3-D printing technology reshapes manufacturing

The machine, no larger than a coffee maker and encased in black like Darth Vader's helmet, hums at a whisper.

Swinging open the shell's door reveals a slim metal nozzle moving smoothly over a platform, putting down melted black filament in thin layers that form a set of simple chess pieces.

The plastic figures might not look like much, but to Zach Kaplan, the 3-D printing technology creating them represents the early promise of digital manufacturing, powered by desktop machines, user-friendly design software and creative people tinkering away in basements and garages.

As CEO of Chicago-based Inventables, an online retailer of materials for product designers and artists, Kaplan is finding new customers among small businesses and budget-strapped hardware start-ups.

He and other proponents of digital fabrication say the technology's increasing accessibility is emboldening a new generation of participants in the manufacturing sector, reinvigorating the industry as the creation of a single item or a small batch of products becomes as affordable as mass production.

The 3-D printer making the chess set at Inventables costs $899 on the company's website, while one spool of filament, enough to make 360 pieces, is $39. The accompanying design software can be run on a basic computer.

"Inventables used to only be able to service the most well-funded R&D groups," said Kaplan, who launched his business in 2002 to cater to big corporations. "Now we're servicing R&D labs in garages all over the world."

The technology's flexibility and forgiving economics are particularly attractive to hardware start-ups that are using digital manufacturing for rapid prototyping and small-scale production. They say making a prototype with a 3-D printer can save thousands of dollars over handing off the work to a design company.

"It's awesome," said Alan Hurt, founder of Light Up Africa, a start-up whose device attaches to a moving object, such as a bicycle, and captures enough energy to charge a cellphone. "I never knew it was possible to make products at little or no cost."

The ability to quickly and inexpensively make quality prototypes also allows start-ups to experiment without running up a huge bill.

That was a big plus for Oso Technologies, a company started by engineering graduate students at the University of Illinois that makes sensors that measure soil moisture content and send alerts to a computer or mobile phone when plants need to be watered.