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3D Printing Specialist
Uses additive manufacturing to create objects layer by layer — from prosthetics to houses.
Did you know?
3D printing pioneer Chuck Hull coined the word 'stereolithography' in his 1986 patent and helped create the STL file format still widely used today.
How subjects help
- Computer Science: Prepare a digital model of an object and slice it into thin layers for the printer.
- Engineering: Choose the material and wall thickness so a printed part is strong enough to use.
- Art & Design: Sculpt a digital model of a custom object, like a hand splint shaped to fit one person.
A famous name
Chuck Hull: Invented stereolithography, the first commercial 3D printing method, patented in 1986; co-founded 3D Systems.
Try it yourself: Slice an object into layers
- Mark four heights on your object with the ruler: the bottom, two middle points and near the top.
- Wrap the string around the object at the first height, hold the ends together, then lay the loop flat on paper and trace round it. This is your first "slice".
- Do the same at each height and number the slices from bottom to top.
- Look at your stack of outlines, or build the object from play dough coils layer by layer. Which parts would be hardest for a printer to build?
3D printing specialists use software to slice a digital model into hundreds of thin layers, which the printer then builds one on top of another.
Adapted from TryEngineering (IEEE): 3D Printing by Hand.
Also try: Reverse-engineer a flower.
Known for it in
USA, Netherlands, China, Germany, UAE