Online 3D Printing Research Articles

Assessing the effect of 3D printing technologies on entrepreneurship: An exploratory study

The aim of this paper is to critically assess the effect of 3D printing technologies on entrepreneurship. While 3D printing technologies (also known as ‘additive manufacturing’) have been considered as highly transformative technologies, they have been so far (despite over 30 years of existence) restricted to niche markets, and until recently, it seemed that only the largest firms were able to take advantage of those technologies. However, the cost of use of such technologies has sharply decreased over the past few years, and an increasing number of service companies offer both offline (Fab Labs, makerspaces, bureaus) and online (3D printing platforms) access to 3D printing capacities, enabling to “bridge the gap” and provide access to 3D printing technologies to everyone.In this context, using a case-based exploratory methodology, this research aims to explore the benefits of 3D printing technologies for entrepreneurs and new ventures, in particular in relation to overcoming specific challenges these smaller and younger structures face. After identifying the key types of hurdle faced by entrepreneurs – NPD issues, technical issues, market issues, financial issues, and business model issues – this article investigates the manner in which different forms of usage of 3D printing technologies – prototyping, tooling, direct manufacturing, distributed and localised manufacturing – can help alleviate each of those types of barrier.The results of this research indicate that 3D printing technologies are indeed likely to enable entrepreneurs to overcome the five main types of barriers they generally face. Furthermore, because of the very particular situation of entrepreneurs and new ventures and the specific challenges they face in terms of scale, access to markets, and lack of financial resources, 3D printing may in fact be more transformative for smaller and younger structures, than for larger and well-established corporations. However, this research also indicates that benefits for entrepreneurs derived from the use of 3D printing may depend on the degree of involvement of 3D printing in the overall productive process – the more the merrier – and that using 3D printing only at design and tooling stage, although helpful to some extent, may not be so impactful.

Does Remixing Facilitate User Innovation? An Exploratory Study of an Online 3D Printing Platform

Many makers join online makerspace communities to develop their own inventions. These online platforms often encourage makers to collaborate by modifying existing 3D-based designs, a co-creation pr...

Evaluating phone camera and cloud service-based 3D imaging and printing of human bones for anatomical education

ObjectiveTo evaluate the feasibility of a phone camera and cloud service-based workflow to image bone specimens and print their three-dimensional (3D) models for anatomical education.DesignThe images of four typical human...

An Updated Protocol for High Throughput Plant Tissue Sectioning.

Quantification of the tissue and cellular structure of plant material is essential for the study of a variety of plant sciences applications. Currently, many methods for sectioning plant material are either low throughput or involve free-hand sectioning which requires a significant amount of practice. Here, we present an updated method to provide rapid and high-quality cross sections, primarily of root tissue but which can also be readily applied to other tissues such as leaves or stems. To increase the throughput of traditional agarose embedding and sectioning, custom designed 3D printed molds were utilized to embed 5–15 roots in a block for sectioning in a single cut. A single fluorescent stain in combination with laser scanning confocal microscopy was used to obtain high quality images of thick sections. The provided CAD files allow production of the embedding molds described here from a number of online 3D printing services. Although originally developed for roots, this method provides rapid, high quality cross sections of many plant tissue types, making it suitable for use in forward genetic screens for differences in specific cell structures or developmental changes. To demonstrate the utility of the technique, the two parent lines of the wheat (Triticum aestivum) Chinese Spring × Paragon doubled haploid mapping population were phenotyped for root anatomical differences. Significant differences in adventitious cross section area, stele area, xylem, phloem, metaxylem, and cortical cell file count were found.

Micro-Manufacturing Using Online 3D Printing

As an additive manufacturing process, 3D printing provides conceptualizers and designers an opportunity to quickly produce physical components and concept models at reasonable costs. Such manufacturing is distinct from mass production involving traditional subtractive machining processes. This paper briefly describes microscale manufacturing involving a series of 3D-printing-related processes, including 3D modeling, 3D model slicing, printing, and production. Furthermore, specifications of 3D printers, a major component of the 3D printing process, impedes the entry of new micro-manufacturing businesses, such as the maximum printing volume, printing material, positioning accuracy, layer thickness, and price, were analyzed. In addition, online 3D printing service could be an alternative to overcome the difficulty of new entry to micro-manufacturing by a step-by-step instruction through internet. Commercially available online 3D printing services were surveyed and compared in material and cost in this paper.

Co-creation and user innovation: The role of online 3D printing platforms

The aim of this article is to investigate the changes brought about by online 3D printing platforms in co-creation and user innovation. As doing so requires a thorough understanding of the level of user involvement in productive processes and a clear view of the nature of co-creative processes, this article provides a 'prosumption' framework and a typology of co-creation activities. Then, based on case studies of 22 online 3D printing platforms, a service-based taxonomy of these platforms is constructed. The taxonomy and typology are then matched to investigate the role played by online 3D platforms in regard to the various types of co-creation activities and, consequently, how this impacts user innovation.

Case Study: Use of Online Tools in the Classroom and their Impact on Industrial Design Pedagogy

Industrial Design education is going through a rapid evolution with more Design students making use of internet resources and tools such as crowdsourcing, 3D printing services, and other web-based tools to validate their ideas more quickly. The popularity of online 3D printing services such as Shapeways and Sculpteo accelerate the design process and learning. These services allow the designer to “print” virtually in any material such as plastics or metals. The impact of this new technology and other new web-based tools is significant not only in the industry but in the classroom as well. Current Industrial Design pedagogy is still partially based on technology, materials and processes that were developed a century ago. For example, pencils and paper are still the primary idea development tool. Books and magazines used to be the primary research tool but already have been surpassed by the Internet. Computer technology has improved significantly since the appearance of the first PCs, Macs and CNC machines. With all these advances in technology, one aspect of Industrial Design education that needs to be re-visited is the pedagogy of Design Drafting in this new age of online 3D printing services. The traditional Design pedagogy that was based on the development of different skills or competencies in separate courses or classes have not changed significantly in the last 40 years, 3D printing technology could potentially change this situation. Some new academic papers discuss this newer trend in Industrial Design schools but very few provide examples on how they implemented the new Internet-based 3D printing services in their curriculum. Industrial Design schools need to adapt quickly to the new reality, embracing Internet resources and online tools as core skills that every designer must have. This paper will discuss one case in particular where student projects were developed using online 3D printing services.