Anno 2020 3D printing is seen as a popular manufacturing method. This is mostly the case since a lot of companies use 3D printing Seattle nowadays. This makes sense since this additive manufacturing technique has many advantages. 3D printing San Jose can, for example, be used to develop prototypes. This can be extremely useful for companies. Worth noting however, is that it will not replace a regular printer for many applications. For normal printing of signs for example, uv flatbed printers would be much better suited for the task. Additionally, there are a few things that cannot be done with the help of a 3D printer. In other words, many products cannot be printed using 3D technology. In this article, you can read what 3D printers are not able to do.

High precision parts

3D printers have limitations in terms of precision. The standard output of the nozzle is circa 0.4 millimeter. If you need to print a product that is below 0.4 mm 3D printing likely is not the right process for you. However, 0.4 mm is good for a lot of consumer products at the moment. Still, if you need to replace extremely small parts, you will not be successful with 3D printing.

Limited materials with 3D printed materials

Not all materials can be 3D printed, unfortunately. The options are somewhat limited at the moment, although this may change in the future. More and more materials can be used, but you still cannot print a lot of products as there simply is not an appropriate material available for it. The printable materials usually can be brought to a semi-molten state in order to come out of the nozzle conveniently.

Mass production

3D printers are also limited in speed of production. If you want to mass produce items with the help of 3D printing you likely need to buy hundreds of printers. This simply is not feasible for most companies. If you do want to switch to 3D printing, you will likely have to manufacture limited edition products. These items have low production runs, which is in fact possible with 3D printers.

Tuning with 3D printing

Although it is easy to change a 3D design on your computer, it is hard to tune the 3D printer in order to meet the new requirements. Printing three dimensional products therefore requires a lot of knowledge of algorithms and software. The printers definitely are not consumer friendly. If you just adapt the settings a little, you may get a printed part that is completely different from what you wanted at the start.

Things that are illegal to 3D print

3D printing Phoenix is extremely revolutionary. It has essentially changed the world of manufacturing by simplifying it. Besides that, companies are now able to develop customized items due to the entrance of 3D printing Nashville. However, this manufacturing technique also has some disadvantages. One of these is that people have discovered ways to beat the law, as you can see down below.

Drugs

3D printing can be used by criminals, unfortunately. Lee Cronin, a Scottish chemist, has used this process to 3D print prescription drugs for example. Louisiana Tech University researchers are working on 3D printed drug delivery devices and pharmaceuticals. As these two examples show, drugs are a dark side to 3D printing. Drug lords could even sell their digital blueprints online so people can create the drugs themselves.

Virus

If you want to produce a virus that replicates biological substances you will need a special 3D printer. The Cambrian Genomics have done exactly this. The form of 3D printing they used improves the accuracy of DNA reproduction. This technology would for example help if your child was born with a rare genetic disease. However, developing a virus is illegal for non-authorized people.