The Ocelot Oxford and Newbury 121 July 2016 edition | Page 15

Tech
Exactly what Caxton had in mind...

3D printing - like
something out of Star Trek
Pushing the boundaries
A Tech column by Mike Barham
I’m sure by now most of you have
been made aware of something
called 3D printing. For those of you
looking at those words as if they are
a mixture of Elvish and Klingon, let
me briefly explain; 3D printing allows
designers and manufacturers to
visualise an item on a computer screen
and then have it made in whatever
material they wish by a printer.
Literally anything.
There are several different ways
the printer actually fabricates your
chosen object, but ultimately the result
is whatever you have designed comes
out of the box fully formed, there
and then. Almost like Captain Picard
asking for his Earl Grey tea and it just
appearing in front of him. Think of it
like that.
Back in 2012, a US firearms
manufacturer Defence Distributed
unveiled plans to make a plastic
gun, and make the designs available
to anyone with a 3D printer. They
have subsequently had to take the
plans down, after some bright spark
mentioned that giving away the
designs to your own home-made
plastic hand-cannon might not be the
best idea.

Facing the future

More recently, during May of
2016 the world’s first 3D printed
motorcycle was unveiled by a
subsidiary company of the aeroplane
manufacturer Airbus. Sure it would
set you back over £30,000 but it
is made from an intricate web of
aluminium and looks incredible.
Actually, it’s more than aluminum:
it’s actually a custom aluminum alloy
powder “with almost the specific
strength of titanium”. The company
involved call it “Scalmalloy” but
we think they should have just gone
ahead and called it ‘Adamantium’.
Essentially this is just an electric
bicycle at this point, but the
implications for the motorcycle
industry are huge.
And 3D printing isn’t done

there. The medical implications for
printed limbs and organs have been
explored, with patients receiving
manufactured legs and arms in half
the time it would usually take. The
University of Glasgow has proven
that 3D printing can be used to
assist in the production of chemical
compounds, which can also help in all
forms of research.
So yes, we are a long way off
having our favourite hot beverage
materialise in front of us with
a comedy shimmering noise to
accompany its delivery, but 3D
printing is allowing designers and
manufacturers to quite literally find
ways to build the impossible. If it can
be designed on a computer, it can
now be made.

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