Is 3D printing the key to Utopia

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Is3DprintingthekeytoUtopia? The'magic'ofdigitalmanufacturingcouldtransformourhomesand theindustriesthatservethem.Butatwhatcost? ● JohnNaughton ● ,Sunday13May2012 TheObserver Youknowtheproblem:thedishwasherthathascleanedyourdishes faithfullyfor15yearssuddenlystopsworking.Youcallouta repairmanwhoidentifiestheproblem:thefilterunithasfinally givenuptheghost."Ah,"yousay,muchrelieved,"canyoufitanew one?"Atwhichpointthechapshakeshisheadsorrowfully.Nocando, heexplains.Thecompanythatmadethemachinewastakenoveryears agobyanotheroutfitandtheynolongersupplysparesforyour ancientmachine. Upuntilnow,thisstorywouldhavehadapredictableendinginwhich yousorrowfullyjunkedyourtrustydishwasherandboughtanewone. Butthere'sanemergingtechnologythatcouldchangethat.It's calledthree-dimensionalprinting. Eh?Surelyprintingisintrinsicallyatwo-dimensionalprocess, involvingthesquirtingofcoloureddyesontoflatsheetsofpaper? Andindeeditis,soperhapstheuseoftheword"printing"in 3D printingisabitnaughty–whichiswhymeninsuitstendstocall it"additivemanufacturing".Butthereisstillastrongmetaphorical correspondencebetweenthe2Dand3Dprocesses.Intheformer,we takeanelectronicrepresentationofadocumentonacomputerscreen andoutputareplicaofthatontopaper;inthelatter,wetakea three-dimensionalcomputermodelofsomethinganduseprinting-like technologytocreateathree-dimensionalversionofitinplasticor othermaterials. Itworkslikethis:adesignerusescomputer-assisteddesignsoftware tocreateathree-dimensionalmodelofanobject.Anotherprogram then"slices"themodelintothinsectionsandinstructsthe