RUG/Pennsylvania/State College/RepRap Media Timeline
This page is a summary of 3D printing stories in press/tv/etc with a focus on RepRap in particular, but with some inclusion of other similar technologies.
Another good media timeline can be found here:[[1]]
Changes to this current timeline will be made by focusing on media that directly relates to RepRaps or interesting extensions which are commercialized items, such as the chocolate 3D printer, and futuristic technologies.
The media items indicated in "italics" signify the extensions made in the 3D printing industry, while the items in regular font will be related to RepRaps.
Viewers will notice that the "2012" section has far more items than the other years. This is due to the fact that a majority of advancements took place during this year and concrete ideas began blooming as well.
1980's
1984; Charles "Chuck" Hull develops a technology to print 3D objects using digital data and terms it "Stereolithography" [2]
March 11, 1986; Chuck Hull founded 3D Systems and invents the first 3D printer [3]
1987; Selective laser sintering is developed at the University of Texas-Austin and commercialized by DTM [4]
1988; S. Scott Crump invents Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), which is the basis for 3D printing extrusion [5]
1990's
1993; MIT patents "Three Dimensional Printing Techniques" which is comparable to a regular 2D printer's methodology. [6]
1995; Z Corporation acquires a technology license from MIT and begins building 3D printers [7]
1996; The term "3D Printer" is first used to address rapid prototyping machines [8]
1996; First major release of 3D printers from Z Corp, Stratasys, and 3D Systems [9]
2004
February; Adrian Bowyer publishes the idea for a self replicating 3D printer: The RepRap About
2005
March 9th; Spectrum Z-510 is the first high definition 3D color printer to be manufactured [10]
March 23rd; The RepRap blog started [[11]]
June 2nd; Reprap project discussed in "The Machine that can copy anything" by Simon Hooper on CNN.com [[12]]
October 6th; Arduino is released [13]
2006
February; 'Neil Gershenfeld on Fab Labs' a TED talk about a (much higher cost) mobile fabrication laboratory, and enabling consumers to produce products for a "market of one". [14]
2007
2008
February 9; The Darwin printer is able to print more than half of its own parts, thus self-replication is successful [15]
June 4; The Telegraph releases a science article about self-replicating robots leading into the RepRap. Parts of the article discuss the possible implications and advantages of a low cost 3D printer that can replicate its own parts and evolve. [[16]]
2009
October 2; A second generation design, known as "Mendel", prints its first part [[17]]
2010
April 30; 'The disruptive future of printing' an article by Bill Thompson of the BBC about RepRap and its future. [18]
November 10; 'It Will Be Awesome if They Don't Screw it Up: 3D Printing...' a whitepaper by Michael Weinberg of Public Knowledge discussing the legal implications of widespread 3D printing. [19]
December 20th; 3d printing: the state of the art. [20]
December 31st; 11 3d printing predictions for the year 2011. [21]
2011
January 12; 'The Wow Factor of 3-D Printing,' an article in the New York Times about consumer 3-D printers. It mentions Reprap, MakerBot, and Bits From Bytes. [22]
January 19th; 3d printing now in Titanium! [23]
April; Copyright questions as 3d printing comes of age. [24]
June 8th; Bre Pettis, founder of Makerbot Industries, makes a guest appearance on the Colbert Report discussing the relevance of 3D printing in modern society [[25]]
August 16th; How 3D printing will revolutionize everything it touches [26]
August 23rd; Makerbot announces that they are accepting $10 million in startup money[[27]]
Fall 2011; Open Hybrid Mendel Design is tested at Penn State University Park Campus.
September 16; BBC News article on a new application of 3D printing 'Artificial Blood Vessels Created on a 3D Printer' [[28]]
September 20; Article on the Make blog about a working AR-15 magazine on thingiverse. [29]
September 20; 3d printer for kids in the works! [30]
October 3rd; Albensi Labs use 3D printing for dental restoration making the turnaround time drop from 7 days to 2 days. [31]
2012
January 25; Physibles @ The Pirate Bay [32]
February 6; Transplant jaw made by 3D printer claimed as first [33]
March 6; The CADspan Plugin for Google SketchUp allows generation of solid, 3D printable STL files [34]
March 10; 3D printing from an Android device [35]
May 21; Working Lathe Made with 3D Printing [36]
June 15; Guitar manufacturing is revolutionized by 3D printing [37]
July 2; Possibilities of printing dinosaur fossils [38]
July 4; Researchers create artificial liver from 3D printed sugar lattice [39]
July 6; New Innovations in printing Aluminum [40]
July 7; Burritobot: Mexican Cuisine and 3D Printing [41]
July 11; Building Planes with Giant 3D Printers [42]
July 12; The next generation RepRap prints PLA at tremendously high speeds [43]
July 16; 3D printed keys used to hack high security handcuffs [44]
July 18; 3D printing services being offered at universities for the first time [45]
July 22; Printing out your own prescription meds [46]
July 25; 3D printing market set to hit $3 billion by 2018 [47]
July 26; World's first 3D Printed Gun [48]
July 30; Printing Unammed Aerial Vehicles [49]
August 6; 3D Printed Exoskeleton aids in Arm Usage [50]
September 19; Software to Detect Stress in Objects Before Print [51]
September 21; 3D Print Wood with Laywood Filament [52]
