The Future in 3-D

Earlier this summer I had something happen to me for the first time: I broke a tooth.  It wasn't painful (the nerve wasn't exposed), it simply fell off. The only distressing part was when I thought about what it was going to cost because crowns run $1,500 and up.  I checked my bank account then booked an appointment with my dentist for the next day. 

My dentist is a nice chap with a soft touch and comfy chairs.  He explained to me that it could take up to a week to create a crown and that it would cost $1,800.  He then offered me an alternative.  He pointed to a large metal box in the corner of his examination room and said with that he can create a custom-made porcelain crown for me within an hour.  And, more important, it would cost $400.  Anything you say, Doc!

He set to work, first by grinding off all the jagged pieces and creating a suitable surface for the crown to rest upon.  He them stuck a ballpoint pen-sized scanner into my mouth and did a complete 3-D scan of the tooth that the computer analyzed and created a model of the crown.  With the push of a button, that metal box started buzzing and a high-pressure water jet cut the crown out of a block of porcelain. Within 40 minutes it was done. He applied some glue, stuck it in my mouth and hardened the glue with a UV light.  He then told me that if that crown ever fell off, he could make a duplicate and have it put on that day.

That was my first encounter with 3-D printing and it certainly won't be the last.  Many have said the Internet was as revolutionary as the Gutenberg Press.  Well, 3-D printing will be bigger.  Much bigger.  Just as the Industrial Revolution changed all of manufacturing, 3-D printers will re-define almost every aspect of society and it's happening now, as I recently discovered.

Here's what an investment hotshots said about it in an interview:

You can imagine needing to buy a scissors or a screwdriver but instead of going shopping you press a button on your desktop 3D Printer and it appears the next morning in the exact color, shape or sharpness you want. Imagine printing many things as well as what bringing manufacturing into our homes will mean to the world. Plus the plunge in manufacturing jobs that's going to follow.

This is not a dream for the future you know, right now you can buy a 3D printer on Amazon and a guitar has been made from it. Somebody actually printed a gun that fired a bullet, Boeing is already making planes and they've even tested a rocket fuel injection nozzle. 

I see another industrial revolution bigger than the Internet. It's going to transform manufacturing from factories to the residence. If you if you have a vehicle [and need a] discontinued part you can just have it printed on your own layer by layer, atom by atom overnight. It can be done with plastic but also with metals. It's going to redefine medicine, dentistry by printing orthodontists tooth braces, hearing aids are already being fitted precisely to the shape of the inner ear. Body parts like a prosthetic limbs. Somebody gets a jaw shot off in wartime they can just build a new jaw and then they can even spray cells onto it to become skin. 

This is the biggest thing I've seen, much bigger than China and I'm very excited about it because as I said you get a machine from Amazon for $1,300 and that is going to come down over time. Now it's plastic but later going to be bronze, carbon fiber, ceramic cellulose, even food.

You can read the whole thing here.

All these developments make one eager to see what surprises tomorrow brings.