3D Printing? There’s An App For That!

The smartphone has become one of the most ubiquitous pieces of technology around. Nearly everyone has one, even those members of society that have generally been considered technologically inept. The ease of use and instantaneous access to nearly any information you might need have made the devices incredibly popular.

Additive manufacturing (AM) hasn’t quite hit the level of popular appeal of the ever-present smartphone, but it is slowly making its way into all levels of society. So what happens when you combine two great tastes that taste great together? A couple of different companies are investigating the potential of using smartphones to drive 3D printing, and in a more direct manner than CAD design.

The National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (AKA Taiwan Tech), showcased a new design for desktop resin-based AM at Inside 3D Printing Shanghai. Rather than using a laser or other high tech source of light to harden the photopolymer material, the system used light produced by a smartphone.

If you’ve seen one resin-based system, you probably can guess how this particular 3D printer is meant to work. In operation, the system places a tub of resin above the glowing face of a smartphone. As the light produced by the screen hardens a layer of material, the object being built is slowly pulled out of the tub on the Z axis. In theory, the phone can also provide the computing power required to direct the build process, or at least stream in the information via Wi-Fi.

No matter how eyeball melting the screen on your phone might sometimes appear at night, it does still produce far less light than the usual light sources used for photopolymers. This results in slower build times than usual, which is something of a drawback for a process that already moves at what might generously be described as a leisurely pace.

As often happens, another team is working on a similar idea. An Italian startup named Solido3D is developing a system it calls OLO, which also uses a smartphone and resin to build objects using AM. The company is advertising the yet-to-be-released project as a $99 3D printer, which is bound to garner some attention all on its own.

Time will tell how well either system works as more than just novelty tech, but it’d sure be cool to find yet another use for our smartphones. Below you’ll find a video from Taiwan Tech about the system.

Sources: Digital Trends, Engadget