A new class of 3-D printers is going to change the design process for medical devices.
Twenty years ago CAD programs appeared on the market and forever changed industrial design. Initially these softwares were bulky and their performance was not very good unless you run it on workstations and on a Unix platform. Over the last 10 years PC has become much more powerful and CAD programs like Solidworks has outstanding performance and intuitive interactive interface that allows for object manipulation, mating of parts and collision detection. This allows rapid construction of 3-D models using a combination of extruded objects. The 3-D models can be automatically converted into engineering drawings and if so desired the drawings can be sent to the machine shop for fabrication. Alternatively, the CAD program can export the 3-D model as an STL file which basically represents the surface of the 3-D model as series of triangulated surfaces. This data can be fed into rapid prototyping machines to automatically fabricate solid 3-D objects. Major impending change is on the way that will combine advances in computing power of PC, CAD software and a new class of 3-D printers.....
Sterolithography (SLA) was first introduced to the industrial design industry twenty years ago. This is a rapid prototyping technology that uses UV laser to cure resins in a layer by layer fashion. In recent years fused deposition machines and 3-D printers begin to compete with SLA. These newer machines are generally faster, more affordable and easier to use than other rapid prototyping machines. However these machines still cost over $100,000 each. Very soon there will be a quantum drop in the cost of 3-D printers.
The brain child behind this new class of 3-D printer is none other than Bill Gross of Idealab fame. Idealab started in 1996 to capitalize on the dotcom boom. It tanked with a number of spectacular failures in the form of eToys and others (and some successes like Picassa, Overture etc). Post Y2K, Idealab has morphed itself from a bit company to an atom company. Desktop Factory the maker of this new 3-D Printer may potentially be Idealab's greatest success.
The New York Times' story on May 7, 2007 painted a fantastic scenario in which you can grab data from the Web (presumably an STL file) and fabricate your own replacement parts for your lost or broken consumer products or fabricate on demand a product such as a toy you saw on the Web. This is possible because very soon Desktop Factory will launch an affordable personal 3-D printer costing less than $5,000 and it has a footprint (25 x 20 x 20 inches) small enough to fit on your desktop. The size of the product that can be built is a modest 5 x 5 x 5 inches. This is sufficient for most medical device design work. I think the initial and the greatest impact of this machine will be in the medical device industry rather than in the consumer market.
In the initial conceptual stages, often visualizing and physical handing of a model can enhance creativity and problem solving. Such a machine will shorten the prototyping cycle and lessen error especially in mating parts. $5,000 is cheap and if five design engineers on a network share one 3-D printer it only amounts to $1,000 per engineer. This is small change for the amount of productivity gained. I can't wait to get my hand on one of these machines. This machine will be a major boost for my bioengineering class that I am teaching.
Related Links:
MGX combining Art and Technology
John Nack on Adobe: 3D printing goes to our heads
Google Hits on the NYT article - Rapid and Phenomenal
