“It All Adds Up,” the current exhibit in the CEIS Showcase, celebrates the technical capabilities of the Additive Manufacturing Center (AMC) here at Wentworth Institute of Technology. Since Professor Peter Rourke, ME, brought the first 3D printer to campus in the late 90s, students and faculty have been keen to expand the envelope of possibility with these machines.
Over the last twenty years, access to the technology has grown to encompass the entire campus, enhancing the visualization, prototyping, and fabrication needs for our students and faculty across all disciplines.
Take a look at the timeline of 3D printing (courtesy of Mechanical Engineering Magazine) adapted to include Wentworth’s contribution to the field:
- 1981: Hideo Kodama files the first 3D printing patent application, describing a photopolymer rapid prototyping system that uses UV light to harden the material. The idea is never commercialized.
- 1986: Charles Hull is granted the first patent in 3D printing for an SLA machine. Hull goes on to co-found 3D Systems Corporation.
- 1988: 3D Systems sells the first commercial rapid prototyping printer–the “SLA-1.”
- 1997: AeroMat produces the first 3D printed metal process using laser additive manufacturing (LAM) that utilizes high-powered lasers to fuse powdered titanium alloys.
- 1983: Charles Hull inventes the first stereolithography apparatus (SLA) machine.
- 1987: Carl Deckard files a patent for a selective laser sintering (SLS) process. The patent was issued in 1989 to DTM, Inc., a company later acquired by 3D Systems.
- 1989: Scott and Lisa Crump file for a patent for fused deposition modeling (FDM). Scott Crump would go on to co-found Stratasys, Inc. Hans Langer establishes EOS GmbH in Germany and becomes an industry leader in laser sintering research.
- 1999: Wentworth Professor Peter Rourke purchases first 3D printer—Thermo Jet by 3D systems. The first “3D” printed organ was implanted into a person. It was a printed scaffold which was coated in living cells from the patient.
- 2005: Dr. Adrian Bowyer invents the RepRap open-source concept to create a self-replicating 3D printer process. This opened the doors for the creation of several new 3D printers.
- 2008: “Darwin” becomes the first commercially available 3D printer that was designed under the RepRap concept.
- 2009: The FDM patent previously held by Stratasys expires. The average FDM 3D printer price drops from $10,000 to under $1,000. Makerbot launches and brings 3D printing into the mainstream by introducing do-it-yourself kits for people that want to build their own 3D printers.
- 2011: In the United Kingdom, the University of Southampton designs and 3D prints the first unmanned 3D printed aircraft.
- 2013: Stratasys acquires Makerbot for around $400 million.
- 2015: Cellink, a Swedish company, introduces the first standardized commercial bio-ink to the market, derived from a seaweed material called non-cellulose alginate. The bio-ink can be used for printing tissue cartilage.
- 2019: Wentworth opens one of a kind Additive Manufacturing Center (CEIS 107). The lab is capable of printing full color models, consolidated assemblies, plastic, metal, and carbon fiber parts. Anything is possible in the space—biomedical models, fully functioning drones, industrial design prototypes, and metal parts that are impossible to machine.
Special thanks to the Exhibit Team for putting it all together:
- Ryan Bakinowski — Mechanical Engineering
- Michael Jackson — Mechanical Engineering
- Brie A. Dumont — Industrial Design
- Jeff Michael — Industrial Design
- Sam Montague — Industrial Design
- Rhonda Postrel — Schumann Library
- Colin Powers — Industrial Design
- Robert Trumbour — Architecture
- Edith Waldsmith — Facilities
- Megan Wiles — Industrial Design
- Simon Williamson — Industrial Design
Questions? Contact libraryexhibits@wit.edu.