Brave New World of 3D Printing Comes to Pasadena

From printing out a replacement foot for a duck to a human bone or car parts or even a mini statue of yourself, the world of 3D printing continues to move rapidly into the future with endless possibilities.

Diego Porqueras stepped boldly into the 3D printing world when he opened the first 3D printer store on the West Coast—and only the second in the U.S. — here in Pasadena last September selling an affordable model for the home he had designed himself.

Always a tinkering type, Porqueras saw a short CNN clip two years ago about 3D printers that inspired him to buy a printer out for himself to make parts for his job. At the time he worked as a Hollywood camera technician.

“I thought this was the coolest tool to make our own adaptors or things we always need that don’t exist or are really expensive,” Porqueras said. “But eventually I started finding the limits to the machine, so I decided to pursue making my own machine into a better version.”

He started a campaign on the fundraising site Kickstarter, and raised $167,000 — enough to quit his job and start selling his machine called Bukabot full time at his store Deezmaker. Recently he launched another campaign to fund raise Bukito, a smaller portable 3-D printer priced at $650.

“We focus on rigidity and high quality at a pretty good price. The commercial are more expensive than ours but we can probably beat them in quality,” Porqueras said.

He created his own little factory with the original 3D printer he had bought. He now makes parts for his own 3D printer with the original.

“This is a very safe and clean type of printer that you can have at the house and let kids be super creative. You could make your own legos. If I were a parent I would get one in a heartbeat,” Porqueras said.

“It just blew my mind what these printers can do,” Porqueras said. “Who knows what the future will hold?”

3D technology has been around for at least 25 years in the automotive and aerospace industries, with roots in Southern California. David Cawley of the Art Center College of Design has been following the 3D industry since 1986 when he helped on the project of 3D Systems in Valencia.

“That’s the $65,000 question everybody wants to know the answer to. Where’s is this industry going? The fact that you’ve got people like Deezmaker and these little home units is pretty interesting… There’s a buzz right now because of the home units, so we’ve got to capitalize on that I suppose and see where it takes us. More and more people are getting 3D printers,” Cawley said.

Porqueras says in the future a 3D printer will become another home appliance like a microwave for people to print out household goods instead of shopping at a store. Small business owners already utilize this technology. Prices are expected to drop even further after key patents on 3-D printing technology expire next year.

Terry Wohlers, president of consulting firm Wohlers Associates, which tracks the industry, said that by 2021, the U.S. market is estimated to hit $10.8 billion, up from $2.2 billion last year and $1.8 billion in 2008. The industry has been growing, on average, more than 25% a year for the last decade.

“It changes the way products are designed and manufactured. It really can and will become a game changing technology in the future, and it already has in some companies.”

Wohlers says aerospace and medical companies pursuing actual part production for final products will drive the future of the industry. Although people do not often know 3D printing impacts them, Wohler says that anyone flying on a Boeing aircraft has come in close proximity to the industry. Boeing has printed more than 100,000 parts for 10 different types of aircrafts both commercial and military.

“We’ve seen more than 80,000 hip implants made in this way, spinal and knee implants. Even printing living cells to make hard and soft tissue to be implanted has been in development,” Wohlers said, “It’s still a ways out, but certainly in our lifetime you could lose a finger you could print it.”

How 3D printing works is a digital model is designed with 3D software that slices the digital object into layers and sends it to the printer. The printer then melts and deposits plastic layer upon layer until the object is formed. The process could take 20 minutes for a small key chain or 20 hours for a solid Yoda head.

The machine can use a variety of plastics from an elastic flexible plastic to the hard plastic used by Legos. Other 3D printers can use metal, chocolate, and even paper to build a 3D object.

“There’s still some alchemy and magic to it, even after all these years seeing it everyday I, I say ‘you know what that’s pretty amazing it can do that,’” Cawley said.

The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena already owns eight 3-D printers, including one by Deezmaker, and has another on the way. David Cawley, director of the school’s rapid prototyping and model shop, says the 3D printers allow students to refine the design before making a final product.

“When you’re working in design, creating something for the first time, 3D printing allows you to have a bit of alterations. The first time out of the gate, you’ll probably not going to get it right. So it allows a very intrinsic process where you can tweak it and change it, reprint it, and modify things,” Cawley said.

The industry is rapidly becoming available to the average home. UPS recently announced a pilot program that will bring 3D printing services to its stores if it goes well at the launch in its San Diego store. Porqueras is surprised more stores have not popped up yet in California.

At Deezmaker 3D Printers & Hackerspace, Porqueras hosts 3D printing meet-ups as well as classes for interested people to learn the basics. Printing services are also available for those who want to try it out before purchasing a printer.

Deezmaker is located at 290 North Hill Avenue #5 in Pasadena. Visit http://deezmaker.com/ or call (657) 333-6253 for more information.