Many items that can otherwise be made cheaply with rapid prototyping services based on 3D printing or even put into production for small numbers with 3D printing do face problems if they need a custom circuit board and the same is true for products made of standardized parts.

It is envisaged that rapid prototyping services with 3D printers that can print circuit boards may actually be able to print an entire product with moving parts and circuit boards in place in one go. This would potentially allow circuit boards to be made to fit much more neatly into products as well: currently a product is designed so that a circuit board can then be added, which will be invariably rectangular and flat.

In the short term printing bespoke circuit boards will allow products to be made easily in small numbers with complicated circuit boards and will even allow for producers of products to include bespoke circuit boards for each client based on their specific needs. Producers could with 3D printing set up from a 3D CAD file easily add features as required and copy the innovations of competitors in days rather than months.

In the long term the use of circuit boards is even more exciting if the potential of 3D printers that most believe there is is realized. For now still firmly rooted in rapid prototyping services some see a future where 3D printing will dominate manufacturing. When 3D printing becomes the primary way of manufacturing and replaces tooling machines it will suddenly become easy to customize every aspect of a product such as material, color, shape and so on. If circuit boards can just as easily be customized we may be able to see a future where everyone’s PC is customized to their needs and everyone’s car has the exact electronics and features they opted for with hundreds of permutations available to everyone.

The ability to work with circuit boards could become a common skill as well as people in the future design their electronics on their home computers before sending them to a company, similar to today’s rapid prototyping services, to print their creations, though at a far more affordable cost.

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Hermit crabs live close to the shore and use discarded shells of other creatures for protection, as they grow they change shells to something more suitable. It is the larger shells in particular that in many areas are in short supply as people take them from the shore’s edge at a quicker rate than they are replenished.

Maker Bot have launched a crowd-sourcing project based around 3D printing services to manufacture suitable replacement shells. The project is ongoing but many users of MakerBot’s do it yourself 3D printers are  using their own 3D printing services to create prototype shells and to share shell designs with each other online.

The project, named project shellter, currently has the 3D printing services of around 5,000 3D printers at its disposal and right now prototypes are being made and then tested in Maker Bot’s own aquarium as well as those of other crowd-sourcers.

The project could still comer to nothing;currently3D printing services for the shells are being done using plastic: the plastic itself is strong and sturdy and redesigns can make sure that it is thick enough and strong enough, but will hermit crabs be happy to use plastic shells? It seems currently hermit crabs are in fact resorting to anything from glass bottles to shotgun shells in their search for a home so it is hoped that a plastic shell will be a perfectly acceptable solution. Another consideration will be whether colored printing, either monotone in a suitable color or full color, will be necessary for convincing hermit crabs to try on a plastic shell for size.

If the crowd-sourcers are really successful it is hoped that the plastic shells could in fact be more robust than real shells: with any luck they will last much longer than ordinary shells, which eventually break up, the shells then could provide housing for many generations of hermit crabs.

As well as being longer lasting could it be that the design will actually be more comfortable for the hermit crabs than the shells they usually find? Rather than basing the shell design on existing shells some in the project shelter community are actually basing the design on the body of the hermit crab: this could mean that no longer will hermit crabs have to make do with ill fitting shells designed for other creatures: they can have shells designed with them in mind.

Quite how many shells would be needed worldwide would still need to be calculated and it may be that the prolificacy of 3D printing services would have to expand a lot to offer a real worldwide solution. Perhaps then the solution should be more to use 3D printed shells to replace those that people take to use in their aquariums, including for those who have hermit crabs at home.

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UAVs are still expensive though, the demand is low enough still and the designs for each user bespoke enough that they do not warrant mass production techniques. What has bought down the cost drastically though is using a 3D printing service to print out parts.

An Australian company have started using a 3D printing service to manufacturer lightweight parts for their Cyberquad UAV;previously the company were using fiber-glass to make their crafts that can take off and land vertically and are powered by electric motors.

Using fiber-glass is expensive, it is expensive because it is time consuming and so takes a lot of man hours and it is expensive because of the materials themselves. Now though it is as simple as sending a design to print and waiting for the parts to be made: they are of course as light weight if not lighter than fiber-glass. The SLS production 3D printers used for their 3D printing service are able to use SLS additives that create tough but lightweight parts”: just what is needed for these craft.

These UAVs are fantastically useful for the likes of police and coastguards: they can use them to catch criminals, for search and rescue and various other day to day jobs. Many of these jobs would otherwise involve a helicopter that is expensive and in certain areas such as built up areas this could be dangerous. The Cyberquad normally beams back video or still images, though variations may perform other tasks including images from infra red cameras. The fact the cost of these CyberquadUAVs is coming down means that police and other services can afford more and increase their effectiveness.

Being 3D printed once a design has been created as a 3D CAD file the manufacturer can easily print more as and when they are demanded: this means there is no need to keep a large stock of parts of finished items in order to bring manufacturing costs down and means the space needed to run such a business is bought right down.

The lightweight materials that the Cyberquad is made of are just one of the developments in 3D printing service materials; rather than detailed but often flimsy or unsuitable plastics printers from different manufacturers can now print in a variety of materials. Materials used include metal parts made from titanium dust and even circuit boards can be printed. Full color items including those with detailed designs are also now possible saving further time in the manufacturing process. With it possible to now make items with 3D printing that are already assembled the production line too is becoming shorter, quicker and less expensive all of the time: primarily for items such as the Cyberquad that are made by small manufacturers in small numbers.

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The Colonial house in Bedford Massachusetts, which the show discovered dates from around 1720, not 1687 as the owners previously thought, is on the country’s list of historic places. The house is being restored and featured on the show but as the show ends the long term renovations are still on-going. The 3D model will be used to show the house in a way that couldn’t be done with the real thing including the future plans as well as stripping back the extensions that have been added since Nathanial Page’s time.

3D models of homes and renovations are becoming something hat architects regularly use to get across the ideas to a client or to other stakeholders and so it made sense for the show This Old House to use models in the same way to get the idea and concepts of a renovation across to audiences. In fact the programs makers plan to use 3D models again and like most architects they will use a 3D printing service based on a ZPrinter by Z Corporation. Z Corporation is the industry leader in 3D printing services in general and architects models and prototype models for products are a big part of their business.

ZCorporation’s Z Printers have the huge advantage that they print in color and great detail so that a model is printed ready to be used: there is no extra work except blowing off the excess resin. The excess resin powder can be reused as well meaning no waste and a much cheaper and more efficient 3D printing service than using other printers on the market.

When compared to a hand made model for architecture or a show like This Old House a 3D Printing Service’s speed is much quicker of course and far less man hours are involved, ideal with tight filming deadlines. The accuracy is also far superior; all of the details from the architects 3D plans on their computer can be printed and the scale will be perfect as well. To get the best results especially for a renovation the original files can also use a 3D scanner to perfectly compliment a 3D printing service so that what you end up printing is a copy of the house in miniature with the planned changes added. The model even included a detailed interior and a removable roof and removable second floor so all the detail could be seen. Being a 3D printed item though only 14 pieces were needed to make the model and the ZPrinters are capable of creating internal as well as external detail.

Although This Old House do plan to use 3D printing services again this time the model actually already existed. The model had been made and used by the house’s owner and Z Corporation vice president Kevin O’Connor who even managed to get a piece into the program about how 3D printing works.

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