Find Out What Happens When the Telecommunications Industry Discovers 3D Printing

Image courtesy of  Malene Erkmann  at Flickr.com

3D printing, or additive manufacturing (AM), has gotten a lot more attention lately, but not from the consumer market. Manufacturing companies are starting to see what kind of applications this new material could have, and of course the low costs, easier manufacturing processes and time efficiency it could bring. A 3D printer can basically print anything that can be made as a 3D digital model, and is being seen like the successor of the production line assembly. Many industries are catching on fast and finding the benefits of using this tech, including the telecommunications industry.

What are 3D printers all about?

The origins of 3D printing can be traced back to the 1980s where many contributions were made including STereoLithography (STL), which is used mainly to create models, patterns, prototypes and productions parts by printing layer by layer using photopolymerization. This process links material with light causing chains of molecules to link together and form polymers. In this time, STL also became the widely recognized file format for 3D printing, which is native to CAD software. 3D printing basically requires three principles: modeling, printing and finishing, and uses a series of processes that give it different end results. In terms of the printers themselves, you’ll also find some variety from industry use printers to consumer ones, and large 3D printers to microscale and nanoscales ones. The applications that it has been used for is where it has grown the most in the last couple of years. This includes manufacturing applications with cloud-based AM, mass customization, rapid manufacturing, research, food and medical applications. In industrial applications you can find products like apparel, vehicles, construction, firearms, medical equipment, computers and robots and space. It has also been included in some sociocultural applications like art, communication, domestic uses, education and research, environmental use, specialty materials and cultural heritage restoration. The objects made from 3D printers are slowly changing the world in more ways than one.

How is 3D printing changing telecommunications?

Fiber Optics

Today’s world would be nothing without fiber optics. It allows us to have internet data, telephone communication and even UAV and military uses by bundling cables across the ocean floors. The role of fiber optics in our world is definitely a huge deal and while traditional fiber optics have been around for decades, there are new technologies that are leading the pack. Making fiber optics can prove to be very expensive to make due to its complexity, but now with 3D printing that might all change. Although 4G is gaining a lot of strength, fiber optics still continues to be the way we communicate from our homes and office. On the Don Burns Blogspot, you can take a look at the future of 4G networks, but for now this new technology of 3D printing is a look into the future. One of the types of new fiber optics that would allow 3D printers to improve on manufacturing times and costs is called Photonic bandgap fiber, which seems to have many benefits overs the traditional fiber. 3D printing will not only open the door to printing these new fiber cables, but also ones that were unimaginable before 3D printing tech came along.

Cell phones

Image courtesy of Creative Tools at Flickr.com

Besides the fiber optics cables, there are now ways to even print yourself a cell phone, the case as well as other accessories. For example, a German telecom agency has now launched a 3D printing website that allows their clients to print their own customized cell phone cases. Similarly, there are sites that allow users to create their own open source cell phone or smart watches. They are printed out layer by layer, with the exception of the circuit board, and can be personalized with its own shell and and skin. 

Other uses

In general, you can use 3D printing to supply materials, software, services and devices in the telecommunications industry in a way that more and more companies are looking to AM to manufacture new technology.

How easy is it to print in 3D?

Nowadays, it has gotten easier to print in 3D than it was before, especially with products like OLO, that even let you print from your phone. By using pre-designed files, or using software to design to your own 3D models, you can make your own products easily. You can also get your company an industrial printer which can get the job done when you need to print a lot of prototypes, products or parts for specific industries. Depending on the type of industrial printer you decide to get the prices can range from less than $49,999 to greater than $1,000,000. It is important to research extensively because today there are many options and it will depend on what you interested in printing. Most industries will find some use for 3D printing and telecommunications is not the exception. Now, it’s just a matter of time while more products start reaching consumers that are made with 3D printers, offering easily customizable products at cheaper prices.