Hawthorne Press Tribune Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - February 9, 2017 Laker Legends Take Part in Spectrum SportsNet Basketball Clinic NBA Hall of Fame hoopster and Laker great James Worthy doing drills with elementary school kids during Spectrum SportsNet’s Basketball Clinic. Photos Courtesy of Spectrum SportsNet 3D Printing Brings Good Things to Life By Rob McCarthy There’s an industrial revolution happening right here in the South Bay, and it’s called 3D printing. It can make almost anything that humans can design, from an aircraft part to a body part. And the technology isn’t difficult to understand--not to anyone who has made printed copies. A 3D printer works much like a home or office laser printer. Open a file, hit print and wait for the copy. The difference is that 3D printing jets build three-dimensional prototypes and parts using 100 different kinds of materials, from plastic to metal to nylon. The process is so unique that people in the fields of manufacturing, medicine and consumer products accept that it’s the next industrial revolution. The other difference between the printercopier and a 3D printer is how a digital file is reproduced. The 3D printer creates an image starting at the bottom and working its way up, instead of top-to-bottom like a home office printer does. The newer process has been likened to a layer cake, where the baker lays down each layer one at a time until the entire cake is formed. There are videos on the Internet about 3D printing and the unbelievable things that really smart people have designed, like a fully functioning jet engine. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library has working 3D printers on display as part of a hands-on technology exhibit. The “Interactive!” program looks at how popular culture in movies, books, TV and the arts has influenced modern technology. Interestingly, Captain Kirk and the crew of the Starship Enterprise had a 3D printer onboard as they traveled the galaxy in the 1960s television series. Museum visitors can get a close-up look at the first 3D printed car. The 3D automobile represents both the past and the future of how factories churn out products for industry and consumers. The technology of 3D printing, which originated in 1981 in Japan, is viewed as the replacement for the assemblyline manufacturing that carmaker Henry Ford introduced into American commerce in the late 19th century. American engineer Chuck Hull is credited with developing in 1984 a more commercially useful way to print solid images, basing his process on work done by French General Electric Co. that dropped the project after seeing no money in it. Hull correctly predicted it would take 30 years to be widely adopted by industry and consumers. High-end systems cost a half-million dollars, and are used by General Electric to make turbines for engines. Desktop models start at around $650 and are sold by office suppliers like Staples. South Bay companies are using 3D printers in research and development to get industrial and consumer products to market more quickly. Aerospace and defense contractors, with their need for precision parts that meet strength and weight specifications for use in aircraft, are able to bypass the traditional supply chain and avoid delays by making parts or ordering them locally from a 3D print shop. An advantage of this manufacturing method is that 3D printers can use lightweight materials, like carbon fiber, and apply it in a lattice pattern for maximum strength and safety. The 3D printing companies themselves are driving the industrial revolution in how products and prototypes are made. They are experimenting with materials, including metal printing, and rapid prototyping that takes a product engineering team’s concept from design to reality in less time. The goal is to lower strength-to-weight ratios in aerospace and defense, making aircraft lighter and fuel efficiency better for commercial airlines and the military. The 3D printing companies say it can be done. The actual name for 3D printing is additive manufacturing, a description of the process of adding layer upon layer of plastic, for example, until Mattel has a new-toy prototype or the toy itself. Additive manufacturing leaves less waste and is considered more efficient. Parts and products are made without whittling down a hunk of metal or plastic. It’s a simple matter of addition versus subtraction. Nike is off and running with them. The athletic footwear maker used to spend thousands of dollars on a prototype and wait weeks to see one. Using 3D printing, Nike has shaved time and money off the prototype process. Its development cost is a few hundred of dollars, any changes to a shoe can be made instantly on a computer, and the redesigned prototype is reprinted the same day. Though prototypes have been the major use so far, some local companies have found 3D printers useful for short-run or custom manufacturing, also called one-off. As speeds of these space-age printers increase and the price of commercial units drop, it’s expected more manufacturing will be done by 3D printers. Medical-device makers are using them to build prosthetics for patients. The new manufacturing process isn’t limited to machine and aircraft parts (see GE’s video of its working Boeing 787 jet-engine model posted on YouTube). Human organs are being created using a patient’s own tissue as the material, and there are practical uses for dentistry that could replace molds in the making of replacement teeth and bridges. Much like how dot matrix and laser printers moved from offices into people’s homes, 3D printers are available for everyday uses. Machines costing up to $2,000 are printing jewelry, appliance parts and colorful iPhone cases. Hobbyists and do-it-yourself types are wrapping their heads, and their hands too, around this industrial revolution in the making here in the South Bay. Like any computer-driven device, it requires software that takes time to learn to operate. The good news is that ready-to-print software for running desktop 3D printers is finding its way to the market. Like software for PCs, the 3D programs are easy to install and begin using immediately to make things. • Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................7 Classifieds............................3 Finance..................................7 Food.......................................5 Hawthorne Happenings....3 Legals............................... 2, 6 Pets........................................8 Police Reports.....................2 Sports....................................4 Weekend Forecast Friday Rain 61˚/53˚ Saturday Sunny 64˚/49˚ Sunday Partly Cloudy 70˚/49˚ The Weekly Newspaper of Hawthorne
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