CAD Services: 3D Printing Coming to Your Neighborhood Print Shop
Very soon you will be able to get 3D printing done at any neighborhood print shop. UPS, for instance, has just announced its store at Menlo Park will be offering the service from this week onwards (read news report).
For those of us who did not see the trend coming, tsk, tsk. It is, after all, perfectly logical and therefore predictable.
Whenever there is a process involving equipment too expensive for occasional users to buy, shops offering the related service spring up. Examples of such equipment are laser printers, spiral binding machines and photo printing machines. 3D printers slot right into this roadmap, since a professional machine costs $20,000 and up. There are cheaper printers but they are not heavy-duty, and still too expensive for occasional users (read our 3D printer review).
3D printing is a hot topic right now, and the average consumer is curious about it. He also wants to try it out, especially to make small replacement parts for damaged appliances. After all, what chances does he have of successfully ordering and receiving, say, the plastic handle of that favorite pair of scissors? Now he can make the handle himself and repair the tool.
Because of this repair possibility, there are likely to be slightly fewer appliances purchased. Also, amateur inventors will now be able to test prototypes faster (since it is simple to 3D-print prototype parts). Perhaps new products will emerge at an infinitesimally faster pace?
To 3D-print a product, one does have to feed the printer a computer file in the appropriate format (like the ‘STL’ format). Be sure to get in touch with us if you need such files, we are experts at creating them. Send us a message to get started; you can find a message form on our 3D modeling page.
