By Francis Nitsch-Jones
I’m a young tech enthusiast. I’ve always been fascinated with technology, so when I found out about 3D printing, my mind was blown! When I first heard about 3D printers I as-sumed that they were something that only rich corporations could afford, but after a quick internet search, I discovered that I could buy one for under £300. Naturally I had to have one! This was around the time that the nation went into lockdown. After much pestering of my family, it seemed like a good project, and as my birthday was coming up, I was given my first 3D printer. Many, many hours were spent learning how to correct-ly use it (and many hours spent using it incor-rectly and thus breaking various parts of it which have since been replaced), and many more upgrading and fiddling with it so that I could make the best prints that I possibly could. Now, 8 months later, I own two 3D printers; my original medium sized filament printer, and more recently I purchased a smaller resin printer which is capable of pro-ducing smaller prints, but in much finer detail.
3D printers are a technology of the future. They are used in the International Space Sta-tion to make spare parts so that they don’t need to take everything with them, they can just print something if they need it. They were used in the early stage of the pandemic, when 3D printers were used to print the headgear part of visors, which were needed by local communities. Bizarrely, 3D printers are also used to make houses using a newly-invented quick-drying concrete, developed by the mili-tary, and a very large printing system!
I have had fun printing a variety of things:
I produced a small waving ‘baby Groot’ from the film ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and then a 400% upscaled version of the same model (see pho-to). The large one took over 20 hours to print. I recently started playing Dungeons and Dragons and I’ve been able to 3D print many things to help me when I’m playing such as dice, dice cases, dice rolling trays etc.
I have also produced several different vases that I print in a plastic that utilised a change of colour from top to bottom, as well as sever-al other designs. These would make great Christmas presents! I have also designed and produced snowflakes as Christmas tree deco-rations. (See ad opposite for prices). So, because I find it so interesting, and be-cause 3D printing offers so much for other people, I have set up my own 3D printing business. What I’m offering is the best 3D printing service that I can provide, done in any of 3 different type of plastic depending on the application and customer preference, and multiple different colours for each, either for models purchased from my online store on my website, or custom prints specially re-quested through my website.
Please visit my website for further details: www.icustom3d.co.uk