In July 2011, I heard a wonderful edition of “In Business” about
3D printing by Peter Day. Bottom line: it is going to change the
world. I recommend that you listen to the podcast itself; if you
scroll further down, you will see the comments written about the
programme by Peter Day. There is also a good, if only very
short, summary on the BBC News website. On this one, the podcast
is so interesting that I really recommend listen to it. Half an
hour of your life that you won’t regret, because if the
programme is correct, as I believe, 3D printing is really about
to change the industrial world completely. The idea of 3D
printing is extrusion or “additive” manufacturing. Instead of
taking a block of material and chopping away what you don’t need
to get the final shape, you start from scratch and you add
layers to arrive to the final product. From what I understood it
relies on some plastic polymer being laid down gradually, a bit
like a toothpaste that dries. Why is it going to change
manufacturing? - It breaks