Chapter 1 WHAT IS 3D PRINTING What do pizza a wrench an electric guitar and a human ear have in common All of them can be printed using 3D printers Ultimaker SPRNTER da Vinci It might be hard to believe but scientists and engineers can use 3D printers to make some body parts
Many 3D printers have a platform where the printed object sits during its creation A 3D printer prints 3D objects A 3D object isn't just a shape like a square that you print on paper A square is wide and tall It has two dimensions A box though is a 3D object It has a square shape but it has three dimensions width height and depth You can hold it in your hands
Design What You Want Different kinds of 3D printers print different objects Some print food Others create pieces of art or fashion such as vases or jewelry Some can print human cells to make human tissue And larger 3D printers have even built houses These different 3D printed objects all begin with a digital design People use computer programs to design what they want to make This design becomes printing instructions for the printer Then the object can be printed All of these things were created using 3D printers
Science Fact or Science Fiction Astronauts may soon be able to 3D print pizza in space It's a fact The National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA asked BeeHex a Texas company to develop a 3D printer that prints food Astronauts would use this technology on missions to other planets in our solar system BeeHex has already made a printer that prints pizzas This printer may be used on NASA's upcoming Mars mission planned for launch sometime in the 2030s In the future many spaceships might have 3D printers on board
