User:Zac5060

Zachary A. Cameron Senior Mechanical Engineer Pennsylvania State University

January 21st, 2014

Digitrends Article on 3D printing: What is 3D printing? A Beginners Guide to the Desktop Factory

While this article is a bit older (January 2011) it does a great job of introducing beginners to the general idea of 3D printing. The article breaks down printing into its basics describing hardware and software along with trends with the machines. While the article is only two years old it envisions a future where an average person could make their own large scale parts for cars and other every day items. Even today large scale printing from the home is not a complete reality, but it is still working towards that end goal. Looking towards the future my hope is that simple home 3D printers will drastically reduce in price and their running cost will decrease. On top of this I hope to see an increase printing size and complexity that will allow consumers to make almost anything from home.