3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer control, with the material being added together, typically layer by layer.
RepRap is a project to develop low-cost 3D printers that can print most of their own components. As open designs, all of the designs produced by the project are released under a free software license, the GNU General Public License.
3D Systems Corporation is an American company based in Rock Hill, South Carolina, that engineers, manufactures, and sells 3D printers, 3D printing materials, 3D printed parts, and application engineering services. The company creates product concept models, precision and functional prototypes, master patterns for tooling, as well as production parts for direct digital manufacturing. It uses proprietary processes to fabricate physical objects using input from computer-aided design and manufacturing software, or 3D scanning and 3D sculpting devices.
MakerBot Industries, LLC was an American desktop 3D printer manufacturer company headquartered in New York City. It was founded in January 2009 by Bre Pettis, Adam Mayer, and Zach "Hoeken" Smith to build on the early progress of the RepRap Project. It was acquired by Stratasys in June 2013. As of April 2016, MakerBot had sold over 100,000 desktop 3D printers worldwide. Between 2009 and 2019, the company released 7 generations of 3D printers, ending with the METHOD and METHOD X. It was at one point the leader of the desktop market with an important presence in the media, but its market share declined over the late 2010s. MakerBot also founded and operated Thingiverse, the largest online 3D printing community and file repository. In August 2022, the company completed a merger with its long-time competitor Ultimaker. The combined company is known as UltiMaker, but retains the MakerBot name for its Sketch line of education-focused 3D printers.
Ultimaker is a 3D printer-manufacturing company based in the Netherlands, with offices and assembly lines in the US. They make fused filament fabrication 3D printers, develop 3D printing software, and sell branded 3D printing materials. Their product line includes the Ultimaker S5 and S3, Ultimaker 3 series, Ultimaker 2+ series and Ultimaker Original+. These products are used by industries such as automotive, architecture, healthcare, education, and small scale manufacturing.
Zortrax is a Polish manufacturer of 3D printers and filaments for SMB market and rapid prototyping for industries, including robotics and automation, architecture, industrial design, engineering, aviation, industrial automation. Zortrax machines work with dedicated software, firmware and filaments.
Fused filament fabrication (FFF), also known as fused deposition modeling, or filament freeform fabrication, is a 3D printing process that uses a continuous filament of a thermoplastic material. Filament is fed from a large spool through a moving, heated printer extruder head, and is deposited on the growing work. The print head is moved under computer control to define the printed shape. Usually the head moves in two dimensions to deposit one horizontal plane, or layer, at a time; the work or the print head is then moved vertically by a small amount to begin a new layer. The speed of the extruder head may also be controlled to stop and start deposition and form an interrupted plane without stringing or dribbling between sections. "Fused filament fabrication" was coined by the members of the RepRap project to give an acronym (FFF) that would be legally unconstrained in its use.
MyMiniFactory is a file 3D printable object-sharing platform where 3D printers can share their design and ideas. It was founded in 2013 and headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The online platform hosts digital creators with a primary focus on hobbyist with an interest in 3D printing.
Carbon, Inc. is a digital manufacturing company that manufactures and develops 3D printers utilizing the Continuous Liquid Interface Production process. The company was founded in 2013, and maintains its headquarters in California, United States.
Slic3r is free software 3D slicing engine for 3D printers. It generates G-code from 3D CAD files. Once finished, an appropriate G-code file for the production of the 3D modeled part or object is sent to the 3D printer for the manufacturing of a physical object. As of 2013, about half of the 3D printers tested by Make Magazine supported Slic3r.
The Prusa i3 is a family of fused deposition modeling 3D printers, manufactured by Czech company Prusa Research under the trademarked name Original Prusa i3. Part of the RepRap project, Prusa i3 printers were called the most used 3D printer in the world in 2016. The first Prusa i3 was designed by Josef Průša in 2012, and was released as a commercial kit product in 2015. The latest model is available in both kit and factory assembled versions. The Prusa i3's comparable low cost and ease of construction and modification made it popular in education and with hobbyists and professionals, with the Prusa i3 model MK2 printer receiving several awards in 2016.
Cura is an open source slicing application for 3D printers. It was created by David Braam who was later employed by Ultimaker, a 3D printer manufacturing company, to maintain the software. Cura is available under LGPLv3 license. Cura was initially released under the open source Affero General Public License version 3, but on 28 September 2017 the license was changed to LGPLv3. This change allowed for more integration with third-party CAD applications. Development is hosted on GitHub. Ultimaker Cura is used by over one million users worldwide and handles 1.4 million print jobs per week. It is the preferred 3D printing software for Ultimaker 3D printers, but it can be used with other printers as well.
In recent years, 3D printing has developed significantly and can now perform crucial roles in many applications, with the most common applications being manufacturing, medicine, architecture, custom art and design, and can vary from fully functional to purely aesthetic applications.
A variety of processes, equipment, and materials are used in the production of a three-dimensional object via additive manufacturing. 3D printing is also known as additive manufacturing, because the numerous available 3D printing process tend to be additive in nature, with a few key differences in the technologies and the materials used in this process.
The On-Demand Small Unmanned Aircraft System (ODSUAS) is a custom-tailored, miniature 3D printed drone created by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and Georgia Technical Institute’s Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory. It was designed to provide flexible unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAV) support, where soldiers can input the specific requirements they need, such as size, weight, and endurance, into the mission-planning software before the drone is configured and 3D printed within 24 hours. The process allows the manufacturing of additional drone parts as needed, eliminating the need to carry spare parts for different configurations. While a 3D printer constructs the body of the UAV, the motors, sensors, cameras, propellers, and other apparatus would have to be obtained from a standing inventory.
Marlin is open source firmware originally designed for RepRap project FDM 3D printers using the Arduino platform.
Markforged is an American public additive manufacturing company that designs, develops, and manufactures The Digital Forge — an industrial platform of 3D printers, software and materials that enables manufacturers to print parts at the point-of-need. The company is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, in the Greater Boston Area. Markforged was founded by Gregory Mark and the chief technology officer (CTO) David Benhaim in 2013. It produced the first 3D printers capable of printing continuous carbon fiber reinforcement and utilizes a cloud architecture.
Creality, officially known as Shenzhen Creality 3D Technology Co, Ltd., is a Chinese 3D printer manufacturing company established in 2014, with headquarters located in Shenzhen.
Chinedum (Chi) Okwudire is a Nigerian-American mechanical engineer and a professor of Mechanical Engineering and Miller Faculty Scholar at the University of Michigan, where he directs the Smart and Sustainable Automation Research Lab. He is also the founder and chief technology officer of Ulendo Technologies, Inc. His research is in the area of manufacturing automation, control engineering, and mechatronics.
The Polar Cloud is an American software platform for 3D printers that is owned and operated by Polar3D, LLC. The platform was launched in March 2017 and is now home to over 500,000 users in 160 countries. The platform is home to several programs and initiatives, including the Boys & Girls Club of America, GE's Additive Education Program, and a COVID-19 Mask Making effort.
