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You may have heard that 3D printing technology is hailed as the future of manufacturing. As technology develops and commercializes its way of development, 3D printing may make good use of the hype surrounding it. So what is 3D printing? Who invented the first 3D printer? This article will answer these questions for you.
Historically speaking, the development of the 3D printing technology began in the early 1980s, even predating the aforementioned TV show. In 1981, Hideo Kodama of the Nagoya Municipal Industrial Research Institute was the first to publish an account of how materials called photopolymers that hardened when exposed to UV light can be used to rapidly fabricate solid prototypes. Though his paper laid the groundwork for 3D printing, he wasn’t the first to actually build a 3D printer.
That prestigious honor goes to engineer Chuck Hull, who designed and created the first 3D printer in 1984. He had been working for a company that used UV lamps to fashion tough, durable coatings for tables when he hit on the idea to take advantage of ultraviolet technology to make small prototypes.
The key to making such a printer work were the photopolymers that were stayed in a liquid state until they reacted to ultraviolet light. The system that Hull would eventually develop, known as stereolithography, used a beam of UV light to sketch out the shape of the object out of a vat of liquid photopolymer. As the light beam hardened each layer along the surface, the platform would move down so that the next layer can be hardened. Hull also formed 3D systems in Valencia, California so he could begin rapid prototyping commercially.
While Hull’s patent covered many aspects of 3D printing, including the design and operating software, techniques and a variety of materials, other inventors would build upon the concept with different approaches. In 1989, a patent was awarded to Carl Deckard, a University of Texas graduate student who developed a method called selective laser sintering. With SLS, a laser beam was used to custom-bind powdered materials, such as metal, together to form a layer of the object. Fresh powder would be added to the surface after each successive layer. Other variations such as direct metal laser sintering and selective laser melting are also used for crafting metal objects.
The most popular and most recognizable form of 3D printing is called fused deposition modeling. FDP, developed by inventor S. Scott Crump lays down the material in layers directly onto a platform. The material, usually a resin, is dispensed through a metal wire and, once released through the nozzle, hardens immediately. The idea came to Crump in 1988 while he was trying to make a toy frog for his daughter by dispensing candle wax through a glue gun.
In 1989, Crump patented the technology and with his wife co-founded Stratasys Ltd. to make and sell 3D printers for rapid prototyping or commercial manufacturing. They took their company public in 1994 and by 2003, FDP became the top-selling rapid prototyping technology.
There’s still plenty of future history around 3D printers so watch this space.
