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3D printers are being used to make a wide variety of items that any one of us may need at some point in our lives. These include custom shoes, eyewear frames, vehicle parts, face transplants, medical implants, shape-shifting structures, chocolate, and even furniture like the Double Position Chair, which can be converted into an armchair, a lounge, or a rocking chair.
This wooden chair was constructed by a 3D printer, and was made to be not only functional and versatile, but also quite unique and futuristic in its design and coloring. The Double Position Chair has been designed by Alex Petunin and is to be manufactured by ArtTech.
The ability of an individual creator or that of a factory to do 3D printing quickly and on the cheap has taken a lot of the effort away from traditional manufacturers and from those of us who are interested in having custom items made at home, at work, or anywhere else we may be.
Furniture and other items that can be produced with a 3D printer can even be recustomized by allowing the designer to easily change the material, the coloring, the structure, and the design of the item by simply changing a couple of lines in a .stl computer file, and then feeding the file to the 3D printer (perhaps together with any new materials and inks that the printer will need to make or paint the item).
Many companies, such as PIRX One, have been created over the year or two to provide the general public with affordable 3D printers whose prices may range from $500 to $1500.
Industrial printers, with a higher price tag than the household ones, are of course being made for major companies to produce high-end or brand name items that require a particular level of precision and craftsmanship.
Not to be outdone, academics and Stark Trek aficionadoes, have taken the idea of 3D printing to higher levels, including a group of researchers with the German Hasso Plattner Institute who actually succeeded in creating a 3D printing system that is capable of “teleporting” objects by placing one object in a printer and then having another printer (perhaps halfway around the world) make a replica of the object.
This 3D printing system, nicknamed ‘Scotty’ in reference to Mr. Scott from the Star Trek series, is currently set up to keep the replica but destroy the original. Scotty did not have to destroy the original, of course, but it does certainly keep us wondering about the limitless possibilities that we have in delivering items, or designing our own unique gifts, 3D printing them, and then sending them to friends and loved ones for them to keep.
Just recently, The White House itself held its first 3D Printed Ornament Design Challenge where creators from around the United States produced some of the most beautiful ornaments to celebrate the 2014 holiday season. Winning entries for this latest White House contest can be found below in the list of references.
These futuristic, custom, and useful 3D printing creations, like Alex Petunin’s Double Position Chair, do indeed make one agree with President Obama’s prediction that “3D printing has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything.”
“Even though they were well-developed about two decades ago, and started back in the 1980’s, in major industry, academic, and military labs, 3D printers began making it to the mass markets only within the last five years or so”.
Interested? Look it up at Double Position Chair by Alex Petunin.
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