Applications

“ Three-dimensional printing makes it as cheap to create single items as it is to produce thousands and thus undermines economies of scale. It may have as profound an impact on the world as the coming of the factory did....Just as nobody could have predicted the impact of the steam engine in 1750—or the printing press in 1450, or the transistor in 1950—it is impossible to foresee the long-term impact of 3D printing. But the technology is coming, and it is likely to disrupt every field it touches. ”
—The Economist, in a February 10, 2011 leader[18]

A model (left) was digitally acquired by using a 3D scanner, the scanned data processed using MeshLab, and the resulting 3D model used by a rapid prototyping machine to create a resin replica (right)

An example of 3D printed limited edition jewellery. This necklace is made of glassfiber-filled dyed nylon. It has rotating linkages that were produced in the same manufacturing step as the other parts. Photography: Atelier Ted Noten.
Additive manufacturing's earliest applications have been on the toolroom end of the manufacturing spectrum. For example, rapid prototyping was one of the earliest additive variants, and its mission was to reduce the lead time and cost of developing prototypes of new parts and devices, which was earlier only done with subtractive toolroom methods (typically slowly and expensively).[19] However, as the years go by and technology continually advances and disseminates into the business world, additive methods are moving ever further into the production end of manufacturing—sometimes even in ways that the pioneers of the techniques didn't foresee.[19] Parts that formerly were the sole province of subtractive methods can now in some cases be made more profitably via additive ones.
Standard applications include design visualization, prototyping/CAD, metal casting, architecture, education, geospatial, healthcare and entertainment/retail.