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3D printing set as global game-changer

Cape Town - They began as technology curiosities, but are set to become mainstream and may potentially upend manufacturing in the longer term.

According to research firm Gartner, 3D printers are set for a big year in 2015 as demand for the devices grows.

The company says that worldwide shipments will hit 217 350 units in 2015, more than double the 108 151 total expected in 2014.

"Unit shipment growth rates for 3D printers, which languished in the low single and double digits per year throughout the 30 years since the first 3D printers were invented, are poised to increase dramatically beginning in 2015," said Pete Basiliere, research vice president at Gartner.

Basiliere was quick to explain the reasoning behind the company's prediction that in the next four years, 3D printing would hit the unbelievable number of 2.3 million.

"As radical as the forecast numbers may seem, bear in mind that even the 2.3 million shipments that we forecast will be sold in 2018 are a small fraction of the total potential market of consumers, businesses and government organisations worldwide."

Weapons

While 3D printing is relatively new to the consumer market, it has already made waves for all the wrong reasons.

In 2013, Defence Distributed demonstrated the Liberator, a plastic 3D printed gun that could fire live rounds.

The design was downloaded more than 100 000 times before being taken off the internet, but it has highlighted concern that anybody with a 3D printer could potentially manufacture weapons.

Additionally, because the gun is plastic, it may not be detected by security control checkpoints such as the airport, for example.

Check out this News24 Live video with Ignite 3D printing and what the possibilities are:

There are also concerns that key parts of even semi-automatic weapons could be produced by home 3D printing technology. These weapons, if produced would be largely untraceable and easily void forensics examinations.

In the US, guns that can avoid metal detectors were banned under President Ronald Reagan in 1988, and renewed in 1998 and 2003. However, those laws don't apply to 3D printed guns and legislation is pending on the issue.

In Japan though, Yoshitomo Imura was sentenced to two years in jail for producing a 3D printed gun. While there is no evidence that 3D-printed guns have been involved in gun violence, Australia's Senate debated what restrictions should be placed on the technology.

The declining cost and increasing sophistication of 3D printers could in the long term also impact of some manufacturing sectors as people might elect to build replacements for consumer goods than buy new ones.

Simple technology

"Overall, end-user spending on 3D printers is expected to increase from $1.6bn in 2015 to around $13.4bn in 2018 with technologies such as vat photopolymerisation and material jetting leading this growth due to expanded acceptability within the consumer and enterprise markets," Gartner said.

Basiliere argued that for 3D printing to become a truly mass-market technology, it needs to be simple and platform agnostic.

"While the early adopters will rage at the perversion of the 3D printer open-source ethos, the vast majority of mainstream consumers will demand the simple and consistent operation that 'plug and print' can provide them."

Watch this video on the Liberator 3D gun:


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