Many readers feel that 3D printing is an integral part of their digital practices or a transitional step. Dental Tribune International talked to Rebecca Hall, a third-year mechanical engineering student at Central Florida University in Orlando, USA, about the potential of 3D printing. She gained firsthand experience of 3D-printing’s relevance for many industries, including dentistry, through her internships at Tesla and NASA.
Ms Hall, you’ve worked with 3D printing in some cutting-edge companies. Many of our readers are familiarized with 3D printing processes in dental clinics. What is 3D printing for engineers?
Because 3D printing is so easy to use, engineers from all industries can design parts and do CAD without ever having to study engineering. In the past you had to design a part and have it manufactured. Most people didn’t have the opportunity to actually hold it in their hands. 3D-printing has removed this huge and costly barrier.
In order to reduce time and cost, I used 3D printing during my internships. While this requires the creation of a design, once it is printed, you can get an idea of the functionality of the part before ordering manufacturing at high costs. We wouldn’t often use 3D printing for finalised parts unless there was a highly specialised need for that part, a special material or a very advanced printer.
While interns were expected know everything about 3D printing, engineers often just Google what they need. A big part of working with 3D printing is troubleshooting, and that’s not something taught in college. Online 3D-printing hobbyist groups are a great resource for learning how to troubleshoot on the spot.
“In the past […] most people never had the experience of designing something and holding it in their hands.”
What should 3D printing instruction look like?
My older brother, who was a 3D printer enthusiast, introduced me to 3D printing when I was in middle school. He provided open-source CT scans of the brain for me to print one for my highschool psychology class. It was not something I encountered in an educational curriculum until college. There, we had a printing laboratory and the basics of engineering were taught to me in my intro to engineering class.
However, I believe 3D printing principles should start at the high school level. Students at university should also be taught fused deposition modeling printing. Students’ access to stereolithography, selective laser sintering, metal printing, concrete printing and large-scale printing at the university level needs to be encouraged because that’s where the industry is headed.
What advice do you have to offer our readers who are not engineers or have never studied 3D printing?
3D printing is making certain things, like prostheses, a lot more affordable and is overall a huge asset to the medical community because our bodies aren’t naturally perfect geometries. 3D printing allows physicians to design solutions for everyone.
“A big part of working with 3D printing is troubleshooting, and that’s not something taught in college.”
My tip for those just beginning to learn about 3D printing is to begin with CAD. Take a basic CAD course, or one that is specific to your industry to understand how parts are designed.
But you don’t have to know CAD to be successful at 3D printing; you can always grab existing files available online to start out and just print. It’s a good idea to start with a basic printer to get familiarity and practice troubleshooting before purchasing anything for your business. Practice will help you save money later. Google, YouTube, and other hobbyist groups are the best places to start learning.
Most 3D printers available off-the-shelf are extremely user-friendly, as well as the software. They’ve eliminated a lot of steps we needed to use in the past. They’re often much easier than a regular, 2-D printer.
Dentistry is now using 3D printing. As with other paradigm shifts in dentistry over the past 50 years (cosmetic dentistry and implants,…