Page 148 - G6.1_M1-5

DO NOT EDIT--Changes must be made through “File info”
CorrectionKey=NL-A
my Notes

Short
Read

Design A 3D printer prints a

toy boat.

Innovations 3D Printing

Also known as additive manufacturing,
3D printing is the process of making a
three-dimensional object by adding one
layer at a time.
It works like this. First, a designer uses
software to create a blueprint, or plan, for the
object. (You can also find existing blueprints
online.) Next, the blueprint and the
materials—such as plastics or metals—are
loaded into a 3D printer. The materials are
heated to a liquid state, then hardened one
layer at a time to form the object.
What’s so great about 3D printing? Using
this process, almost anybody can become a
manufacturer. Makers can design and print
objects quickly, at a fraction of the usual cost.
For example, the 3D printing process
has allowed volunteers to create custom-
made artificial limbs. The limbs go to
people who could not afford expensive
You may have heard the expression conventional prostheses.
“necessity is the mother of invention.” In another example, a San Francisco

What does it mean? When we need something startup printed an entire “tiny house” in just

that doesn’t exist, we invent it! Here are three 24 hours. It cost about $10,000. Now, various
organizations have proposed printing tiny
(of many) recent innovations that are helping houses to shelter the homeless.
people around the world.

148