Origins

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In 1982 modern 3D Printing was devised by Dr. Hideo Kodama.[1]

In Charles Hull invented sterolithography in 1984.[2] Scott Crump would invent FDM (FFF) printing in 1989.[3]

Starting in 2004 the Open Source Rep Rap project resulted in a number of derivative commercial printers being made that were more affordable then previous offerings.[4][5]

Adoption

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The then cheap and open source 3D printers offered by Makerbot caught the public imagination around 2010.[6][7] In 2012 Makerbot stopped open sourcing hardware and soon was acquired by Stratasys, where it would soon cease manufacturing their own printers in 2016.[8][9][10]

The 3D printer market contracted a bit in 2015.[11][12] Budget Creality printers became popular during this time.[13]

In the 2010's, both LulzBot and Prusa operated their own commercial scale printer farms to produce parts for their commercial 3D Printers.[14][15]

In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, makers used tools like 3D printers to produce millions of PPE parts while supply lines were disrupted.[16][17]

References

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  1. "What You Need to Know About 3D Printing". Technology Transfer. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  2. "History of 3D Printing Makerspace". Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  3. "Closing the Loop On 3D Printing". UCSF Library. 30 November 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  4. "Materializing information: 3D printing and social change". journals.uic.edu. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  5. "The Brutal Edit War Over a 3D Printer's Wikipedia Page". www.vice.com. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  6. "Making the Makerbot, A DIY 3-D Printer". Popular Science. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  7. Simonite, Tom. "Rise of the replicators". New Scientist. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  8. Brown, Rich. "Pulling back from open source hardware, MakerBot angers some adherents". CNET. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  9. Sharma, Rakesh. "The Real Reason Stratasys Bought MakerBot". Forbes. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  10. "The MakerBot Obituary". Hackaday. 28 April 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  11. "People Aren't Buying 3D Printers Anymore, So Companies Are Refocusing on Health". www.vice.com. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  12. "MakerBot lays off 20% of its staff—again". Fortune. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  13. "Creality Ender 3 vs CR-10: The Differences". All3DP. 15 July 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  14. "The 3D Printers that Print 3D Printers". www.vice.com. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  15. "Three hundred 3D printers in one room: A quick look to our printing farm". Prusa Printers. 9 February 2018. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  16. Commissioner, Office of the (13 November 2020). "3D Printing in FDA's Rapid Response to COVID-19". FDA. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  17. Choong, Yu Ying Clarrisa; Tan, Hong Wei; Patel, Deven C.; Choong, Wan Ting Natalie; Chen, Chun-Hsien; Low, Hong Yee; Tan, Ming Jen; Patel, Chandrakant D.; Chua, Chee Kai (September 2020). "The global rise of 3D printing during the COVID-19 pandemic". Nature Reviews Materials. pp. 637–639. doi:10.1038/s41578-020-00234-3. Retrieved 30 November 2020.