There is new method of 3D printing called “freeform,” which doesn’t print support structures along with the needed object (unlike this one). It is well-exemplified by a new 3D freeform printer from the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles.
This thing prints into a gel-filled container that supports the printed material while it hardens. The 3D printer also moves differently than before – the printing head that exudes material can now move up, down, side to side, and diagonally in the air, as opposed to past ones that are limited to up and down and side to side movements.
“The resin used to print hardens when exposed to light” and “once the object is removed from the gel, the gel can be reused.” What could make this more sustainable? Oh, yeah, “delete” or “undo” functions for mistakes. And they didn’t forget that, either. “The technique potentially allows for parts of the printed object to be undone, by sucking or scooping the still uncured resin from the gel without affecting the rest of the structure.”
