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“Ah, so you’re in the printing industry? I know a little bit about that myself.
“3D printing, that’s the future, isn’t it? In a few years, we’ll all be able to print out pretty much anything we want. Fascinating, isn’t it?”
I’d found myself chatting to a newcomer down at Smokey Joe’s Small Business Bar who went by the name of Rufus.
He seemed to be an enthusiastic upcoming entrepreneur who clearly had a beady eye on the future.
“Yes, I’ve been thinking of getting a 3D printer myself at some point this year,” he went on.
“They’re certainly coming down in price, aren’t they? Seems like the right moment to jump aboard and see what all the fuss is about. I’m hoping that I won’t ever have to buy anything else in my life. I’ll just design and print everything I ever need. Hey, I don’t suppose you can print out new employees, can you? That might shave a few dollars off my business outgoings.”
Hmm.
There certainly seems to be a fair amount of excitement and expectation surrounding the dawn of a new era of 3D Printing.
But before we all get too excited, maybe it’s time to slow down and pause for breath.
Could it be that the age of everyday 3D Printing at home or in the office is much further away than we’ve been led to believe?
If you’re completely new to the concept, I should just quickly explain that 3D Printing is a groundbreaking process in which the printer will ‘read’ your design blueprints and use this information to create actual physical objects.
The printer then ‘builds’ your design from the bottom up, by gradually depositing razor-thin layers of plastic in all the right places until the finished 3D shape finally emerges.
That’s the theory in very simplified terms. Let’s not get too technical here on the Martin Print Blog, I’ll be in danger of giving everyone a headache. Myself included.
But now that the prices of these 3D printers look set to drop to a reasonably affordable level in the very near future, is it possible that 3D Printing is now on the verge of becoming a truly mainstream activity?
Will we all be designing and creating our very own wondrous 3D creations in just a few years from now?
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Well, despite the media frenzy and excitable speculation, I hope you won’t be too surprised or disappointed to hear that the real 3D printing revolution is certainly not just around the corner.
In fact, it seems far more likely that the age of everyday 3D printing is actually decades away from becoming a reality.
Here’s why the future of 3D printing is much further away than some enthusiasts may imagine…
It’s No Walk in the Park
It would be nice to think that once you’ve thumbed through a friendly Quick Start guide to your new 3D Printer, you’ll be up and running with your own three dimensional printing productions in no time at all.
Alas, it’s not going to be anywhere near that simple or user-friendly. Not for a very long time.
Whilst savvy tech-heads with a specialised interest in 3D printing may well embrace the challenge, the rest of the world are more likely to be scratching their heads in bafflement.
This is very serious stuff for the very serious user, and is unlikely to grip real global attention in the near future.
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Very Limited Printing Possibilities
“Yay! A new 3D printer! Now I can print out just about anything I want! The possibilities are endless!”
Well, not quite. And just to be clear, no, Rufus won’t be able to print out new employees for his business unless he suddenly wakes up in a parallel universe in which crazy things like that happen every day.
If you’re a budding designer, then you can of course have a go at creating your own blueprints. But again, this would be brain-meltingly difficult for anyone who lacks the experience or passion.
The only alternative would be to locate and download blueprints which have been pre-designed by other technical boffins.
But the truth is that there’s very little out there of genuine interest or worth at the moment. These so-called ‘endless possibilities’ are actually going to be incredibly limited for a long time to come.
Forget Fruitful Printing
So, just what kind of marvellous three-dimensional creation are you hoping to bring to life with 3D Printing?
Something quite complex with lots of tiny moving parts? Something genuinely useful and functional for the Small Business office?
Hmm. You could be waiting a while.
The problem is that 3D Printing is not yet equipped to produce the complete package.
It’s perfect for printing slightly rubbish plastic things which aren’t expected to do very much.
But if you want to make anything slightly complicated or of genuine value, you’ll have to individually design and print the plastic components of your design, and then manually insert all the extra little bits which are impossible to print – such as springs, rubber bands, screws, and… well, pretty much everything else, really.
The big question here is…why on Earth would you bother?
And of course, the answer is that most people won’t!
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The Price of Innovation
Finally, and perhaps most importantly of all, is the ultimate cost of 3D printing.
Printing plastic is actually very expensive.
That funny little plastic thing that you’ve just spent ages designing and printing could probably have been bought much cheaper elsewhere without any of the fuss and headaches!
An entrepreneur seeking to take advantage of this new technology will more than likely have to wait a long while yet until an effective and profitable business model could ever be cooked up from this costly process.
So, Are We Looking at a Bleak Future for 3D Printing?
No! Far from it.
I’m confident that 3D Printing will eventually infiltrate the mainstream and become a part of our everyday lives.
In fact, one day in the far future, this concept is going to become absolutely huge and will very probably change the world forever.
But if you were hoping to take advantage of the amazing new business opportunities thrown up by the 3D printing revolution in just a few years from now, it might be worth bearing in mind that we’re going to have to wait quite a bit longer than some experts have been predicting to see the real fruits of this technology.
The future is slightly delayed – by at least a decade or two – so it might not be worth drawing up solid plans plans to print out new employees just yet….
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