3D Printing – Possibilities and Impacts

3D printing has changed the way things are manufactured.

I looked around my house to find things that thought may have been 3D printed. 3D printing is when you digitally make something and then you send it to the printer. The printer then makes the object by making it layer by layer. (This can be seen in the picture above.) The printer melts down filament which is a spool of  material which is commonly plastic. It then takes the melted filament, puts it in print head which distributes the filament onto the print plate. 3D printers can be used to make food, art body parts, toys, or even houses. I think that my garbage bin, some folders and my Invisalign are all 3D printed. Below is a picture of a filament spool

One of the things that 3D printing effects is the environment. 3D printing can be  very sustainable.  It can be sustainable because the filament can be melted down and turned into new filament. This way, when people are done with objects or if it is waste, they can reuse it to make the filament something new and the cycle can continue. This way, we can recycle things instead of letting it become landfill or pollution, it can be something new and great. 3D printers sometimes use renewable bioplastic.

3D printing is also getting into the art world. It gives artist many new opportunities. They can either make sculptures or pottery or even food art without having to be good with their hands. Some people are very creative, but they aren’t good at the actual “making” part of art. This gives these people new ways to become artists.  Below is a picture of a really cool piece of 3D printed art.

As you can tell, 3D printing has many benefits.

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