A year ago, an industry began responding to one of the biggest pandemics in modern history. Face masks, face shields, ventilator components and nasopharyngeal testing swabs were output in their thousands, hundreds of thousands and millions as 3D printing providers and users mobilised.At that time, Boston Micro Fabrication (BMF) was just announcing the international roll-out of its Projection Micro-Stereolithography (PμSL) 3D printing technology, which was first introduced in Asia. Such is the profile of PμSL – a technology designed to print micro scale parts at high accuracies and resolutions – it was never likely to play a role as the global 3D printer user base sought to plug the gaps in PPE and medical equipment supply chains. But months later, when it came to plotting the route out of this pandemic and other public health emergencies to co...

What is 3D Printing? 3D printing or additive manufacturing is a process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital file.   The creation of a 3D printed object is achieved using additive processes. In an additive process an object is created by laying down successive layers of material until the object is created. Each of these layers can be seen as a thinly sliced cross-section of the object.   3D printing is the opposite of subtractive manufacturing which is cutting out / hollowing out a piece of metal or plastic with for instance a milling machine.   3D printing enables you to produce complex shapes using less material than traditional manufacturing methods.   How Does 3D Printing Work? It all starts with a 3D model. You can opt to create one from the ground up or download it from a 3D library.   3D Software There are many di...