What? Print in 3-D?

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If you have been involved in developing new products, you know that prototyping can be an expensive and extensive process.  You need a great industrial designer and/or a talented craftsman.  Even then, the prototype may not provide you the wherewithal to run various tests.

Freeform fabrication technology has been a scientific curiosity for some two decades.  The process lets one print- in 3D-  various shaped structures, layer by layer (from electronic blueprints).   Now, different choices are becoming available to help us use this technology.  The first, a relatively inexpensive system arose from the incubators run by Philips (in Holland).  Shapeways has developed a fairly inexpensive process to “print” objects made from plastic, glass, bronze, or sandstone.  Having just raised about $ 5 million, it has moved its headquarters here to New York.  It hopes to expand to become the rapid-prototyping entity for designers and hobbyists.

Peter Weijmarshausen, the founder, feels he can now handle the markets better, since he has a production facility in Europe and America.  This keeps the price to the customers down, as well, since import duties will be obviated.  The big problem his growth plan must overcome is the difficulty in using the CAD software to design the three-dimensional models.  One way he is doing that is to provide a base of some 800 items that can be easily customized.

Drs. Lipson and Malone of Cornell University have championed the “Fab@Home” system, using open-source technology.  (By the way, you used to be able to find instructions to build your own unit seaching fabathome.org But it disappeared. I have not researched it again, when I was notified the link was dead.  This process is similar to ink jet printing.)  nScrypt, a firm based in Orlando (FL), has developed non-contact direct printing devices.  Their unit has been employed to manufacture solar cells and antennae.  With modification, the device can bioprint human tissues and biomaterials.  One such device is in use at the University of Missouri  (Organ Printing), under the direction of Dr. Forgacs.

At the recent AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) meeting in DC (February 2011), two groups described their efforts to use 3D printing for medical applications.

Dr. Yoo (Institute of Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest) described a prototype device to replace skin for burn victims.  The device needs to incorporate a scanner that will identify the depth and extent of the wound (or burn), and then rebuild the skin to those specifications, layer by layer. The problem is that vascularization needs to be accomplished.  Perhaps, if this concept were merged with the hydrogel scaffolding process (which, I believe, can gain benefit from 3D printing), this concept would be closer to fruition.

Dr. Lipson described his efforts to construct an artificial ear, using silicone gel.  The ear lobe does not really need vascularization, so its actual utility is clearer.  The object is constructed line by line, and then vertically layer by layer. The goal is to replace the silicone gel with cartilage, which is pretty strong, amorphous, avascular, and can withstand the rigors of printing.

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