A new dimension

3D printing is becoming increasingly desirable as a way to rapidly develop prototypes, to develop exclusive and unique products and gifts, and to have some fun. It may change the shape of how we conceive, design, and produce, but how these changes are derived is a journey to which we are very much at the first step. Enter Nick Allen, offering one of the only 3D printing services in the UK which is specifically targeted to individuals, SMEs, and even heavy metal groups.

Allen discovered 3D printing while studying Product Design at University, although he confesses "I have always been a tinkerer and modelmaker". He founded his business, 3D Print UK, through an experience with a friend that works for a media production company. His friend was approached to produce a model for a collaboration between the Science Museum and the University of Oxford. After producing the CAD model, they approached traditional modelmaking companies to produce the physical model, given a wide range of quotes and timescales in the process. The average time to produce the model was several months, when they had four weeks to finish off the job in its entirely.

It was at that point that Allen considered 3D printing, something perceived to be expensive but when the quote came back at under £1000 and to take a few days, it was the obvious way forward. This was the point at which Allen considered the commercial potential of the technique. "I knew the volume of material that I was using, and how much they were charging, and I did some research into the machine and material cost, and saw that there was a definite market at the time." After thorough research and an investment into an Objet Geometries 30 printer, Allen launched 3D Print UK in the middle of October 2011.

3D printing has taken off in recent years, but has been commercially available since the mid-1980s. At that time, they lived as experimental devices in cash-rich universities, and it was only the start of the 21st century that saw them become affordable for larger companies with in-house design teams. In the past five years, professional printers have dropped from an average cost of £250k to as little as £10k, and, as history suggests with similar technologies, the price will now start to plummet.

The devices can print almost anything. Allen's machine uses a single material at a time, an ABS-like plastic. Full working mechanisms can be printed as one solid-state object, giving an incredible level of detail. One current project, a set of rings for a rock band, features five rings with skulls teeth and horns, interconnected to secondary rings by a joint mechanism that goes across the knuckle. It's an intricate piece of work for a maker, but a doddle for the printer. Printing of objects usually takes around 13 hours, with some taking longer, depending on the dimensions; the machines work much faster in X to Y axis as they do in Z.

Colour 3D printing is also possible, with a different material. In this case, a picture is overlayed onto the model at the CAD end and it is then printed like an inkjet printer, dropping bonding agent and ink droplets onto a bed of powder, one layer at a time. The result gives a ceramic-like feel to the object, which makes it less rigid than an ABS plastic, but makes the product great for visualisation rather than to test rigidity. FDM (Fluid Deposition Modelling) produces the hardest-wearing objects through the dropping of molten plastic which cools before next layer is generated. While the objects are rock-solid – it's good for prototyping objects such as drills – the resolution is quite low. The most expensive 3D printers can handle more than one material, enabling full printing of objects like lunchboxes – with a rubber seal, live hingers and a clear lid – all in one print run.

At the lower end of the scale, personal 3D printers from RepRap and MakerBot cost around $2k, but have a low resolution. They are great fun - "The ZX Spectrum of 3D printers", as Allen calls them - and a maker community has grown up around them, principally on Thingiverse. Allen's business essentially targets the owners of these machines that are looking at a better build; low-resolution 3D printing will increment layers in 1mm steps, where a professional machine like Allen's should increment at around the third of the width of a human hair. "I'm aiming at the bedroom designer - someone who is not employed to be a designer or to make prototypes. I'm aiming at the guy who uses Google Sketch or a free CAD programs." Models from World of Warcraft and Second Life can be transferred to a 3D model; giving people the opportunity to make a physical model of an object, a character, or themselves.

A design with the screw-thread in, printed out as a single object

The next phase for Allen is to open an online store, where customers can upload designs, which can then be bought by anyone. Although this might suggest a "vanity publishing" ethic, there's a much more important reason for the offer: it's also for young designers, who need prototypes for their degree or their portfolio and, as Allen experienced with his own projects, do not have the time or the money to put a product into production, or to even have a prototype built from moulds. Later, he intends to build an online community of makers and designers who all have a common interest in 3D design and print. It's something that Allen feels he had while at University.

"I was desperately trying to find real-life experience and designing something for somebody and getting paid for it. The community will be a way for anyone can sell that they have designed, without putting any money down at all. All they have to do is upload their design." Rapid prototyping will be crucial for students that, inevitably, hold off on the delivery of their projects for as long as possible, and will need to produce a model for submission on their course.

The inside of the Objet Geometries 30, having printed a complete scale model of a two-storey house 

Allen is well aware that the community and e-commerce features which will go into his expanded service should balance out his business as 3D printing becoms more commoditised. He sees personal high-resolution printing as an eventuality, but in the long term. On a wider scale, while 3D printing may not replace mass production, it could introduce mass customisation. It is possible to take an API and connect its data to a 3D printer, so orders can be processed in real time, with the customer choosing every facet of the product. As long as the same amount of source material, such as the ABS plastic, is the same in every customised iteration, every end-product costs the same to produce. It offers, with one eye on a particular forthcoming market, something for everyone: "This Christmas, people can make something unique without a toolkit. You don't need another gadget; with Google Sketch, you could make your own picture frame as a present."

3D printing is here to stay. While Allen and 3D Print UK offer a bespoke service for individual needs, they sit on the tip of what could be a very large iceberg.

Nick Allen is the founder of 3D Print UK.
Further information is available at the website, and on Twitter.