufactured cheaply, quickly and to the exact requirements of the soldier. Need a new leg? Just press ‘print’.

 Industrial revolution in the digital age
The 3D printer has been described by David Rowan, editor of Wired UK magazine, as "an industrial revolution in the digital age". It’s potentially a democratisation of manufacturing that, given the right developments, could mean fixing a broken freezer is as easy as going to the Bosch website, downloading the 3D file for the right part and printing it off in the front room before your steak has time to defrost.

The technology has existed in various forms for around 20 years, but advances in printhead technology and engineering developments (such as  the 3D print patents coming out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since the early 1990s) have allowed costs to slowly drop from the hundreds of thousands to as little as £15,000 for an industrial-scale printer. A Brooklyn firm called MakerBot sell hobbyist level open-source, self-build printers from just over £800 – the same price as a decent laptop computer. Not bad for your own factory. You can see what this innovative company is up to via this link: http://tinyurl.com/5wqzou2.

The potential for new developments, through new materials and faster printers, is expanding exponentially, too. Clément Moreau, co-founder of Sculpteo, a Paris-based on-demand 3D online print service, explains that the technology has moved beyond simple models and prototypes.

"We believe that 3D print technology is very disruptive," he says. "Firstly, it can create very good objects – it’s not about prototyping anymore. It’s about creating objects that you can use and that can be truly functional. They can be aesthetic; they can be part of some artistic works; they can really be part of anything."

 How it works
The term ‘3D printing’ actually encapsulates a number of different material deposition technologies, but the guiding principle behind each one of them is that a 3D image created through a CAD programme – whether a ball bearing or a violin part – is converted into thin cross-sections. An inkjet head will then create each thin layer (from materials which can range from inert plastics to metallized powders) and the layers will be built up by the printhead and the 3D printer to produce the finished object, made up from different materials and – varying from printer to printer – multiple colours.

Ed Chrusciel, director of marketing at FujiFilm Dimatix, one of the firms that provides the printheads that are vital to the development of 3D printers being built by businesses and universities, explains it thus: "Adding layers, rather than taking them away, is the fundamental difference between the analogue printing process and 3D printing. Think of it as the opposite of Leonardo da Vinci chipping a statue out of a big piece of granite.

"What you’re doing in 3D printing," he continues, "is you’re starting off with a design that’s done on a CAD programme. It’s already in multiple layers; it’s all been rasterized. Then you’re laying down a minute field of powders and using the printheads to put a binder in there."

The technology is so refined and the printheads, like Dimatix’s own piezoelectric inkjets, are so technical and versatile that a wide coalition of academic engineers, start-ups and bedroom hobbyists are experimenting with uses for 3D printing. These uses range from things as simple as iPhone cases all the way up to replicas of a Stradivarius violin and, as German researchers have recently created, artificial blood vessels.

 Applications for print firms
But as well as being a technology that could transform everything from the manufacturing industry to medical science, what day-to-day uses does 3D printing have for print firms, which are currently focused on the 2D world?

Robert Jeffries is a 3D technical specialist for Inition, a 10-year-old firm based in London and Melbourne, which operates multiple 3D services, including 3D animation and 3D filmmaking – not just print.  However, it is a key figure in the latter. Inition works with 3D printers made by the US firm Z Corporation, installing and maintaining them for British firms, and offering a whole range of print services for various companies, such as smaller architects and engineers.

Among the businesses that Inition has supplied are a number of reprographics firms. He believes that the technology, at its current cost, is a good investment for print firms who will then be able to offer clients bespoke modelling and small-scale custom manufacturing. This will be especially relevant in the AEC (architecture, engineering and construction) markets, with their need for quick prints of models and prototypes.

"Something that the AEC market has a need for is 3D printing," explains Jeffries, "and I think that repro firms recognise this; they’re  now trying to latch on to it as an area for growth."

The cost of high-level industrial printers can be as high as £250,000 – perhaps a prohibitive price for small firms. But most of the AEC firms buy printers that cost £35,000-£50,000.

Why is it worth spending that amount of money? "The printing market needs quick turnaround times," says Jeffries, "so to outsource to other bureau services who already have their niche in the 3D print market and are doing work 24/7 – I don’t think that’s good enough for them. If they have the money to invest and they already have that business from their client-base, they can offer that extra service to their list of clients."

A £25,000-plus investment in a 3D printer doesn’t need to be multiplied by investing in specialist staff, either. "Typically, you don’t need someone running the machine 24/7 – they can have other duties," explains Jeffries. "For example, your print room technician could quite easily run a 3D printer. It’s pretty much exactly the same as a 2D printer. It’s got the same sort of maintenance. The only thing you do need is possibly a slight knowledge of 3D design. But usually the companies that you generally work with – say an architectural firm – will have the designers with 3D knowledge who will send files to the printroom."

The time for each product to print depends on the printheads, the  machines and, obviously, the product itself. But on a Z Corp printer, the z-axis (ie, height) can print about an inch per hour. So a typical architectural model, for instance, could take between a day and five days to print.

With the technology evolving and quickening, however, an in-house 3D bureau could offer – among many things – clients’ architectural models; custom-made point-of-sale displays to suit specific environments; packaging suitable for small-run intricate mail-outs, cheap parts for existing 2D printers, or even services for the public. For instance, on Sculpteo’s  website even those without CAD knowledge can upload and tinker with their own designs before the French firm formats them for print.

But that kind of service, says Fuji’s Chrusciel, is not likely to define the industry: "Frankly, I don’t know if there is a market for the home enthusiast. But there are lots of printers that are being sold on a yearly basis. That’s a billion dollar industry for 3D printers in the industrial space."

This kind of thinking suggests that if consumer demand for 3D printing grows, then it’s companies like reprographics firms and print companies that could adapt themselves to be in the middle of it.  Even at this point of huge interest in 3D printing, we are a long way and many big investments from it being a possible staple of the 21st century printing and manufacturing industries. But if a tipping point was reached in terms of printhead speed, there are myriad possibilities.

Consider Wired UK’s February cover. For a select group of tastemakers, bloggers and journalists, the Condé Nast title produced ultra-personalised magazine covers with a letter featuring information gleaned from the web about those same people. Or IPC’s Wallpaper*, which teamed up with Kin Design on its August issue to produce individually customised covers for each of the design title’s readers. It is perhaps not too much of a leap from there to imagine 3D print technology enabling print companies to customise and produce cover-mounted products tailored to their individual subscribers, or for direct mail featuring custom-built products. These are the innovations that could transform the way we think about print.

A giant shift into manufacturing could be a mere click of the ‘print’ button away.