Imagine looking at your cell phone case and wishing that you had one that was both cool and customizable. Or your favorite earrings broke and you do not want to go to a jeweler, due to the expense, to fix them. A recent innovation can actually provide a solution to these issues as well as to provide solutions to the creation of many other products. 3D printing has made great strides in the past few decades. It allows individuals to create virtually anything that one can imagine and create on the computer. The use of this technology is potentially endless and can fix small issues such as a missing piece to an earring or to produce items from more complex and original ideas.

3D printing is a process that creates a 3 dimensional object with the use of computer-aided design (CAD). It uses additive manufacturing, which is the process of placing layers of material on top of one another, compared to the traditional way of subtractive manufacturing, which takes a material and cuts or removes portions of it to produce the desired product.

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Below is a video that describes 3D printing and the future that 3D printing holds.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilzGn4cYhAU]

3D printing and additive printing have been around for around 40 years, but recently the market has “exploded” as the technology behind the product has been revolutionized and the uses for 3D printing have become endless. 3D printing  has expanded from being only used by engineers to a wide array applications by disparate fields such as education, the military,  medicine, fashion and the food industry.