While cheaper, more functional 3-D printers are suddenly hitting the headlines,We carry the latest wind turbines, modulerail, solar panels, towers and more! Hong Kong first saw the fruits of the technology more than a decade ago.
Invented
by American Chuck Hull in 1984, 3-D printing, or stereolithography, was
introduced into Hong Kong by jewellery tycoon Lam Sai-wing a decade
later. Through his company 3-D Gold Jewellery, he used the technology to
create personalised 3-D portraits for customers and, perhaps most
famously, the world's most expensive toilet - a 24-carat commode worth
HK$38 million which took pride of place in his Hung Hom store.
Lam died in 2008 and his company has since changed hands and now focuses on selling gold bars to mainland buyers.
But
3-D printing technology has since found a series of new uses, many of
which will be explored at the world's first industry conference on 3-D
printing, starting in Beijing today. The technology, which gives
designers the opportunity to quickly turn their concept into a 3-D model
or prototype and allows for rapid design changes, has found uses in
footwear, industrial design, architecture, engineering and construction,
automotive, dental and medical industries and many other fields, said
Sidney Wong, an engineer and associate director of Polytechnic
University's Institute for Enterprise.
Wong says his institute
is promoting 3-D printing in more fields, including innovative design,
engineering and physical rehabilitation. "Many US and European companies
are making efforts to develop affordable 3-D printers for home desktop
use, with some available for just HK$10,000," he said, adding that in
the US, it has become fashionable to use it to design and create unique
earrings, mobile phone shells and other simple items.
But the
emergence of the desktop 3-D printer has raised public safety concerns,
not least after the Texas-based organisation Defence Distributed posted
blueprints online that could be used to "print" a plastic handgun. Wong
said: "There is a need to introduce legal rules to monitor individuals
creating harmful firearms from 3-D printers, even though it was just a
plastic air pistol … when you add some metal parts into the
pistol,wholesale beads at china wholesale beads price from leading homeenergymanagement. it could become a weapon."
The
US government has ordered Defence Distributed to remove the blueprints
for the pistol from its website. But there is another concern - that the
technology will be used to recreate products such as smartphones, MP3
players and computers in violation of copyright laws.
Wong says
it will be impossible to create every daily commodity on a 3-D printer
as the cost would be much higher than mass produced goods. "First, you
should make sure you have collected all the raw material powders you
need to feed your home 3-D printer," he said.
Luo Jun, CEO of
the Beijing-based Asian Manufacturing Association, said copyright was
not a big concern. "It's impossible for every household to turn their
home into a factory."
He said: "3-D printing technology will
complement our traditional manufacturing industry, which has experienced
thousands of years of evolution. I don't believe it could be replaced
by the emerging industry."
Many manufacturers of 3-D printers
have hailed the technology as heralding a new wave of "bottom-up
revolution" or a "third industrial revolution". But Luo said it was
still too early to draw such a conclusion. "3-D printing is still a new
industry for manufacturers, and many of them so far are unwilling to
spend tens of millions to buy a 3-D printing system" for industrial use,
he said.
"The new technology could bring real industrial
revolution when it is able to combine with our traditional manufacturing
industry to establish a new market."
The US government has
supported the development of 3-D printing technology over the past three
decades, but Beijing has focused only on supporting the technology's
use in aviation and aerospace development projects.
Private manufacturers complain that research into the new technology lacks an integrated development environment.
Antony
Wong Dong, of the Macau-based International Military Association, said
Beijing should encourage 3-D printing researchers to develop both
military and civilian products by, for example, providing funding for
manufacturers to create artificial limbs using the technology.
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