3D printing, most typically uses a process known as Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), sometimes also known as Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF). FDM printers use a thermoplastic filament, which is heated to its melting point and then extruded, layer by layer, to create a three dimensional object. The 3D object is designed in a CAD program such as OpenSCAD that can then export STL files that are read by a Slicer program. The Slicer literally slices the 3D model into layers and then prepares G-Code that can be read by a firmware. Other 3D printing techniques include Stereolithography (SLA), Direct Light Processing (DLP), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Material Jetting (MJ), Drop on Demand (DOD), Binder Jetting (BJ), and Powder Bed Fusion.
If the printhead (the extruder) in a 3D printer is replaced with a mechanism that pushes out a biological substrate, we get a 3D bioprinter that can be used to print human tissue and even entire organs.
The obvious disruptive potential of 3D printing is in rapid prototyping, obviating the need for a time-consuming design, produce, test, redesign, approve process while doing so with streamlined or almost negligible physical infrastructure. Sufficiently sophisticated and fast 3D printing technology can also disrupt traditional delivery systems whereby purchased objects don’t have to be shipped from point A to point B. Instead, the design can be sent online and printed at the destination. But the really powerful disruption lies in the area of human tissue printing, for example, using a 3D printer to print organs for transplanting in patients, or printing human skin tissue for burn victims.
From printing of replacement machine parts in manufacturing and agriculture to high-tech industrial manufacture to printing of prosthetics and human tissue for accident and burn victims, the application of 3D printing in developing countries is not unlike that in the more advanced economies. But, since it requires a lot less investment in infrastructure than traditional manufacturing, 3D printing does promise a bigger boost to emerging economies.
The clear danger of 3D printing is its use to print prohitibited or restricted objects such as guns or other weapons. Use of 3D printing to create parts use in manufacture also opens up the potential for bad design and fabrication causing failure of the larger systems, something that doesn’t happen in the more traditional 2D printing. There have been reports of 3D printing of experimental body parts and implants especially from the biohacking movement. Such experimentation, while a hallmark of a vibrant and creative culture, can also be dangerous for the practitioners. As in everything, the viable solution is going to be a mix of regulation and education.
Bioengineers clear major hurdle on path to 3D printing replacement organs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqJYMgAcc0Q
Mimicking the growth of human organs through 3D bio-printing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDV0thJFnpQ
Victoria Hand Project: Using 3D printing to change the lives of amputees. https://www.victoriahandproject.com/"
GE is Using 3D Printing and Their New Smart Factory to Revolutionize Large-Scale Manufacturing. https://3dprint.com/127906/ge-smart-factory/"
Generating vascular channels within hydrogel constructs using an economical open-source 3D bioprinter and thermoreversible gels, Bioprinting, Volume 9, Pages 7-18, ISSN 2405-8866, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bprint.2018.02.001. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405886617300167
3D-Printed Heart. , https://www.newsweek.com/3d-printed-heart-human-tissue-world-first-1398925
3D Bioprinting. https://openwetware.org/wiki/3D_Bioprinting
3D Printing: Developing Countries Perspectives. https://arxiv.org/pdf/1410.5349.pdf